12:27-47

A. Introduction

1. Nehemiah is a great book for us to be looking at together in our elder’s meetings.

It is a book about building a community of God’s people.

It is a book about God’s provision for His people as they wait for King Jesus to come.

It is a book that will be helpful for us as we plan for the next 10 years of Banstead Community Church.

2. Nehemiah has now finished the specific work that God had given him to do.

The walls of have been rebuilt (chapters 1-6).

The city of Jerusalem has been repopulated with a restored community of God’s people who worship God and are living His way (chapters 7-12).

3. But before he returns to King Artaxerxes and resume his work as cupbearer, there was one final thing left for Nehemiah to do.

Dedicate the .

Acknowledge all that God has done in the rebuilding of the walls and the restoring of the community in Jerusalem.

“At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem…” (Nehemiah 12:27)

4. Application.

A vital aspect of local church life is taking time out to acknowledge all that God has done, and it is the responsibility of the elders to ensure that this happens.

It should happen every Sunday morning as we gather to remember what Christ has done to save us.

It should happen at our evening service when we hear about what God is doing in this local church or further afield in the segment after the break.

It should happen at our church meetings, which provide an opportunity to look back on the last term / year in the life of the church.

Also anniversaries such as our 10th Anniversary provides a good opportunity to acknowledge all that God has done for us as a local church.

5. How should we lead the church to acknowledge what God has done?

What do the people in Jerusalem do under Nehemiah’s leadership?

B. We acknowledge what God has done with our praise

1. Nehemiah leads the people of Jerusalem in praising God for all that He had done for them in the past.

“At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres.” (Nehemiah 12:27)

2. Preparations for this needed to be made.

There needed to be people to lead the praise – Levities, singers, musicians.

“The singers also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem.” (Nehemiah 12:28)

There needed to be purification to deal with their sin.

“When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall.” (Nehemiah 12:30)

There needed to be instructions given for how the dedication of the walls was going to happen.

“I had the leaders of go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, towards the Dung Gate.” (Nehemiah 12:31)

“The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people – past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall.” (Nehemiah 12:38)

“The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials… The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah.” (Nehemiah 12:40, 42)

3. With all of this in place, the people praised God for all that He had done.

“And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.” (Nehemiah 12:43)

4. Application.

As elders we must make sure that as a local church we make time to acknowledge all that God has done for us in Christ and is doing in and through this local church, so that He, not us, gets the glory.

This will require taking time ourselves to recount and record all that God has done in Christ and in the life of the church so that we can praise Him in response.

This will require careful preparing of our services and meetings to help direct the congregation’s focus and attention to what God has done through the songs we sing, the prayers we pray, the calls, rubrics (transitions) we say, the readings we include, and the reports we give.

C. We acknowledge what God has done with our plans

1. Nehemiah leads the people of Jerusalem by making plans to serve God in the future.

Once the dedication of the wall was over, the work would continue and plans needed to be in place to ensure the people followed through with their commitment to live God’s way going forward into the future, especially by not neglecting the ministry of the temple.

“At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes.” (Nehemiah 12:44)

2. Application.

As elders we must make sure that as a local church we press on with the work of making disciples of all nations that Jesus has given us to do.

Plans needed to be put in place not only to ensure this happens, but also to help the congregation to serve in this way.

God’s Word gives clear instructions about what we are to do, and our responsibility is to lead the church in seeking them to apply these instructions to our situation here in Banstead in 2014.