SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 11/23/25

This is the exciting message of one of the seemingly most boring passages in Scripture. God uses ordinary people, people just like you and me, to accomplish His extraordinary purposes. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: PLANT
TEXT: Nehemiah 3
TITLE: An Ordinary People Used for An Extraordinary Purpose
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: God uses ordinary people to accomplish His extraordinary purposes.

POINTS:
I. Embrace Our Ordinariness
II. Rid Ourselves of Ourselves
III. Trust Our Extraordinary God

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

ILLUSTRATION: Top 50 Neurosurgeons in the country, only wanting the best-of-the-best

“God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. We see that in Nehemiah 3, where we learn that: God uses ordinary people to accomplish His extraordinary purposes.”

“That’s the exciting message of one of the seemingly most boring passages in Scripture. God uses ordinary people, people just like you and me, to accomplish His extraordinary purposes. God is not waiting for you to make the cover of Top 50 Christians in Tucson to use you.”

“Here’s my prayer today: The Spirit of the Living God uses this list of ordinary people to move us to an extraordinary sense of faith, privilege, and gratitude in our mission to plant a church in East Tucson. I believe the Spirit will do that as we own three things in the text.”

“Embrace Our Ordinariness: I considered not reading the text today because it’s a list of obscure names and repeated job descriptions. Then the Spirit brought two things to mind. First, 2 Timothy 3:16—ALL Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable. Second, I wanted us to feel the ordinariness of the text. It’s 445 BC.The Temple had been rebuilt 70 years earlier, but Jerusalem remained a shell of what it once was. Among other things, its walls and gates were still in ruins.”

“In Nehemiah 3, we find God’s people responding to Nehemiah’s call in 2:17-18 to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. It was a monumental and extraordinary lift. You and I would have hired professionals, people whose faces were on the cover of the Top 50 Wall Builders in Israel. But not God—He entrusted His mission to ordinary people.”

“Look at 4—Baana and his son, Zadok. They helped repair the wall around the Fish Gate. Do they sound familiar? How about 6—Have you ever heard of Joiada and Meshullam, who laid the beams and set the doors, bolts, and bars of the Yeshanah Gate? In 12, we meet Shallum, who had his daughters swinging a hammer with him at the Tower of the Ovens. How’s that for a father-daughter date night! Down in 20, we find a man doing repairs to the high priest’s home named Baruch—ring a bell? In 32, we read about merchants, businesspeople getting their hands dirty for once as they worked on the Muster and Sheep gates.”

“I think I counted 45 names, not including fathers’ names, in Nehemiah 3. Numerous groups are mentioned—goldsmiths and perfumers, leaders and laborers, Levites and priests, merchants and businessmen. There were men, women, and children. Some were locals, others out-of-towners. Some built gates, others hung gates. Some rebuilt while others repaired. Some set wood beams, some installed steel bolts and bars. Some worked on the homes of priests, while others patched up obscure outer sections of the wall. These are the ordinary people, people you have never heard of, that God put together to accomplish His extraordinary purposes.”

“Fast forward 2500 years to Tucson, AZ, and you will find a group of ordinary people from all walks of life, with all manner of vocations and life experiences. Nothing extraordinary about us except this: We love Jesus. God has given a passion for His gospel purposes. And we long to see Jesus glorified and worshipped throughout our city. This is why we want to plant on the east side.”

“But here is the temptation for us all: Believe we need to be somebody before God can or will use us.”

ILLUSTRATION: GoPro Girl, “You have to be a vlogger”

“She thought I needed to be somebody to have a GoPro. God doesn’t work that way. It’s not your extraordinariness or adequacy that makes you qualified or useful to Christ; it’s your ordinariness and inadequacy. God loves to use the weak and foolish, the unable and unlikely, to accomplish His purposes—That’s the way God rolls! And He rolls that way to silence all boasting in self and ensure all glory to His name!”

“Rid Ourselves of Ourselves: You probably noticed this as we read, but the phrase next to them or next to him appears 14 times. The author uses the phrase after him or after them 16 times. Our text is an extraordinary display of unity, a holy togetherness in their mission. No one was gunning for prominence. No one was jockeying for position. Except for the Tekoite leaders in 5, who refused to stoop to serve the Lord, everyone knew and embraced their place and part with eagerness, humility, and joy. This includes those being asked to serve in a way that didn’t match their personal preference of gifting—read 8.”

ILLUSTRATION: Me as a worship leader, I needed to rid myself of myself. We all do.

“Ridding ourselves of ourselves for the sake of Christ’s glory in and through His church. This will be our test.
- Time on your hands—Will you use it for your church?
- Flexible work schedule—Will you use it for your church?
- Financial resources beyond need—Will you use it for your church?”

“Why do you believe God has blessed and positioned you as He has? Could it be to passionately throw yourself into the mission of your church in a unique way? No single person could have repaired the walls and gates of Jerusalem. Each had a place to fill and a job to do. Planting a church on the east side of Tucson will take every one of us, working together in unity, willing to rid ourselves of ourselves to play any part we are asked to play.”

“Only one thing has the power to rid ourselves of ourselves—fill ourselves with the matchless worth of the gospel and the unrivaled glory of Christ through His church.”

“We actually get a glimpse of the goodness and beauty and glory of Christ and the mission of his church in our text—read verses 1 and 32.”

“Did you catch that? The work began and ended at the Sheep Gate. The Sheep Gate was significant. It was the closest gate to the temple through which the animals used for sacrifice entered. Think about that. The Sheep gate represented sacrifice. Forgiveness. Purification. Salvation!”

“The rebuilding of the wall and gates of Jerusalem was really the last significant event in redemptive history before the birth of Jesus that led to his saving death and resurrection.”

“Here, in a seemingly boring list of names, we find Jesus. Jesus was our sacrificial lamb, slain for the forgiveness of our sins, the purification of our souls, and eternal salvation. This is what must flood our hearts!”

“To the degree our hearts are flooded with the wonder and awe of Jesus is the degree we will rid ourselves of ourselves for the sake of Christ’s glory through His church.”

“The Israelites believed God was passionate about His purposes and that He could and would provide all they needed. Their confidence wasn’t in their leader, Nehemiah, or their own abilities. It was in their extraordinary God. We are no different. Let’s be honest, we don’t even really know what we’re doing. We are Going Not Kowing. Who are we? We are nothing. We are ordinary. We don’t have it all figured out. We aren’t professionals. No one is paying attention to us. We are ordinary people saved by grace, in love with Jesus, and on a mission to share him with others.”

“Our confidence is in Jesus, who has promised to build his church. Our confidence is in an extraordinary God who does extraordinary things and has an extraordinary zeal to save sinners through the blood of Jesus for His eternal praise and glory. That is our confidence! Nothing else and no one else.”

APPLICATION:
Do something that seems very ordinary—PRAY! The greatest way we delight in our dependence on God is to pray. In January, we will present a prayer strategy for the east side. Until then, pray God will provide people, money, and divine opportunity. Pray for direction on your personal participation. Pray for clear leadership and vision from your pastors. PRAY. Do the ordinary work of praying to an extraordinary God who can do extraordinary things.

We are on a mission to see the worship and glory of God across our city. You don’t need your face on the cover of the Top 50 Christians in Tucson to play a part because: God uses ordinary people to accomplish His extraordinary purposes.

QUOTES:
Martyn Lloyd-Jones - “The whole trouble in life is ultimately this concern about self…that is something we must rid ourselves of entirely. We must rid ourselves of this constant tendency to be watching the interests of self.”

J.I. Packer - “All who love Jesus Christ the Lord ought to care deeply about the church, just because the church is the object of Jesus’ own love. Church-centeredness is thus one way in which Christ-centeredness ought to find expression.”

James Hamilton Jr. - “If we are going to live for something more than our trivial agendas to make our own names great, we must be convinced of the truth, goodness, and beauty of God on display in the gospel of Jesus Christ and advanced in the work of the church. If we are going to sacrifice personal luxuries and advantages in order to live for the gospel and advance it in the church, we must not only see but experience the truth, goodness, and beauty of God on display in the gospel and advanced in the work of the church. If we lay down our lives for the gospel and the church, it will be because we have seen, experienced, and lived for the truth, goodness, and beauty of God on display in the gospel and advanced in the church.”

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
The Solid Rock
My Soul Will Wait (Psalm 62)
How Great Is Your Faithfulness
We Give Thanks (Psalm 107)
Let Your Kingdom Come

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Nehemiah 4 - Uncommon Courage Unfailing God

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER: