Rise Up and Build

Nehemiah 2:17-20; 3:1-5 March 6, 2022 Pastor Ricky Alcantar

Thesis The church is worth rebuilding because it is God's chosen vehicle for honoring him, blessing his people, and advancing the gospel — and we rebuild it by rising up individually, building together, and trusting Christ to make us prosper.

Series

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Type

Expository

Tone

pastoraldidacticprophetic

Method

redemptive-historicalcanonicalapplicatory

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

39 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #21

"Direct pastoral encouragement to parents of young children who often leave church feeling like they accomplished nothing — their presence honored God regardless of how distracted they felt."

Doctrinal loci· 5 surfaced

Ecclesiology · 28 Pastoral Theology · 4 Covenant Theology · 3 Theology Proper · 3 Soteriology · 2

Bible citations· 11

Illustrations· 5

personal story · unit #1 — Personal story establishing the common human frustration with projects that drag beyond initial expectations — setting up the sermon's central tension about long-term church building.
personal story · unit #16 — Personal story from that very morning: someone was prompted by God to talk to a pastor, resisted, then the pastor 'happened' to approach them — demonstrating God's active presence among the gathered church.
personal story · unit #20 — Personal testimony from the lockdown: preaching to two people in an empty room felt like it accomplished nothing, but the pastor knew it honored God regardless of emotional feedback.
hypothetical · unit #31 — Hypothetical scenario immersing the listener in the individual wall-builder's experience: hot, slow, isolated work with no immediate sense of progress.
personal story · unit #33 — Personal story about his toddler's Lego excavator gradually losing pieces until it no longer functions — an analogy for the church losing members.

Theological claims· 12

The call 'Let us rise up and build' is the timeless call of God to his people in every generation, including this post-COVID moment. unit #10
The walls represented the rebuilding of God's kingdom — his people, in his place, under his rule — and the church today is the new covenant manifestation of that same reality. unit #13
In the new covenant, God's people are defined by faith in Christ rather than ethnicity, and God's place is wherever the church gathers under his word. unit #14
We build the church first and foremost to honor God, whose name is bound up with the faithfulness and flourishing of his people. unit #19
We build the church for the good of one another, not just for individual benefit, because the church is a corporate reality providing shelter and strength to all. unit #22
We build the church for the advancement of God's plan to save the nations, because God's people have always been the vehicle through which blessing comes to the whole world. unit #24
The Great Commission was given to the church as a corporate body, not to individuals, and the church is the God-ordained vehicle for taking the gospel to every nation. unit #26
Christianity's unique ability to cross cultural and ethnic boundaries is evidence that the church is God's chosen and effective vehicle for global mission. unit #28
We build the church individually — each person takes up their own section of the work. unit #30
Every individual's contribution is essential because the church is only as strong as its weakest section — 90% participation is not enough. unit #32
Every member is called to be the church's ministry — hospitality, mercy, discipleship — not just the people with official roles. unit #35
We build individually, but never alone — we build together with others working on adjacent sections of the wall. unit #36

Quotations· 1

"God's people in God's place under God's rule" — Graham Goldsworthy (unit #13)

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Full transcript

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0 · Opens the sermon with energy and provides structural orientation: a two-week series on the church beginning today in Nehemiah 2, followed by a longer book study

I am stoked. All right, well, let's get into God's word today. We're gonna be in the book of Nehemiah chapter 2. For the next 2 weeks, we're gonna take a kind of a mini, do a 2-week kind of one-two punch on the church. And then the week after that, we're gonna start a big ambitious book of the Bible that you'll hear about next week. Or if you read your email, you know what's coming already. Shout out to the email.

1 · Personal story establishing the common human frustration with projects that drag beyond initial expectations — setting up the sermon's central tension about long-term church building

Have you guys ever had a project that you realize is going to take longer than you thought and is not going to get done anytime soon? Recently, I needed to replace a lighting fixture in our kitchen. And so we got the new lighting fixture and I had my day off and I was ready to do it. And as I'm working on it, one of the little components that they gave got shredded and I couldn't connect the electrical wires together. And it kind of popped out of the bottom and I realized, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to have to like take this whole lighting fixture back to Lowe's, return it, get a new one, come back here.' And I began to get so angry. And I thought like, 'Why am I so angry about this?' I realized something about myself. I hate any home improvement project that takes longer than one afternoon. I can do whatever for one afternoon, but if it takes longer than that, I'm out. Like, I'm just like, it's too difficult for me, right?

2 · Pivots from the personal illustration to the congregation's shared experience, naming the unstated question many are asking post-COVID: Is church-building actually accomplishing anything?

And I think in many ways that's common to all of us. Maybe you're the guy that loves big ambitious multi-day project renovations. I don't really know anybody that loves that, right? They want it, they wanna get it done immediately and be done with it and move on. And so when we come to things that take a long time, we often ask, is this doing anything? And is this even worth it in the first place? That's what I was thinking while I was in the return line at Lowe's, looking at my watch thinking, I only have an hour to finish this before we have to go do something else. And in some ways, I think that's the question we're asking on the other side of COVID when it comes to building the church.

3 · Diagnoses the specific post-COVID condition: physical separation compounded by cultural and political fragmentation has weakened the congregation's sense that church-building matters

We got used to being separated and pulled apart by different things, by just circumstances, by practical separation, by the cultural crosscurrents that have flamed up, kind of flared up in our culture where we realized, man, you might be a little bit politically different than me, or you might be culturally different than me. You think about mass this way, or, you know, and all of a sudden we're getting pulled apart. And when it comes to building the church, we come and we build, and it doesn't seem Sunday after Sunday that we did anything. It's like we came, we gathered, we did, but did that do anything?

4 · Explicitly states the sermon's dual purpose: to encourage the congregation that church-building matters and to challenge them that relational reconnection requires work

Here's what I'm aiming to do today. I'm aiming to encourage us as a church. I think God aims to encourage us as a church that what we're doing, what we're giving our time to matters. And to challenge us that I think for many of us coming back from COVID I think I've seen even on my own heart, my connection to people in the church is not quite quite as strong as it was pre-COVID in some cases. There's friends I haven't gotten together with that I— it's gonna take work to restart those relationships. So is it worth it?

5 · Introduces the sermon's text by locating it in the post-exilic period and establishing the thematic parallel: Israel rebuilt after exile just as the church must rebuild after COVID

Well, I've been spending some time in a certain part of the Bible. I've been spending time in the post-exilic writings of Israel, meaning this is the time period where they'd gone into captivity as judgment, the Lord allowed them back and they sought to rebuild. And so I've spent time there thinking, Lord, how do you want us to rebuild on the other side of COVID I know COVID's not gone, but on the other side of much of it. How do you want us to rebuild? So we're going to read Nehemiah 2 and 3. And what you need to know is that Nehemiah was part of the court of the king, the Persian king, got authorization to come back and seek to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem and the city itself.

6 · The full scripture reading: Nehemiah's call to rebuild despite opposition, the people's response, and the detailed roll call of families rebuilding their sections

So Nehemiah chapter 2, please, let's stand for the reading of God's word today. Nehemiah chapter 2. Verse 17. This is God's Word. Then I said to them, 'You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.' And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, 'Let us rise up and build.' So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard it, they jeered at us and despised us, saying, 'What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?' Then I replied to them, 'The God of heaven will make us prosper.' And we His servants will arise and build. But you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem. Chapter 3. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. And next to him the men of Jericho built, and next to them Zaccur the son of Imri. The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors and its bolts and its bars. And next to them, Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them, Meshullam the son of Berechiah son of Meheshebel repaired. And next to them, Zadok the son of Benaah repaired. And next to them, the Tekoites repaired. But their nobles would not stoop to serve the Lord. And so it continues. This is God's Word.

7 · Opening prayer asking God to help the preacher communicate God's heart for the church and asking for the congregation to be able to receive the message

And Father, we pray But I really do pray, please help me in the limited time we have today, God, to be able to communicate something of your heart for your people and for the work here, for the work of God in our generation. God, please help me. Please give us ears to hear and eyes to see, in Jesus' name, amen. You may take a seat.

8 · Reconstructs the emotional and psychological state of the returned exiles facing overwhelming ruin and paralysis — they rebuild individual lives but not the corporate walls

Well, imagine the scene here. The people of Israel, the people of Jerusalem have lived in a city of relative ruin since they returned from the Babylonian captivity, from Persia, right? They return and maybe they'd heard happy stories of their great-grandfather saying, 'Oh, the family farm and our house was here and the fields were like this.' And they arrive and the fields are dead and the house has been torn down. And the prospect of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, their capital, their unique city, the city that gives them their cultural and ethnic identity in many cases, it just seems too daunting. Too big, too overwhelming. And so day after day, week after week, year after year, they live, perhaps rebuilding their individual lives, but with the walls of the city of Jerusalem, the city itself lying in ruin.

9 · Identifies Nehemiah's core pastoral move: not bringing external resources but calling the people to do what they already knew they were supposed to do

Maybe like me, they thought, would going over and rebuilding part of the section of the wall even do anything? It's going to take forever, it's gonna be impossible for us to do. So Nehemiah returns and Nehemiah, I love this dude. Side note, tons of leadership lessons for Nehemiah. If you're a leader at work or in context like that, read the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is fired up. He realizes God's people have not rebuilt the way that they were supposed to. And in fact, Nehemiah hasn't participated probably in the way that he should have. So he comes back. He's fired up. And here's the main thing Nehemiah does. He calls the people to do what they already know they should do, right?

10 · Establishes the sermon's central exhortation: the call to 'rise up and build' is not just Nehemiah's call to Israel but God's call to the congregation today

He doesn't bring an army of builders from Persia, right? Where, you know, the Persian engineering corps, you know, the Seabees of Persia don't show up and just push everybody out of the way and rebuild the walls. No, he essentially brings the authorization and some requisition orders for some wood, but all he has is what he does here. Let us rise up and build. That's what he calls the people to. And in fact, that's the call of the text. That's the call for us today. Let us rise up and build.

11 · Structural roadmap: three questions (what, why, how) with a restatement of the sermon's dual purpose to encourage and challenge

Now, we're going to look at this in 3 brief sections. What are we building? Why are we building? And how do we build? And I want to— again, I want to encourage us and challenge us that what we're giving ourselves to is the right thing and that it should be a priority for every member of the people of God as we rebuild in this new season.

12 · Explains why the walls mattered in Nehemiah's context: not just physical protection but the visible sign of a reconstituted people with identity and purpose

So first, what are we called to build? Well, in Nehemiah's case, they're called to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, but specifically the walls of Jerusalem. The walls were so important in the ancient world. The walls meant safety, the walls meant security, but the walls meant more than that. The walls meant this is a city. Right? There was so much in the city of Jerusalem that was tied up with their ethnic and religious and cultural identity. To rebuild the walls of Jerusalem meant to do something that would be essential to the reconstituting of God's people in this era.

13 · Introduces the Goldsworthy framework (God's people, place, rule) as the theological pattern connecting Nehemiah's work to the church's work today

Graham Goldsworthy sums up the kingdom of God throughout Scripture this way, that the kingdom of God is God's people in God's place under God's rule. That's what they were seeking to rebuild with these walls. It wasn't just walls. They were rebuilding God's people in God's place, the Promised Land, under God's rule. And similarly for us, we're called to build the same thing. Today the church is God's people in God's place under God's rule.

14 · Specifies the new covenant transformation: God's people are now defined by faith not ethnicity, and God's place is now wherever the gathered church meets under his word

We're no longer an ethnic group. Instead, the way to become one of God's people is to believe in Jesus Christ and to find yourself regardless of who you are, regardless of your nationality or heritage, to be welcomed in to the people of God through the blood of Jesus. And it means that God's place is no longer just a geographic place, it's anywhere the people of God gather as the people of God under the rule of God, under the word of God. So what are we called to build? We're called to build, I mean, this is elementary stuff, right? You're thinking, man, I came to church for this, that we're supposed to build the church. Great, thank you. That is what we're called to do.

15 · Expounds 1 Peter 2:4-5 to establish that the church is now the temple — living stones being built into the dwelling place of God's presence

1 Peter chapter 2 says this, 'You come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious. You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.' Look, what happens when the church of God gathers is that we are building not with bricks, but with people. That the people in this room right now are living stones built together to be a spiritual house. And you might think, well, what's the deal with the spiritual house? Well, that meant the temple, right? The temple was where God's special presence was. And for many of the Israelites, they would see the temple of God far off 'cause they're not a priest, they're not clean. But through Jesus, all of God's people are brought all the way in to the very presence of God through Jesus and now are being built up as the place where God dwells.

16 · Personal story from that very morning: someone was prompted by God to talk to a pastor, resisted, then the pastor 'happened' to approach them — demonstrating God's active presence among the gathered church

Do you realize that when we gather as a church, God dwells among us in a— in a unique and powerful way that we don't experience when we're individually in our car reading our Bible. Just this morning, I heard somebody, I was talking to somebody and they were saying that during worship and the message, they felt like God's saying, you know, you need to talk about this with somebody, you know, maybe with one of the pastors. And so they were like, I'm not gonna do it. I can't do it, it's too scary. Only if they come up to me will I talk to them. And so they just, they were over in the corner drinking coffee and I happened to see them and happened to come up and say hi. So we chatted for a minute and then tears came into their eyes and they said, 'God told me I needed to talk to you about something.' Right? And you think that's not magic? I mean, we're not planning that. That's the presence of God among, moving among the people of God.

17 · Direct charge to prioritize church-building amid all the other post-COVID rebuilding projects — friendships, hobbies, travel

That's what we are building. So let me encourage you, as we rebuild post-COVID, we're rebuilding friendships, rebuilding lives, rebuilding hobbies, rebuilding school, rebuilding travel plans, hopefully. Let's build around this. Let's build this priority into our lives. That's what we're building, the people of God and the presence of God.

18 · Pivots from 'what' to 'why' — from the object of our building to the reasons it matters

All right, why? Why then are we called to build this? Why is this so important?

19 · First reason for building: to honor God

Well, first, quick reasons. First, to honor God. In the Old Testament, the honor of God's people and the honor of God were tied together because God had called his people by his name. So the honor of God's people and the honor of God himself were tied together. And so this call not to suffer derision isn't just like, Hey, people are making fun of us. Let's not let them make fun of us. We'll build a city. It's not that. It's that we are the people of God. Let the name of our God not suffer derision among the nations, right? To honor God. And today, similarly, we're called to build the church simply because it honors God.

20 · Personal testimony from the lockdown: preaching to two people in an empty room felt like it accomplished nothing, but the pastor knew it honored God regardless of emotional feedback

Oftentimes in America, we think of the church primarily through an individual lens, like, I go to church because I need to learn something and somebody is there to explain the Bible to me, which is not bad. Or we go because I need to feel something and we judge, did I feel something this Sunday? But I think we need to recapture a category that this honors God. Look, in the middle of the pandemic, this room was absolutely empty. And, you know, for the— especially the initial lockdown weeks, I was preaching to 2 people. I think John was probably one of them, and nobody else, got no feedback, felt nothing. And I remember at one point walking out to my car and just thinking, 'Is this doing anything?' I don't know, but I do know this: it honored God.

21 · Direct pastoral encouragement to parents of young children who often leave church feeling like they accomplished nothing — their presence honored God regardless of how distracted they felt

So regardless of whether we feel, whether we, I mean, we love to feel things, we love to learn things, but we come because by our presence it honors the Lord. Especially if you're a parent of young kids, we have a toddler, sometimes you're just like, dude, I got pulled out of kids ministry twice 'cause they were crying and this happened and I was trying to talk to somebody else but my kid kept interrupting me, and so you leave and you're distracted and then you go home and you just think, did that do anything? Yeah, it did. It honored the Lord. Be encouraged.

22 · Second reason for building: for the good of God's people

Second, we build for the good of God's people, right? The walls of the city of Jerusalem were for the good of all of the people of Jerusalem. It wasn't as though— like, it'd be easy for people to say, 'Well, my individual house is protected.' No, but Jerusalem meant protection for the whole people of God, that if something bad happened, they could come into the city and find shelter and safety. They built for the good of one another. And similarly, we're called to build for the good of one another.

23 · Explains the mechanics of mutual edification: individuals in crisis or hardship who still show up and sing build up the rest of the congregation even when they themselves feel nothing

And in fact, when we do that, when we sing, when we amen, when we learn a bit of scripture and help somebody with that piece of scripture, when we show up to community group exhausted, but we're still there, when we do those things, we are not just there for ourselves, We're there for others. I love sitting on the front row because every once in a while I can pick somebody's voice out in the congregation, and I know, man, that guy's job is an absolute, like, train wreck right now, but he's singing, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul.' That person lost a family member, but they're singing, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul.' That person lost a spouse, and they're singing, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul.' That woman's child's about to go into surgery in a few weeks and they're singing 'Bless the Lord,' right? And you may not feel it, but when you sing, it blesses me, it builds me up. We build one another up.

24 · Third reason for building: for the advancement of God's plan to save the nations

It's for the good of God's people. And third, we build for the advancement of God's plan to save many. We're not just building for ourselves, we're building for the sake of all those around us. Remember that God's people, from the beginning, that the promise to Abraham was that through him and his family, the whole world would be blessed. That Isaiah 49 speaks of God's people being a light to the Gentiles. And so one of the things that the people of God were rebuilding is they were rebuilding the people of God through which the promise of God would come, the Messiah would come, and through them that there would be a light to the Gentiles.

25 · Traces the 'light to the Gentiles' image from Isaiah through Jesus' 'city on a hill' metaphor, explaining how a visible, gathered church serves as a witness to the surrounding world

Jesus picks this image up in Matthew 5 when he says, 'You are the light of the world, church.' A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Right, we're meant to give the light of the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ to those around us. The way that it would work in the ancient world is, remember, it's pitch dark in the ancient world. There's no electric lights, there's no light pollution. And so if you were living outside of the city of Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem was on a hill, And what you'd be able to do even at night is you'd be able to see a faint light on the horizon that was the city of Jerusalem. A witness, a light. That's what the church is meant to be, a light to those around us. And for the good of the people around us, we must be the church and build the church.

26 · Establishes that the Great Commission was given to the corporate church, not to isolated individuals, and that the church has always been the vehicle for gospel advancement

Look, the Great Commission was given to the church. It wasn't that Jesus gathered each disciple individually and was kind of like, 'Hey, you know, Peter, you're going to go do this.' And then he had a separate meeting with John, a separate meeting with— you know, he didn't do that. He gathered them. And how did they fulfill that commission? In Acts chapter 2, the disciples— you know, the Spirit falls and Peter stands up and preaches. And instead of just being like, 'Okay, great. Now you guys go back to your individual lives after being saved,' No, what happens in Acts chapter 2, they're built into a church. What am I trying to get at? The church is the vehicle for the advancement of the gospel to every tribe, tongue, people, and language.

27 · Affirms the value of parachurch and digital ministries but insists that the historic and primary vehicle for global gospel advance has been and remains the local church

And I love innovative ways of getting the gospel to various places. I love the internet and online ministries. I love the, you know, various parachurch things that we love and support. But I know this, that the, The task of advancing the gospel to every tribe, tongue, language, and people is given to the church. And over the last 2,000 years, how has the gospel gone from Jerusalem to Rome to England to Africa to North America, South America, Asia? How has it happened? Through the average, ordinary ministry of the local church.

28 · Cites the unique pattern of Christianity's global spread across cultural and ethnic lines as evidence of the church's effectiveness as the vehicle for mission

Did you know that Christianity is the only major world religion that keeps flexing and changing where its major population centers are across geographic and ethnic lines? Meaning that if you look at the spread of Christianity, it just keeps moving. It's just rapid and it's just flexing and changing across every kind of cultural world, every political ethnic line possible. Why? And how has that happened? Through the ministry of the church.

29 · Pivots from 'why' to 'how' — from the reasons for building to the method, with an emphasis on addressing the post-COVID cultural moment

So that's what is at stake. Then, last question, how are we to build? If that's true, if we're called to build the church and we know why we're meant to build the church, how do we do it? I wanna make 3 quick observations that are kind of bent toward our current cultural moment.

30 · First point on method: we build individually

The first is, We build the church individually. We build it individually. The word— I used the word alone in the first service, and Alec was like, I don't think we mean alone. I think we mean individually. So thank you, Alec. It should be individually. Disregard the screen. This is why we preach at SideNote as a team and help each other, because none of us have everything together. First, individually.

31 · Hypothetical scenario immersing the listener in the individual wall-builder's experience: hot, slow, isolated work with no immediate sense of progress

Now, imagine what it would be like to get fired up by Nehemiah's speech and to be like, yeah, we're going to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And you go, and here's what day after day would look like for you. You have a bunch of bricks, you got a bunch of mortar, you got like a shovel, you're tearing down old sections of wall, you're putting a brick, you're stacking it, you're waiting, you're repairing, you're doing this, and it's just hot. It's the Middle East, right? It's El Paso in the summer. And the next closest person may be like way down the wall, and you got no one to talk to, and it's just you and the sun and a pile of bricks. And you're thinking, 'Is this really worth it? Is this doing anything?' Like, 'Hey, Phil, how's it going?' Like, 'Oh, great. I got 2 feet of wall done today.' Right? You just go home. 'Is this doing anything?'

32 · Explains why individual participation matters: 90% of a wall is no wall at all — every family's section was essential to the integrity of the whole

But what's crucial about this is you see this long list of names in Nehemiah 3. It is only when each of them individually take up the work and give themselves to it that anything is accomplished of scale and size. Right? Every single piece, every single section of the wall mattered. It would not help if they repaired 90% of the wall and like the 3 families over here were just like, 'Yeah, we're good. We're good.' You know? Then you've got 90% of a wall is no wall. Because otherwise the invaders are like, 'Well, this wall seems very strong, but there's a huge 100-foot section right there that we're going to go through.' Right? That's not gonna help anybody.

33 · Personal story about his toddler's Lego excavator gradually losing pieces until it no longer functions — an analogy for the church losing members

Think about it this way. My son, Anson, who's a toddler, he loves this Lego excavator. It's this very, like, it's too complicated for him, but he has this excavator, and he loves it, and he wants it at all times. It needs to be near his crib when he sleeps. He loves this excavator. But what's happening is over a period of time, he's losing all the little tiny pieces of the excavator. So at first, it started out super cool, had tracks and everything, and a cool bucket that scoops, and slowly you lose a piece, and you're like, you can't find it, and it's gone. And then you lose another piece, lose another piece, and pretty soon the claw that looked so cool before is like, rah, you know? And it's like flopping around and keeps falling off, and you keep reattaching it. And then at a certain point, you lose one piece, this is what happened last week, you lose one piece too many, and it doesn't work at all.

34 · Applies the excavator analogy directly: when individuals opt out thinking it won't matter, the cumulative effect is catastrophic — the church stops functioning

And I think sometimes the church is like that, where we think, 'Well, if I don't show up, if I don't participate, you know, it doesn't seem like it's going to really hurt anybody.' And then one more person makes that choice, and then one more person makes that choice, and pretty soon the church looks like, you know, it's trying to do its job but it can't. And then pretty soon it doesn't function at all. It's only when we each individually take up the work of God, that we can advance for the purposes of God.

35 · Radically democratizes ministry: every member is hospitality, mercy, discipleship — formal ministries exist to equip, but the real work happens when individuals take responsibility

Look, I love and I'm grateful for our church, the ministries of our church, but there should be a sense in which every member is all the ministries of Cross of Grace. Here's what I mean by that. Our hospitality ministry should not be the people with donuts. Our hospitality ministry is every member who sees somebody they don't know, right? Our mercy ministry is not, hey, we got 3 guys that meet and, you know, kind of help help with bigger needs. Now, our mercy ministry is you see somebody in your community group, you realize, man, they're an older senior saint, they can't turn on their swamp cooler, can you do that? Maybe you do that, right? You think about men's ministry and women's ministry. Our best men's and women's ministry strategy is men and women meeting together over the Bible to help each other. Right, we can have all kinds of meetings and have banners and like flowers at all the tables, Yay! Real women's ministry is when you are at the end of your rope in marriage and meet with another godly wife and say, please help me. That's where it really happens, right? That individually, us each saying the sun's hot, the pile of bricks is there, let us rise up and build.

36 · Second point on method: we build together

Second, we build together. We build individually, but we also build together, right? The thing I love about this long list in Nehemiah 3 is that no one is building alone. And people who have a job that's too big for one person to do or one family to do. There's people building with them. And next to him, the men of Jericho built. And next to them, Zaccar, the son of Imri, built, right? The good news is we build our own little section of the wall, but we build together with all the others.

37 · Diagnoses the post-COVID temptation: people survived isolation for a season and now question whether regular gathering is truly necessary

And that togetherness is also essential. Look, coming out of COVID there's a sense in which we can all kind of go like, Eh, I survived for a while without seeing any Christians. What's a couple of weeks, right? Eh, you know, I made it. Nothing horrific happened when I wasn't going to church for a while. So why keep going? Why keep going to community group? I did okay without that.

38 · Critiques post-pandemic proposals for reduced physical gathering (e

Look, I've seen a lot of people in the Christian church at large say that we should just be okay post-pandemic with Christians coming together physically in the same space less. It's kind of like, well, if you want to just sort of— I mean, I was listening to one video, and this is kind of an extreme, okay? But the person was like, you know, maybe church for some people is seeing an Instagram Live post and replying with a comment, and that for them is church. And I just thought, nope. Like, that ain't it, man. I don't know how we got there. But I think I know how we got there. We made Christianity so individualized that people only think of the church through their individual lens and only think, am I getting what I want and feel like I need from the church versus does this honor God? Does this help other people? Does this shine a light to the Gentiles? And to do that, we need one another. We cannot do it alone.

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Jan 30, 2022

On Christ the Solid Rock

In the floods of cultural opposition and personal failure, Christians must abandon all unstable ground—cultural consensus, hope in earthly fairness, self-confidence—and cling solely to Christ the solid rock, whose character is unchanging, whose substitutionary work covers our unfaithfulness, and whose identity as divine judge makes Him the only opinion that ultimately matters.

Mark 14:50-72

Feb 6, 2022

This Can't Be the Right Road, Can It?

The road to the cross is the Christian's road—hard, dark, and seemingly wrong—but it is the right road because Jesus walked it for us, and it ends not in death but in resurrection glory.

Mark 15:1-20

Feb 13, 2022

The Cross as Dividing Line

The cross of Jesus Christ is the eternal dividing line where those who see only foolishness and shame are separated from those who, by God's grace, see the King who saves by refusing to save himself—and this reality must remain the defining center of both personal discipleship and the church's life across all generations.

Mark 15:21-41

March 6 · This sermon

Rise Up and Build

The church is worth rebuilding because it is God's chosen vehicle for honoring him, blessing his people, and advancing the gospel — and we rebuild it by rising up individually, building together, and trusting Christ to make us prosper.

Nehemiah 2:17-20; 3:1-5

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

When Nehemiah calls out 'Let us rise up and build,' what specific brokenness is he naming that requires repair? What does the condition of t…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we walk through the foundations of why the church matters: God's eternal purpose for his people, the reshaping of that people in Christ, our individual calling to build, our corporate strength together, and the gospel's advance to the nations.

Prayer

Prayer: Rising Up to Build Together

Father, we come before you in gratitude for your church — your people gathered in your name, living stones being built into a spiritual hous…

Family table

What's Your Section of the Wall?

This prompt invites kids to see themselves as active builders in the church, not just attendees. Listen for how they understand their own gi…

Couples

Building Together After the Pause

When you heard Ricky say 'the church is worth rebuilding,' what stirred in your own heart — doubt, conviction, relief, or something else?…

Memorize

1 Peter 2:4-5

This verse captures the sermon's central claim that the church—God's people in God's place under God's rule—is built not by human effort alone but by Christ himself, with each believer as a living stone in God's spiritual house. It grounds the post-COVID call to 'rise up and build' in the reality that we are chosen, precious, and corporately essential to God's purposes.

Sunday-evening family table

What's Your Section of the Wall?

For the parent

This prompt invites kids to see themselves as active builders in the church, not just attendees. Listen for how they understand their own gifts and role — even young children can name ways they contribute (singing, sitting still, welcoming friends). The goal is to help them feel part of something bigger than themselves.

In the sermon today, Ricky talked about how each family in Nehemiah's time rebuilt their own section of the wall — and everyone's section mattered because the wall was only as strong as its weakest part. If you think about our church like that wall, what's your section? What's one way you help build it up — maybe it's singing in worship, or being kind to someone new, or helping set up chairs, or inviting a friend, or something else you do? Tell us about your section.

works for ages 7+ — younger kids can name one simple way they help; older kids and teens can think more deeply about their gifts and calling

Draft · pending review

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

When Nehemiah calls out 'Let us rise up and build,' what specific brokenness is he naming that requires repair? What does the condition of the walls represent about the condition of God's people at that moment?

Nehemiah 2:17

→ How do you see that same kind of brokenness — spiritual and communal — in the post-COVID moment we're in right now?
In the new covenant, what has changed about who God's people are and where God's place is? How does the church today embody what the rebuilt walls represented in Nehemiah's day?

1 Peter 2:4-5
Ricky identifies three reasons we rebuild the church: to honor God, to bless God's people, and to advance the gospel to the nations. Which of these three has been most alive in your own experience of church? Where have you felt the weight of one of these purposes in your own life?

→ If one of these three feels distant to you right now, what would it take to reconnect with it?
Look at Nehemiah 3:1-5 — each family rebuilt their own section of the wall. What does it mean for you personally to 'rebuild your section'? What is your section in the church right now?

Nehemiah 3:1-5

→ Is there a way you've been waiting for someone else to rebuild what you're actually called to rebuild yourself?
Ricky says that 90% participation is not enough — the church is only as strong as its weakest section. How does that challenge or encourage you? What would it mean for you to show up for your section this week, knowing that your contribution is not optional?
At the end of Nehemiah 2, God promises that the work will prosper. In what ways have you experienced Christ's promise to build his church as true in your own life or in the life of this congregation? What does it mean to trust that promise when the work feels slow or hard?

Matthew 16:18

→ What one thing could you do this week to align yourself with the fact that God is building his church, not you?

Draft · pending review

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

Monday Genesis 12:1-3

God's promise to Abraham was never just about one man or one nation — it was always about blessing *all the families of the earth*. The church today inherits this calling. When we gather, serve, and proclaim Christ, we are participating in the same redemptive work God set in motion thousands of years ago. The walls we rebuild are not walls of division but of blessing that flows outward to every nation.

Tuesday 1 Peter 2:4-5

Peter calls us *living stones* being built into a *spiritual house* — not a building of wood and stone, but a people united by faith in the risen Christ. Just as Nehemiah's wall was rebuilt stone by stone, each believer is fitted together with others to form God's dwelling place. We are the temple now. Our gathering is not incidental; it is the very substance of what God is constructing in this age.

Wednesday Acts 2

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell on people from every nation under heaven, and each heard the gospel in their own language. That moment was no accident — it was the proof that God's church would be a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual family bound together by Christ, not by blood or soil. When we gather in our own congregation — across languages, neighborhoods, and backgrounds — we are living out that Pentecostal reality. We are the evidence that God's plan works.

Thursday Isaiah 49

Isaiah speaks of God's servant bringing salvation to the ends of the earth — and that servant is God's people, the church. We do not accomplish this mission as scattered individuals; we do it as a gathered, covenanted body that prays together, sends together, and labors together. Your individual faithfulness matters, but it only reaches its full power when joined to the work of the whole body moving together toward the nations.

Friday Matthew 5:14

A city on a hill cannot be hidden. When the church rises up and builds — gathers faithfully, loves sacrificially, proclaims boldly — the world sees the light of Christ. God's reputation in our community is inseparable from our reputation as his people. Building the church is not primarily about comfort or convenience; it is about displaying to a watching world the power and beauty of God's kingdom. This week, notice one way your church's faithfulness honors his name.

Draft · pending review

Pray together this week

Prayer: Rising Up to Build Together

Father, we come before you in gratitude for your church — your people gathered in your name, living stones being built into a spiritual house. We thank you that you have not abandoned us, even in seasons of isolation and weariness. Your name is bound up with the faithfulness of your people, and we long to honor you by rising up together to rebuild what has been weakened.

We confess that after months of scattering, we are tempted to believe that gathering no longer matters — that we can pursue you individually, at home, in our own rhythms. We confess our weariness with the slow work of building together. We confess that we sometimes come to church asking what we will get, rather than asking what we are called to give. Forgive us for treating the church as optional, or as merely a gathering place for personal benefit, when you have called us to be your covenant people, your vehicle for blessing the nations (Genesis 12:1–3).

But here is the good news: Christ himself promised to build his church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. In the new covenant, you gather your people not by ethnicity or geography alone, but by faith in Jesus. Wherever we gather under his word, proclaiming his name, we are your kingdom — your people, in your place, under your rule. And so we are not building by our own strength, but by the Spirit of the one who rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father.

Father, give us courage to rise up — to take up our own section of the wall, to offer our gifts of hospitality, mercy, and discipleship, knowing that every member's work is essential because the church is only as strong as its weakest section. Give us joy in building together with our brothers and sisters, knowing we never build alone. And grant us vision to see that as we rebuild the church, we are participating in your eternal plan to save the nations. May our gathering, our service, our evangelism, and our love be a witness to a watching world that you are God. To you be all glory and honor, now and forever, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

Building Together After the Pause

When you heard Ricky say 'the church is worth rebuilding,' what stirred in your own heart — doubt, conviction, relief, or something else?
Where has COVID made us neglect the corporate work of the church together, and what is one section of the wall — gathering, serving, inviting — that we sense God calling us both to rebuild?
How can we pray for one another this week to show up faithfully to the church, not for what we get out of it, but because our presence honors God and strengthens his people?

Draft · pending review

Memory verse this week

1 Peter 2:4-5

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Why this verse: This verse captures the sermon's central claim that the church—God's people in God's place under God's rule—is built not by human effort alone but by Christ himself, with each believer as a living stone in God's spiritual house. It grounds the post-COVID call to 'rise up and build' in the reality that we are chosen, precious, and corporately essential to God's purposes.

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

About us · What we believe

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [On Christ the Solid Rock (Mark 14:50-72, 2022-01-30)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/01/on-christ-the-solid-rock)
- [This Can't Be the Right Road, Can It? (Mark 15:1-20, 2022-02-06)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/02/this-can-t-be-the-right-road-can-it)
- [The Cross as Dividing Line (Mark 15:21-41, 2022-02-13)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/02/the-cross-as-dividing-line)
- [Rise Up and Build (Nehemiah 2:17-20; 3:1-5, 2022-03-06)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/03/rise-up-and-build)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

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