EVERYONE UNTO HIS WORK

One of my favorite books in the Bible is the Book of Nehemiah.  I think I like it so much because Nehemiah was just an ordinary guy who did for God what nobody else could do for 100 years – he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem – and he did it in 52 days!

In Nehemiah chapter 4, beginning in verse 14:

“And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, (Now, if you are in the habit of underlining things in your Bible, the next phrase is one of those things that I would underline) BE NOT AFRAID OF THEM:  REMEMBER THE LORD, which is great and terrible (That word terrible here is translated to mean AWESOME.  Our God is Great and Awesome!), and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

• We are talking about your homes here;
• We are talking about fighting for your families; 

¹⁵ And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought (That’s another good place to underline), that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.”

Verse 15 finishes with these words – “EVERY ONE UNTO HIS WORK:“

• Young or old;
• Rich or poor;
• Male or female;
• Educated or uneducated.

Every single person had a job to do.  Every single person had an assignment from Jehovah God!  Every single person had a purpose, a mission to fulfill – IN THEIR GENERATION.

• I cannot accomplish anything in my Father’s generation – that is in the past;
• I cannot accomplish anything in my grandchildren’s generation – that’s in the future;
• I can only accomplish the work of God in my generation- HERE AND NOW!

The only generation that I can affect for God is my generation.  And folks, I determined long ago that in my generation, I am going to serve the Lord with the best that I have in me BY HIS PERFECT WILL.

What I want you to understand with me is that every one has a work:

• EVERY WOMAN;
• EVERY MAN;
• EVERY CHILD

“Every one unto his work!”

And notice with me where it started with Nehemiah:

• It started with the family;
• It started with the home.

“. . . and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

• You can forget fighting the battles against evil IF you can’t win the battle in your home;
• You can forget fighting the opposition, if you can’t win the battle in your home;
• You can forget building any walls, IF you can’t win the battle in your home!

And Nehemiah understood this and he said, “If we’re going to build this wall, everybodies got to build in front of your own house.”  And that’s how he assigned everybody “IN FRONT OF THEIR OWN HOUSE.”

• YOU build that section of wall;
• RIGHT where your family lives;
• And Fight for your wives;
• And fight for your sons;
• And fight for your daughters;
• And fight for your homes.

Folks, I’m going to tell you what is wrong with America, and what’s wrong with our churches and what’s wrong with OUR church:

We’ve tried to do all this stuff for the world, and we’ve tried to do all this stuff for the church – AND WE HAVEN’T BUILT OUR HOMES!

Homes are falling apart and Marriages are crumbling – and folks, that’s why America is falling apart.  As a society, we have even tried to redefine the family and the home.

And as much as we’d like to blame our government for the problem, I will tell you right now:

• The problem is not in the White House or in the state house;
• The problem is in our house!

I will tell you today that there is no Bill that’s going to pass Congress and there’s no Order going to come from the Supreme Court that’s going to fix the problem.  The only thing that will FIX the problem is when you and I “fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” You see folks, the problem didn’t start in Congress and it didn’t start in the Supreme Court – it started in the HOME!  It started in our FAMILIES!

Nehemiah understood that if we don’t get the family right; if we don’t get the home right; we can forget building the walls for God!  So Nehemiah says to the people:

• Get your homes right;
• Get your families right;
• Fight for your brethren;
• Fight for you sons;
• Fight for your daughters;
• Fight for your wives;
• Fight for your homes!

Folks, before we start trying to fix the politics in this country, and before we can fix the schools in our country, before we can begin to fix EVERYBODY ELSE’S problems, we’ve got to get things right in our own houses.

The reason that the walls were built in 52 days after lying in waste for over 100 years, and the reason the testimony that the walls were rebuilt went out all over the world, and the reason this is recorded for you and I in the WORD of God is because EVERY MAN FOUGHT FOR HIS FAMILY!

• They fought for their brethren;
• They fought for their sons;
• They fought for their daughters;
• They fought for their wives;
• They fought for their homes!