Everyone Working Together

In the sermon yesterday we looked at Nehemiah 3. This chapter fascinates me because of this listing of people from all walks of life who worked together to accomplish the important task of building the walls of Jerusalem. These are walls that would protect the city and allow Jerusalem to be the important place of worship for God’s people. The comparison can be drawn to the way that we all need to work together—everyone doing his or her part—to accomplish God’s purpose.

So I’ve got two pretty personal questions for you. The first one I’ve asked in various ways over the past year. Is God giving you a vision of what he wants to accomplish through us here at North Danvers? Do you feel a prompting? Is God breaking your heart over some need in the community? If so, I’d really like you to share it with me.

Secondly, are you using your God-given abilities for the “common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7)? Do you feel like you have opportunities to link arms with your sisters and brother in Christ at North Danvers and work on a common task? If you feel like the opportunities aren’t there and you have ideas, please talk to me about that as well.

As we see in Nehemiah 3, sometimes God stretches us beyond our “normal” capacities and gifts to accomplish his purposes. Even the goldsmiths and the perfume makers did construction work on the walls (Nehemiah 3:8). God’s strength is sometimes shown most clearly beyond the boundaries of our comfort zone. I hope we will all be willing to allow God to use us in unexpected ways.

I mentioned a mission trip next year to Mexico in order to visit with Lowell and Sheri Glick. This would give us an opportunity to encourage them and to see their work first hand. Several of you have expressed interest. In the next few weeks we’ll be having an interest-gathering meeting to talk about some initial ideas and dates, and also simply to gauge how much interest there would be in such a trip. Watch for that meeting, or feel free to tell me personally that you are interested in going.

I’m incredibly excited about what’s happening in our midst at North Danvers. I continue to pray that God’s work will be done through us. Let’s be praying together that God continues to bless our congregation and use us for his mission in this community and around the world.

God bless, Brian