As we begin our message today, I want to talk to you about one of the greatest of Christian virtues, the virtue of hope. And of course, America has its own idea, its own watered-down idea of what that is. And it likes to make you think that hope is optimism, positive thinking, you know, keeping your mindset, looking at things ahead. But God is saying today that hope truly is a confidence that we only can have in Christ Jesus. That is the source of your hope. When you first put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, you receive this gift of hope. And it is eternal life in him. That is your hope. That is your source of joy! When you receive this hope in your heart, it makes your eyes look heavenward. And every single thing that you do in your life is going to be toward that trajectory of what pulls you forward to meet with your Lord and Savior. As you will be with him one day for all of eternity.

But it also puts a desire inside of your heart that you would bring heaven down on earth because you want other people to receive the same hope that you have anchored inside your heart. This is the salvation we preach. And when it comes upon a man, it goes inside, it anchors you, and you now become heavenward, moving, constantly marching forward and upward. But God is calling us to bring that hope down into a broken world. Our world is in need of hope this day! People are broken-hearted. They are surrounded by broken lives and broken situations. And we were one of those people. We were that group. Sometimes overtaken by our addiction, by our anger, by our selfishness, whatever it is, our sinful lifestyle. And yet hope came down in the form of Jesus Christ to rescue you. The Lord needs to be brought down into the impossible situations of people's lives, just like he did when he came into yours. And He will rebuild and restore all that has been broken. This is what Jesus is in the business of doing. Calling the things that are not as though they were. To marriages. To people's depression. To not having a hope or a future. Not knowing what they will be or what their identity is. This is the rebuilding that the church must do in this season.

"We know that when things are falling apart, it is God who is still working behind the scenes. And when today brings you discouraging news, tomorrow is in God's hands."

We must demonstrate it to the world because they have to know who your hope is in. And what does that look like? You see, when things are broken around us, we know that God has a plan. We know that when things are falling apart, it is God who is still working behind the scenes. And when today brings you discouraging news, tomorrow is in God's hands. Amen? If you put your hope in this world, you will often be disappointed. As you know, people disappoint. Plans run out. Your strength will fail you. This is the way of the world that we live in, because it is a world of sin. It is decaying every single day. But those who put their hope in the Lord will never be put to shame!

Today, this morning, you are being called to put your hope in a God who is forever faithful, who has no limits, whose power can never run dry for you, and his name is Jesus Christ. This morning I want to look at a man in the Bible who received terrible, terrible news. The city that he loved was broken. And the walls had been broken down and destroyed. And the people were living in shame. But he did not lose hope. Instead, he was led by hope, to prayer, and then followed by action. This man's name was Nehemiah. So if you would open up your Bibles to that book, we're going to be going through parts of that story today. And it will also be on the screen for you.

So, we're first going to begin in Nehemiah chapter 1. And we're going to see that hope grows in the ashes. Nehemiah is living in Babylon as one of those who had been in exile there. There was a time that Jerusalem had been overtaken by the Babylonian kingdom, and they all had begun living in Babylon. And so there he was working in the courts of the king as the cupbearer. One day, some men came up from Jerusalem and reported to them all that they had seen. And we pick up in verse 3, “They said to me, those who survived exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and the gates have been burned with fire.”

At hearing this news, Nehemiah mourned and he wept. He wanted to pull his hair out! He was crying and fasting before the Lord, knowing that this had happened to Jerusalem because of their unfaithfulness to God, and to his commands. The broken down walls and the burned gates represent shame and disgrace for God's people. We've been studying in this church what gates represent, and I want to tell you it is not a good thing when the gates are burnt down. It's not a good thing for a city to have open walls and open borders, as you know. Anybody can walk in and out as they please. They come in to defile. They come in to steal, to rob, to kill, to destroy. And so here the people of God are in disgrace. They are being humiliated before the nations around them. They are being mocked and looked down upon in this deeply, deeply grieved Nehemiah. He cried out before the Lord. God's people look like they were weak and abandoned. And just as you can imagine, when everything is going wrong in life, just like it always does, then the scoffers and the mockers come out. And they say, “Where's your God now? Will he save you? Will he come to help you? And isn't it always that way in our lives?”

When you lived in the world, the Bible says that you were dead in your transgressions. It's when you were living and doing whatever you wanted to do, when you did whatever pleased you, and you had a sinful lifestyle. And what was your relationship with the world at that time? It was your friend, and it approved of everything you did. But when you're saved, and you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you begin to live for righteousness, oh, then they go and lie and wait for your demise, for your failure. And that is the way it is with those who hate the work of the Lord. Satan hates the work of God. His kingdom is going down and the Lord's is going up. But do not be dismayed for God is with you! It doesn't matter what they say, for your hope is in the Lord Almighty!

"Pick yourselves up, for the Lord will be your vindication!"

This reminds me of Psalm 42:10, “My bones suffer mortal agony, as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why are you so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Why? Why are you so grieved? Why are you crying out to the Lord? Why are you on the floor crying before God as though he does not see it? The Lord sees you and he does not want you to be overcome by the situations in your life. For greater is he that is in you than he who is in the world! Pick yourselves up, for the Lord will be your vindication. We read a psalm at our breakfast table yesterday and it said that your vindication will be like the noonday sun. Why noonday? Noonday is the brightest time of the day. It's when the sun is in the middle and it's the brightest out there. Your vindication will be like the noonday sun so that everybody knows that God has saved you. It has been God's right arm. It has been God who has set forward to rescue you from that which came to destroy you. And so what happens next in the story is that when he receives this terrible news, and of course he's humbling himself and he's crying out before God, what he does next is profound. And I want to put our attention there.

In the midst of his tears, he cries out to God, “Lord, Lord, would you give me favor to rebuild those walls?” And I want you to notice in that prayer, he is not praying, “Lord, would you send somebody to rebuild those walls? Can somebody else do it?” No, because when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ, you are deposited with the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the spirit of Jesus Christ inside of you. You receive the power to overcome every obstacle, every mountain. You will scale a wall with the help of the Lord. And so he is led by hope to prayer and action. And it is in that very place in the ashes. He knew that the walls had been destroyed and the gates were burned. And that is a very descriptive idea of what we look at when we look at some of our lives. There are areas in our lives that have been those places of rubble, and we haven't wanted to go there. That's my challenge for the church today. Are there areas of hopelessness in your life that you say are too painful to look at? You know, “I have no hope in that area. I'm just going to move on.” But the Lord is the Lord of the resurrection. The Lord is the one who calls the things that aren't as though they were. He has the power to do all things. He is without limit. So it's there in the rubble. It's in the ashes. It's what Satan thought he destroyed, that he thought was good and dead. But on the third day, he rose again. And because he rose, we also will rise with him. And so this is our lives that we're going to build back.

And it is also the house of the Lord. And you may look around and say, you know, this is a beautiful building. It's not broken down. But God is doing something special that was from the very beginning. It was a higher worship. You're like, “Wow, you know, the Holy Spirit is here.” I have always grown up with the Holy Spirit in my life, and I have shared this with some of you, but when Kris first came to church the very first time off the street, my husband now, he literally was led to his knees. He didn't know one verse. He didn't know God. He never prayed before. And yet he was led into the presence of the Lord. And immediately that very first day that the music started and the Holy Spirit was in the room, he was convicted and fell to his knees. And so God is restoring the worship of the tents and the house of David. It is a greater power that allows people who come in off the streets to be free from their addiction, to be free from the demonic powers, to be free from all that holds them back, amen!

So it's not just for our own lives, but it is also for the house of the Lord to be restored and its walls to be built up. God always has a remnant. He wants a place for us to find refuge, and that is why we build up the church. Romans 4:18, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” And there's a saying here, “hope against hope.” Hope against the odds, hope against your humanistic logic. He chose to believe despite all that was against him. In the next verses in that section of Romans, it said Abraham was as good as dead because he was almost 100 years old. And God said, you're going to be the father of nations. And today we still call him the father of faith because he was the first one to believe that he could receive righteousness through the gift of God. And that is us today. You are filled with hope. You have been given a wonderful gift this day to receive something that you never earned. Something that you never worked for. Something that we never deserved before. And it is given to us because of the grace of God. And so Abraham believed the Lord.

And Nehemiah now is coming into this place. He sees the people of the Lord in shame and disgrace, but he knows that God is about to rebuild and restore all that had been broken. This was a broken down city, with broken down walls. And many of us would want to turn to the next project. Many of us would be dismayed. Many of us would have a response of being too overwhelmed. “There's too much rubble. There's too much to get through. There's too much. I don't even want to go there.” But that's where the Lord wants to go. Although the task may cost you everything that you have, although it is a huge undertaking, the Lord is saying “Jerusalem is the house of God.” Jerusalem is so much like the church that we have today. It must rise. It must be a lighthouse for the lost sons and daughters. It must be the refuge for the people of God.

And so the church today, we do not have a choice. It must be built up. We cannot turn away in fear, unbelief, laziness, or for any other reason. Let the house of the Lord be built up! We look at those places that have been nothing but a heap of ashes, and we turned our face away from it because we did not want to look upon it. But this day, I say to you, by the strength of the Lord, hope will grow in the ashes. In Christ alone, our hope is found. It is not about our strength. It is not about what you see as potential, but it is the Lord. In Christ alone, my hope is found because it is him. He will do it. Many of you have testified that Pastor Janeth has never given up on you. That she's always pushed you to believe in God and to go further and work more in the Lord. And I say to you, it's not necessarily because she saw great potential in any one of us. But she knows who God is. Her hope is in the Lord. And so out of the ashes, hope arises.

And secondly, we need hope to rebuild. Hope is not just for a far future, but for today. You see, the result of hope is resurrection and eternal life in Jesus Christ. We know that that is what the end of the story is for the Christian. But hope today - hope in the lives that we live every single day - is the one that guides you, the one that sustains you, the one that reminds you of your calling in Christ. That's the hope we have of something greater. Whatever your life was going to be on your own, and then the life that God has called you to, that is our hope. 1 Peter 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” What can steal your hope away from you? What circumstance, what mean boss, what failure, what situation is there that would steal your hope away from you, that God says is kept in heaven for you, that Jesus keeps it and he was able to earn it for you the way that he went to death, hell, and then rose again! Jesus keeps your inheritance for you in heaven and he's given you a new and living hope. Because Jesus never dies, your hope also will live forever.

This hope must be lived out. Others have to see it in this world. And what does that look like? It looks like being joyful in affliction. Confident in our future You see we can be joyful in the midst of affliction because we know regardless of what happens you know what the end of the story is, don't you? You know if your house was taken, or if your car was taken, or if you didn't graduate from college, or if you didn't have a degree - oh no, not that! - that your future is kept in heaven with God. That Jesus said that it would never perish, spoil, or fade. He has great riches and treasures for you. We must live our life in a way that is honorable to what we have been given. It has been such a great gift, so let us do all that we can with the free gift that we have received from his mercy and grace.

"The favor of God needs to make the church rise up and be bold."

Now in chapter 2, Nehemiah is going to make a very bold request. He goes before the king and he asks him for a leave of absence from his job as cupbearer. He goes to the king and he asks him, “Can I have access to the forest, the royal forest, the royal trees? And can I have a letter that would allow me for safe travels through the area?” He is gutsy, to say the least. Remember, he is going before the most powerful leader in the ancient world of the time. And he is not asking for a little. Can I have time off? Can I have resources? Can I rebuild another city? Imagine all that he was asking him for! And you know, this kind of boldness does not come from optimism, but it comes from a hope in God. Chapter 2 verse 8, “And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests.” God's favor was upon Nehemiah, and because that favor was upon him, the king was favorable to everything he asked him for. The favor of God needs to make the church rise up and be bold. Look at the boldness that Nehemiah has. We must remember that the favor of the Lord is going to allow you to live out the calling that you have been given through Jesus Christ. Whether that's to preach the word of God, or to be up on the stands ministering before the Lord, or to share your testimony. God will give you everything you need to follow out the calling, because that is our hope. The Lord will give us all that we need to do the work of rebuilding.

"Hope is not the absence of problems; it is the courage to keep building in the midst of those problems. "

So Nehemiah is granted everything that he has asked for, and he goes to Jerusalem at night and investigates the whole situation for himself. And then he meets with the people who are living there. Nehemiah 2:17, “Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work.” My friends, true hope is not passive. It is always going to move. It must begin building. And hope is contagious because they were so excited that Nehemiah was not overcome by the ash and the rubble. And so they said, “Okay, let's do it. Let's move together and begin this great work.” And that's what has to rise in the church today. Those of you who have the hope of the Lord, those who believe that God is with us, speak out so that we may all be encouraged by your faith that God is about to move for us. Whatever you ask will be given in His name. The Lord will give every resource and there is nothing that he will not do to see it through to completion. Nehemiah planned. He prayed and he began to move and the people worked toward the restoration of the walls and of the gates. He stood against everything that would make him fearful, and yet he was faithful to what God has put in his heart. Hope is not the absence of problems; it is the courage to keep building in the midst of those problems. And hallelujah, we have a hope that is greater in us. It cannot make us fear. Nothing can turn us away. When God is for you, who can be against you? The task is daunting, and the people are still eager to be able to begin this work. Nehemiah was able to get favor from the king, and when the people saw it, they saw it as a sign that God was with them.

And I want to tell you today, God is with us. God is with you! If you will take his hand, he will lead you through onto the path of victory. And I want to tell you, being practical is not going to be helpful or hopeful in this situation. And I think you may have been that person, maybe I at one time was that person, with the dialogue that said, “Let's wait. Let's wait before we build the walls until we can gather more people. Maybe we should do a fundraiser. None of us are Masons. This is impossible work.” And that practicality is the thing that's just not relying on the work of the Holy Spirit. It's looking only in the natural and not seeing the power of God. And some of us this day need to release that practicality or that pessimism that only wants to look in the natural. For it is not based on only what you see, but on what God can do. It is on his power and of his work of what he has accomplished on the cross. The Lord will teach us, to show us that he doesn't need any one of us. He doesn't need our hands. He doesn't need our minds. He doesn't need our degree. He doesn't need our money. And yet it is a privilege to serve in the house of the Lord! It is a privilege to be part of such a great job or a great project, because it will result in victory. The church is moving up. The church is going up. We are going heavenward. And whoever we can bring onto this train is the power of the Lord.

Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” And church, we can never move away from the power of the Holy Spirit, because it is that deposit inside of you that guarantees that God will be successful inside of you. Because Jesus overcomes. When you have that Spirit inside of you, you also will be that overcomer. This is our redemption journey for our future and also for others. So I ask this day, who will take on the role of rebuilding? Who will do it joyfully? Who will be getting into the ranks to be able to say, “Yes, let us go rebuild the ancient old ruins of our God!”

So hope grows in the ashes. We need hope to rebuild. And finally, hope overcomes all opposition. Like the other Christian character traits, hope is not an emotion, it is a decision. That whatever comes your way, it doesn't matter, but we choose to be hopeful against all affliction. And many of you have chosen to do this. I've heard stories time and time again. You know, somebody has a terrible situation. Troubles come. Affliction comes. Your enemies surround you. They're waiting for you to fall. And you cry out to the Lord. And yet God has been able to rescue you. He will defend you! He will guide you! He will uplift you! He will not allow the waters to overcome you and drown you. The fires will not be able to touch you.

In chapter 4, this story is really starting to move now, but an adversary comes on scene. He wants to stop the building of the wall, and he is characterized by great anger. Oh, he is so angry that they want to rebuild the wall because he feels like his power and position are going to be taken away in the area. He tries to halt the construction through threats of violence and mocking the people of God. And so we have chapter 4 verses 1 and 2, “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 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?” Despite all of those threats that Nehemiah is receiving, he is not deterred. He encourages the people to continue their work, and he prays against all of the words of his enemies. In the midst of all the hate that is directed against him, he continues to work. And some of you are thinking, “Well, Jessica, it's just a feeling. You know, hatred is just an emotion. You know, they're not really doing anything to him yet.” But I say to you, if you've never felt hatred, then you have not been in this fight. The spirit of hatred comes to threaten. It comes to immobilize the people of God so that they will be paralyzed from doing the work. And some of us need to break free from some of that hate that has come. The mocking that has come. The voices, “Where is your God? Will he come and save you?” And those voices need to be silenced. It came to hate. It came to intimidate. It came to stop the work of the Lord.

Much of the Psalms is David, of course, praising God. But what's the other half? David is filled with words to the Lord, “Deliver me from my enemies. They've made holes in the ground that I would fall into. They watch me and they surround me that I would be destroyed. They wait for me to make a bad move and to die and to be destroyed.” He cries out to God to be delivered in most of the Psalms. That's what's so powerful because he knows that only God can save him from those threats. The threats are real. The threats are felt. The threats come to destroy. And yet David is trusting in the Lord. Nehemiah also had to overcome this force by the hope of his calling like so many of you today. As soon as you receive your calling, and even today you're like, “Yeah, I'm going to do it. I'm going to rebuild the walls of my life. I'm going to rebuild the church.” And then what? That hatred comes. All of a sudden, people come out of the woodwork to bring the voices of destruction, to make you feel down and to not believe. But I tell you, it is not a war against flesh and blood. It is not that person. But it is against rulers and principalities, of spirits of darkness. It's Satan because he knows that he does not view to inflict any wounds on his kingdom. He knows all that you will do for the house of the Lord, and so he wants to stop the work before it begins. But we're on to his schemes, aren't we?

And so the people were not qualified as builders. We know that we had the local baker, the jeweler, the priest, you know, the families that were there, and they were the ones rebuilding the wall. What qualified them to rebuild the wall? Why did they have the audacity to think that they could rebuild a city that had been destroyed? But truly, it is those who have the heart for God. It said they worked with all their heart. And this is what is desirable to God. You don't need to have a degree. You don't need to be well-versed. You don't need to be well-spoken in the house of the Lord. It's just the heart that God's looking for today. A strong and courageous heart. One that knows that you can do all things when God is with you. That he will strengthen you. That he will be with you. that he will deliver you time and time again. And so we keep on building because it is a work of love in our hearts. And I ask you, which side will prevail? Which is stronger? Is it the side of those who hate and work to stop? Or is it the side that hopes in the Lord this day? Truly, it is those who hope. The people began now really beginning to move and speed up, and they began closing the gaps in the wall. And this only made Sanballat, our enemy, and his group angrier. They conspired against Nehemiah, and they made elaborate plans. Of course, I hope that you all go home to read the story. But they made elaborate plans to stop it, to trick him, and they made threats of violence that were so real that now Nehemiah had armed his people. They couldn't even get a drink of water without having a sword at their side. And it's said at night that they all had to sleep inside of the walls of Jerusalem because they all needed to be there with their swords. They couldn't sleep out in the area at all. Everyone had to come.

And so things are rising up, and as if he did not have enough to deal with, he gets another bad report. The strength of the laborers is giving out. There's so much rubble. We cannot rebuild the wall. So Nehemiah is getting it from all sides, and I know that might be some of you. Oh, we're getting overwhelmed because of the stress, and the stress at work is coming. I can't pray anymore. I'm tired. There's so much happening. And there are times that we get brought to this place, but this pressing place is like the grapes being squeezed for their wine. Truly, what you decide to do in this moment that is so pivotal in your life is of great consequence. And you have two choices when you're at this. You have two responses. Number one, and here's my example of an inner monologue, “This is too much. I can't take it anymore. Nobody else deals with the kind of stuff that I'm going through! This is ridiculous. It's too much for me. I'm done.” Right? Some of you. And secondly, “Lord, now I know just a taste of what you went through when you were being persecuted. Would you tell me your will and would you keep me from sinning against you? Would you help me to be encouraged and to have hope in you so that I can finish this work?” And so that is Nehemiah's choice. He went with the second choice, which of course is the right one.

Nehemiah 4:14, “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.’” Church, do not be discouraged! Do not be dismayed. Do not let them make you fearful. Fight for your family. Fight for the Lord. Fight for your house and for the church this day. Despite all of those obstacles, Nehemiah knew that the only one who could do it is the Lord.

And Nehemiah 6:15 is the end of the rebuilding of the wall, and it says, “So the wall was completed on the 25th of Elul in 52 days. When all of our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid, and they lost their self-confidence. But they realized this work had been done with the help of our God.” Today is a day to rebuild all that has been broken. When there is a natural disaster, sometimes people don't want to rebuild. And I remember after Hurricane Katrina, my dad went sometime later to go and help with the cleanup and the rebuilding. And much of it had not been touched at all. And so there was rubble everywhere and boards and broken down houses and everything had been a heaping mess of ash and brokenness. And yet 20 years later, if you go back, there are still areas of the Ninth Ward in Louisiana that are not built up that are still those empty lots. But I say to you, and the church to the challenge is, will you build up those broken places? The broken walls and the burned gates have to be restored.

You know that we have some foundational scriptures that our church loves to really reflect on in our church. Isaiah 58:12. I know I've said it before, but I can't get away from it. “Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations,” And this is where I want to focus, “You will be called the repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings.” You will be called repairer. That's your new name, repairer. Your new name is restorer. Not John, not Sally, not Kim. It's going to be repairer, restorer, because God has called the church, in hope, to restore all that has been broken, all that had been lost, all that had been stolen from the house of the Lord, and to ransack from the enemy all that belongs to him. And sometimes that's over souls, lost sons and daughters of yours, of God's. And so by hope we rise up.

And so today, there's three different kinds of people that my message was geared toward today. Number one, those of you who have not yet put your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation. That you would put your trust and hope in him. That you also would have an inheritance to look forward to. That will never perish, spoil, or fade. That nobody could steal from you. That nobody could rob it from you. that you don't have to earn, but it's given to you by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, of those who would receive him. That's to the first person. Secondly, those of you who have had these areas of hopelessness in your life, those places of ashes that have long been devastated, and you said, I'm just not going to go there. We're going to brush it into the closet and forget it ever happened. I want to say the Lord can do all things, and he restores us and he wants us to be whole so that you also can get that name change. And so I encourage you to put your faith in the name of Jesus this day. That that hope would come upon you. And for my third group, those of us who have done that inner work and those inner healings, the Lord wants to call you to restore this day. To build up and to be given the name of the repairer of the broken walls.

For it is time to rebuild, and to come against every threat of the enemy that he has put on us to stop the work. “You can't do it. You're not strong enough. You don't know enough of the word.” Every word of intimidation that has been given, let us bring low this day. God has called you to rebuild the ancient old ruins.