Rebuilding Your World #5 | Open the Gates
Nehemiah is the story of walls and gates being rebuilt and repaired.
Remember:
- Gates let things in
- Gates release things out
The value of your life is not just what you take in but more about what you give out. My net worth is not really my value. My Net output is my value.
Am I choosing to be a contributor and not just a consumer in life? We’re Here For Better.
Repair the gates:
- You can’t let everything in that wants in
- You can’t give out more than you have
- The Sheep Gate
The very first gate mentioned is the sheep gate. It was called the sheep gate because this was the gate which the sheep and lambs used in the sacrifice were brought through.
Everything starts and ends with the salvation Jesus has paid for us. It opens the door for a real relationship with God. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for us all… The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ
No matter how deep, mature, theological, clever you become, Christianity always rests on a personal relationship with Jesus. A current, meaningful, real relationship. A blessed, fruitful, abundant, meaningful life rests on a relationship with Jesus.
Colossians 1:28 We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less
The first gate to repair in rebuilding your world is your relationship with Jesus.
- The Fish Gate
The Fish gate was mentioned next. It was called the fish gate because the fisherman of Galilee would bring their catch in through this gate to be sold.
Matthew 4:19 And He said to them, “ Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
No matter what profession you make a living with we are all called to be fishers of men. We’re concerned about where people in our world stand with Jesus… where they will spend eternity.
I am a missionary for Jesus, cleverly disguised as a check out clerk at Ingles
We are called to be fishers, not hunters. It’s about attraction not aggression. All of us share in this Great Commission. Go into all the world and make disciples…
It’s all our job, our mission:
- Feeding the poor
- Helping the lowly and disadvantaged
- All important and good
But winning people to Christ is far above it all. My wife is the queen of this. She would conspire with her twin sister to reach people for Jesus.
You don’t have to force the issue with people. You can only take it as far as the Holy Spirit is working in their life. But you can stay alert and aware.
The minute we or our church loses its burden to win the lost, we are on a downhill slide. God wants to use you to reach someone for Christ.
Repair that gate!
- The Old Gate
Following from the Fish gate was the Old gate. Nehemiah is the only book in the Bible where it is called the Old gate and it may have been one of the original gates made.
We live managing the tension between the old and the new.
Matthew 13:52 And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
God is a God of the new and at the same time, He is the Ancient of Days.
The Church holds values that seem old to some. Marriage is a man and a woman who commit for life.
God invented marriage… we don’t get to reinvent it.
- Loyalty
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Longevity
The Bible, the Word of God, is our yardstick for all truth. Don’t get so woke that you do away with the Bible.
We need to try to speak in a language our culture understands while holding to values that existed long before our cultural values have shifted. The Rock Church is a contemporary style with strong Biblical values.
- The Valley Gate
Valley experiences make or break us all. We all experience mountain tops & valleys, highs and lows.
1 Peter 4:12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you
- A valley disappointment
- A valley discouragement
- A valley of not understanding
- A valley of betrayal
God loves us enough to allow our heart, our faith to be tested with valley experiences.
- Some People bail on God
- Bail on church
- Bail on their marriage
- Bail on friendships
They just bail when they walk through a valley.
One of the reasons I’ve been able to walk through this crazy pandemic season with lots of peace and confidence in God… is because I’ve walked through some pretty significant valleys in 47 years a believer. In 30+ years of pastoring The Rock Church…
Psalms 84:5 How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways to Zion!
Psalms 84:6 Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; The early rain also covers it with blessings.
Psalms 84:7 They go from strength to strength, Every one of them appears before God in Zion
Passing through the valley of weeping, they make it a spring.
I wish there were no valleys… I really wish there were no valleys of weeping.
But the Bible says there are…
The first thing to know about a valley is that it is just a place between two mountain tops. Valleys are temporary.
Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
We walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Valleys are for passing through… don’t set up house there.
When you’re going through hell, don’t stop. Valleys are not God’s ultimate will for you… they are places you pass through.
- In the valley, you learn how to exchange your weakness for His strength.
- In the valley, you carry mountain top vision through valley trials.
- In the valley, you learn to carry the best you through the worst times.
Don’t let your valley experience(s) separate you from God or His church. You walk through enough valley experiences where God has proven faithful. And all of a sudden, your faith is strengthened!