Building What Matters: Who Is Nehemaih?
Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price
Building What Matters: Who Is Nehemiah?
Nehemiah 1:1 | Dr. Richard Price | Schrader Lane Church of Christ
His Name Reveals His Purpose
"Nehemiah" means "The Lord comforts." Before Nehemiah ever comforts Jerusalem, God reveals Himself as the Comforter. Ministry always flows from relationship: be with Him first, then go for Him.
Exodus 3:14 | John 10:14 | 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Character Over Credentials
Scripture gives Nehemiah no resume, only a name. The silence is intentional: the Bible minimizes the resume to maximize grace. God puts His treasure in ordinary clay jars so the glory belongs to Him.
1 Samuel 16:7 | Philippians 3:4-8 | 2 Corinthians 4:7
Born in Exile, Chosen by God
Nehemiah inherited a broken world he did not create, yet he never complained or made excuses. He made himself available to God. Your beginning does not determine your destiny.
Deuteronomy 28 | Psalm 137:1 | Genesis 12:1-2
4 Ways to Let God Build You This Week
- Reframe your quiet seasons as God's classroom, not wasted time.
- Ask the better question: "Lord, what are You teaching me about Yourself?"
- Retire your excuses and surrender your past circumstances to God's providence.
- Write your first verse: decide what the opening line of your life story should say, and live toward it.
Barry's Bureau | Inspired by Dr. Richard Price's sermon at Schrader Lane Church of Christ
Before God rebuilds walls, He builds people. In this opening message of the "Building What Matters" series, Dr. Richard Price introduces us to Nehemiah and reveals how God prepares ordinary people long before He entrusts them with extraordinary assignments.
Have you ever wondered why your life seems stuck in a season where nothing appears to be happening? You go to work. You raise your family. You pray, you worship, you serve, day after day, year after year, and nothing seems to change. You begin to ask the quiet question so many believers carry but rarely speak aloud: "Lord, are You doing anything with me?" If that is where you find yourself this week, the opening verse of Nehemiah has an answer you need to hear.
The Story Begins with a Servant, Not a Wall
In the first message of our new series through Nehemiah, Dr. Price plants us firmly in a single verse: Nehemiah 1:1. "These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes' reign, I was at the fortress of Susa." That is it. One verse. And Dr. Price is convinced that verse is preaching.
If you or I were writing this book, we would have opened with the broken walls and the burned gates, because that is where the action is. But the Holy Spirit deliberately slows us down. Before we ever see a stone, we encounter a servant. As Dr. Price put it, the central truth of this entire series is simple: before God rebuilds walls, He builds people. God prepares ordinary people long before He entrusts them with extraordinary assignments.
God Is Working Long Before You See It
Dr. Price traced this pattern across the whole of Scripture. Before there was an ark, there was Noah, and Noah walked with God. Before there was an exodus, there was Moses, and God spent forty years shaping him in the wilderness. "The wilderness was not wasted time," Dr. Price reminded us. "It was God's classroom." Before there was a shepherd king, there was a forgotten shepherd boy named David. And before Jesus ever preached a sermon, He spent thirty hidden years in Nazareth.
Why does God work this way? Because God is never in a hurry when He is preparing His servants. We live in a culture that celebrates platforms; God celebrates preparation. We admire visibility; God values faithfulness. We keep asking, "Lord, when will You use me?" while God keeps asking, "When will you let Me prepare you?"
Even Nehemiah's name carries this truth. "Nehemiah" means "The Lord comforts." Before Nehemiah ever brings comfort to Jerusalem, his very name announces that God is the source of comfort. God always reveals who He is before He reveals what He will do. Moses received "I AM" before he received a mission (Exodus 3:14). Jesus appointed the twelve first to be with Him, and then to be sent out. Ministry always flows from relationship. So instead of only asking, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Dr. Price challenged us to ask a better question: "Lord, what are You teaching me about Yourself?"
Character Over Credentials
Here is what should strike you as unusual: the Bible gives Nehemiah no resume. No education, no accomplishments, no military victories, no impressive genealogy. Just a name and a father. Dr. Price insisted this silence is intentional. Scripture minimizes the resume so it can maximize grace. Nehemiah's usefulness cannot be explained by his background; it can only be explained by the God who prepared him.
That confronts the way our culture measures people. We introduce ourselves by degrees, positions, followers, and awards. Education is a gift when it is surrendered to God, and experience is a blessing when it produces humility, but neither is what makes a servant useful to Him. What is God looking for? Character. "People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
Paul had the most impressive resume in the New Testament, yet after meeting Christ he counted it all worthless compared to knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:4-8). And in 2 Corinthians 4:7, he explains why God delights to use ordinary people: we are fragile clay jars containing great treasure, so no one can confuse the jar with the treasure. If you have quietly convinced yourself that God cannot use you because of your education, your family, your mistakes, or your age, hear this: Nehemiah did not begin with a famous resume. He began with a faithful God. And that is enough.
Born in Exile, But Not Beyond God's Reach
Nehemiah was born in exile. He belonged to a city he had never seen and a temple where he had never worshiped. He inherited a broken world he did not create, the consequence of Israel's covenant unfaithfulness that God had warned about in Deuteronomy 28. Yet notice what Nehemiah never does: he never complains, never blames Babylon, never blames his generation. He simply makes himself available to God.
Every one of us inherits something. Some inherit strong families; others inherit broken homes. Some inherit opportunities; others inherit obstacles. You did not choose the chapter into which you were born, but every child of God chooses whether to trust the God who is writing the story. Your beginning does not determine your destiny, because God's providence is greater than your circumstance.
And that is the gospel. Every one of us was born into spiritual exile through sin. But Nehemiah left the comfort of Susa for a broken Jerusalem, and Jesus left the glory of heaven for a broken world. Nehemiah rebuilt walls; Jesus restores humanity. The hero of this book is not Nehemiah. The hero is God, who specializes in rebuilding what sin has broken.
"We live in a culture that celebrates platforms; God celebrates preparation. Before God builds through us, He always builds within us." – Dr. Richard Price
4 Ways to Let God Build You This Week
- Reframe your quiet seasons. Look back at the uneventful stretches of your life and ask how God may have been using them as His classroom.
- Ask the better question. Instead of only praying, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" begin praying, "Lord, what are You teaching me about Yourself?"
- Retire your excuses. Identify one circumstance from your past you have been using as a reason you cannot serve, and consciously surrender it to God's providence.
- Write your first verse. If someone wrote the opening verse of your life story today, what would it say? Decide what you want it to say, and live toward it.
Listen / Watch / Learn More
Watch Dr. Price deliver this full 53-minute message, "Building What Matters: Who Is Nehemiah?", on YouTube: Watch the sermon here. Then test what you have learned with this week's interactive quiz and study game, and explore more Priceless Lessons at BarrysBureau.org.
Your Turn to Reflect
Where in your life have you mistaken God's preparation for God's absence? This week, thank Him for one "hidden season" He used to shape your character, and share it with someone who needs encouragement. If you have never given your life to Christ, the path is clear: hear the gospel (Romans 10:17), believe (Hebrews 11:6), repent, confess Jesus as Lord, and be baptized for the remission of your sins, then remain faithful. Leave a comment below and tell us what stood out to you from this message.
Join us for worship at Schrader Lane Church of Christ or visit BarrysBureau.org for more resources.
Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price
Building What Matters: Who Is Nehemiah?
Test what you learned from this week's lesson on Nehemiah 1:1. Seven questions. Immediate feedback. See how well you know the man God prepared before the wall was ever rebuilt.
Question 1 of 7
Priceless Lessons Study Game
Fill in the Blank Challenge
Building What Matters: Who Is Nehemiah? | Dr. Richard Price
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