"A Call To Multiplication"

I love the book of Nehemiah.  God’s man arrives and challenges the people to believe that God will help them.  He challenges them to rise above the rubble and rebuild!  The city needed new walls in order to flourish.  The people responded.  Everyone was assigned a location and a task.  Chapter three gives us the details.  The results were amazing!  The wall quickly reached 50% of completion because the people worked with enthusiasm.  Yet, in chapter four, they are given a new challenge.  It’s a challenge designed to help them complete the entire task.  They were responsible for more than their individual assignment.  The call of God was to build the walls, not just one section or one gate.

They knew that the enemy could attack at the weakest point, the place of the biggest task and fewest workers.

The work is very spread out, and we are widely separated from each other. When you hear the blast of the trumpet, rush to wherever it is sounding. Then our God will fight for us!”  Neh 4:19-20

Nehemiah goes on to say that the people worked with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other!

The LORD has given every one of us an assignment!  We are assigned a location and a task.  You may be working in a rural community, a suburb or an inner city work.  Your assigned task might be a chaplaincy, serving a church staff or working in an area by yourself.  You are working with excellence and enthusiasm.  You are working the trowel!  YET, your ear is tuned to the sound of the trumpet.  The sword is in your hand.  Your assignment is our assignment!  Our assignment is your assignment.

I would urge you today to hear the cry of church multiplication.  We are completing the work together.  The LORD may be assigning us to an area of revitalization, a place of repair.  The Lord is calling others to build something totally new.  The LORD is calling us to take all of Illinois and especially our world city, Chicago!

Let me finish with this observation.  Nehemiah promised that God would fight for them, when they rushed to come together to face the enemy!  THEN, our God will fight for us!