Sermon Companion
THIS WEEK, REMEMBER:
EVERYBODY HAS A SECTION.
YOUR MISSION FIELD BEGINS WHERE GOD HAS ALREADY PLACED YOU.
YOUR GIFTS MAY DETERMINE HOW YOU SERVE THE MISSION, BUT THEY NEVER EXEMPT YOU FROM THE MISSION.
NEVER LET SOMEONE ELSE'S LACK OF COMMITMENT BECOME AN EXCUSE FOR YOUR LACK OF OBEDIENCE.
ORDINARY OBEDIENCE BECOMES EXTRAORDINARY WHEN AN ENTIRE CHURCH EMBRACES IT.
A CHURCH WHERE EVERYONE REACHES ONE.
MONDAY — EVERYBODY HAS A SECTION
Read: Nehemiah 3:1–6
Cross References
- 1 Corinthians 12:12–27
- Ephesians 4:15–16
- 1 Peter 4:10
Devotional
Nehemiah 3 can look like a chapter filled with names, construction projects, and locations that mean very little to us. But look closely at the repeated language:
“Next to him…”
“Next to them…”
Again and again, another person takes responsibility for another section.
No single person rebuilt Jerusalem's wall. Nehemiah didn't do it. The priests didn't do it. The government officials didn't do it. The craftsmen didn't do it.
Everybody had a section.
Imagine rebuilding forty feet of wall while leaving a forty-foot opening beside it. It wouldn't matter how strong your section was. The wall only became effective when individual sections connected.
Paul describes the church similarly in 1 Corinthians 12. We are one body made of many parts. Different people have different abilities, personalities, backgrounds, resources, and opportunities—but every part matters.
One of the greatest mistakes we can make as followers of Jesus is believing that the mission belongs primarily to pastors, church staff, missionaries, or people with the “gift of evangelism.”
Jesus gave the Great Commission to His followers.
That includes us.
Nobody at NRCC can reach everybody.
But everybody can reach somebody.
Think About It
Where is your section?
Who are the people God has already placed around you whom you can love, serve, encourage, invite, and ultimately point toward Jesus?
Challenge
Write down the names of three people already in your life who need Jesus.
Don't worry about how you're going to reach all three.
For now, simply begin praying:
“God, show me my section.”
Read: Nehemiah 3:8
Cross References
- Matthew 28:18–20
- Acts 1:8
- 2 Corinthians 5:18–20
- Romans 1:16
Devotional
Nehemiah tells us that Uzziel was a goldsmith and Hananiah was a perfumer.
Then they started rebuilding a wall.
That's important because these weren't professional masons. Their occupations were completely different from the job sitting in front of them.
Yet there is no record of them saying:
“That's not my gift.”
“I'm uncomfortable doing that.”
“Somebody else would be better at this.”
They simply joined the mission.
Sometimes Christians use spiritual gifts as an excuse to avoid spiritual obedience.
“I don't have the gift of evangelism.”
“I don't know what to say.”
“I'm uncomfortable inviting somebody.”
“I don't know enough about the Bible.”
But while our gifts may determine how we participate in God's mission, they never exempt us from God's mission.
Jesus didn't tell only certain Christians to make disciples.
He sent all of us.
And sometimes following Jesus means doing something uncomfortable because someone's eternity matters more than our comfort.
You don't have to have every answer.
You don't have to be a theologian.
You don't have to be an extrovert.
You just have to be willing.
Think About It
What excuse are you most likely to make when you think about talking to someone about Jesus?
What might happen if you stopped asking, “Am I comfortable doing this?” and started asking, “Is Jesus asking me to do this?”
Challenge
Do one uncomfortable thing for the mission today.
Invite someone to church.
Ask someone how you can pray for them.
Tell someone what Jesus has done in your life.
Send the text you've been afraid to send.
Take one step beyond your comfort and trust God with what happens next.
Read: Nehemiah 3:10, 23, 28–30
Cross References
- Acts 17:26–27
- Colossians 4:5–6
- 1 Peter 3:15
- Mark 5:18–20
Devotional
Several times in Nehemiah 3 we read something interesting.
Someone repaired the wall:
“opposite his house.”
Another worked:
“beside his own house.”
They didn't have to travel somewhere extraordinary to participate in God's work.
For some of them, their assignment was literally outside their front door.
That gives us an important principle:
OUR MISSION FIELD BEGINS WHERE GOD HAS ALREADY PLACED US.
We sometimes imagine serving God as something that happens somewhere else.
Maybe overseas.
Maybe on a mission trip.
Maybe at church.
And God absolutely calls some people to go across the world.
But before you worry about reaching someone across the ocean, look across the street.
Look around your workplace.
Look at the other parents at the soccer field.
Look around your classroom.
Look through the contacts in your phone.
Look around your own family.
There are people you interact with every week whom God deeply loves.
Your ordinary life may already be your mission field.
Think About It
Where has God already placed you?
Who do you regularly encounter whom you've stopped really seeing?
What if some of those relationships aren't accidental?
Challenge
Take your phone and scroll through your contacts.
Stop when you come to the name of someone who needs encouragement, hope, community, or Jesus.
Contact that person today.
Don't make it weird.
Don't make them your project.
Love them.
Ask how they're doing.
Listen.
And begin praying that God will show you how to reach your one.
Read: Nehemiah 3:12
Cross References
- Galatians 3:26–28
- Acts 2:17–18
- Romans 12:4–8
- 1 Corinthians 12:4–7
Devotional
Nehemiah could simply have written that Shallum repaired his section of the wall.
Instead, Scripture gives us another detail:
“he and his daughters.”
Throughout Nehemiah 3 we find priests, rulers, craftsmen, merchants, families, people from Jerusalem, and people who traveled from other communities.
This wasn't a construction project performed by professionals.
It was the people of God participating together.
And Shallum's daughters reinforce something beautiful about the chapter:
When God calls His people to a mission, everyone is included.
Our backgrounds may be different.
Our abilities may be different.
Our personalities may be different.
Our stories may be different.
But nobody who follows Jesus gets to say:
“There's nothing I can do.”
There is somebody you can love.
There is somebody you can encourage.
There is somebody you can serve.
There is somebody you can invite.
There is somebody you can tell about what Jesus has done for you.
You may not be able to reach everybody.
But you can reach somebody.
Think About It
What have you allowed to convince you that God couldn't use you?
Your past?
Your personality?
Your lack of biblical knowledge?
Your age?
Your mistakes?
Your fear?
God has always accomplished extraordinary things through ordinary people willing to obey Him.
Challenge
Today, replace “I can't because…” with:
“God, how can You use me?”
Then intentionally serve one person in a practical way.
Don't just tell them that Jesus loves them.
Show them.
Read: Nehemiah 3:5, 27
Cross References
- John 21:20–22
- Galatians 6:4–5
- James 4:17
- Hebrews 12:1–2
Devotional
The people of Tekoa came roughly twelve miles to help rebuild Jerusalem.
But Nehemiah records an uncomfortable detail:
Their nobles “would not stoop to serve their Lord.”
Some people refused to participate.
But here's what's remarkable.
The Tekoites kept working.
Later in the chapter, Nehemiah tells us that they repaired another section.
The failure of their leaders didn't become an excuse for their own failure.
That's important because comparison can quickly become an excuse for disobedience.
“They're not serving.”
“They never invite anybody.”
“They don't give.”
“They aren't committed.”
“If they're not doing it, why should I?”
Because we're not ultimately doing this for them.
We're doing it because of Jesus.
Someone else's lack of commitment doesn't change God's call on our lives.
Someone else's disobedience doesn't give us permission to disobey.
When Peter became concerned about what Jesus had planned for John, Jesus essentially redirected him:
“What is that to you? You follow me!” — John 21:22
That's still the call.
Stop watching everybody else's section of the wall.
Build yours.
Think About It
Whose behavior have you allowed to influence your obedience?
Have you ever justified doing less because somebody else wasn't doing anything?
Jesus isn't asking you to answer for their obedience.
He's asking you for yours.
Challenge
Identify one thing you know God has been prompting you to do that you've delayed because of another person's actions—or your disappointment with them.
Do it anyway.
Today, pray:
“Jesus, whether anyone else does it or not, I will follow You.”
Read: Nehemiah 3:1–32
Cross References
- Matthew 25:21
- 1 Corinthians 15:58
- Galatians 6:9
- Hebrews 6:10
- Matthew 28:18–20
Devotional
Read the entire chapter one more time.
This time, don't skim the names.
Every name represents a person.
Malchijah.
Hashub.
Baruch.
Meremoth.
Shallum.
Hananiah.
Uzziel.
Most of them weren't kings.
They weren't prophets.
They didn't write books of the Bible.
They didn't part seas.
They didn't call fire down from heaven.
They didn't kill giants.
They carried stones.
Set beams.
Installed gates.
Cleared rubble.
And showed up again the next day.
They were ordinary people practicing ordinary obedience as part of something much bigger than themselves.
They could not possibly see everything God would do in the generations that followed them.
And neither can we.
You don't know what God might do through one invitation.
One conversation.
One act of generosity.
One child you serve.
One hurting friend you text.
One person you tell about Jesus.
One person who meets Jesus may eventually reach another person, who reaches another, who reaches another.
That's why:
ORDINARY OBEDIENCE BECOMES EXTRAORDINARY WHEN AN ENTIRE CHURCH EMBRACES IT.
The vision isn't that a handful of people at NRCC become extraordinary evangelists.
The vision is much simpler.
A CHURCH WHERE EVERYONE REACHES ONE.
Nobody rebuilds the whole wall.
Everybody builds their section.
Nobody reaches everybody.
Everybody reaches somebody.
Think About It
If every person in our church lived intentionally for one person who needed Jesus, what could God do?
More personally:
Who is your one?
Whose name immediately comes to mind?
Maybe that's not random.
Maybe that's where your section begins.
Challenge — CHOOSE YOUR ONE
Take the three names you wrote down Monday.
Pray over them.
Then choose one.
Write their name somewhere you will see it every day.
Pray for them every day.
Love them intentionally.
Serve them genuinely.
Invite them when the opportunity comes.
Share your story.
Share Jesus.
And trust God with the results.
Don't make your goal to fix them.
Don't make your goal to win an argument.
Make your goal to faithfully love them and point them toward Jesus.
Then pray:
“Jesus, You reached me. Now use me to reach someone else. Show me my section. Give me courage to obey. Give me love for my one. And use our church to bring real hope to real people with real stories. Amen.”