Ezra-Nehemiah: How to Rebuild When It All Falls Apart: Jeremiah Lepasana | "Repairing Walls and Gates" - Nehemiah 1.1-3

REFLECT & APPLY: What was/am I relying on to give structure, stability, and safety to my life? Who in my life is experiencing the instability of broken walls and destroyed gates? Who might Jesus be sending me to serve? RECAPI. In the passage we saw broken down walls and gates destroyed by fire. The big point was for an ancient city walls embodied a sense of safety, and gates were the place of justice and stability. Therefore, broken walls and destroyed gates communicates a loss of safety and an experience of instability.Do things feel wobbly for you at the moment?And, we know we are in a “season of repair” if something has happened that has led to a loss of safety, and if our days are marked by an experience of instability.II. The passage also showed us the opportunity we have as people living in modern NYC. People from all over the world come in search of the “walls and gates” offered by the city. And, we have incomparable opportunity to share the love of Jesus, and the hope of perfect safety, stability, and justice of the city to come (Rev. 21). III. We ultimately saw that God uses a cup-bearer to repair the broken walls and gates of Jerusalem. Nehemiah has unique access to the King, but does not “look-in” to grow that influence, but instead “looks-out” to find a people to leverage his privilege for. And, we see that Jesus is the perfect cup-bearer. He serves a people in need not only by “looking out” but also by inverting the cup-bearer model. Cup-bearers were servants who nourished the king. But Jesus is the true King, who drank the cup of God’s justice, so that an unfaithful people could be nourished.