Do you need more skill, or more willingness? /// Built: Part 1

We're so glad you've chosen to listen to our online experience! Here at Plum Creek, we’re all about changed lives, changing lives; and what that simply means is that what Christ has done in us is not just for us, but it’s for us to share with others in our community and around the world.

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If you're using this teaching for a Home Groups setting, we've included discussion prompts to help guide your conversation:

1. Michele said people can be physically free and still live like captives. Where do you see an old mindset keeping you from fully living in the freedom God has given you?

2. Read Nehemiah 1:1–11 and discuss what Nehemiah’s first response to brokenness teaches us about praying before acting.

3. Consider the difference between building God’s kingdom and asking God to support your own plans. Where does that tension appear in your life?

4. The people rebuilding Jerusalem did not feel fully equipped, but they made themselves available. Where might God be asking you to choose willingness over expertise?

5. Think about Dave’s simple invitation to Michele’s father and the impact it had across generations. Who is the broken wall in front of you, and what faithful step could you take this week?

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Wondering what Plum Creek Church is all about? Watch this video.

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Links

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Ministries: https://www.plumcreek.church/ministries

Give: https://www.plumcreek.church/give

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Plum Creek Church Podcast. We're so thankful that you're listening along with us in this way. Now, if you're a returning listener, welcome back. But if you're new or newish, we'd love to become part of your listening rotation. So be sure to subscribe and follow to be notified when new episodes are available. Now, before we get into the message, we want to remind you of one thing. At Plum Creek Church, we are all about change lives, changing lives. We really believe that if Jesus is right about God, about life, about the soul, then it only makes sense to rearrange our lives around what he says is true. Because when you choose to follow Jesus like that, it really does change everything, including the lives around you. Okay, let's posture our hearts for what God has in store, this message.

Message Start

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Good morning, friends. I am so happy to see you today. Thank you for coming out and joining us here at Plum Creek Church. And before we go any further, let's take a moment to welcome those who are joining us online. You may not be able to be with us in person for a variety of reasons, but we just want you to know that you are with us in heart fully. So thank you for being here. All right, today we are kicking off a brand new series on the book of Nehemiah. Now, Nehemiah is in the Old Testament, and I love the Old Testament. But I don't know about you, but sometimes the Old Testament can make me feel like I'm like drowning in like 20 feet of water. Like it's overwhelming at times. And so we're gonna dig into the book of Nehemiah, but before we do that, I'm gonna provide some historical context. Now, uh several weeks ago we went through the book of Ephesians, and when we did Ephesians, we walked through it chronologically like one chapter at a time. One, two, three, four, five, six. With Nehemiah, we're gonna do it more topically. So we're gonna kind of jump all around as we go through the series over the next four weeks. Um, but we will cover the whole entire story. So now, first, for some context, I'm gonna do my best to provide an overview of all the history that led up to uh the book of Nehemiah in about four minutes. I mean, theoretically, let's be clear. We'll do my best. Uh, we'll see what happens. All right. First of all, um, originally the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, so these are two Old Testament books that are right next to each other. Ezra and Nehemiah were one book. So if you look at the Hebrew Bible, in fact, I have a complete Jewish Bible at home on my shelf and in the table of contents, Ezra and Nehemiah are listed as one book. Um, and it chronicles about a hundred years. Uh, the two books together create a narrative that follow about a hundred years of history that follow God's people's return to the promised land after being in Babylonian captivity. Now, what in the world is Babylonian captivity? Let me tell you. Okay, all the way back in the book of Exodus, Exodus 19 to be specific, God made a covenant with his people. This covenant was a sacred agreement. In fact, in verse 5 of Exodus 19, it says, God says, Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. In other words, God was saying, I am making an agreement with you that you are gonna be my people, and I'm gonna love you extravagantly, and I will be there for you, and I will protect you, and I will bless you. However, there was a condition of this covenant. So we've got the covenant, we have conditions of that covenant, and the conditions were that we would love God in return. In fact, you've heard us often say here at Palm Creek that the whole entire Bible could be summed up in two commands: love God and love each other. That was the condition of the covenant, that we would love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that we would love each other. Okay? Now, God fully held up his agreement. When it came to the covenant, God did 100% his parts of the agreement. However, God's people did not. Rather than love God and love people, they decided to worship idols and worship other gods. And they decided to not treat each other very well. There's all kinds of stories in the Old Testament of people, God's people doing horrible things to other people. Not okay. So as a result of their breaking the covenant, God allowed them to suffer the natural consequences. And in 586 BC, the dominant power at the time was uh a nation called Babylon. And Babylon came into Judah, destroyed the walls of Jerusalem, destroyed the temple of God in Jerusalem, and took all of God's people captive back to the country of Babylon. Now this was a big deal because Jerusalem was part of God's gift to his people. And the temple in Jerusalem was where God dwelt. Literally, in the Old Testament, God's presence hovered in the temple. So to have the city destroyed and the temple destroyed, and God's people in captivity in a country a thousand miles away from their homeland was absolutely devastating. In other words, God's people had lost everything, including the presence of God. However, God, being God, foresaw that this would all happen. He is not bound by our limitations. And in Jeremiah 29, God made a promise to his people, and this is what it says I will bring you back from the place from which I carried you into exile. In other words, God makes a covenant, God keeps the covenant, and God decides to even redeem us when we break the covenant. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't it just like God? And so he makes a promise that he will bring them back from captivity, back from exile, and return them to their homeland if they would just turn their hearts to him. So the people prayed. Over hundreds of years, people prayed. They confessed their sin. They asked God for mercy. Even while they were in captivity, they turned their hearts and their minds to God. They started doing what they needed to do, and they prayed to God for rescue. Some of the people that prayed during these years were people by the names of Daniel, Esther, Mordecai, Ezra, and Nehemiah. And so God heard those prayers and he kept his promise. And in Ezra 1, 1, it says that the Lord moved the hearts of the current king, so Babylon was no longer in power. Now it was Persia. God moved the hearts of the Persian king toward him. And as a result, the king of Persia made the decision, even though he was not a God follower, the king of Persia made the decision to send God's people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Now, can you just pause for a moment? Sometimes we think that the kings that we see on TV are in charge, but make no mistake. God is in charge. It really doesn't matter who the king is, God is always in charge, whether it's Persia or anywhere else. So this foreign king sent God's people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. He, in addition to that, in addition to commanding them to rebuild their own temple, he gave them silver and gold and all the resources to make it happen. Because God is extravagant in the way that he keeps his promises. And so the people start to return. Now, this return of the exiles from almost a thousand miles away happened in multiple phases over decades, a very, very long time. First, one guy came back with a group of people, then another guy came back with a group of people, and finally the third group of people that came back included Nehemiah. And that's where we pick up the story of Nehemiah in verse 1, chapter 1. These are the memoirs of Nehemiah, son of Hakaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kishlev, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes' reign, we have another king. I was at the fortress of Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem. And they said to me, Things are not going well for those who returned. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire. When I heard this, this is Nehemiah talking, when I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. Now, why is Nehemiah so upset? Well, he is upset because again, the land, Jerusalem, Judah, the temple, was evidence of God's covenant to his people. And the evidence of God's covenant to his people, despite the exiles returning back to their homeland, still laid in rubble. The walls were still destroyed, the gates were still burned. And on top of that, God's people were discouraged. Now there's one thing I've learned in the years of my life. I just had another birthday last week, so yay, I'm a year older. I hope it made me smarter. I'm not sure, but we'll see. But the people, one thing I've learned is that when you have lived a part of your life enslaved to someone or something, your freedom doesn't happen just the moment the chains are off. In fact, sometimes you may be free and still live as if you're a captive. Anybody hear what I'm saying? Right? Because it's one thing to be physically returned from captivity, it's another thing for us to emotionally, spiritually, mentally embody a new reality. And unfortunately, God's people were still living as vulnerable, oppressed, helpless people. In reality, the city was broken and the people were broken. And so this is why Nehemiah is grieving. He gets this visit from his brother who just came back from a trip to Jerusalem, and he tells Nehemiah that he is a broken city and a broken people, and Nehemiah is devastated and crushed. He is mourning. And so what does Nehemiah do? He prays. The first thing Nehemiah does when he gets this report is he prays. He fasts, he falls on his knees, he mourns, and he prays. Nehemiah, the book of Nehemiah, is a book of prayers. In 13 chapters, there are 12 recorded prayers. The book opens and ends with prayer. And after he prays, Nehemiah approaches the king and he asks for a leave of absence so that he could go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. And because God is always in charge, no matter whose king, once again God moves the hearts of the king to grant favor to God's people. And so the king allows Nehemiah to leave. On top of that, he gives him letters to carry with him and resources to help rebuild the walls. Nehemiah sets out for Judah and Jerusalem. It's like I said, about 900 to 1,000 miles, a journey, and that time would have taken anywhere from two to four months. And when Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, he inspects the walls and the people, and he discovers that his brother was absolutely right. Everything is destroyed. Physically, emotionally, decimated. So now we pick up a Nehemiah 2. Nehemiah gathers the people around him, and in verse 17, this is what he says. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace. Then I told them about the gracious hand of God that had been on me and about my conversation with the king. They replied at once, Yes, let's rebuild the wall. And so they began the good work. Oh, I love that sentence. And so they began the good work. The people were demoralized, exhausted, still feeling enslaved, even though they were not anymore. And still, in that moment, they began the good work. That leads us to the big idea for today, which is very, very simple. God builds his kingdom through ordinary people who are willing to serve. God builds his kingdom through ordinary people who are willing to serve. Let's break that down into four parts, all right? God builds. It was not like a weakened project in your backyard. Recent excavations have revealed that Nehemiah's wall was as wide as nine feet in some places. Nine feet thick. That is a massive wall. And we didn't have like excavators and all kinds of heavy machinery. This was manual labor. On top of that, Nehemiah worked for the king in Persia. Nehemiah was basically a white-collar worker working as a palace administrator. He was a cupbearer to the king. In other words, he had no prior construction experience. He had no license, no certifications, no skills that we know of. He's the last guy to lead a whole crew of people to rebuild a wall. And on top of that, the people who he was recruiting to help him were vulnerable and helpless in every way. They had no king, they had no national identity. They were demoralized. This was massive, but Nehemiah and the people knew one important truth. You see, their many, many years of captivity in a foreign land, as a consequence for their choice to break covenant, taught them that there is only one God, and what God starts, he will finish. And that what God promises, he will do. And because of that, they understood that it really wasn't about their skills or their talents or their strengths. It was about the fact that God was the builder. God was the architect. He was the general contractor on the job, and they were little more than subcontractors. They just showed up to work. You see, because God builds. God builds. Ooh, this is important. I stepped on my own toes on this one. Let me tell you, God builds his kingdom. Now, if you look at the story of Nehemiah, from day one, God's people faced opposition. There were three gentlemen by the name of Sanbalat, Tobiah, and Geshem. These three men were regional leaders in the area surrounding Jerusalem. And the moment they see God's people come back to Judah and start to rebuild both themselves and their city, these regional leaders became competitive and territorial. Because this is what we do. We start thinking that somebody else is infringing on our plans. And so Stambala and Tobiah and Geshem decide to launch an attack. Now, this attack started with public shaming and criticism and mockery. And then it progressed to manipulation. And then it turned to accusations of treason. They accused Nehemiah and the people of rebelling against the king. And then when the mockery and the criticism and the manipulation and the accusations of rebellion didn't work, then Sandbel and Tobiah and Geshem decided to turn violence. They started to get physically aggressive and threaten the lives of the people who were building. So much so that when you read the story, Nehemiah and the people of God worked on the wall as they would rebuild, they'd have construction tools in one hand and a weapon in the other to defend themselves. It was a legit threat. Nehemiah 4, 7 through 9 says this. But when Sanbalat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion. But, oh, here it is again. We prayed to our God. And we guarded this city day and night to protect ourselves. So what's the lesson here? When we look at the fact that God builds his kingdom, what's the lesson? The lesson is there will always be opposition to God's work, the work he's doing through his people. But before we start pointing the fingers everywhere else, we need to understand that sometimes we are the opposition. You see, sometimes we like to build our own smaller kingdoms and we get territorial about them. Sometimes that looks like us fighting in amongst ourselves as we vie for positions even within ministry. We want to have power or influence, or we want to make a name for ourselves or feel significant, or we want to have the gifts that somebody else has. And sometimes we can get a little bit territorial and competitive about that. But even more close to home for me is sometimes we build our own small kingdoms in direct opposition to God when we don't even know we're doing it. For example, I'm a planner. I'm pretty confident from the day I was born I had an entire plan for the course of my life. I knew exactly how it needed to happen and exactly what needed to fall into place for it to be accomplished. So, being in charge, like usual, I invited God to be a subcontractor on my job. For the record, that doesn't go very well. You see, sometimes we think our lives, the 75 years or 80 years or whatever years of our lifespan, are the point. And we build our entire kingdom around our existence. And then we think God is required to make our dreams a reality. But the problem with that is that our kingdoms, our smaller, lesser kingdoms will never last. You know that, right? Someday it will all come to an end. The only kingdom that will last forever is God's kingdom. And so we must remember that God His kingdom. God builds his kingdom, part three, through ordinary people. Oh my goodness, I love this so much. Nehemiah and God's people did what they said they were going to do. Their captivity taught them to be a promise keeper like God was a promise keeper, and so they did the good work. We're going to read part of chapter three. Chapter three lists the people who were part of the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Wall. There's going to be a map on the screen behind me that shows you the outline of Nehemiah's wall. Now I'm only going to read a handful of these verses. It is literally a list of names and the section that they contributed to where they built. For the record, I will mispronounce the vast majority of them. But we're going to name them anyway. Verse 1. Then Eliashib, the high priest, and the other priests started to rebuild at the sheepgate. They dedicated it and set up its doors, building the wall as far as the tower of the hundred, which they dedicated, and the tower of Hananel. People from the town of Jericho worked next to them. And beyond them was Zachar, son of Imre. The fish gate was built by the son of Hashanah. They laid the beams and set up its doors and installed its bolts and bars. Merrimaz, son of Uriah, and grandson of Hakaz, repaired the next section of the wall. Beside him were Meshulim, son of Barekiah, and grandson of Meshezbel. That was a hard one. And then Zadek, son of Banah. Next were the people from Tokoah, though their leaders refused to work with the construction supervisor. Put a note in that. We're coming back to that in a minute. The old city gate was repaired by Jehoiada, son of Pesseah, and Meshulam, son of Bessediah. They laid the beam, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars. Next to them were Melitiah from Gibeon, Jaden from Maranath, people from Gideon, and people from Mizpah, the headquarters of the governor of the province west of the Euphrates River. Next was Yuziel, son of Heriah, a goldsmith by trade, who also worked on the wall. And beyond him was Hananiah, a manufacturer of perfumes. They left out a section of Jerusalem as they built the broad wall. And then we have Rephahiah, son of Hur, the leader of half-district of Jerusalem, who was next to them on the wall next to Jediah, and next, and next, and next. We could go through all 32 verses of chapter 3, and you will have name after name of people who built the wall. This is what I want you to know about them. First of all, this was a group of diverse people, very unique people. We have in this list goldsmiths, perfume makers, and merchants. I can just picture like Bob the perfume maker. And he's like, dude, I don't know how to build the wall. I make perfume. We have priests and government officials. We have people from the city and people from the country. We have the educated and the non-educated, the ruling class, the working class, and we have the men and the women. Yes, women are mentioned in this chapter, building a wall right next to the men. But they weren't just a diverse people, they were also a broken people. They were people whose history had been marked by captivity, a people who lacked a sense of identity. Many of them lived in poverty. They lacked any kind of food or resources. On top of that, Nehemiah, I haven't even told you this, in Nehemiah 5, it says that they were in the middle of a famine. Y'all, these were men and women just like us who were dealing with the ordinary hardships of their everyday lives while they were still showing up to do the good work that God had called them to. They didn't have it all together. Their lives had not gone according to plan. They didn't have the skills or the ability that they thought they needed. All they had was a willingness to be available. You see, we look at the book of Nehemiah and we think the whole story is about rebuilding a wall. And yes, rebuilding the wall was important. But God is always doing far more than what we can see or imagine. Always. Because while the people were rebuilding the wall, God was rebuilding his people. It wasn't just a physical rebuilding, it was a spiritual rebuilding. God was weaving their hearts and minds back together after so many years of loss and reminding him that he loved them, that he was with them, and that he would take care of them. God builds his kingdom through ordinary people who are willing to serve. God builds his kingdom through ordinary people willing to serve. Now, I told you to put a bookmark in that one verse, 3-5, chapter 3, verse 5. We're gonna go back to it right now. I want you to look at it again. Nehemiah 3, verse 5. Next were the people from Tokoah, though their leaders refused to work with the construction supervisors. Now, what in the world is going on? The people of Tokoah aren't even named, but their leaders refused to be a part of what God's people were doing. Now, we don't know why. Maybe they didn't like to get sweaty, maybe they felt like construction work was beneath them, but for whatever reason they chose not to participate. And in a chapter in the book of Nehemiah that is filled with beautiful examples of faithfulness, their lack of willingness stands out. But it's not the only thing that stands out. Jump ahead to verse 27. Verse 27. Then came the people of Tokoa who repaired another section across from the great projecting tower and over the wall of Ophel. Where the leaders would not step up, the people did. And not only once, but twice. The ordinary people of Tokoa, who were so ordinary that they weren't leaders and they weren't even named, stepped up to do double the work. And what do we need to see here? There will always be people who don't want to be a part of what God's doing. Okay, God builds anyway. God builds anyway, and he multiplies the efforts, he multiplies the service of those who are willing to be a part of what he's doing. Plum Creek Church is saturated with people just like that. Absolutely saturated with people like that. Let me give you an example of what this looks like right here in 2026. Each weekend, we have 15 people on the production team. We have 17 people on the cafe team. We have 24 greeters, 18 ushers, by the way. One of the reasons my husband and I decided to make Plum Creek our home was because we couldn't get from our car door to our seat in here without having at least a half a dozen people shake our hands, hug us, and tell us they were so glad to see us. We have 12 people who stand ready to pray with anybody who needs it at the end of the service. We have 22 people at the welcome desk and next table. 22 people that help with parking. Thank the Lord in heaven for the people that help with parking. As for Creek Heads, this blows my mind. We have 32 people every single service who help in early childhood, infants through preschool, and another 13 people every service that serve in K through 5th. These are volunteers who are stepping up at their section of the wall, doing what they can. And then, of course, there's Chelsea who wraps Bibles and gifts for first-time guests, and Rhonda and Jennifer who lead women's Bible studies, and the Haverleys who make sure the cafe is fully stocked, and Tim and George who pray for the land next door every Tuesday, and Jim, who serves as stage manager, and every time before I walk out here, he prays over me. You guys, I could go on and on and on. We have people of Tacoa right here in this room, in the middle of their ordinary lives, who say, I want to be a part of the good work. I want to be a part of doing for somebody else what God has done for me. So Nehemiah and God's people did the good work. What had been completely desolate for a hundred years was rebuilt. And we see the results in Nehemiah 6, 15 through 16. So on October 2nd, the wall was finished. Just 52 days. Did you hear that? 52 days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God. Because God built his kingdom through ordinary people willing to serve. God's people built that wall. And on the screen behind me, you see some recent archaeological excavations showing what is believed to be remnants of Nehemiah's wall. 2,500 years. That bottom picture is a sample of the nine-foot wide wall. You guys, the people who put those stones in place are long gone. Generations and generations have followed. They are gone. But the impact of their willingness to be a part of the good work is still there. Do you see? This is why Plum Creek is here. We're not here just so we can say, hey, I went to church this week. We are here in our time and place for this generation to be a people who repairs broken walls. We do what we can. We are not equipped sometimes. We do not have the skills sometimes, and sometimes we're still dealing with stuff in our own lives. And yet we know what God has done for us, and so we show up at the wall and we bend down and we pick up a rock at a time because we know even long after we're gone, what God builds through us will last. And somewhere in that, he was diagnosed with PTSD. A diagnosis that didn't get handed out very often in 1971. My dad was 27 years old, a new husband, a new father, and an utterly broken man. But there was Dave. Dave worked with my dad, and they started to become friends. Over lunch, they would go to the break room, and while they were eating their lunch, they would play cribbage of all things. Yes. My dad and his buddy would play cribbage over lunch, and over lunch they got to talking and become friends. Now, Dave had a hard story too. He was a broken man as well. There's one difference. He had recently come to know Jesus. He had experienced God rebuilding the walls of his life, one stone at a time. And when he sat across from my dad playing Kirbage, what he saw in front of him was a broken wall and a broken man. And so one day over Kirbage, he invited my dad to come to church. A few weeks later, my mom and my dad brought me six months-old to church for the very first time. And then a few weeks after that, on December 10th, 1971, my mom and my dad were baptized. And from that moment forward, my dad chased after Jesus with every single breath. But it was the result of a man named Dave who stood at his section of the wall. And even though he had no construction experience, he had God experience. And he decided to do something about the broken man standing in front of him. When my dad died in 2014, Dave came to the funeral because they remained lifelong friends. And I got to go up to Dave and wrap my arms around him and tell him thank you. Because the reality of the story, my friends, is if he hadn't done his part in the wall, I don't think I would be standing here. I don't think I would be here. You matter. Your willingness to be a part of the good work matters. Both Dave and my dad are long gone, but the impact of what God is doing through his people remains. And now I'm doing the best that I can to stand in my place in the wall and do the same for somebody else. Won't you join us? So how do we do this practically? Well, first, we pray all day, every day. We pray for Casarak, we pray for our neighbors, we pray for our friends, our family, strangers we meet. When we start to get heavy hearted about what we see happening around us, we do what Nehemiah did and we pray first before we do anything else. Second, we look for the broken people in broken places. They are all around us. We look for the broken people, we look for the broken places, and we step up and serve there in any way we can. You still don't know what to do? Well, there's a QR code on your seat. There was a card sitting there. If you go to that QR code, there are all kinds of lists of ways where you can fill in a section of a wall right here at Palm Creek. And then finally, expect opposition. Expect it. It will be hard, it will be difficult. I have no doubt those who built the wall had blisters on their hands. And yet I don't think a one of them, when the wall was finished 52 days later, regretted being a part of what God did. Just because it's hard doesn't mean it's not a good, good work. Let's do it because God builds his kingdom through ordinary people who are willing to serve. God, you are good, good, good. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for coming and rebuilding us. Thank you for seeing how we were broken and doing everything you could to restore us. Now, God, show us how we can do the same in your name for the people around us. In the name of Jesus and for your glory. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

Thanks again for listening. Our prayer is that this message encouraged and challenged you in your journey to follow Jesus. If you'd like to learn more about our church, please check us out online at plumcreek.church or if you find yourself within driving distance of Castle Rock, Colorado, we would be honored to see you in person on a weekend. So until next time, grace and peace in the name of Jesus.