Nehemiah Helps the Poor (Nehemiah): After dealing with external threats, Nehemiah realized there were internal problems, too. The poorest of the Jewish people were being exploited, but Nehemiah sacrificially led by example as he worked for their redemption. Rebuilding for God’s Name requires God’s people to live God’s way. Recorded on Oct 11, 2026, on Nehemiah 5 by Pastor Nate Huber.
This sermon is part of our series, Nehemiah: From Ruins to Revival. When Nehemiah heard about the desperate needs of the people living in Jerusalem during the Exile, he was deeply moved. Someone had to do something! Nehemiah’s story is what happens when wise and courageous leadership has a God-given burden to help. Nehemiah faced significant opposition and leadership challenges while mobilizing thousands of people to complete a major building project. But through it all, one thing was clear: It’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work!
Opposition to the Rebuilding (Nehemiah): Almost immediately after starting his wall-building project, Nehemiah faced multifaceted, violent opposition. When facing similar threats, it’s normal to feel discouraged and overwhelmed by fear. However, when threatened, Nehemiah teaches us to remember the Lord, pray and act, and give God the glory. Recorded on Oct 4, 2026, on Nehemiah 4 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series, Nehemiah: From Ruins to Revival. When Nehemiah heard about the desperate needs of the people living in Jerusalem during the Exile, he was deeply moved. Someone had to do something! Nehemiah’s story is what happens when wise and courageous leadership has a God-given burden to help. Nehemiah faced significant opposition and leadership challenges while mobilizing thousands of people to complete a major building project. But through it all, one thing was clear: It’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work!
Sermon Transcript
One of my all-time favorite series is Band of Brothers, which follows the paratroopers of Easy Company as they were dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day during WWII. From our vantage point, we know how the war turned out: the Allies won. But when Lieutenant Dick Winters and the others from Easy Company flew over France in the dark, they had no idea what they’d face when they jumped out of that plane, much less who’d win the war. You think they were scared? I’m sure they were. Unfortunately, the drop didn’t go as planned, and our troops were scattered all over. They faced fierce opposition from the start. But one of the best parts of the show is seeing Lieutenant Winters’ calm, capable leadership as he faced one threat after another. Today, we’re continuing a sermon series from the book of Nehemiah called From Ruins to Revival. And we’ve said that the book of Nehemiah tells the story of the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem at the end of the Exile, around 445 BC. It’s a story of God’s people getting to work, under the wise leadership of Nehemiah, as they rebuilt the wall around the city. Nehemiah had been the cupbearer to the most powerful king of his day, King Artaxerxes of the Persian Empire. When he heard of the dreadful condition of Jerusalem and the people who lived there, he got permission to lead a project to rebuild it. Last week was a little different, because chapter 3 is pretty much just a list of who did what on the project. But we found good reasons why passages like that are in the Bible. If you missed any of the sermons in this series so far, you can always go back and watch or listen online. But a few weeks ago, we met some dangerous men—opponents from the surrounding territories who weren’t happy about this project. With enemies on all sides, Nehemiah probably felt like Lieutenant Winters dropped behind enemy lines. Today, we’ll see if Nehemiah can demonstrate the same calm, capable leadership as he faced one threat after another. There are many valuable lessons here, so if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Neh 4:1. We’ll read through this together and unpack it as we go.
Nehemiah 4:1–6 (NIV), “1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” 4 Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.” Here, we find two of the three opponents we met at the end of chapter 2: Sanballat and Tobiah. Not sure where Geshem was at this point (maybe recruiting more allies against the people of Judah?), but the scene at the beginning of chapter 4 has Sanballat coming in hot at the news that Nehemiah’s project was commencing. So he and Tobiah have this kind of performative ridicule in front of the Samaritan army, presumably to embolden the soldiers if they attacked Jerusalem. They mock the Jewish efforts to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem and the size of the wall, although none of their claims were true. According to scholars, “archaeological excavations found Nehemiah’s wall to be about nine feet thick.” (Breneman, Mervin. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. p. 194.) That wasn’t a wall that a fox could knock down. But involving the military (and doing so in a way that Nehemiah found out about) meant this wasn’t just more insults; it was a much more immediate and ominous threat. Were they going to have to fend off an attack without a finished wall? Were they all going to be killed? That’s a threat. Now, if we hadn’t read v.4, based on what we’ve seen from Nehemiah so far, what would you have predicted he would do first in response to this threat? He prayed, of course. Prayer, for Nehemiah, was never the last resort. Again and again, it was his first action. Back in chapters 1-2, he prayed, and he planned. He prayed, and he acted. And here, it was no different. He prayed, and they kept working until they were halfway done. Why? He humbly gives the credit away. Nehemiah says it was because “the people worked with all their heart.” I love that. They weren’t working out of obligation. They weren’t working only for a paycheck or grumbling the whole time. They believed to their core that this was their God-given mission—and they acted like it! Now, before we continue, I need to address what Nehemiah prayed, because it doesn’t sound like a very loving prayer, does it? “Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight,” Whoa! But why did he pray like this? Because they said mean things about him. Well, not exactly. If that’s why Nehemiah prayed this way, that wouldn’t have been right. For one thing, it would’ve been totally disproportionate. (“Look at their silly wall!” “Never forgive their sins!” Again, whoa!) But the truth is, the Old Testament has other prayers like this—especially in the Psalms. They’re known as imprecatory psalms. Imprecatory means a spoken curse, but how can these prayers ask God to curse someone and still be justified? Well, it’s a little complex, but one thing’s sure: it’s never about personal vengeance; they’re legitimate requests for God to bring justice against his enemies and defend or vindicate his people. In the Old and New Testaments, God has forbidden his people from taking revenge because he is the ultimate Judge. Deuteronomy 32:35 (NIV), “35 It is mine to avenge; [says the Lord] I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; [referring to his enemies] their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” Now, this intense promise of justice is not at odds with God’s love. God is both perfectly just and infinitely loving—always and in every situation. But in case the intensity of judgment seems unloving, we must remember that to let the wicked get away with evil forever is certainly not loving. Now, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make or enforce just laws that put boundaries around evil, or that we shouldn’t give people who have broken the law just consequences or punishments for their actions. It isn’t loving to have social anarchy or to make it easy for people to sin against others or to call what is evil good and good evil. But if you sin against me, hurt me, or take something from me, I am not the ultimate judge, jury, and executioner—as much as I’d like to be at times. I need to obey the law, submit to the authorities, and trust the Lord as the perfect Judge. Like Nehemiah, when the enemies of God plot their wicked deeds or threaten violence, I can pray that God would vindicate me and bring justice to bear on them. This is very hard for me personally. When I am threatened and get in a fight-or-flight kind of situation, I’d naturally pick to fight every time. But refusing vengeance is a beautiful act of faith. It demonstrates real trust in a loving God who sees, cares, and will one day set every wrong to right. It also breaks the downward spiral of violence that often happens with revenge. But the result of trusting God is that they continued to make great progress on the wall (they’re halfway done!). How would their enemies respond?
Nehemiah 4:7-15 (NIV), “7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. 9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. 10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” 11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.” 12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.” 13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” 15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.” Ok, things got much worse. You might’ve noticed another enemy joined the party. If we look at a map, we can see that the people of Ashdod were west of Jerusalem, in the old territory of the Philistines. Again, Sanballat was to the north in Samaria, Tobiah to the east in Ammon, and Geshem from the Arabian Desert to the south, meaning they were surrounded by enemies who decided to come and fight the Jewish people as they desperately tried to finish the wall. On top of that, they had some internal threats. Some people in Judah were getting tired and discouraged from the sheer amount of work. They couldn’t just build; they first had to clear the rubble and then build. Can you imagine how much work it would’ve been to move the rubble from a nine-foot wall only to rebuild a nine-foot wall? Besides discouragement, there were repeated rumors of an impending attack. Ten times over they heard about an impending attack. Just think how much fear there would’ve been in Judah. But v.9 is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. Nehemiah says, “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” They prayed, and they acted. Now, Nehemiah didn’t have four months to plan a response. He had to pray and act quickly. But he didn’t skip prayer or become paralyzed with fear and anxiety. And this is exactly how we should live. If you face opposition in your marriage, family, or a friendship, or discover something threatening to your health, kids, or career, pray and act. It’s normal to have times when you feel discouraged or overwhelmed by fear. Nehemiah teaches us not to over-spiritualize the threat. God wants us to pray to him, but he gave us hands and feet and a big brain to act. Don’t just sit around, waiting for God to do something and call that faith. But also, don’t under-spiritualize the threat. We have the Lord God Almighty as our Father. And he has all the resources of heaven at his disposal. You’d be a fool not to pray! It reminds me of when people ask me what we believe about the work of the Holy Spirit. Like, how charismatic are you as a church? I usually say something like, “Well, we pray for healing, and we go to the doctor. And we give God the glory no matter what the outcome is.” In other words, we pray and act. But did you notice that Nehemiah gave God the glory, too? Nehemiah’s leadership is on display again. First, he gave credit to the people. But after mobilizing a defense and motivating everyone to remember the Lord and fight for their families, Nehemiah said in v.15 that even after all his actions, it was God who frustrated the plot of their enemies. God got the glory. This wise, faithful, courageous action deterred their enemies from attacking then, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. They’d made a lot of progress, but the wall wasn’t done yet. Let’s see how Nehemiah adapts to the remaining threat.
Nehemiah 4:16–23 (NIV), “16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. 19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!” 21 So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. 22 At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” 23 Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.” This is God’s word. Now, Nehemiah was no fool. He knew that their enemies could easily return. So they had to go a little slower on the wall-building to allow for proper defense. But Nehemiah came up with a good plan. Half of his men worked, while the other half served as guards. The officers were posted where they would need to be in case of an attack. All the workers had to carry weapons. And instead of relaxing in the governor’s mansion, Nehemiah stayed with the people, dressed and ready for battle. They worked out an alarm system in case of attack. And they worked their tails off, from early morning until night. They couldn’t travel home outside of Jerusalem. They needed to stay alert and ready to fight if need be. This went from a building project to a military operation overnight. But again, Nehemiah was a leader that people would have loved to follow. Everyone on that project knew Nehemiah was with them and cared enough to fight with them and for them. Next week, we’ll see another threat to the rebuilding, not of the wall, but of the people themselves. You can’t rebuild a place for God’s Name when the people aren’t living like God’s people. Nehemiah still has work to do. But for today, what does chapter 4 mean for us? Well, I have to say that I’m very thankful we don’t live in a place where we’re surrounded by enemies trying to kill us. That’s a real blessing. Despite our relative safety, many things can still threaten to harm us or disrupt our lives. In a broken world, many real sources of discouragement and fear exist. But what can we do? Well, Nehemiah showed us the way: When threatened, remember the Lord, pray and act, and give God the glory. When you’re threatened, when you face opposition, when you can’t sleep, when your stomach is churning, and you don’t know how it’ll all turn out—when it feels like you’ve been dropped behind enemy lines—remember the Lord. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome; he has never failed you, and he never will. The whole Bible is the record of God’s faithfulness to his people. And if that is who God is, then pray and act. I think we covered this enough already, but we must put it into practice. When threats come, even one after another, pray and act, pray and act, pray and act. But no matter the outcome, if God is who he is and you’ve done your best to act in good faith and according to God’s direction, then give God the glory! He’s the Judge, but he’s also the Redeemer; he’s the one who has promised victory for his people, and he will do it. But as Christians, we know something that Nehemiah didn’t. We know about the cross of Christ. And we know about the empty tomb. We know how God would win the ultimate victory, not just from the enemies surrounding Judah, but from the far greater enemies of sin and death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 6:23). Though we were enemies of God, deserving of the same judgment/curse as any of our enemies, Jesus Christ took our place. When we are justified by faith in Christ, we’re saved from the ultimate threat. Unlike Lieutenant Winters or Nehemiah, because of the gospel, we know the war will be won in the middle of our battles. So when threatened, remember the Lord, pray and act, and give God the glory. But if we do this, is there anything we couldn’t face? Is there anything our church couldn’t get through? I don’t think so. With all that said, I think it’s only fitting for us to pray. Let us pray.
Builders of the Wall (Nehemiah): Nehemiah chapter 3 is basically just a list of names (most of which we can barely pronounce) and the part of the wall project they worked on. Why is this in the Bible?? Have you ever wondered? The answers are rich and complex, and full of hope. Recorded on Sep 27, 2026, on Nehemiah 3 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series, Nehemiah: From Ruins to Revival. When Nehemiah heard about the desperate needs of the people living in Jerusalem during the Exile, he was deeply moved. Someone had to do something! Nehemiah’s story is what happens when wise and courageous leadership has a God-given burden to help. Nehemiah faced significant opposition and leadership challenges while mobilizing thousands of people to complete a major building project. But through it all, one thing was clear: It’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work!
Sermon Transcript
Well, today, we’re continuing a sermon series from the book of Nehemiah called From Ruins to Revival. And we’ve said that the book of Nehemiah tells the story of the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem at the end of the Exile, around 445 BC. It’s a story of God’s people getting to work, under the wise leadership of Nehemiah, as they rebuilt the wall around the city. This building project not only rebuilt the city’s defenses and dignity, but it rebuilt the people themselves—from ruin all the way to revival. Nehemiah had been the cupbearer to the most powerful king of his day, King Artaxerxes of the Persian Empire. But when he heard of the dreadful condition of the city of Jerusalem and the people who lived there, he got permission to go to Jerusalem, to lead a project to rebuild the capital of his ancestral home. Last week, Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, and again demonstrated great wisdom and tact in how he shared his God-given vision for the city. And everyone was on board. Today will be a little different. Because chapter 3 is pretty much just a list of who did what on the project. Now, I confess, as I prepared to preach today, I was tempted to skip this chapter. It’s much easier to see how last week’s passage or next week’s might apply to our lives today. But as is often the case, as I wrestled with this passage, the wisdom and power of God’s word became clear, and eventually, I couldn’t wait to preach it. So if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Neh 3:1. We’ll read through the whole chapter, and I’ll provide just a few comments as we go. But then, I’ll give you five reasons why Neh 3 is in the Bible.
Nehemiah 3:1–32 (NIV), “1 Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel.” I’m proud of these ancient priests! They rolled up the sleeves of their robes and got some serious work done. “2 The men of Jericho built the adjoining section, and Zakkur son of Imri built next to them.” Jericho was a town to the northeast of Jerusalem. Remember last week, I said that basically the whole territory of Judah needed to be involved to complete this project. “3 The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. 4 Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs, and next to him Zadok son of Baana also made repairs. 5 The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.” Now here we find a little drama. Tekoa was a town about 10 miles south of Jerusalem, on the border of the desert. Again, the whole region was needed. But Nehemiah says that the nobles of Tekoa refused to do the work. Being near the desert, it’s possible that these nobles were connected to one of the opponents we met last week, that is, to Geshem from the Arabian Desert that bordered Tekoa to the south. Whatever the reason, they have the ignominious honor of being listed in the Bible for being unhelpful. “6 The Jeshanah Gate was repaired by Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah. They laid its beams and put its doors with their bolts and bars in place. 7 Next to them, repairs were made by men from Gibeon and Mizpah—Melatiah of Gibeon and Jadon of Meronoth—places under the authority of the governor of Trans-Euphrates.” Gibeon and Mizpah were towns to the northwest of Jerusalem. So we have people mentioned already from the northeast, south, and northwest. Because of the strong leadership we saw last week, Nehemiah built a broad coalition for this project. “8 Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section; and Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, made repairs next to that. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. 9 Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section. 10 Adjoining this, Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house, and Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs next to him.” We’ve already seen priests and people from around the region working on the wall. In these verses, men from the trade guilds, a governing official, and a resident of Jerusalem are all at work. “11 Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. 12 Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters.” And I’d love to meet these hardworking ladies one day. The men weren’t the only ones involved in this project. But this was the same when we remodeled this building to get ready to move in seven years ago. It was mostly men who did the work, but there were many ladies involved, too. We have many hardworking daughters in our church. “13 The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah. They rebuilt it and put its doors with their bolts and bars in place. They also repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the Dung Gate. 14 The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son of Rekab, ruler of the district of Beth Hakkerem. He rebuilt it and put its doors with their bolts and bars in place. 15 The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallun son of Kol-Hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah. He rebuilt it, roofing it over and putting its doors and bolts and bars in place. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam, by the King’s Garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David.” Here, residents of towns to the west and southwest of Jerusalem are at work. Scholars can’t decide whether Hanun and the others repaired a thousand cubits of the wall because it was in relatively good shape, or whether they were especially productive. I’m sure I know what Hanun would’ve said. Ok! Let’s move a little faster through the end of the chapter. “16 Beyond him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of a half-district of Beth Zur, [a different Nehemiah] made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the Heroes. 17 Next to him, the repairs were made by the Levites [think ancient worship leaders] under Rehum son of Bani. Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his district. 18 Next to him, the repairs were made by their fellow Levites under Binnui son of Henadad, ruler of the other half-district of Keilah. 19 Next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section, from a point facing the ascent to the armory as far as the angle of the wall. 20 Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest. [Good job, Baruch!] 21 Next to him, Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired another section, from the entrance of Eliashib’s house to the end of it. 22 The repairs next to him were made by the priests from the surrounding region. 23 Beyond them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their house; and next to them, Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house. 24 Next to him, Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section, from Azariah’s house to the angle and the corner, 25 and Palal son of Uzai worked opposite the angle and the tower projecting from the upper palace near the court of the guard. Next to him, Pedaiah son of Parosh 26 and the temple servants living on the hill of Ophel made repairs up to a point opposite the Water Gate toward the east and the projecting tower. 27 Next to them, the men of Tekoa repaired another section, from the great projecting tower to the wall of Ophel. [Still no nobles, apparently?] 28 Above the Horse Gate, the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house. 29 Next to them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house. Next to him, Shemaiah son of Shekaniah, the guard at the East Gate, made repairs. 30 Next to him, Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. Next to them, Meshullam son of Berekiah made repairs opposite his living quarters. 31 Next to him, Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Inspection Gate, and as far as the room above the corner; 32 and between the room above the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and merchants made repairs.” This is God’s word. So…serious question: Why is this in the Bible? Why is Nehemiah chapter 3 in the Bible? It’s pretty much just a list of people who worked on the wall and what part they worked on. Unless you’re an expert on ancient Hebrew, most of us struggle to pronounce their names (myself included). And we know almost nothing else about them than what is listed here. Here’s an artist’s rendering of Jerusalem from the ESV Study Bible, which is really nice, but the truth is, scholars aren’t sure where all the places and gates mentioned here were located. So again, why is this in the Bible? I could see why it would be helpful for maybe 50-100 years after the project was done. Because there still would’ve been people alive at the time who might’ve known some of the people who were involved. But “the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Pe 1:24–25). Nehemiah 3 is part of the word of God. What do we believe about God’s word? 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) says, “16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” and “all Scripture” here must also refer to passages in the Bible like this one. But how is this useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training? Well, for the rest of our time today, I’ll give you five reasons why, according to the grace and wisdom of the Spirit of God, the people of God need Nehemiah 3, along with many other passages like it. Why is this in the Bible? 1. God knew who these people were. This is the most important fact about anyone, by the way. It doesn’t really matter if we know them. God knew them; he knew their names. These people, and their lives/families/work/faith/contributions to the wall, all mattered to God. These were real people, just like the people in the other lists in the Bible, such as the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 or the list of the tribal allotments of the Promised Land, which takes up several chapters in Joshua. They record names and places that might seem strange to us. But God knew these people. If you have ever wondered if you matter, if you’ve ever wondered if your life matters, never forget Nehemiah 3 or any of the other passages like it. Yes. God knows you. He knows your name. And that is the most important fact about you, too. Why is this in the Bible? 2. The work itself was important. I’m sure rebuilding the wall and the city wasn’t as important to God as the people involved. God saves people, not buildings. But the project mattered too. We know that God provided everything they needed to make it happen. Before that, God put Nehemiah in a position of influence, close to the king of Persia. That was no accident. Even if scholars aren’t sure where every gate or landmark was 2,400 years ago, they’re listed here because the work itself mattered. Have you ever wondered if your work matters? I bet you have. It doesn’t matter how much you get paid, or whether you work in or outside the home. Sometimes our work is obviously important. But often, it’s hard to connect the dots between what you have to do on some random Tuesday and anything that will matter 5 days from now, much less 2,400 years from now! But our work matters to God. So much of God’s provision comes through the hard work of people. Think of the Exodus story. God miraculously provided manna from heaven for forty years in the wilderness. But forever before that and forever after that, God provided for his people primarily through their hard work. Why is this in the Bible? 3. Jerusalem mattered to God. During the reign of King David, about five hundred years earlier, God chose Jerusalem to be the place he would dwell with his people in the Promised Land. But back in chapter 1, Nehemiah prayed, “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’” (Ne 1:8–9). This broken-down city mattered to God. As weak and unimpressive as it was in Nehemiah’s day, this was the city, out of all the cities of the world, where God had promised to dwell. If you didn’t know the story, or the covenant promises, you’d probably never guess that it mattered so much to God. But it did. About five hundred years later, it would be just outside the gates of this city where the Son of God would die on a Roman executioner’s cross for the sins of the world. And from the city of Jerusalem, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the man who rose from the dead, would radiate outward, even to the ends of the earth. And one day, when Christ returns, we too will dwell with God in the Heavenly Jerusalem. Did this project matter, to rebuild Jerusalem and to rebuild the people of Judah? Absolutely. It was time for the exiles to come home. Why is this in the Bible? 4. Everyone was called to do the work. Now, this isn’t unusual for a large project, especially when there are serious security threats. During a large national project (for example, last week, I mentioned the Apollo 11 mission) or during a large-scale war (like WWII), no one can really sit on the sidelines. Of course, not everyone has the same gifts, abilities, or capacities, but almost everyone can do something. But why does this matter here? Because chapter 3 reports how faithful the people were in heeding the call to do the work. Almost everyone, except those shameful nobles of Tekoa, threw themselves into the project. They knew the work mattered, and they worked hard to finish it. That deserves honor and recognition. And like any good leader, Nehemiah gave them the credit they deserved. They had priests, Levites, merchants, most of the nobles, Jerusalem residents, and people from the surrounding countryside, all working together. Chapter 3 recognizes and honors that hard work. Finally, why is this in the Bible? 5. Leadership was vital. Through Nehemiah’s wisdom, prayer, planning, and strategic partnership with King Artaxerxes, he was able to travel all the way to Jerusalem, share his vision with the people, and use his organizational skills to mobilize them to rebuild in record time. The wall around Jerusalem hadn’t just been broken down. It had been like that for 141 years. Without good and godly leadership, this project never would’ve happened. There are countless examples in the Scriptures and in history. God usually accomplishes his work in the world through his people, organized and led by those qualified and called by God to lead. Under the old covenant, it was through the work of prophets, priests, and kings. In the new covenant, Christ is the head of his church; he is the chief shepherd, but there are undershepherds—the elders, overseers, and pastors. In the book of Acts, as the church grew, deacons were added to the leadership structure to help manage the church. This structure remains in our church today. We have pastors and elders, but we have dozens of deacons serving as community group leaders, ministry team leaders, and more. Why is Nehemiah chapter 3 in the Bible? Because God knew who these people were. The work itself was important. Jerusalem mattered to God. Everyone was called to do the work. And leadership was vital to make it happen. But you know what? All these reasons speak to who we are and what we are trying to do in following Jesus today. God has called us to join the biggest project in all the world: to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that people will be transformed in every way. We don’t just have a broken wall or a broken-down city. We have a broken world that desperately needs the life/love/joy/peace that are only found in Jesus’ name. And if we are going to accomplish any part of this great project, then no one can sit on the sidelines. All are needed. Let’s get to work. Let us pray.
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls (Nehemiah): When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, it was not guaranteed that anyone would want to join his project. But because of Nehemiah’s excellent leadership, the people rallied to the cause. The old proverb is true: If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. Recorded on Sep 20, 2026, on Nehemiah 2:11-20 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series, Nehemiah: From Ruins to Revival. When Nehemiah heard about the desperate needs of the people living in Jerusalem during the Exile, he was deeply moved. Someone had to do something! Nehemiah’s story is what happens when wise and courageous leadership has a God-given burden to help. Nehemiah faced significant opposition and leadership challenges while mobilizing thousands of people to complete a major building project. But through it all, one thing was clear: It’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work!
Sermon Transcript
57 years ago, Neil Armstrong stepped off the Lunar Module of the Apollo 11 spaceship and was the first person in history to walk on the moon. As 650 million people watched, he said, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Now, only 3 people were there on the moon: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, but it took an enormous effort to get them there. NASA estimates that it took over 300,000 engineers, scientists, and technicians to put those 3 men on the moon. Imagine the incredible task of leading and coordinating that effort. It’s said that if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together. Well, today, we’re continuing a sermon series from the book of Nehemiah called From Ruins to Revival. We started this series last week, so if you missed the introduction, you can always watch or listen online if you’d like. But the book of Nehemiah tells the story of the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem at the end of the Exile. And it’s a story of when God’s people got to work, under the wise leadership of Nehemiah, as they rebuilt the wall around the city. This building project not only rebuilt the city’s defenses and the people’s dignity and security, but it rebuilt the people themselves—from ruin to revival. Last week, we saw that Nehemiah demonstrated wisdom and courage in how he asked the king of Persia, King Artaxerxes, to let him, as the cupbearer to the king, go from Susa, the capital of Persia, all the way to Jerusalem, to do something about the broken-down wall around the capital of the kingdom and the religion of his ancestors, the Jewish people. Today, we’ll see what happened when Nehemiah got to Jerusalem. Would the people there, people who had never met Nehemiah, welcome him and this huge project? We’ll see. But if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Neh 2:11. We’ll read through this passage, and we’ll unpack it as we go. Let’s jump in.
Nehemiah 2:11–16 (NIV), “11 I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 12 I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. 13 By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; 15 so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.” So back in chapter 1, Nehemiah heard a report from his brother who had visited Jerusalem. He heard about how the city and wall around the city had been destroyed and hadn’t been rebuilt. And how the people there were vulnerable to attack from their enemies who surrounded them. Nehemiah was a Jew in exile in Persia, but he was the cupbearer to the King of Persia. By the grace of God, he was in a powerful position to do something about this need in Jerusalem. So Nehemiah made a plan, and he very strategically got the financial and political support of the king to accomplish his plan. Now here, he’s able to see for himself the condition of the people and the city and the wall. Back in v. 11, Nehemiah simply says, “I went to Jerusalem.” We don’t know exactly how long it took, but when Ezra the priest made the journey, he says it took them four months. It’s possible that Nehemiah was able to travel faster, but he doesn’t say. Either way, it’s possible that he rested for a few days before jumping into the task. He says, “after staying there three days, I set out during the night with a few others.” Again, it’s possible that he was tired from traveling, but from the rest of his story, we know that Nehemiah was very careful and deliberate in his planning and leadership. I think it’s more likely that he used the few days after his arrival to get to know some of the key leaders of the community. Remember, Nehemiah was a Jewish man, but he was born and raised in Persia. He had come from King Artaxerxes with letters from the king that could force them to join him. But that’s never the kind of partnership you want for a big project like this. And he didn’t know the attitudes of the people or their local politics. He could’ve easily killed his project before it even began. This explains why he went out to inspect the wall at night, and only with a few people. Nehemiah didn’t shoot first and ask questions later. He got to Jerusalem, he got to know the people, and he quietly gathered more information about what it would take to accomplish the wall project. How embarrassing would it have been if he got to Jerusalem and announced, “I’m here to lead you all to rebuild the wall!” and the people said, “No! And you can turn around and go right back to Persia!” So he did his research before he pitched it to the leaders and the people. But this totally fits a guy who spent four months praying and planning before approaching the king about the project. Well, how would it go? Let’s see.
Nehemiah 2:17-18 (NIV), “17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.” So here, Nehemiah made his pitch. And because of the brilliant way he communicated the need and what they could do about it, they responded, “Let us start rebuilding,” and they began. Let’s do it! Let’s go! We’re totally on board. But how did he do it? How did Nehemiah convince a bunch of people he’d never met to give up their time, resources, blood/sweat/tears, and agendas to do his project? Nehemiah showed strategically wise, godly leadership. He’s one of the best examples of leadership in the Bible. Leadership is using your influence to move someone from where they are to somewhere better. It’s influence that doesn’t use people (that’s manipulation), but it’s influence that serves people. Nehemiah couldn’t rebuild the wall without a team, just as the Apollo astronauts couldn’t reach the moon without a team. He needed to use his influence to move a whole lot of people from where they were (with a broken-down wall and broken-down city, vulnerable to attack, and defeated in heart and mind) to somewhere better. Nehemiah had the position of leader from King Artaxerxes, but at this point, he needed the people to actually follow him, which is what leadership is all about. Author John Maxwell writes, “He that thinketh he leadeth, and hath no one following, is only taking a walk.” (Maxwell, John C. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You (p. 20). (Function). Kindle Edition.) Now, before we finish our passage, I have to share four observations about Nehemiah’s pitch. It drives me nuts how often people say that something is a masterclass on social media. It’s usually not. But in just two verses here, Nehemiah gives a masterclass in leadership. First, he clearly defined the problem. “Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire.” That’s it. You couldn’t miss the problem. Now, I’m sure the people knew how dangerous it was to have a city with no wall. But Nehemiah spoke to how it affected their identity. They hadn’t only felt vulnerable, which they certainly were; they felt disgraced. They knew all their neighbors looked down on them. You can’t solve a problem you can’t articulate. But Nehemiah could, and he did. These people lived and worked and worshipped next to that crumbled wall every day. Did they not see it as a problem? Well, maybe they saw it as simply how their life was, and not the problem that it was. It’s funny, but once someone clearly defines the problem, the solution often seems obvious. Second, Nehemiah humbly identified with the people. He said they should do this project so that “we will no longer be in disgrace.” He didn’t claim to be better or smarter than them. Coming from the capital of Persia, he was likely better dressed and more educated than they were. He certainly would’ve known all the latest trends from the king’s court there in the capital of Susa. But he didn’t say, “You have a problem, and I have a solution”; he said, “We have a problem, and we are going to solve it.” The next time you encounter a problem at work or with your kids (even if your kids brought it all on themselves), try to identify with the people who need to be part of the solution. We have a problem here, and this is how we are going to fix it. Identifying with the people would have made Nehemiah a leader that people would love to follow. Third, he didn’t play favorites or politics. There were priests and nobles and other officials there in Jerusalem. I’m sure there were factions for and against all sorts of things. Instead, he gathered all the people to make the pitch. He needed the hearts of the people, not just the hands of the people. With the authority of the king and the small army that he brought from Persia, again, he could’ve forced the people to do the work. But instead, he appealed directly to them, and he won their hearts and hands, which was necessary, given the opposition they would face. Fourth, he told them about the gracious hand of God on his life before his arrival. He shared his testimony that God was already at work, providing favor and resources for the project. Now, this would’ve been a huge encouragement for people who likely felt like God had forgotten about them in the Exile. Scholars estimate that there were only about 50,000 people left living in Judah and maybe only 1,500 people living in broken-down Jerusalem at this time. They were a long way from the glory days of King David and King Solomon some 500 years earlier. But I don’t think this was only an effective leadership strategy (although it was that too). This is who Nehemiah was. We see his faith every step of the way in this project. Did you notice all the personal language around God in chapters 1-2? (e.g., “the gracious hand of my God,” “I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart,” “I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me,” and so on. We’ll see more examples as we go.) It’s definitely been my experience that the bigger the project that God places on your heart, the bigger the faith you need to make it happen—the more you’ll need to pray, the more you’ll need to read the Bible, the more you’ll need to worship, the more you’ll need to cry out to God for wisdom and strength and courage. But I think this was simply Nehemiah’s way of life. But with all this, it’s no wonder that the people are willing to join the team! They don’t argue or negotiate. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” Ok! With such a strong start, surely they wouldn’t immediately face opposition, would they? Yes. Yes, they would.
Nehemiah 2:19–20 (NIV), “19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?” 20 I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.” This is God’s word. Chapter 2 closes with the first round of the opposition Nehemiah and his team faced from their critics and enemies. And Nehemiah’s response is fascinating. He didn’t just tell them to take a hike. This was a serious threat. But why? Who were these guys? Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were political leaders of nearby territories. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, the territory to the north of Judah; Tobiah was the governor of Ammon, the territory east of Judah, across the Jordan River; and Geshem was likely from the territories in the Arabian desert to the south of Judah. So right out of the gates, as we could see, Nehemiah faced opposition from more powerful neighbors on all sides. They were surrounded. We’ll talk more about overcoming opposition when we get to chapter 4, but let’s briefly consider what happened here. You might not think that mocking and ridicule is that big of a deal, but remember that the people of Judah felt their condition was disgraceful. If they thought this project was doomed from the start, their lack of morale could kill it before it began. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of ridicule, you might know how they would’ve felt. We know that Jesus was mocked and ridiculed many times during his ministry, and he was the perfect man. Maybe it’s worth reminding you that this broken world is not a neutral playing field; it’s a spiritual battlefield with real enemies who seek to steal, kill, and destroy. This rebuilding project threatened the surrounding territories politically. Especially with Nehemiah’s relationship with the king! He was a political threat to their authority and influence in the region, and that was the only lens they had to understand what he was doing. They thought he was building up Jerusalem to make himself king in rebellion against King Artaxerxes. But Nehemiah didn’t respond with a political argument. He could’ve given them copies of the letter the king had given him to authorize this project, but he didn’t. What did he do instead? He didn’t leverage politics at all to defend himself. He said this was a spiritual project, not a political project. v.20, “I answered them by saying, ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.’” This was the Promised Land given to the Israelites by God. They were exiled for their covenant unfaithfulness by God. And now God was leading them back to the Promised Land, not even King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah firmly believed this was what God was doing. Amazing. First, because it was true! But second, because it undercut the political plots of these three opponents. And third, because it was exactly what the people of Judah needed to hear so they wouldn’t worry about what these guys had to say. Nehemiah was definitely the right guy for the job, although he will be tested again and again before we’re done. But today, how might we apply this text to our lives and our leadership? How might we apply this to our parenting? After all, what is parenting but using your influence to move someone (i.e., our kids) from where they are to somewhere better? Well, just like the astronauts of Apollo 11 and just like Nehemiah and his rebuilding project, you also need people. If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. As you plan your work, you’ll need to answer the question: Who do I need to make this plan work? Who needs to be involved? Who needs to be at the table? Do I need a big team, like Nehemiah? Or do I just need a few key people involved? We could look throughout the Bible and find perhaps hundreds of examples when God called a person to do something, and they needed to build a team to accomplish their calling. Even Jesus, the Son of God sent from heaven, the perfect man, called people to follow him. What are the twelve disciples but the team that Jesus built in order to establish his church in the world? Don’t give in to the voice of our culture or your pride that says you’re ok all on your own. God is the only truly independent being in the universe. God is totally sufficient in himself. God doesn’t need us, but this is one of the crazy-good aspects of creation: God wants us. A thread that runs throughout the Bible is God’s great heart to be with his people. God is constantly saying, you will be my people, and I will be your God. In the future, when Jesus returns and ushers in a new heaven and earth, the best thing about that is that there will no longer be any separation between people and God. God will dwell with us. You know, God could’ve saved us from sin and death without adopting us into his family. A firefighter can rescue a child from a burning building but is not obligated to take them home and become their father. But because of God’s great love for us, he not only wanted to save us from the power of sin and death; he wanted to be our Father in heaven. He wanted us to be his children. And if this is God’s heart for us, and if this is what God is doing in the world through the person and work of Jesus (including our eternal future!), then we must work together—as friends, as a church, as a denomination, as a nation, in every way possible. We too must resist seeing everything through a political lens. Like Nehemiah, our first lens should be spiritual. And in this broken world, with so many potential God-given burdens for so many needs, it is certainly true that if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. And who knows what God might accomplish through us, his beloved children, as we work together. Let us pray.
Nehemiah’s Prayer (Nehemiah): When Nehemiah heard about the desperate needs of the people living in Jerusalem during the Exile, he was deeply moved. Someone had to do something! So he prayed, and he planned, and he prayed some more. And when the time was right, he launched his plan. It’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work! Recorded on Sep 13, 2026, on Nehemiah 1:1-2:10 by Pastor David Parks.
This sermon is part of our series, Nehemiah: From Ruins to Revival. When Nehemiah heard about the desperate needs of the people living in Jerusalem during the Exile, he was deeply moved. Someone had to do something! Nehemiah’s story is what happens when wise and courageous leadership has a God-given burden to help. Nehemiah faced significant opposition and leadership challenges while mobilizing thousands of people to complete a major building project. But through it all, one thing was clear: It’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work!
Sermon Transcript
Our house wasn’t hit by the tornado at the end of July like some of you, but earlier this summer, we did have a storm that ripped a huge branch off one of the trees in our backyard. Actually, it wasn’t ripped all the way off; it was twisted and wound up leaning against another tree. So I called the tree service, and a few days later, they sent a crew of seven guys with four trucks, a skid steer with a giant claw, and the biggest woodchipper I had ever seen. And I am not exaggerating this at all; they had half a tree cut down, dragged the whole thing away, and then threw it all into the wood chipper. They were done in ten minutes and were fully gone in twenty. I couldn’t believe it! It was awesome to watch. I know there are people in the world who are lazy, and maybe another crew would’ve taken longer, but it’s amazing what can happen when people really get to work. We saw a lot of that after the tornado, too. Well, today, we’re starting a new sermon series from the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament called From Ruins to Revival. And the book of Nehemiah tells the story of when God’s people got to work. As we’ll see today, when Nehemiah heard about the condition of Jerusalem and its broken-down wall, while he was in exile in Persia, he was moved with compassion and then was moved into action, leading one of the greatest building projects in the Bible. But the rebuilding project went way beyond simply rebuilding the wall; the people were rebuilt as well. So Nehemiah, Ezra the priest, and others led the Israelites all the way from ruins to revival. Today, we’ll see the start of this amazing story. So if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Nehemiah 1:1, and we’ll unpack it as we go. Let’s jump in.
Nehemiah 1:1-4a (NIV), “1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” 4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.” The month of Kislev is roughly the month of November, and we’ll see that the 20th year mentioned here is the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, which would make this the year 445 BC. At that time, the Kingdom of Persia was the greatest superpower in the world. The Persians had displaced the Babylonian Empire pretty quickly after the death of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom you might remember from the book of Daniel. The Persians expanded the already great empire of the Babylonians and built an empire for themselves as the world had never seen, and Susa was the capital. It must have felt like the center of the world. But Nehemiah was one of the Jewish exiles who was living/working in Susa. If we look at a map, we can see that Susa, the capital of Persia, was almost a thousand miles from Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, a journey that would’ve taken months. Nehemiah was likely born in exile, but, as you can see, he was very far from his ancestral home. You might remember that about a year ago, we did a series on the book of Esther. Well, Esther was made queen in Susa 39 years earlier during the reign of King Xerxes, the father of the king during Nehemiah’s day, King Artaxerxes. We don’t know how old Nehemiah was here, but it’s very possible that he remembered Queen Esther, a fellow Israelite, in an almost unbelievable position of influence in the kingdom of Persia. In fact, she might’ve still been alive, even though King Xerxes had been murdered by the head of his bodyguard. But why were the Jewish people in exile to begin with? Well, let’s do a little Old Testament recap. In round numbers, God had promised Abraham and Sarah that he would make their family into a great nation around 2000 BC. This people became known as Israel but were enslaved in Egypt. So God called Moses around 1500 BC to lead his people to freedom in the Promised Land. During this time, God established a covenant, or relationship, with Israel that was based on the covenant law, or the law of Moses, which included the 10 Commandments. Israel prospered there, and by the year 1000 BC, King David was the greatest and most powerful king over the nation of Israel. But the people were not faithful to God or obedient to the covenant law. And even though God sent prophet after prophet to his people to call them to turn back to him, they continued to be unfaithful to him. So eventually, God raised up first the Assyrians, and then later, the Babylonians, to conquer Israel and then Judah, and to carry most of the people who weren’t killed into exile. The Babylonians conquered the city of Jerusalem and burned King Solomon’s Temple to the ground in 586 BC. The exile was by far the most traumatic experience in the history of the Jewish people, but it was one they brought on themselves. God had promised this would happen all the way back at Mount Sinai, but, maybe surprisingly, God did not abandon his people, even when they had largely abandoned him. He continued to send prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and more to his people before and during the exile. And God promised to bring his people back, restore them, and make a new covenant with them. And it was here, in Nehemiah’s day, about 500 years after the time of King David, that the people of God had started to return to the land that God promised them. This is why Nehemiah asked his brother about the condition of the people who survived the exile and the city of Jerusalem. But Hanani told him that the people there were “in great trouble and disgrace.” Why? Because “The wall of Jerusalem [was] broken down, and its gates [had] been burned with fire.” This was a major problem in their day. A city without a wall was a city without the ability to defend itself. They were open and vulnerable. For a people who had been through so much, this was not good. And we see that Nehemiah’s heart was broken over this. He sat down and wept. He was moved with compassion and the sense that this wasn’t right and needed to be fixed. But what could he do?
Nehemiah 1:4b-11 (NIV), “For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. 8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ 10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” I was cupbearer to the king.” So Nehemiah is obviously a man of great faith. He knew what God promised his people during the time of Moses. He knew that his people had not been faithful, and God rightly exiled them. But he also knew the character of God. He knew that God is a God of faithfulness, love, and mercy. He knew that God would forgive and would not hold their sin against them forever. He knew that God had rescued his people from captivity before, and he could do it again. So Nehemiah demonstrated his compassion by asking about those remaining in Jerusalem. Then, with his heart broken over what he heard, he sat down and wept, but then he fasted and prayed. He prayed a prayer of repentance and asked for forgiveness and favor in working to meet the needs of the people in Jerusalem. And then, at the end of chapter 1, we get a little detail that foreshadows what’s about to come in chapter 2. He said, “I was cupbearer to the king.” Now, this wasn’t a little task or an unimportant position. The cupbearer reported directly to the most powerful king in the most powerful kingdom on earth. And he was entrusted with great responsibility. For one thing, he was trusted to make sure Artaxerxes wasn’t poisoned by his enemies. But he also served as a trusted advisor. Nehemiah found himself, as a faithful man in a foreign country, in a position of power and influence similar to Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, or even Queen Ester before him. Despite the fact that he was in exile. Despite the fact that he served a pagan king of a brutal kingdom. God had positioned Nehemiah in order to accomplish a great purpose. And the rest of our series is all about what Nehemiah does about this great need in Jerusalem, how he does it, and what we can learn from it today.
Nehemiah 2:1-10 (NIV), “1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, 2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” 6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time. 7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. 9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.” This is God’s word. Nehemiah says he had not been sad in the king’s presence before. But why? Well, one of the reasons might be that, of course, you wouldn’t want to do anything as the cupbearer to provoke the suspicion of the king. Or maybe he was just normally a very happy guy. But either way, the king knew Nehemiah and his personality, and he noticed that something was wrong. And I love the honesty of Nehemiah in his response. He says he was very much afraid, but he still told the king why he was upset. There’s an important principle here: Courage isn’t the absence of fear. Courage is doing what is right, despite the risk, despite the chance of failure, despite your fear. But Nehemiah showed his wisdom in his approach to the king. He started with a customary greeting for the king, followed by a very diplomatic way of saying that his heart was broken over the condition of the city of Jerusalem. He didn’t mention it by name. And he didn’t accuse the king of neglect; after all, what is one city hundreds of miles away to the man who rules the empire? But all this leads to v. 4. The king knew Nehemiah. He had never acted this way before. But he probably consulted on numerous other projects of the kingdom. Nehemiah would never bring up something without having something in mind. He wouldn’t waste the king’s time in that way. “Ok, Nehemiah, what is it you want?” This reminds me of the time in Mt 20 where two blind men call out as Jesus was passing by, saying, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” It says that Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.” Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately, they received their sight and followed him. What is it that you want? What do you want me to do for you? How awkward would it have been if, at this point, Nehemiah said, “Well, Your Majesty, I’m going to have to think about that. Would you give me some time?” But not Nehemiah. He had spent a great deal of time praying and working out a plan to do something about the situation in Jerusalem. How do we know this? Because chapter 1 started in the month of Kislev, 4 months earlier than this conversation with the king. Nehemiah spent 4 months working on a plan and then watching for the right time to bring it up to the king. The timing of this conversation was certainly part of the plan. The month of Nisan was the Persian New Year, the perfect time to ask the king for help. Nehemiah was smart, but we see here that he wasn’t arrogant. He knew his careful planning might not work. But one of my favorite parts of Nehemiah’s story is both his faith and his courage in action. He is a man of action, AND he is a man of faith. He says, then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king. Now, it probably wasn’t much more than a quick “Help me, Lord!” kind of prayer. But we’ll see this again in his story. This was just part of his life. Nehemiah prayed before he did anything. As the Apostle Paul writes, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” At the end of chapter 1, he prayed that God would grant him success and favor with the king. And here in chapter 2, he prayed before he answered the king. But I would encourage you to just try this. Before you go into a meeting at work, pray about it. Before your kids come home from school, pray about it. Before you talk with a friend, before you come to church, before you worship/serve/give, pray about it. It doesn’t have to be long. Just open your heart to the influence of the Spirit of God, and expect God to speak into your life. Before I meet with people, I often ask, “Lord, do you have a word you want me to share with them?” While I’m listening in conversation, I’m also listening for God’s leading, and sometimes I’m praying for wisdom to respond. And very often, God answers, guides, directs, and provides what is needed. Now, I hope you know this, but as we see here, faith isn’t the opposite of action. Faith in God directs and empowers the right actions. But also notice that Nehemiah didn’t lead with his emotions. His heart was greatly moved by the news from Jerusalem, but he didn’t run off to Jerusalem in the middle of the night. Emotions are better followers than leaders. Never lead bold action with emotion alone. Nehemiah spent months of careful planning. He prayed and prayed, and he planned and planned. And once he planned his work, he worked the plan. But not his critics or his enemies (Sanballat or Tobiah) or even Satan himself could stop him. Now, some people are natural planners. They are careful and don’t act until they think things through. Other people are not natural planners. They jump and then think about where they should land. And I’m not saying that that’s sinful; it’s just not very wise. God wants us, his children, to be wise. But what was the outcome? The king not only gave Nehemiah permission to go, which would take him away from his responsibilities as the king’s cupbearer, likely for years, but the king also gave Nehemiah everything he needed to do the project! And again, we see his faith in the statement that all this was because the gracious hand of his God was on him. Nehemiah prayed, planned, prayed, took action, and then gave God the credit when it all worked out. But today, as we start this series, the big idea, really for the whole series, is this: It’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work! So far, only Nehemiah has started to work. But soon, we’ll see him mobilize thousands of people to get to work. But it all started with a God-given burden for the people and the city of Jerusalem. His heart was deeply moved by their need. So he prayed and acted with courage because he trusted that God would provide what he needed. So today, what might it look like if, as a church, we got to work? Do we have a God-given burden about anything today? Does any need in our church or in our community move our hearts? And if so, what are we going to do about it? I pray that we would act with the courage, wisdom, and faith we see here in Nehemiah. If a few guys could work together to clear a big tree branch in ten minutes, what could we do if we worked together as a church? Now, just because God’s gracious hand was on him doesn’t mean everything was easy. There’s a little foreshadowing at the end of our passage with the mention of Sanballat and Tobiah. We’ll see that Nehemiah would face very strong opposition and difficulties as a leader. But the Lord was faithful; Nehemiah led well, and again, it’s amazing what can happen when God’s people get to work. I think you’re going to like this series. Let us pray.
Making Room in the Church (Make Room): In back-to-back encounters, Jesus demonstrates his heart for welcoming all kinds of people, including those with sketchy reputations. But for those who admit they need a savior, Jesus becomes a friend who changes everything. And this experience is the heartbeat behind making room for more people in the church. Recorded on Sep 6, 2026, on Mark 2:1-17 by Pastor David Parks.
Make Room is a three-part sermon series considering the need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Why? Because more people need good news! More people need the life and love, the freedom and forgiveness, and so much more that is only found in Christ. Our prayer is that in the coming years, many more people will experience the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sermon Transcript
Today, we’re finishing a quick, three-week series called Make Room to revisit some of the Biblical foundations of our 2030 Ministry Vision. Back in 2024, the elder board spent months praying/talking about who we are as a church, where God was bearing fruit in our ministry, and where we believed God was leading us in the years leading up to 2030. And, as we’ve said for the past few weeks, the phrase that kept coming up was “make room.” We needed to make room in response to the growth we had experienced and to prepare for what God might do in and through our church in the future. And in many ways, that’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do for the past two years. We’ve multiplied worship services, community groups, ministry teams, our staff team and elder board, and more. And as we planted and watered the seeds of gospel ministry, God continued to bring the growth. Now, by God’s grace, we’ve come a long way in the last two years, and we’ve seen an incredible spirit of unity, joy, and gratitude even with so many changes—but we’re not done yet. As we start phase 2 of this plan, we still need to make room. This whole Make Room initiative was founded on three big ideas: We need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. This is what our 2030 Vision and all these plans and changes are all about. Last week, we focused on making room for more people in our lives. Today, we’ll focus on making room for more people in our church. So today, how can we make room for more people in our lives? I want to show you how people with all sorts of needs and reputations were welcomed by Jesus into the community of his people, who became the church. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Mark 2. As you head there, just a little context: Mark was written by John Mark, an assistant to the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul at different times in their ministries. It’s believed that Mark based his gospel accounts of the life and ministry on the eyewitness testimony of the Apostle Peter, and it is likely the earliest written gospel, likely in the mid-60s AD. Our passage for the day has two different stories of maybe unexpected people who were welcomed by Jesus. Let’s jump in.
Mark 2:1–7 (NIV), “1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Ok! Let’s pause here. It’s only chapter 2, and Jesus is already accused of blasphemy. But why? Well, Mark says this happened in the town of Capernaum. If we look at a map, we can see that Capernaum was located on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, only about 20 miles from Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. Much of his early ministry was done in the northern region of Galilee, and many of the Twelve were from there as well. The Apostle Peter had a house in Capernaum, the ruins of which you can still visit today. And at this point in his ministry, Jesus was becoming popular, and it appears that Capernaum was the home base for his ministry. In chapter 1, Mark says that after healing a bunch of people, “News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee” (Mk 1:28). People started coming from all over, wanting to hear this new teacher or maybe hoping he would heal them or someone they loved. Here in chapter 2, we have Jesus back in Capernaum with a crowd of people trying to cram into, presumably, the house where Jesus was staying, and “he preached the word to them.” Jesus’ main ministry before the cross and the empty tomb was to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. But then, his preaching was interrupted, probably at first by hearing a bunch of men up on the roof, then by the dust and debris falling down as they started digging through the roof. Can you imagine if someone started coming down through our ceiling? I’m picturing everyone staring the whole time. Like, “Who do these guys think they are, interrupting this important sermon?” But when this paralyzed man came floating down through the roof, was Jesus irritated? Was he angry or offended? Not at all. In v.5, Mark says that “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” And everyone thought, “Wait, what?” How could Jesus forgive a man all his sins? You and I can forgive someone for how they sinned against you, but I can’t forgive all your sins. Only God can do that. And here, we find that the accusation of the teachers of the law, meaning the Law of Moses—the religious leaders of Capernaum—is not that unreasonable. “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” That’s true! Only God can justify and declare someone to be fully not guilty. Now, if Jesus wanted a good ministry career, he should have cleared this up immediately. He wasn’t trying to claim to have the same authority as God to forgive sins, right? Let’s see.
Mark 2:8-12 (NIV), “8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” No kidding, right? Jesus is one of one. But instead of being embarrassed or scared and claiming it was all a big misunderstanding, Jesus doubled down. He knew what they were thinking. And he wanted them “to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” so he questioned them, “Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?” Jesus was making the point that words are cheap and that claiming forgiveness of sins couldn’t be proven. Jesus could be lying. But healing someone of paralysis would be proven immediately. And who else but God has the power to do that kind of healing? So if Jesus has the power of God to heal, could he not have the power to forgive as well? Then, in dramatic fashion, Jesus said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man believed and obeyed, was fully healed, and walked out on his own two feet. People were amazed and praised God because they knew they’d seen a miracle. Incidentally, the Son of Man was the title that Jesus claimed the most often for himself. It primarily comes from Daniel 7, but unlike the titles of “Messiah,” “Christ,” or “Son of God,” which had a lot of false expectations associated with them, the “Son of Man” title was relatively unused, which, I think, allowed Jesus to use it like an empty container he could fill with the truth about who he was and what he had come from heaven to do. And what was the point of all this? The Son of Man, Jesus, has the authority of God himself on the earth to forgive sins. So first, we have an unexpected interruption who was not only welcomed but also healed and forgiven by faith. Let’s consider the second unexpected person.
Mark 2:13–17 (NIV), “13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This is God’s word. So Jesus went out beside the lake, that is, the Sea of Galilee, and he was teaching a large crowd of people. But as he walked along, maybe after he was done teaching, Mark says that Jesus saw a man named Levi, who was a tax collector, and he called Levi to follow him, and he did! Now, we don’t know if this was the first interaction between Jesus and Levi. Mark doesn’t say, but I would guess it wasn’t. Levi had probably heard Jesus teach, and they might’ve gotten to know each other before this day. Either way, this was the day that Jesus called, and Levi gave up everything, including a lucrative career, to follow Jesus. We’ve talked about tax collectors before, but in their day, they were often very wealthy but not well-liked. They carried out what amounted to legal extortion on behalf of the Roman government, and no one was happy about it. We get a little bit of that sense in v. 15, when the only people who hung out with Levi were other tax collectors and people generally known as sinners. Levi wasn’t friends with normal people. These people were his only friends. So isn’t it interesting that Jesus would want a man like Levi to become his disciple? But even more, that Jesus would want to spend time with all of them, coming over for dinner at Levi’s house? But it’s so great that when Levi met Jesus and gave his life to follow him, Levi wanted all his friends to meet Jesus. No matter how Levi got the money he had, he was now putting it to good use, both honoring Jesus and introducing his friends to Jesus. Again, Jesus has a confrontation with the Pharisees. Probably still wondering if Jesus had intentionally committed blasphemy, they now see him spending time with all the wrong kinds of people: tax collectors and sinners! What good, God-fearing rabbi would behave in such a way? Surely, Jesus needed to be rebuked. (Or, at least they should passive-aggressively mention it to his disciples!) And again, Jesus’ response leaves them speechless. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Now, Jesus is not saying that there are a bunch of righteous people who don’t need salvation or forgiveness from God, and that he had only come for the losers. The whole Bible is a record of the repeated failures of human beings to be righteous on their own. Ever since the fall to sin, this has been a broken world, marred and distorted by the power of sin and death, and every one of us has contributed in some way, great or small, to the brokenness of this world. Parents of young children know this is true: from the moment a child can tell right from wrong, they often intentionally choose wrong. They’re cute little sinners, but sinners in need of salvation by grace nonetheless. The problem is, some people think they’re above the need to be saved. They think, through their good works, maybe even their religious works, that they are righteous and that God must accept them on account of their righteousness. They think they can climb up to heaven without help. No wonder they think they’re above other people! We feel this disdain as the Pharisees look down their noses at Jesus’ association with people everyone knew were unrighteous. “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But what’s the first step of any good recovery program? To admit you have a problem and can’t fix it yourself. You need to admit you need help. You can’t really help someone who doesn’t believe they need it. Jesus isn’t saying he came to help the people who need it; everybody needs help. But these tax collectors and sinners, all the wrong kinds of people, they know they have a problem that they can’t fix. They know they need help. They need a savior. And these are the people that Jesus was more than willing to tarnish his reputation by spending time with them. But why? Was Jesus morally permissive? Was he theologically liberal, cutting out the parts of the Hebrew Bible that he didn’t like or want to follow? Not at all. Morality and righteousness absolutely mattered to Jesus. In fact, the problem of sin is so great in the eyes of Jesus that he was willing to suffer and die on the cross to deal with it. Jesus died the death we deserve, atoning for our sins, to do for us what we could not do on our own. This is how we can be forgiven for all our sins. Jesus paid for them all. So even a guy like Levi could be forgiven. Why? Because he trusted in Jesus and followed him. But you know what happened as Levi followed Jesus? He was pruned, as we discussed two weeks ago. God the Father was at work in his life, by the truth of his word and the power of his Spirit, removing from his heart, mind, and way of life what was unhealthy or unhelpful, and guiding him through situations that would cause him to grow more and more into the likeness of Christ. And as Levi continued to follow Jesus, eventually, he was chosen to be one of the Twelve apostles. And later, Levi, also known as Matthew, and perhaps using the skills he developed as a tax collector, wrote down his eyewitness account of the life and ministry of Jesus in the gospel that bears his name to this day. If Jesus could do all this with a sinner like Levi, what do you think he could do with someone like you? In both of these encounters with Jesus, he welcomed people with all sorts of needs and reputations into the community of his people, who became the church. But in both stories, we find people who believed in Jesus and invited others to come and meet him. In the first story, the four friends had to make room, starting an unscheduled remodel project on the roof; otherwise, their friend would never have been healed. And, friends, if you have to dig through a ceiling to introduce someone to Jesus, I’ll bring the shovel! In the second story, it cost Levi something to throw this party for Jesus and all his friends. It wasn’t free. But Levi was happy to pay. He knew that following Jesus was worth it, and he wanted his friends to experience the same thing. Today, we’re talking about the need to make room for more people in our church. And this passage reveals the heartbeat of Jesus behind this work. He came for all kinds of people—for anyone who would admit they need a savior. And he welcomed them. He befriended them. He taught them. He healed them. He forgave them. And he called them to follow him and learn a new way of life in the kingdom of God. But, my friends, isn’t that what we are supposed to do as followers of Jesus today? Isn’t that what we should be busy doing as a church? Welcoming all kinds of people and helping them know and follow Jesus? If Jesus has had such a big impact in our lives, if he has saved us from sin and death, if he has befriended us, and if we have an eternal place in his kingdom, then wouldn’t we want other people to experience that as well? Wouldn’t we be motivated to do whatever we can to make that happen? Now, we can’t change people’s hearts. I’ve tried, and I can’t. Only God can change someone’s heart. But we can share good news, pray for people, serve/love them, and invite them to come and see what following Jesus is all about, as we do our best to live with integrity and genuine faith. But if we do this, then some people will come and see; they’ll hear and believe the gospel, and they will join the community of God’s people, which is the church. Jesus said that he will build his church, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt 16:18) And as Jesus does his work, saving sinners, we need to make room for more people in our church. We’ve had to make room in our church many times over the last fifteen years. We started meeting in the Harwood Room at the YMCA, which was only a large conference room. And we used one classroom across the hall for a nursery. Then, we moved upstairs to the Appvion Gym and used 3 classrooms for kids’ ministry. Then, we moved downstairs to the McGuire Gym and used 4 classrooms. Then, we moved into this building and were able to use all this space throughout the week, and not just on Sundays. Each time, these moves were costly. But they were done to make room for more people in our church. It was worth the cost. In fact, we were happy to pay. But how can we make room today? I’ll give you three thoughts. First, your financial giving helps make room. Because of your generosity, we’ve been able to buy equipment, hire ministry staff, and pay for building facility space. Second, this year, we had a number of people offer to host a new community group or Bible study to make room for more people to connect in community. Just like Levi, giving your money, time, or your living room can be costly. But it’s worth it. Third, joining a ministry team is another way to make room for more people in the church. Because the more people we have who love and serve people around here, the more people we’ll be able to love and serve. Everybody is needed, and everybody has been gifted by God to contribute in meaningful ways. Finally, we’re in the final stages of planning a capital campaign for a new building facility, which, if it’s God’s will, will make a whole lot more room in the years ahead. So let’s not have a small imagination about what God might do in and through our little church. If we believe and obey Jesus, and welcome people as he did, and continue to make room for others, then God only knows where we’ll be or what we’ll look like in 2030. “20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Eph 3:20–21).
Making Room for People (Make Room): When Jesus was invited to dinner at a prominent religious leader’s house, he encountered pride, selfishness, and a lack of concern for those in need. Instead, making room for people requires humility, generosity, and welcoming hospitality. Recorded on Aug 30, 2026, on Luke 14:1-14 by Pastor David Parks.
Make Room is a three-part sermon series considering the need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Why? Because more people need good news! More people need the life and love, the freedom and forgiveness, and so much more that is only found in Christ. Our prayer is that in the coming years, many more people will experience the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sermon Transcript
Today, we’re continuing a quick, three-week series called Make Room to revisit some of the Biblical foundations of our 2030 Ministry Vision. Back in 2024, the elder board spent months praying/talking about who we are as a church, where God was bearing fruit in our ministry, and where we believed God was leading us over the next 5-7 years. The phrase that kept coming up was “make room.” We needed to make room. We needed to make room in response to the growth we had experienced and to prepare for what God might do in and through our church in the future. And in many ways, that’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do for the past two years. But as we tried to make more room, God continued to bring more growth. By God’s grace, we’ve come a long way in the last two years, and we’ve seen an incredible spirit of unity, joy, and gratitude even with so many changes that might make things uncomfortable. As I said last week, way to go. But we’re not done yet. We still need to make room. Now, this whole Make Room initiative was founded on three big ideas: We need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. This is what our 2030 Vision and all these plans and changes are all about. As we start phase 2 of this plan, we want to revisit these three big ideas. Last week, we focused on the most important of the three, making room for more of God in our lives. Today, we’ll focus on making room for more people in our lives. So today, how can we make room for more people in our lives? So if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Luke 14:1. As you head there, just a little context: Luke was a physician who came to faith in Jesus through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Luke didn’t know Jesus personally, but he did a careful investigation into the life and ministry of Jesus by interviewing eyewitnesses. Let’s jump in.
Luke 14:1–6 (NIV), “1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. 5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” 6 And they had nothing to say.” Ok, so what’s going on here? Two things to explain: First, the Pharisees, and second, the Sabbath. First, who were the Pharisees? The Pharisees were conservative religious leaders, like the pastors of their day. They taught and led in local Jewish synagogues; they opposed Rome (they didn’t like Roman rule of Judea), and they were generally respected as among the most outwardly moral people in their communities. I once heard someone say that you’d want your daughter to marry a Pharisee. But did you get the sense here that they weren’t crazy about Jesus? Luke says that at this point in Jesus’ public ministry, the Pharisees were carefully watching him. And then, when Jesus forced this confrontation about healing on the Sabbath, they had nothing to say. But this doesn’t feel like they were all silently cheering him on, right? So far in Luke’s gospel, Jesus has had several confrontations with the Pharisees, and at different turns he has humiliated them and made them furious. So here, they weren’t watching him to see whether what he said was true or whether they might want to become his disciples; they were watching him to see whether they could discredit or undermine his ministry. But, to be fair, Jesus had some of the harshest and most critical things to say to religious leaders who looked good on the outside, but on the inside, their hearts were far from God, and who were leading God’s people astray. Now, Jesus wasn’t a liberal who was only against conservatives. He had equally critical things to say about the Sadducees and the experts of the Law, who were politically liberal. Jesus had a problem with religious leaders who were not leading the people according to God’s word and his ways. They were shepherds who were using and abusing the sheep. So this confrontation here is about religious hypocrisy. Second, we see this in the reference to the Sabbath. And what was the Sabbath again? The word “Sabbath” means to stop or cease, and it refers to a weekly day of rest. The fifth of the Ten Commandments is to “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…” (Ex 20:8-10). This command was based on God’s pattern of work and rest in creation and was meant to be a blessing to everyone in his kingdom from the greatest to the least. In their day, the Sabbath went from Friday evening to Saturday evening. And Jesus didn’t have a problem with people who were trying to keep the Sabbath day holy. As you might guess from our passage, he had a problem with all the rules that people like the Pharisees added to the Scriptures about what constituted work on the Sabbath. Could you heal someone like this poor man, who was suffering for an unknown period of time with an affliction that caused edema, or abnormal swelling in his body? The spirit of the Sabbath law was to be a blessing to God’s people, not to be an excuse to stop caring for people or serving people who were hurting or in great need. As Jesus says, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” One of the things Jesus seems to imply here is that if they had a child or an animal that was theirs, wouldn’t they help them if they were in need? The implication is that they were not seeing this poor man as their own responsibility, as someone they were expected to love and to help. They didn’t want to be interrupted by this man or his needs and used the Sabbath as an excuse. No wonder they had no comeback. But to make this more awkward, Jesus confronts the Pharisees on the way to be a guest at the house of a prominent Pharisee! How do you think dinner is going to go? Let’s see.
Luke 14:7-11 (NIV), “7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” From this interaction, you might think, “Would I want to invite Jesus to a dinner party?” But Jesus must have normally been great to have at a party because he was constantly being invited. And people from all walks of life, including children, wanted to be around him. So he must’ve normally been a fun person. But he was coming in hot here. He goes from the confrontation over using the Sabbath as an excuse to ignore the needs of others to speaking against what he saw the people doing at the Pharisees’ house. And what were they doing? The guests (lit. those who were called) were not humbly enjoying the company of others at the party; they were jostling for positions of honor for themselves. Jesus often taught in parables, that is, stories with a point (often a point that lands as a punch) that teach something about the kingdom of God. And here, Jesus uses the very party he was at as the basis for his parable. A point I’m sure the guests of the party would’ve understood, albeit uncomfortably. (“I think he’s talking about us.”) But what was the point? v.11 “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Humility is a big deal in the kingdom of God; it’s one of the highest virtues for a Christian. 1 Peter 5:5–6 (NIV), “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” In the book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis describes a genuinely humble person as someone you might find cheerful and intelligent who takes a real interest in what you have to say. “He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.” (Lewis, C. S.. Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics) (p. 128). (Function). Kindle Edition.) Rick Warren famously defined humility as not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less. (The Purpose Driven Life, p. 265). But why is humility such a big deal? Because when you are focused on what you can get out of life, even at a dinner party, do you know what you’ll miss? You miss out on many opportunities to love other people. When you’re jostling for the best seat, you’ll miss out on what’s going on with the people around you. If you’re only focused on your needs, will you even notice the needs of your neighbor? Probably not. People are not pawns in some game of status. They are men and women created in the image of God, whom we are commanded to love as God has loved us first. But Jesus isn’t done. He has one more thing to say to the host.
Luke 14:12–14 (NIV), “12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” This is God’s word. And this last part makes me wonder if the man Jesus healed had been sitting, possibly begging, just outside the house, but was never invited in. Just as the guests had missed an opportunity to be humble and care for others’ needs, so had the host. It appears that the guest list was determined by how the guests might repay the host; in other words, how they might benefit the host. The party wasn’t an act of generosity to be a blessing to the guests. It was an act of selfishness. How do you think God might feel about this at the resurrection, when we will have to give an account of our lives to him? Thank goodness this isn’t the calculation he does with us! If God based his desire to save us on what we could do for him, no one would be saved. God is entirely self-sufficient; he doesn’t need anything from any of us. But in addressing this self-centeredness, Jesus focuses on people who are poor or disabled in some way. And this is consistent with God’s heart from cover to cover in the Bible. The Proverbs are full of passages like Proverbs 14:31 (NIV): “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” God personally identifies with the poor and those in need. When we are kind to them, we honor God. God doesn’t care about these games of status or how you might be repaid in the future. If you honor God, he will repay you for all eternity! I love what commentator Darrell Bock says about this. He writes, “The best hospitality is that which is given, not exchanged…[it’s] generosity when no motive exists besides giving.” (Bock, Darrell L. Luke: 9:51–24:53. Baker Academic, 1996, p. 1266.) So Jesus probably wasn’t invited back to this Pharisee’s house, but who knows! Jesus wasn’t confrontational to be mean. He was offering a rebuke to spiritual leaders who should’ve known better. Maybe after reflecting on Jesus’ teaching, the Pharisee repented. It wouldn’t be the first time that happened, or the last. But what do we do with this teaching today? Well, as we think about making room for more people in our lives, we all need to carefully think through our heart attitudes and motivations to be sure we are honoring God in how we think, speak, and act. To be clear, I don’t think you need a rebuke. I see the fruit of genuine humility, generosity, and love around this church all the time. So many of you are connected to others in your community groups, men’s and women’s bible studies, and kids’ ministry groups. Many of you sacrifice time and energy in hosting or helping to organize these groups in your homes. On Sundays, I see many of you act as if you’re on the hospitality team (even when you’re not) by initiating conversations with others, introducing yourselves, inviting someone out to lunch after worship, and just generally being very welcoming and loving. One of the most consistent things I hear in our Discovering Membership class is how welcome people felt when they started attending. Of course, we’re not perfect. And sometimes people do not feel welcome, for whatever reason. But last week, we talked about how Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. And how God works in our lives to prune us so that we will be even more fruitful as disciples of Jesus. And everything I just mentioned is the kind of fruit that God wants us to produce. But just as God is at work among us to make us even more fruitful, so even people who already welcome people into their lives can grow in this as well. So today, how can we make room for more people in our lives? I’ll give you three thoughts from this passage. 1) By being willing to be interrupted by people (and their needs). Even when it’s inconvenient at times, choosing instead to work for their good. 2) By resisting the destructive pull of pride. Even when we might be able to get ahead or raise our status, choosing instead to be humble. 3) By welcoming in all kinds of people. Not just the ones who would obviously benefit you. Not just the ones who might repay you in the future. If we were to put these principles into practice, it would make room in our schedules, our hearts, and our homes. Finally, let’s come back to the word that Luke uses for guest. The root word translated as “guest,” or the ones who were “invited,” is the Greek word kaleo, or “called.” And being called is one of the most common ways the NT describes Christians. Acts 2:39, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Ro 1:6, “And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” 1Co 1:9, “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 2Ti 1:9, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.” And on and on. So if we have been called, called into a relationship with God, called to the great wedding banquet of the Lamb, called to be a beloved son or daughter in the family of God through faith in Jesus, then we ought to be people who see the need for others to be called. Called into relationship, invited in, welcomed into our hearts, homes, and lives. We need to make room for more of God in our lives. But as we do this, we need to make room for more people in our lives as well. May it be, Lord. May we be people who are humble, generous, and loving to all kinds of people. And so provide a picture to a watching world of what the kingdom of God is really like. Let us pray.
Making Room for God (Make Room): How do we make room for more of God in our lives? By remaining connected to Jesus, our true vine. He is our Source. As we stay connected to him, we (the branches) are pruned by God to be more like Christ. This is what the Christian life and spiritual growth are all about! Recorded on Aug 23, 2026, on John 15:1-8 by Pastor David Parks.
Make Room is a three-part sermon series considering the need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Why? Because more people need good news! More people need the life and love, the freedom and forgiveness, and so much more that is only found in Christ. Our prayer is that in the coming years, many more people will experience the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sermon Transcript
So, for the next three weeks, we’re doing something a little different in our preaching ministry. Normally, our sermon series are based on a book of the Bible, like our series on Jonah in the spring, the book of Revelation that we just finished, or the book of Nehemiah that we’ll start in September. But today, we’re starting a three-week series called Make Room to revisit some of the Biblical foundations of our 2030 Ministry Vision. Some of you weren’t around two years ago, but back in 2024, the elder board spent months praying/talking about who we are as a church, where God was bearing fruit in our ministry, and where we believed God was leading us over the next 5-7 years. The outcome of this process was that we didn’t feel that God was leading us in a dramatically new direction. We didn’t need to reinvent ourselves or radically change our mission, vision, or values. Instead, the phrase that kept coming up was “make room.” We needed to make room. We needed to make room in response to the growth we had experienced and to prepare for what God might do in and through our church in the future. And in many ways, that’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do for the past two years. We’ve gone from one to two worship services, multiplied our community groups, expanded our kids’ ministry, hired a full-time associate pastor, expanded our staff team, and more. As we tried to make room, God continued to bring the growth. By God’s grace, we’ve come a long way in the last two years, even getting some of the things we thought would have to wait until phase 2 done in phase 1! I’m very proud of how so many of you have stepped up in the face of some significant changes around here and have risen to the challenge and potential discomfort of making room. Even change for the best can be hard to deal with. But we’ve seen an incredible spirit of unity, joy, and gratitude here over the past two years. Way to go. But we’re not done yet; there’s more work to do. We still need to make room. But in what ways? Well, there are many plans and logistical details, but this whole Make Room initiative was founded on three big ideas: We need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. This is what our 2030 Vision and all these plans and changes are all about. But now it’s 2026, and as we start phase 2 of this plan, we wanted to revisit these three big ideas. So today, how can we make room for more of God in our lives? If you’re a follower of Jesus, this is always a good question, because Christians are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If there’s some corner of your life that remains relatively untouched by your faith, that’s probably the place where we need to make room for more of him. If you’re not a follower of Jesus, this sermon will help you better understand what it might look like to become a Christian. So if you have your Bible/app, please open it to John 15:1. As you head there, just a little context: We’re coming into the middle of one of Jesus’ longer teachings, known as the Upper Room Discourse. But more importantly, what’s going on is that Jesus is teaching his closest friends/followers on the night of all nights—the night before his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and death. Let me ask you this: if you knew you were dying tomorrow, what would you want to tell the closest people in your life? Only the most important things, right? Let’s see what Jesus had to say.
John 15:1–8 (NIV), “1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” This is God’s word. The gospel of John comes to us from the Apostle John, the author of the book of Revelation we just finished. John was likely a young man and a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him and his older brother, James, to become his disciples and follow him. Along with Peter and James, John became one of Jesus’ closest disciples. Again, this is the night before the cross of Christ. And Jesus is telling the Twelve (minus Judas at this point in the evening) some very important things to help them not only get through the next few traumatic days, but to equip them for the whole of the Christian life. And there are few other passages as important as John 15 for understanding what life looks like with Jesus. Now, Jesus is a brilliant teacher. And he uses the analogy of the vine and the branches to teach us something about himself, about us, and about the work that God is doing in our lives when we are connected to him. Just like in Revelation, the number seven is a big deal in John’s gospel because the number seven represents wholeness or completion. And the statement of Jesus, “I am the true vine…” is the seventh of seven “I AM” statements of Jesus in John’s gospel. I am the bread of life, the light of the world, and so on. For Jewish people, they would have known that “I AM” refers to the divine name of God in the OT (God said, “I AM WHO I AM,” to Moses in the burning bush (Ex 3:14)), so these “I AM” statements are making a claim to the divinity of Jesus. But also, these statements reveal something about Jesus’ mission/purpose. So what does this “I AM” statement mean about who Jesus is and what he’s up to? Well, here, he says, “I am the true vine,” which is a metaphor meaning that he is the source of life for the branches—that is, for his disciples. He makes that clear in v. 5. And if there’s a branch that fails to produce fruit, it’s cut off. More likely, if a branch isn’t bearing fruit, it wasn’t connected to the vine in the first place. But every branch that does bear fruit—every believer who receives the life of Jesus from the source and bears the fruit of the Spirit, fruit of righteousness, goodness, and truth—then they are, what, good to go? No! Every branch that is connected to the vine, every believer who receives the life of Jesus and is fruitful, is pruned by God the Father to be even more fruitful. Now, I’m guessing that most of us don’t have an extensive farming background. So, to prune something means to remove anything that hinders life. With a tomato plant, pruning might mean removing a branch that is too low or has been damaged somehow and is unproductive. With a person, pruning might mean correcting a false belief or removing a destructive habit that harms their identity/worth, their obedience to Christ, or their view of God. I’ve been following Jesus for many years now. But there are still things in my life that need to be pruned. I bet the same is true for you too. But isn’t this a beautiful picture of life in God’s kingdom? The kingdom of God is like a garden where God is not far off and removed from our lives; he’s the gardener. He walks through his garden, looking for ways to prune us so that we might be even better connected to the vine, more able to grow and flourish, and to be even more fruitful in life. And God isn’t doing this work as a chore. This is all to his glory! Is this how you picture God’s work in your life? Many people picture God sitting back, waiting to judge us for our failures. But according to Jesus, when we are connected to him, God is our Father who works in our lives, helping us to grow and flourish. This is as true on Sunday morning as it is on Tuesday afternoon or Friday night. But what does Jesus mean in v. 3 when he says, “You are already clean [pruned] because of the word I have spoken to you”? Well, this is just a bit of wordplay from the Apostle. John loves to use words with double meanings when both meanings work. The word for “clean” is the same word as pruned. Not that you would normally wash a branch to make it clean in your garden, but here, the pruning work of God starts in the lives of the followers of Jesus when they are saved, made clean, and set apart for his purposes. It’s not that God cleans us up so we might be worth saving. Remember, Jesus is talking to people who have already put their faith in him. Believers are connected to the vine when we hear and believe the word of the gospel. As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 10:17 (NIV), “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” God saves us by his grace alone through faith alone in the person and work of Christ alone, especially his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. But when we hear and believe the gospel and are saved, we are made clean before God. We are justified and forgiven for our sins. But then, the process of sanctification starts. Salvation happens in an instant. But sanctification is the lifelong process by which God the Father transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ. This is where the metaphor of pruning comes in. Now listen, I know that having something stripped out of your heart or life can be very painful. Even something that is harmful to us can be painful to lose. But we must remember that we have a good Father who loves us and does this pruning work in our lives for our good. Nothing that God removes from our lives is without a purpose. Even tragedies can be used for our good. But here, Jesus says that his branches have been cleaned (saved) by his word—that is, the word of God. We are both saved and sanctified by the word of God. But it’s more than Bible study or Biblical knowledge that is needed. We need far more than a list of memorized facts about God to be sanctified—we need a real relationship with a real person. We must abide in Christ. Jesus is very clear about this. In v.4, he says, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…apart from meyou can do nothing.” Do you really believe that? I’ve been a pastor for over fifteen years now. And I feel like I know pretty much what I’m supposed to be doing and even how I’m supposed to do it most of the time. But apart from the life and power and Spirit and truth of Christ, I can do nothing. Maybe it would even look for a season like my life or this church was bearing fruit, but apart from Christ, it would not be fruit that would last. Cut flowers still look alive for a few days. But they’re really dead; they’re disconnected from their source of life. It’s only a matter of time before that will be obvious. But if we remain in him, then we will bear much fruit! No matter how much money you might have in the bank or how many fans you have on social media, your life will be productive; your life will matter as a little outpost of the kingdom of God. The life-giving power of Jesus will produce certain things in and through us. Now, this really affects almost every area of life, but one example Jesus gives here is in prayer. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you,ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Now, have you ever prayed a prayer that didn’t seem to be done for you? I have. Jesus isn’t saying that God is like the genie in Aladdin who always grants our wishes. I think what he’s getting at here is that the more our hearts and minds are filled with the truth of God’s word and the power of his Spirit, and the longer that we sincerely try to follow the way of Jesus, the more our desires will start to conform to God’s will/way. And when that happens, you’ll pray better prayers, prayers more aligned with God’s heart—prayers that will be answered! This is no different than any other personal relationship. The more you get to know someone, the more you’ll know what they might think about something. I wouldn’t ask Holly to do something for me that violates her character or that I know she hates. I doubt she’d want to do that. Prayer works the same way because our God is a personal God. In v. 8, Jesus gives us the threefold purpose of all this. “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” First, we are pruned so that we will be as fruitful as possible. This is the normal reason for pruning in a garden. But in the Christian life, this work is done to remove things from our lives that prevent us from growing to be more like Jesus. In other words, to make room for more of God in our lives! But second, we are pruned so that others would know that we are disciples of Jesus. Both the fruit of our lives and our ability to grow in fruitfulness over time serve as a testimony to others that we are indeed connected to the vine; that we have a different Source, and one that is completely good and true. If there are no discernible differences in the fruit of your life, in your values, habits, attitude, or character, why would anyone think you have a different source of life than they do? Much less one they would want! Third, and most importantly, we are pruned so that our lives will glorify God. As we often say, God loves us exactly as we are today, but he loves us too much to leave us as we are. As he does his pruning work, and as we are able to bear even more fruit as a result, our lives become more and more aligned with and directed towards the glory of God. As the Jewish leaders recognized when they spoke with Peter and John in Acts 4. Acts 4:13 (NIV), “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” They were connected to the vine. Others could see it. They took note of it, and it glorified God. So, what does this mean for us today? Well, the offer to be connected to Jesus the Vine, to become a friend of Jesus, is still available today. Anyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus becomes spiritually connected to the true source of all the life, love, joy, and peace found in him. Would you put your faith in him and be saved (made clean) today? But anyone connected to Jesus in this way will bear fruit, and they will be pruned by the Father to be even more fruitful in Christ. This will impact your prayers for sure. But as God continues to do his work in your life, and as we join him in the work he is doing—making room, rearranging things, stripping some things away, and adding what we need—this good work will impact and transform everything in your life! And in a very real way, this is what it looks like to follow Jesus. This is what our mission and vision as a church are all about. We are sharing good news so that the gospel of Jesus Christ will transform people in every way because we’re saved and sanctified by his word. We need to make room for more of God in our lives. This is what God is doing in the world. This is what Jesus wanted to talk about as one of the most important things, right? God is multiplying his life, love, joy, and peace out to the ends of the earth through Jesus Christ, his son, the true vine. And if all this is true, then we had better make room for more of God in our lives. Let us pray.
The Epilogue (Revelation): How can the church make it to the end? After the description of the city of God and the perfected glory of the age to come, Revelation ends with the sure promise of Christ’s return. Because Christ’s return is certain, God’s people can trust his word, endure faithfully, and live with hope as we wait for him. Recorded on Aug 16, 2026, on Revelation 22:6-21 by Pastor Nate Huber.
This sermon is part of the Revelation: All Things Made New series. Christians live in incredible tension. In Christ, we’re already saved, but we’re not yet delivered from this broken world. We’re being made holy, but we’re not yet perfected. We have love, joy, and peace, but we still long for justice, healing, and the death of death. How can we endure all this without giving in to complacency or compromise? In our series, we’ll pull back the veil of reality, exposing both a cosmic spiritual battle and the truth about how this story ends. One day, Jesus will return and bring a final end to evil. He will defeat his enemies and vindicate his people, wiping away every tear. Jesus will finally, fully establish his kingdom on the earth, making everything new. “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
The New Heaven and Earth (Revelation): Finally!! After an age of darkness and tribulation, after the return of Christ, and after judgment, a new age will dawn. John’s Revelation ends with a gloriously hopeful vision of the eternity to come for those saved by the Lamb. Heaven and earth are remade as the dwelling place for both God and his people. Recorded on Aug 9, 2026, on Revelation 21-22:5 by Pastor Nate Huber.
This sermon is part of the Revelation: All Things Made New series. Christians live in incredible tension. In Christ, we’re already saved, but we’re not yet delivered from this broken world. We’re being made holy, but we’re not yet perfected. We have love, joy, and peace, but we still long for justice, healing, and the death of death. How can we endure all this without giving in to complacency or compromise? In our series, we’ll pull back the veil of reality, exposing both a cosmic spiritual battle and the truth about how this story ends. One day, Jesus will return and bring a final end to evil. He will defeat his enemies and vindicate his people, wiping away every tear. Jesus will finally, fully establish his kingdom on the earth, making everything new. “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
