We continue to have the Nehemiah series and have arrived the halfway through this study. So far, we have explored this book up to the midpoint only and will have four or five more sermons. That is great! Under the leadership of Nehemiah, the people of Israel had been working together to rebuild the broken temple in Jerusalem. They had often faced opposition not only from their enemies but also from their own people. Despite those challenges, they kept doing their restoration plan with the help of God, who fought for them and their loved ones. In our Old Testament for today, we have learned that the people of Israel almost refurbished the tabernacle of God. This morning I want us to discover how Nehemiah and the people of Israel handled the last stage of that renovation project. I also want us to find divine lessons from them and apply these in our spiritual journey.

Firstly, we are to be aware that evil obstructions continuously occur throughout our entire walk with God. As I stated before, holy battles between God and Satan or Good or Evil, have been taking place since the Fall of Adam and Eve. In the previous chapters of Nehemiah, we have observed that Nehemiah and the people of Israel had encountered many obstacles since day one of making the blueprint of the damaged house of God. They often felt that the enemies harmed them if they kept doing that sacred work (Nehemiah 4:11). In this text, we can see somewhat of the contrary. In other words, the opponents’ friendly invitation for the people of Israel. The attackers suggested a peace conference with Nehemiah in the place named Ono (Nehemiah 5:2). They approached him with that same method again and again. On the fifth time, they sent Nehemiah an identical message plus an unsealed letter. The content in that report described that Nehemiah wanted to become a king of the people of Israel through that renovation task. The enemies hired a fake priest asking Nehemiah to meet with them inside the temple of God. Even after the wall was completed, the opponents kept intimidating Nehemiah and the people of Israel in various ways. The devil was never tired of attacking the people of God.

In my observation of our spiritual enemy, there are two different appearances of its evil spirit. The first character looks like a roaring lion that would threaten us and make us fearful. The enemies approached the people of Israel with that aggressive scheme during their restoration duty’s beginning and middle periods. Likewise, when we combat the devil spiritually, we may be influenced by the power of darkness and even death. We may feel overwhelmed and exhausted over challenging circumstances. We may even want to withdraw all the plans we have been praying and practicing due to worrisome thoughts. The other type of evil appears as a lovely angel that would deceive us into doing something bad. The attackers had repeatedly proposed the people of Israel meet with them while stopping over their recovery activity. The enemies seemed to want to negotiate with them instead of fighting. This scheme of compromising is familiar to us. A deceptive thought may echo that many people would not care about doing anything. We would be tempted to do it even though that is not right before the Lord. Whether evil uses a threatening strategy or a tempting skill to attack us, we need to remember a couple of things. Firstly, all the attacks come from our spiritual enemy, Satan, and the devil wants to destroy the lives of God’s people. Secondly, the evil spirits will flee if we fight against them in the name of the Great and Awesome God. In the full-length book of Nehemiah, all the enemies had done to the people of Israel was only to threaten and tempt them. That was all. They did not do anything except for those invisible attacks. Thirdly, our spiritual opponents seem somewhat mighty; however, they are nothing less than paper lions. When the little shepherd, named David, battled against the giant Goliath in the name of the Almighty God, the enemy fell as a fragile status collapsed. That is why Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Our Fighter Christ has won all the battles for us.

Secondly, we are to remember who we are in God and make a firm decision before the Lord. Nehemiah recalled what God had asked the people of Israel to do for God instead of compromising with the enemies’ trick and being intimidated by the opponents’ threats. Nehemiah recognized how marvellous his God-given business was and revealed his resolution in the following statements: “I am carrying on a great project” (Nehemiah 6:3) and “I will not go” (Nehemiah 6:11). Rebuilding the damaged tabernacle of God and restoring the dishonoured name and authority of the Lord was a remarkable duty! Nehemiah kept kneeling before God and praying to do that sacred job continuously: “Now strengthen my hands” (Nehemiah 6:9). Nehemiah realized that the holy project could not be fulfilled without the supernatural power of God. Furthermore, Nehemiah denied the false accusation over him and left the opponents in God’s hands instead of justifying himself and arguing with them. He relied on God’s judgment over the enemies and continued to move forward into what God wanted him to do.

One godly strategy we can hold on to in spiritual combat is remembering our genuine identity before God. The Lord wants us to examine the sacred walls within our loved ones and us and rebuild the brokenness with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. With the blessing of Christ Jesus, we are “to attempt a great thing for the Lord and expect a great thing from the Lord.” This is our higher vocation from the Triune God. Once again, I want to introduce our church’s mission statement: We are encouraged to “communicate faith, hope and love by supporting and serving our congregation and the local community.” According to the Bible, sharing our faith, hope, and love is one primary divine commission. In the first Epistle of Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote, we see the importance of love toward the people around us. From this Agape book, I want to read a few lines of Paul’s message: “If I speak in the tongues of men or angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13). Communicating God’s love by supporting and serving the people in this assembly and our community is an enormous responsibility for us to have. With a selfish ego within us, we have to admit that loving our brothers and sisters in God is challenging. Over the years, I have seen you as the people of God doing this sanctified business continuously in various ways despite human limitations. Dedicating prayer shawls in congregational prayer, bringing food items to the charity, sending Thinking of You cards, making phone calls and having friendly visits, inviting the people around us to our divine assembly and fellowship, sharing the Word of God in words and deeds, and asking the congregation in their prayer chain to pray for one another are the methods we have been doing for the sake of God. One recent example I have been proud of is creating a small museum for Glenarm friends at the back of the sanctuary. After the amalgamation of the two churches, St. Andrew’s people made the sacred library out of many of Glenarm’s relocated special items. That would be the expression the Fenelon Falls congregation showed their mature respect and profound love toward Glenarm brothers and sisters. God has acknowledged this caring relationship between the two communities as a divine success that Dan Schley reflected on in the 2022 Annual Report.

Suppose I am allowed to add another definition of godly achievement. In that case, it is doing our God-blessed ministry diligently, regardless of the outcome. One favourite example I occasionally introduce is comparing the two following Old Testament characters. One is Noah, and the other is Jonah. Both had been asked to carry on a great project. Each holy business’s processes and consequences over the mission were very different. Noah took enormous time and effort to build God’s ark and saved only himself and his family. Jonah spent just a few days delivering the Word of God and rescued the entire people in Nineveh. Which one of these was considered a successful ministry? With the eyes of the Lord, Noah and Jonah made a significant accomplishment. Both were honoured by God for their incredible tasks since both did their best before the Lord. The result of communicating or sharing our faith, hope and love with others should not be measured by a specific type of evaluation. As the Omniscient God, He sees every work we have done in the past, we are doing today and will do in the future on behalf of His Kingdom. As the Omnipresent God, He collects all the effort and energy we have made, contributes, and will do and will reward us based on these invisible dedications toward God and His Church. Since the Omnipotent God has all the strengths and resources, He will and can provide them for us as His Church to fulfill His Mission. The question is whether we, as Christ’s church and followers, show our definite and concrete willingness to do the right things before the Lord, despite the ongoing challenges. Another critical thing is whether we humbly and honestly ask God to build up our weak and feeble hands in spirit while leaving all other matters to God. Friends, can we boldly say together to our spiritual adversary something like: “I am doing a great job! Why should I stop to accomplish this special ministry?” Let us declare one more time in unison. “I am doing a great work! Why should I stop to achieve this amazing task?” Thank you!

Thirdly, we are to be assured that our God-privileged mission can be accomplished. Again, I want to read one fascinating statement from today’s scripture: “So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days” (Nehemiah 6:15). What a wonderful affirmation! When Nehemiah heard of the destructive place of God in Jerusalem, he mourned over the ruined temple and prayed before the Lord. The united work that the people of Israel had done over the broken walls and damaged gates was concluded with the assistance of the Lord. That description of the recovery business was not only the confession by the people of Israel but also the observation by the enemies (Nehemiah 6:16). Throughout the whole adventure of the temple renovation, it would be impossible for the people of Israel to finalize the blueprint due to constant opposition and a lack of assets and abilities. However, their God-blessed mission was finished with God’s protection, provision, and presence.

In our Epistle for today, the Apostle Paul thanked God for completing the excellent work in the Philippi congregation. That sacred business had been carried out by the partnership that divine assembly had contributed from the first day until then, with the cooperation of Christ (Philippians 1:4). Jesus was the Initiator of the marvellous blueprint placing in the hearts of the Philippi believers and the Finisher of that sacred task through the entire church’s togetherness. In our Gospel for this morning, we find Paul’s conviction of that completed ministry. The reason can be related to Christ’s conclusion on the cross by proclaiming, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Jesus Himself concluded His God-privileged mission regardless of the obstacles he had faced since the beginning of His public ministry. Christ has overcome all the resistance from various sources, even from some of His disciples as well as within Himself, doubting about God’s love. Regardless of all the obstructions Jesus had encountered, He made it to His God-inherited restoration job!

Friends, how are our God-given dreams doing? Have we ever viewed that our God-designed purposes could be achieved in our time? Before we ask these questions, we need to remind ourselves what our God-inherited visions are. Are we still holding on to these godly blessings upon our lives and over our loved ones? If so, that is great. Keep believing in God, who started those awesome jobs within us and will perfect them until the day of Christ’s return. For some reason, if we have lost those visions and dreams God put in our hearts, we can pray to God with the following assurance: “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 favour in the presence of this man” (Nehemiah 1:11). In the last portion of Nehemiah’s petition, we can put our name or our loved one’s in the “Your Servant” spot. Can we say this prayer together? “Lord, give [your name or your loved one’s] success today by granting [me or your loved one] favour in the presence of this man.” Here in this request, this man is God’s prepared person or people in our loved one’s spiritual race or in our faith journey. Once again, the Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent Lord our God knows Who, What, Where, When and Why would be best for our loved ones and us. One more time, we observed the word for success in that sacred text. Right after today’s service, we will have the first congregational annual meeting under the leadership of Mark Mitchell. I am confident that God will help us as a church see and celebrate His fruitful ministry in 2022 and plan and pray with a united heart for our God-blessed ongoing recovery project in the coming days and months. I thank the Lord for the godly cooperation you, as the whole assembly, have made and the faithful heart you each have shown toward God, His church and His people.

Friends, we also ask God to give us His strength today. We will soon watch a video clip regarding the exchange between God’s capacity and ours through God’s creation, the eagle. Can we pray by saying, “Now, O God, strengthen my hands?” Can we also request God with this simple declaration? “Today, O God, give strength to our loved ones.” One more time, we need to question ourselves whether we still keep in our hearts the visions and/or dreams God has revealed to us. We want to grow to be more mature people of God. This morning, we want to be better husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and so on. This development is not only a relational sense but also a mental, emotional, physical and spiritual matter. Remember that our precious bodies and minds are the temples of the Holy Spirit. God wants us to look after all these areas. Friends, do we remember the initial step of the restoration journey, whether spiritual or physical? First and foremost, we need to examine ourselves through the divine mirror, the Word of God, and admit the brokenness we have experienced within us, or the damage we have observed in the lives of our loved ones. The symptoms we have witnessed should not be shameful. These are the indications our beings would express. These are not the problems but the signs that we need to pay attention to. With honest and humble acceptance, we need to bring to God the ruined areas we and/or our loved ones may struggle with. According to the Holy Bible, whether we admit it or not, “there is no one righteous, not even one. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Romans 3:9-20). Again, whether we accept it or not, everyone suffers in their own destructive section in their faith journey. The Lord our Christ, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our spiritual renovation project, has achieved this breakthrough ministry on the cross for us who have been broken and damaged in various ways. The thing is whether we acknowledge our weaknesses in spirit and present them to God in prayer. “Today, O God, strengthen my hands or my loved ones’ to overcome any challenges!”

Remember that we are serving the Merciful and Mighty God. Any impossible task can be possible with the beyond human-made power of the Awesome and Great God. Our God-blessed dreams and our loved ones’ visions that God has put in their hearts can be fulfilled with the Creator God’s protection, provision and presence. Friends, let us look to the Almighty Lord, who is now cheering our loved ones and us and fighting for all His precious children, along with a great cloud of godly witnesses who have gone before or are around us. Like Nehemiah and the people of Israel, let us, as a Heavenly team, keep believing in God and adventuring with the Lord in our God-promised recovery journey. Remember, our impossible business can be possible through the Miracle of God! Amen.

*In this sermon, I have used some thoughts from the various messages based on the texts: Nehemiah 6:1-15; John 19:28-30; Philippians 1:1-6.