This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome back to our study of the Book of Nehemiah. We're in week 2, day 3,
looking at these seven principles for being able to re-energize, to be able to
rebuild in your life. And one of the keys to re-energizing your life is in not
just thinking about your life.

It's found in taking the time to encourage others. One of the traps that you can
fall into when you need to be renewed, when you need to be re-energized or
rebuilt, is to focus just on yourself. The truth is, you've got to focus also on
others to be healthy.

As long as you're focused just on yourself, you're not going to find the
strength that you need to rebuild in your life. One of the simplest, the most
powerful ways to focus on others is what we're looking at these days, just in a
simple appreciation, just in the simple words, "Thank you. " And we're looking
together at three things that Nehemiah teaches us about this, how to be
specific, how to be sensitive, how to be searching.

Yesterday we talked about being specific, use people's names, talk about the
details. Today, how do you be sensitive when you're giving thanks? How do you
look past the surface?

Well, as you look at Nehemiah and the way that he gives thanks in this chapter,
there are four ways that you can do that that you see exemplified through
Nehemiah in this chapter. Number one, how to be sensitive when you're giving
thanks. Number one, you recognize the heart behind the action, recognize the
heart.

In Nehemiah 4 verse 6, skipping on to chapter 4, "So we rebuilt the wall till
all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. "
That's what he says at the end of all these recognitions in chapter 3. At the
beginning of chapter 4, "The people worked with all their heart.

" Now, I want to look specifically at a couple of people in chapter 3, where
Nehemiah looked past the external of what they did. They built that wall, they
put that bolt in place to see the heart behind what they did. One was a guy by
the name of Eliashib.

In chapter 3 verse 1, "Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to
work and rebuilt the sheep gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place,
building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as
the Tower of Hanel. " Now, wait a minute.

They built the gate and then they put doors on it. To most of us that sounds
very confusing. How do you put doors on a gate?

Remember, a gate in that day was not the door. We think of a gate like a garden
gate, the thing that swings. In that day, the gate was the entire part of the
city that was built as you walked into the city.

So it would have rooms, it would have benches to sit on. The gate was like we
would think of today as an outdoor patio kind of an area, where they would
conduct the business of the government. And so the gate had a door on it.

And Nehemiah, as he talks about what happened that day, looks at the heart that
they built with. He says they not only built the gate, they dedicated it as they
built it. And Nehemiah saw that and he mentioned that.

That's the kind of searching, heart searching that you can do that can recognize
someone and thank God for someone in a brand new way. You recognize the heart
when you see a person's purpose. You recognize the heart when you know not just
what somebody does, but why they did it, why they did it.

Thank you parents, you know, you're dedicating children. Thank you parents for
the fact that you're here to dedicate these children today. I know it's because
you want to see them grow up and know Jesus Christ.

I know it's because you have a heart for them to be close to God. And I
appreciate seeing that heart in you that you have for them. Now you've gone to
searching and seeing what's in their heart, being sensitive to what's in their
heart.

And then I love a guy by the name of Baruch and what Nehemiah says about him in
verse 20. So they're going all the way around the wall building and he gets to
Baruch. He's been saying this guy built this section, this guy built this
section.

When he gets to Baruch he says he zealously repaired. I can't imagine what that
looked like. I can imagine somebody repairing something.

Just in your mind's eye try to picture somebody zealously repairing something.
He's doing it with all his heart, all of his energy. You recognize the heart
when you see a person's character.

And Nehemiah was able to see a character of zealousness, of zeal. He had a
passion for what he was doing. It wasn't just energy, there was passion there.

And he saw that and he mentioned that. Now often times like Nehemiah noticed
this man's character in the way that he built. You will often, as you're looking
to say thank you, you will learn to see people's character by watching for it in
the little things.

That they put all their heart into this. They zealously do this. They intently
do this.

They are passionate about this. You can see it in the littlest of things. You
can see it in the way somebody opens a letter.

I mean you can slowly open a letter or you can energetically open a letter. You
can see it in the way somebody drives a car. And that's an uh-oh I know for most
of you.

You see character that you don't want to see in the way that you drive a car.
But you can also see that you care about other people. That you're concerned
about others in the way that you drive a car.

You can see it in the way that you eat popcorn. Some of you carefully eat
popcorn one kernel at a time. Some of you zealously eat popcorn.

It is the whole hand in and kernels are flying everywhere just stuffing it into
your mouth. Both characters are good. When you see that kind of character in
somebody's life.

Recognizing it in saying thank you shows that you've gone past the surface to
see the heart. Jesus did this. Jesus showed this kind of recognition when he saw
a child's humility.

You've got to humble yourself like this little child if you're going to get into
the kingdom of God. Matthew 18. He saw this kind of character in small actions
and recognized it.

When he recognized the widow who gave two mites the smallest amount of money in
Luke chapter 21. See he says that's the greatest gift that's ever been given
because he saw her heart. Or the woman who poured perfume on his feet in John
12.

Everyone else was condemning her because it was so costly. Jesus praised her
because he saw her heart. You look past the action to see the heart.

That's one of the ways to be sensitive as you give thanks. A second way is to
recognize extra effort. When someone's gone a little bit beyond has given extra
effort.

In verse 4 of chapter 3 Marimuth son of Uriah the son of Hakos repaired the next
section. But then look down to verse 21. Next to him it says in verse 21
Marimuth son of Uriah the son of Hakos repaired another section from the
entrance of Elisha's house to the end of it.

So here's one of a number of examples in this chapter of people who repaired
more than one section and Nehemiah named them all. He takes the time to mention
all of them twice. Those who go the second mile deserve a second mention.

So he mentions them again and again. He wasn't afraid. Oh are other people going
to be jealous because I mentioned them twice.

No they gave extra effort. So he gave an extra thank you. That's looking at the
heart behind the action.

That's being sensitive to what somebody is doing. A third way to be sensitive
and giving of thanks is to give recognition to leaders. Leaders don't get the
recognition that they want sometimes.

Sometimes they get more criticism. So they're very much in need of the thank
you. No one has been leading long enough that they don't need to hear a thank
you.

Every one of us no matter how long we've been leading still needs to be
energized by hearing the thank yous in life. And every leader needs to learn to
say thank you. And you see this in Nehemiah.

Leader after leader after leader is mentioned. Whether it's Raphael or Shalom or
Ezra or Nehemiah all of them are mentioned again and again. Leaders are
important because of their influence on other people.

When you say thank you to a leader that encouragement goes to many many people.
And leaders are important because of their visibility. When you thank a leader
there's usually a lot of other people that are followers that are also being
thanked as well.

They're a part of what that leader is doing. And a wise leader will take that
and turn it around right away and give it back to the people that they're
leading with. But one of the things you need to do to be sensitive as you give
thanks is to recognize leaders.

And then a final maybe a different way of looking at this. When you're giving
thanks one of the ways to be sensitive and giving thanks is to correct when
necessary. The Bible says in verse 5 of chapter 3.

So he mentions oh by the way all these people that work there were some nobles
they didn't do any of the work. He corrected when necessary. Now honest
correction can add real power to your appreciation.

Because people then realize you're not just a flatterer. You're not just saying
thanks to everybody no matter what. The thanks is genuine because you also
recognize when somebody hasn't worked.

Now sometimes we make the mistake of getting upset at the people that don't
work. And we spend a whole chapter talking to those people when we should spend
the whole chapter giving thanks to people. And maybe one little verse correcting
the people who didn't work.

That's about the right balance of that. And Nehemiah teaches us that. Honest
correction.

In this chapter we're learning how to give specific thanks and we're learning
how to give sensitive thanks. And tomorrow we're going to take a look together
at how to be searching when we say thank you. Before that I want to take a
minute to pray as we end today.

And as we end just ask God to help you to give sensitive thanks. To remind you
of the character that's behind somebody's action. To give thanks for that right
now.

To remind you of a leader that's made a difference. To give thanks for them
right now. To remind you of someone who's gone the second mile.

To give thanks for that right now. And then to ask God to give you an
opportunity to pass that thanks along to them some way today. Lord, thank you
again for all that you've given to us for so many people.

Give us the sensitivity to pass that thanks along to them we pray. In Jesus'
name, Amen.