October 20

Nehemiah 1:10

“They [the remnant] are your [O Lord] servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.”

Nehemiah 5:9

“Ought you [the remnant] not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?”

Nehemiah 6:15-16

15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

Mission Impossible—Nehemiah was sent to rebuild a people faithful to the Lord. The obstacles were many: discouragement from being a minority, a struggle to remember their identity as the people of God, fenced in by superpowers of the world, persecution and enemies taunting their work, and syncretism creeping in. Nehemiah was to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, representing once again the security of being a people, a set-apart kingdom of priests to be a light to the nations.

But God….But God was established in his purpose to complete his mission! He would build his people, a holy community. He would establish Jerusalem again as a walled city to be his outpost of a faithful community to be a light to the world. Through providential favor, equipping, his faithfulness to his covenant, and giving wisdom, he enabled his people to rebuild the wall in a miraculous fifty-two days. His glory spread and the nations trembled. And his holy community, this small remnant of believers among powerful secular and pagan nations, gained hope. Their God was their Protector and Builder. He was the Author of their faith.

Missionaries also seek to encourage and strengthen the national church. These believers may feel persecuted, minorities, tempted to syncretism to maintain economic stability or to not be rejected by their family. Their hope may be dampened by suffering. The national church may seem to have a very small presence, weak, and vulnerable with broken walls. Yet, God himself is the keeper of his people, protecting a faithful remnant. Christ will build his Church and the gates of Hades, Sanballat and Tobiah, ISIS, the god of money and success cannot stand against it (Mat. 16:18).

Your Mission

·         Pray for our missionaries’ encouragement for themselves. Pray also that they have the wisdom in discipling, encouraging, and strengthening the national church.

·         Pray for the Church in persecuted countries, that they may remain a faithful witness, for their hope, and faithfulness despite pressures.

·         How are you encouraging and building up others in our church so as to be a faithful people in the midst of our community?

Mission Impossible Made Possible—Field Notes

“….there was once an evangelist in India who tromped across the roads to various villages preaching the gospel. He was a simple man, no education, loved Jesus with all his heart, and was ready to lay his life down. And he came to a village that didn't have the gospel. It was late in the day and he was very tired. But he goes into the village and lifts up his voice and shares the gospel with those gathered in the square. They mock him, deride him, and drive him out of town. And he was so tired—no emotional resources left—that he lies down under a tree, utterly discouraged. He goes to sleep not knowing if he’ll ever wake up. They might come kill him, for all he knows.

And suddenly, just after dusk, he is startled and wakes up. The whole town seems to be around him looking at him. He thinks he’s a goner. He starts to tremble, and one of the big men in the village says, “We came out to see what kind of man you were, and when we saw your blistered feet we knew you were a holy man. We want you to tell us why you got blistered feet to come talk to us.” So he preached the gospel and, according to J. Oswald Sanders, the whole village believed. That’s what Paul means by “I complete in my sufferings what is lacking in the afflictions of Jesus.” (John Piper, “Doing Missions When Dying is Gain,” DesiringGod.org)