This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome back for day two of week two through our look through the book of
Nehemiah. We begin a look today at a third step for those who are going to do
some rebuilding in their lives, some re-energizing of their life. You know, two
of the most powerful words for re-energizing your life are the words, "Thank
you.

Thank you. " In Nehemiah chapter three, God devotes an entire chapter to
recognizing those who helped to rebuild the wall. And this is a chapter of
scripture, God's eternal word.

He devotes an entire chapter of his eternal word, knowing that for thousands of
years we'd be reading it to those who helped in rebuilding the wall. Obviously,
God thinks that saying thank you is important. You can see it here.

You can see the thank yous in the building of the temple in 1 Kings 7 and 8. You
can see it in the rebuilding of the temple in Ezra chapter 8. You can see the
thank yous in the last chapter of many of Paul's letters.

Romans chapter 16 is a great example. So why is it so important? Why is
appreciation this third step?

It goes from this ability to see the problem, to take the first step, and now
this third step for rebuilders of appreciation. Why is it so important? Well,
the real value of appreciation is in its result.

Appreciation saying thank you equals encouragement. And you've got to have
encouragement in order to rebuild. In fact, saying thank you, appreciation
equals encouragement both for the person who's saying thank you and the one to
whom it is given.

Everyone gets encouragement. Appreciation says what you've done is important and
needed and noticed. You might know that the word appreciation literally means to
raise something in value like money that's appreciating or a piece of real
estate that's appreciating in value.

It's raising in value. When you take the time just to say the two words thank
you, you are appreciating a person. You're raising them in value.

That's why it's worth a chapter in God's word, many chapters actually. And
that's why it's worth the time in your life. Now the interesting thing to me
about Nehemiah 3 is it gives us some practical insights in how to say thank you.

To the people that you work with, the family you live with, the believers that
you serve with, it shows us how. I could just say go say thank you and we'd all
be okay at it, I guess. But the truth of the matter is there is a skill of
saying thank you.

It's a skill I need to develop more and more in my life. You probably need to
develop more and more in your life. And Nehemiah teaches us three things about
developing that skill in this chapter.

To say thank you, you have to be specific, you have to be sensitive, and you
have to be searching. You have to be specific about who you're appreciating,
what you're appreciating them for. You have to be sensitive, you have to look
past the surface to see why you're appreciating someone, and you have to be
searching.

You have to intentionally motivate yourself to appreciate others. We're going to
look at these over the next couple of days together. First you've got to be
specific.

Now first thing Nehemiah teaches us about this is you've got to use people's
names. To be specific, you have to use their name. Not hey guys, great job, but
John, great job, Susan, that was awesome, Joe, unbelievable.

Jan, oh wow, you've made a difference with your life. Just look at the names in
this chapter. The people that Nehemiah names as those who helped to rebuild the
wall.

Now don't get bored in this part because you're going to think, oh this is just
names. Remember this is in God's Word. So let me just share with you a few of
those names.

Eliashib, the priest, the men of Jericho, Zechariah, and the sons of Hassanah,
Meramath, and the men of Tekoa, and Jehoiada, and Mashallum, and men from
Gibeon, and Mizpah, and Medaliah, and Jadon, and Uziel, and Hananiah, and
Raphaiah, and Jedeiah, and Hattush, and Melchaijah, and Hashahub, and Shalom,
and Shalom's daughters, and Hennan, and the residents of Genoa, and Melchaijah,
and Shalom, and Nehemiah, and Reum, and the Levites, and Hashabiah, and Benui,
and Ezer, and Baruch, and Meramuth, and the priests from the surrounding region,
and Benjamin, and Hashahub, and Benui again, and Palal, and Pedaiah, and the
temple servants, and the men of Tekoa, and the priests, and Zadok, and Shemaiah,
and Hennan, and Hennan again, and Mashallum again, and Mechaijah again, and the
goldsmiths, and the merchants. That's who's listed in this chapter. Now I had to
practice that, I've got to tell you, because I know for most of you this chapter
is the chapter of your nightmares.

The nightmare you have is you're going to be in a Bible study with somebody, and
you're going to get to Nehemiah chapter three, and somebody's going to say,
"Could you read verses 18 to 36 for us? " And it's got all these names. So let
me just give you some tips about what to do if you ever get in that situation.

First, read the names confidently, like you know what they are, because no one
else knows how to pronounce them either. So if you read it confidently, they're
going to think, "Oh, that's how to pronounce that name. " You could do that, or
you could even be more honest, and just when you get to a name you don't know,
just say "hard name.

" So there was Nehemiah, and hard name, and hard name, and hard name, and hard
name, and the priests, and hard name, and hard name, and hard name, and the
goldsmiths, oh, and the merchants. You can read it that way. You get everybody
to laugh because they don't want to read those names either.

When you look at this chapter, 48 different personal or group names are used.
Using names says you are important. You are important.

So when you say thank you, use people's names. When you're doing that, one of
the things Nehemiah teaches us in this chapter is don't let the fact that you
can't recognize everyone equally keep you from recognizing someone personally.
Sometimes we don't use a name because we think, "Well, I might leave somebody
out.

" Nehemiah didn't worry about that. Look at verses 31 and 32. Next to him,
Melchizedek, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the
temple servants and the merchants.

And between the room and the corner of the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the
merchants made repairs. So notice he singles out one goldsmith, but he also says
they all made repairs. Now, the others could have felt jealous.

Why did he get singled out? Or they could have rejoiced that one of their own
was singled out. That's their choice.

But your choice needs to be to use people's names when you say thank you. That's
one of the things the Bible teaches us again and again. So what names do you
need to bring to mind right now?

People you're grateful for, people you need to say thank you to. The place to
begin is to bring them to mind right now in God's presence. God, I am grateful
for this person, their name in your mind.

One of the ways to specifically give thanks is to use names. And then another
way to specifically give thanks is to talk about the details. Don't just give
this generalized thank you.

Talk about the details. In this chapter, look at the details. He talks about
walls and gates and beams and towers and bolts and bars.

And he recognizing each part of what they did when they built. Meaning details
says what you did was important. When I mention a name, it says you are
important.

When I mention the detail, it says what you did was important. And remember,
nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific. When it becomes specific, it
has greater power.

If I say, thanks everyone, great job, there's no power in that. But if I say,
Joe, thank you for showing up early to make sure all the tables and chairs were
in place for this meeting. We had a better meeting because of what you did.

We all appreciate you, Joe. That has power. So when you think about details,
what details do you need to be thankful for?

Some detail of something that somebody has done for you. And maybe even more
importantly, how could you tell them today? How could you tell the person whose
name came to your mind a moment ago, the detail that came to your mind right
now?

How could you tell them today? Write them a note, write them an email, send them
a text. How can you let them know today?

The beginning place for being thankful, for letting them know is to be thankful
in God's presence for that person. So let's do that right now in prayer. Next
few moments, just say, God, thank you.

Thank you for this person and name them. Bring their name before God. Thank you
for this person.

And thank you that they did this, the detail that they did. It may be huge, it
may be seemingly small, but it's important to you. So thank you, God, that this
person, their name, did this, the detail.

Thank you, God, for the fact that you put other people into our lives to make a
difference. And thank you, God, that we don't have to live life alone. And I
pray that you help me, help us to remember to say thank you, not to rush by
those opportunities, those moments.

And I pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Join us tomorrow. We're going to talk about
how to be sensitive when you say thank you.