It's Time To Rebuild
Pressing On, Part 2
2020 took a lot from us. Whether that was adjusting to the discomforts of life in a pandemic, or increasing social tensions from political and racial divide. There’s no doubt…we’ve been frazzled. And it’s easy to lose sight of our mission in Christ amongst all the chaos.
It’s time to rebuild. We need to rebuild.
“We rebuild by recapturing God’s vision for our lives.”
Scripture:
Nehemiah 4:1-3, 10-14
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 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?”
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!”
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.”
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.”
Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
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. 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.”
Highlights:
When we try to live beyond the pace that God has called us to we become spiritually fractured and out of touch with his voice. You can’t hear him when you’re constantly in a hurry.
Politically, economically, socially and culturally, normal was dying long before COVID. The disruption of a global pandemic was the final nail in normal’s coffin. - Carry Nieuwhof
We need to stop living like we are in exile.
We need to come together as a community.
God created us for relationship. When we’re physically and emotionally disconnected from the body of Christ we lose ourselves and a sense of who we truly are.
We are the body of Christ. It’s our connection to each other that makes us who we are. We mutually need each other to be what God has called us to be.
Fellowship when done well builds up the soul.
Covid doesn’t stop God’s plans, nor us from being a body. But an unwillingness to adjust to the new ways that God is working can.
We need to rededicate our lives to God.
Scripture gives us a health report of our lives. It comforts, and yet confronts. It encourages, but also rebukes.
We need more than ideologies and cute rhetoric. We need spirit filled people who truly live and act like when the gospel is applied to my life and the world around me things can change.
There will always be things that try to pull us away from what we should be focused on, but we must be willing to set them aside and stay focused on what is most important; to know Christ and make him known.
We rebuild by recapturing God’s vision for our lives.
