A Sword and a Trowel

This morning we will take a one week break in our Esther series to look at a book telling the story of God's people back in their homeland at roughly the same time. The story of Nehemiah is about a building project, specifically the building of the walls around Jerusalem. These walls would make Jerusalem a safe place for worship, raising of families, and commerce. More importantly, this city is the center of God's mission at the time. As we jump in to Fall as a church, we, too, are facing a potential building project. The purpose of this sermon is to cast vision for our church for the coming year. Like the builders in Nehemiah's time, we want to be people working on the wall with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. The trowel for building, the sword to fight for the Kingdom and advance the mission.