WEBVTT 00:00:03.946 --> 00:00:05.849 We are in Nehemiah, chapter 4. 00:00:05.849 --> 00:00:06.349 Are you ready? 00:00:06.349 --> 00:00:09.875 Are you okay if we read a lot of scripture this morning? 00:00:09.875 --> 00:00:14.868 Alright, not gonna overwhelm you with scripture. 00:00:14.868 --> 00:00:18.542 Good, gonna read the whole chapter. 00:00:18.542 --> 00:00:22.573 Nehemiah, chapter 4, verse 1. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:40.048 Now, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged and he jeered at the Jews and he said, in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria what are these feeble Jews doing? 00:00:40.048 --> 00:00:42.414 Will they restore it for themselves? 00:00:42.414 --> 00:00:44.564 Will they sacrifice? 00:00:44.564 --> 00:00:46.048 Will they finish up in a day? 00:00:46.048 --> 00:00:53.314 Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that? 00:00:53.314 --> 00:00:58.469 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said yes, what they are building. 00:00:58.469 --> 00:01:03.332 If a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. 00:01:03.332 --> 00:01:05.403 He will break down their stone wall. 00:01:05.403 --> 00:01:08.266 Hear, o God, for we are despised. 00:01:08.266 --> 00:01:15.635 Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 00:01:15.635 --> 00:01:27.700 Do not cover their guilt and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. 00:01:27.700 --> 00:01:38.787 So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 00:01:40.611 --> 00:01:50.709 The Winstead and Ballot and Tobiah, and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed. 00:01:50.709 --> 00:01:59.188 They were very angry and they all plotted together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 00:01:59.188 --> 00:02:08.033 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them, day and night. 00:02:08.033 --> 00:02:13.411 In Judah, it was said, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. 00:02:13.411 --> 00:02:15.465 There's too much rubble by ourselves. 00:02:15.465 --> 00:02:19.599 We will not be able to rebuild the wall, and our enemy said. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:25.570 They will not know or see until we come along among them and kill them and stop the work. 00:02:25.570 --> 00:02:33.673 At that time the Jews who live near us came from all directions and said to us 10 times you must return to us. 00:02:33.673 --> 00:02:53.330 So in the lowest parts of the space, behind the wall, in the open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears and their bows, and I looked and arose and said to the nobles, to the officials and to the rest of the people do not be afraid of them. 00:02:53.330 --> 00:03:08.020 Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, your homes, your sons, your daughters, your wives, your homes. 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:14.169 When our enemies heard that it was known to us that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 00:03:15.820 --> 00:03:29.906 From that day on, half of my servants worked on the construction and half held the spears, shields, bows and coats of mail, and the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah who were building on the wall. 00:03:29.906 --> 00:03:45.825 Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other, and each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. 00:03:45.825 --> 00:03:56.528 The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me, and I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people the work is great and widely spread. 00:03:56.528 --> 00:04:03.711 We are separated on the wall, far from one another, in the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. 00:04:03.711 --> 00:04:05.986 Our God will fight for us. 00:04:05.986 --> 00:04:14.901 So we labored at the work and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. 00:04:14.901 --> 00:04:15.623 That's a long day. 00:04:15.623 --> 00:04:26.713 I also said to the people at the time let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by the night and may labor by day. 00:04:26.713 --> 00:04:34.747 So, neither I nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes. 00:04:34.747 --> 00:04:38.230 Each kept his weapon right at his side. 00:04:38.230 --> 00:04:42.910 Father, thank you for your word this morning. 00:04:42.910 --> 00:04:47.810 Thank you, lord, that you're alive and among us. 00:04:47.810 --> 00:04:52.987 Thank you for your presence that's here, and we ask you to speak to us, lord. 00:04:52.987 --> 00:05:07.610 Each of us individually speak to households and speak to us all together as a body, and we open our ears, lord, in Jesus' name, amen. 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:18.250 Okay, the question of the morning for you At the end of your life, how will you measure your success? 00:05:18.250 --> 00:05:28.160 I know it's a light question, it's, I mean, neil usually opens with a joke, but I's a light question. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:38.319 I mean Neil usually opens with a joke, but I open with a question At the end of your life, how will you measure your success? 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:51.449 It's a really good question, because you don't get to the end successful unless you think about that question Now, and maybe, I guess maybe, the thing that comes to my mind and your mind maybe too, is if we could hear, enter in good and faithful servant. 00:05:51.449 --> 00:05:52.252 That's a success. 00:05:52.252 --> 00:05:53.963 Right, good and faithful. 00:05:53.963 --> 00:05:57.009 And you know, good and faithful that's two things. 00:05:57.009 --> 00:06:02.870 Good we're good only by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus. 00:06:02.870 --> 00:06:09.146 Right, that's our goodness, that's God's part, that we can't do, but our faithfulness, that's our part. 00:06:09.146 --> 00:06:14.951 And so faithfulness is like a yardstick that you measure success. 00:06:14.951 --> 00:06:17.925 I would say that God measures success in your life. 00:06:17.925 --> 00:06:19.370 Are you faithful? 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:20.932 That's the question. 00:06:20.932 --> 00:06:23.406 Second question is how do I know what to be faithful over? 00:06:23.406 --> 00:06:34.228 Right, this is like I don't know what is my thing, what is the thing that I'm going to be standing before Jesus saying this is what you gave me and here's what I did with it. 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:54.514 And it occurs to me that a wise person is a person who is aware, whose heart is aware, aware of what God is doing, aware of the things that God cares about and wants to join himself or herself to those things. 00:06:54.514 --> 00:06:58.170 I believe a large part of becoming wise has to do with paying attention. 00:06:58.170 --> 00:07:12.990 It's being aware what is God doing in my community, in my family, in my marriage, in my own life, and then joining myself to that and having a heart for His work. 00:07:12.990 --> 00:07:16.910 So we've had three great sermons in this series. 00:07:16.910 --> 00:07:43.644 So far I've been other places listening to these sermons but they've really encouraged me and I think what I see, as we're kind of gearing up to finish this book we're starting off and seeing what's going on is that Nehemiah was great because he cared about what God cared about and his heart was aware of what was going on and he began to join it together with God. 00:07:43.644 --> 00:07:49.607 So we kind of begin to see through these sermons that there's two great needs at the moment. 00:07:49.607 --> 00:07:58.173 The first great need is the fortress around the city had to be rebuilt, but there was another rebuilding that was happening too. 00:07:58.173 --> 00:08:05.091 In the same way, the covenant with God had to be rebuilt in the hearts of God's people. 00:08:05.091 --> 00:08:06.913 They had fallen away. 00:08:06.913 --> 00:08:08.242 That's why they were in captivity. 00:08:08.242 --> 00:08:14.406 So there's a wall being built and there's a rebuilt and a covenant being rebuilt in the hearts of people. 00:08:14.406 --> 00:08:15.752 That's what the book of Nehemiah is about. 00:08:16.074 --> 00:08:18.422 And Nehemiah is a trusted servant of the king. 00:08:18.422 --> 00:08:30.850 He had a great gig, relatively comfortable, in captivity, and yet there was something in his heart that was not right, because his heart longed for the things of God. 00:08:30.850 --> 00:08:33.541 He was concerned about Jerusalem, and you remember. 00:08:33.541 --> 00:08:42.047 And Kelly opened this up and he said he read the first chapter where Nehemiah had this heart to know about what is going on with Jerusalem. 00:08:42.047 --> 00:08:56.461 And when he heard it, when he heard the walls of Jerusalem are broken down, his heart was broken down and he began to weep for the things that God was weeping over. 00:08:56.461 --> 00:09:02.091 He began to have a heart for the work of God. 00:09:02.091 --> 00:09:04.014 He was listening. 00:09:04.014 --> 00:09:09.270 He was listening to what God was doing on earth, but he was listening to what was going on in his own heart as well. 00:09:09.270 --> 00:09:21.205 He had this nagging burden in his heart and his questions about Jerusalem were because there was a heart for Jerusalem, which means a heart for the things of God. 00:09:21.205 --> 00:09:23.671 What is God doing on this earth? 00:09:23.671 --> 00:09:32.692 I really believe we're not going to be satisfied unless we're joining ourselves with what God is doing on earth. 00:09:32.692 --> 00:09:40.652 So he had these questions and he heard that news and his heart was broken. 00:09:40.652 --> 00:09:46.212 And there came this day when he woke up one one man and he went to bed a different man. 00:09:46.212 --> 00:09:48.825 He woke up in one situation. 00:09:48.825 --> 00:09:53.462 He heard some news in the middle of the day and by the end of the day his whole life was changed. 00:09:53.462 --> 00:09:55.828 Everything was different. 00:09:55.828 --> 00:09:58.360 He couldn't keep living the way he was living. 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:02.070 He really heard the news and the burden of God became the burden of Nehemiah. 00:10:02.070 --> 00:10:04.774 He really heard the news and the burden of God became the burden of Nehemiah. 00:10:04.774 --> 00:10:07.426 That's where it started. 00:10:09.620 --> 00:10:23.932 And you remember, in chapter 2, when Sanballat, the enemy of the project, the enemy of what God's doing on earth, at that time heard it, he was very angry because someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. 00:10:23.932 --> 00:10:27.090 He was mad because somebody cared about Israel. 00:10:27.090 --> 00:10:41.053 There's always been this nasty anti-Semitic spirit in the earth because the enemy, the enemy, the devil, wants to stop the things of God. 00:10:41.053 --> 00:10:46.928 And Israel is God's covenant people through which would come the Messiah who would bless all nations. 00:10:46.928 --> 00:10:50.674 So there's always been this hatred and there always will be. 00:10:50.674 --> 00:11:01.985 There's always a desire to, to, to in some way extinguish Israel, but nobody's ever been able to do it because God has a covenant with them. 00:11:03.349 --> 00:11:09.307 But the point here is that there's a man, nehemiah, who's concerned with what God's concerned about. 00:11:09.307 --> 00:11:11.432 And it made me think of Philippians, chapter two. 00:11:11.432 --> 00:11:14.212 You remember when Paul was talking to the Philippians. 00:11:14.212 --> 00:11:17.850 He was riding there from prison and he said I want to send Timothy to you. 00:11:17.850 --> 00:11:31.047 And here's what he said I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by the news of you, for I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned with your welfare. 00:11:31.047 --> 00:11:37.828 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 00:11:37.828 --> 00:11:42.265 I know a lot of people, paul says. 00:11:42.265 --> 00:11:47.644 I know a lot of men, but they're seeking their own interests, not the interests of Jesus Christ. 00:11:47.644 --> 00:11:48.566 But Timothy. 00:11:48.566 --> 00:11:49.908 Timothy's different. 00:11:49.908 --> 00:11:52.760 He cares about what God cares about. 00:11:52.760 --> 00:11:55.226 He seeks the interest of Jesus Christ. 00:11:55.226 --> 00:11:58.192 So this sermon's for everybody here today. 00:11:58.192 --> 00:12:02.969 But I really want to speak to the men that are here, all of us. 00:12:02.969 --> 00:12:04.972 I'm lumping myself in with you. 00:12:04.972 --> 00:12:09.587 Okay, I'm not speaking to you, I'm speaking to us today. 00:12:09.587 --> 00:12:14.068 Are you concerned with the things of Jesus Christ? 00:12:14.068 --> 00:12:24.720 Are you concerned with the things that will outlive you, the things that are important not only on this earth but for eternity? 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:31.633 The things that are important not only on this earth but for eternity? 00:12:31.653 --> 00:12:43.660 I have made an observation over the years, and my observation is a man who lacks purpose distracts himself with pleasure, and a woman too, not just a man. 00:12:43.660 --> 00:12:50.148 Anyone who lacks purpose will distract themselves with pleasure, and there's a lot of pleasure to be distracted with in this world right. 00:12:50.148 --> 00:12:53.951 There's a lot and we're just kind of feeding ourselves with the feed. 00:12:53.951 --> 00:13:13.198 Whatever the feed, whatever your social media of choice is, I don't know, there's pleasures, there's things that are distractions, and that happens and those things are so empty. 00:13:13.198 --> 00:13:18.759 And it happens because we don't have a solid purpose for our lives. 00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:22.671 So I'm going to ask you guys especially you guys, the men in the room will you allow God to raise the bar in your life? 00:13:22.671 --> 00:13:26.804 Because He'll do it if you allow Him. 00:13:26.804 --> 00:13:48.801 And maybe he's challenging you too Maybe he already has been, maybe he's been speaking to you about this To make you a man who is genuinely concerned for the things of Jesus Christ, a man who's aware of what's going on in this world, what God wants to do in your community, in your family, in your marriage. 00:13:48.801 --> 00:13:54.292 It's important Burden comes before vision. 00:13:54.392 --> 00:13:54.993 It's really important. 00:13:54.993 --> 00:14:01.836 When he heard that the walls were broken down, he was almost paralyzed by this burden. 00:14:01.836 --> 00:14:04.142 He was stopped in his tracks by this burden. 00:14:04.142 --> 00:14:08.109 He wept, but the first thing he did was not go into action. 00:14:08.109 --> 00:14:10.854 He didn't immediately start doing things. 00:14:10.854 --> 00:14:20.993 His first response was to truly understand what God was doing and to feel the pain and the enormity of the burden of God. 00:14:20.993 --> 00:14:23.105 That's the first thing he did. 00:14:23.105 --> 00:14:28.072 I heard it and I wept for days. 00:14:28.072 --> 00:14:31.246 That's what it says in chapter one. 00:14:31.246 --> 00:14:41.287 He wasn't afraid to let the weight of the situation sink into his heart and then let his heart sink up with the purposes of God. 00:14:41.287 --> 00:14:51.331 So when we feel this burden overwhelmingly and we feel it deeply, then the vision can come. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.106 Burden precedes vision. 00:14:53.106 --> 00:14:55.047 You don't decide what you want to do with your life. 00:14:55.047 --> 00:14:57.764 I mean, you can if you want. 00:14:57.764 --> 00:15:00.567 It's not a great way to live. 00:15:00.567 --> 00:15:03.267 It usually ends in a dead end. 00:15:03.267 --> 00:15:07.389 What starts the whole thing is burden. 00:15:07.389 --> 00:15:09.003 What is God doing? 00:15:09.003 --> 00:15:10.044 What is on God's heart? 00:15:10.044 --> 00:15:12.932 And then, who am I and what is my part? 00:15:12.932 --> 00:15:15.202 And then what is the vision that God's given to me? 00:15:15.202 --> 00:15:20.854 We began to get a heart for the work, a heart for his work. 00:15:20.854 --> 00:15:24.908 That's it, and it's not okay that things stay the same. 00:15:24.908 --> 00:15:27.461 We have to do something. 00:15:27.461 --> 00:15:30.149 There's something that God has for us to do. 00:15:31.374 --> 00:15:37.309 So, when it comes to what God is doing around you, what does your heart tell you that you need to pay attention to in this season? 00:15:37.309 --> 00:15:47.312 Maybe it's different in different seasons, you know, but here we are this morning, right now, and you're in your season and I'm in my season, and what is it that God's telling you to pay attention to? 00:15:47.312 --> 00:15:50.087 Is it your family? 00:15:50.087 --> 00:15:53.950 Is it friends who may not know the Lord? 00:15:53.950 --> 00:16:06.832 Is it some kind of a social issue that you're joining to that your heart is burdened for, or some kind of a ministry that maybe you want to be a part of here at the church? 00:16:06.832 --> 00:16:08.485 Is it missions efforts? 00:16:08.485 --> 00:16:14.629 There's something, this thing, that you're feeling could be an indicator of what God wants you to do in this season. 00:16:16.580 --> 00:16:19.269 Burden comes first, and then there's vision. 00:16:19.269 --> 00:16:21.167 Okay, so why is burden important? 00:16:21.167 --> 00:16:23.046 Why is burden important? 00:16:23.046 --> 00:16:31.388 Because the burden drives you to find the vision for how God wants to use you to alter the situation that you see. 00:16:31.388 --> 00:16:35.355 Burden drives you to find vision. 00:16:35.355 --> 00:16:42.669 Nehemiah felt it, and then he prayed, and then he watched and he listened. 00:16:42.669 --> 00:16:45.794 He went and he made a tour around the city. 00:16:45.794 --> 00:16:47.303 He got some people and took them with him. 00:16:47.303 --> 00:16:48.948 He made a plan, he went to the king. 00:16:48.948 --> 00:16:49.971 God gave provision. 00:16:49.971 --> 00:16:51.605 This is what's going on. 00:16:51.605 --> 00:17:02.000 And the second thing, the second reason that burden is important, is because when hard times and opposition comes, it's the burden that pushes you through. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:08.830 It strengthens you through those difficulties, because this is important enough to endure hardship. 00:17:08.830 --> 00:17:27.230 And if you're just living for things that are not purposeful they're just your own stuff, your own distractions hardship comes and it can overwhelm you and it seems like nothing's really worth the fight. 00:17:27.230 --> 00:17:30.848 But here this is what we're seeing in this chapter. 00:17:30.848 --> 00:17:40.544 The burden makes difficult things less difficult, or at least it makes it worth the difficulty and one of the things. 00:17:41.346 --> 00:17:44.472 I'll just give you an example from my life. 00:17:44.472 --> 00:17:48.559 Recently, yuri and I were on this trip, and this was a tough trip. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:57.670 We were in the Himalayas and we were driving up mountains and these are the worst roads. 00:17:57.670 --> 00:17:59.487 I thought I saw some bad roads in my life. 00:17:59.487 --> 00:18:06.340 These are the worst roads I've ever seen, and if you saw the tires we were driving on, you would say it is a miracle. 00:18:06.340 --> 00:18:12.402 It's an absolute miracle because the tires not only were bald, but they had steel belts hanging out. 00:18:12.402 --> 00:18:15.589 They had little wires hanging out both sides in the back. 00:18:15.589 --> 00:18:16.961 Both of the back tires had these. 00:18:16.961 --> 00:18:20.852 It's like I don't even think this is going to get us down the road at all. 00:18:20.852 --> 00:18:27.605 And we're on these roads, which are crazy, in the highest mountains in the world. 00:18:27.605 --> 00:18:33.200 I think eight out of the 10 highest mountains in the world are in the Himalayas. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:42.624 You can go ahead and show those pictures and, uh, we're driving up these, these roads and on these tires, and we're praying. 00:18:42.624 --> 00:18:43.385 We prayed, lord. 00:18:43.385 --> 00:18:43.747 This is. 00:18:43.747 --> 00:18:51.634 I took a picture because I said when this, when we get back home, this is my, this is my testimony, this is my miracle picture. 00:18:51.634 --> 00:18:55.329 And I don't I don't have it here with me, but these are the roads that we're on. 00:18:55.390 --> 00:18:56.961 We're on these places and it was cold. 00:18:56.961 --> 00:19:00.665 It was cold and we were in these block house and it had no insulation and it was. 00:19:00.665 --> 00:19:04.609 We were like in four layers, plus a coat, plus two blankets. 00:19:04.609 --> 00:19:10.176 We just wanted to go to bed because the only place it was not cold was under the covers. 00:19:10.176 --> 00:19:12.488 We were in bed like at 7 or 7.30 at night. 00:19:12.488 --> 00:19:14.244 I don't want to do anything. 00:19:14.244 --> 00:19:17.486 Go to bed and the food I don't know. 00:19:17.486 --> 00:19:20.490 We ate things that I wasn't even sure what we were eating. 00:19:20.509 --> 00:19:39.505 Okay, and you might think that's a hardship, but then when you see the pastor and his family who are living there, I mean I go there and then I get to come home and sleep in my bed and come to this church and be with you. 00:19:39.505 --> 00:19:57.846 It's not hardship at all when you see these guys who are doing such difficult work in such difficult places so faithfully for so long, sometimes without much fruit, visible fruit, and they're pioneers. 00:19:57.846 --> 00:19:59.499 These are first-generation churches. 00:19:59.499 --> 00:20:00.440 They're pioneers. 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:06.903 In a land where it's 1.4% Christian, it's like they're alone. 00:20:06.903 --> 00:20:11.266 The roads, the food, the weather is nothing. 00:20:11.266 --> 00:20:14.748 It's nothing when you look in the eyes of these pastors. 00:20:14.748 --> 00:20:28.234 These pastors are my heart, and to be able to give them anything that can help them, some kind of a relationship and encouragement and resources and teaching, it's like you see what I mean. 00:20:28.255 --> 00:20:32.636 The burden makes the opposition seem not so bad. 00:20:32.636 --> 00:20:46.479 You understand, okay, and it applies in your life too, which also includes raising your children and your marriage and your community and your job and your school. 00:20:46.479 --> 00:20:47.020 All of this you know. 00:20:47.020 --> 00:20:52.743 The burden for the vision of the future, the vision for what's doing, joining with what God's doing. 00:20:52.743 --> 00:20:55.711 It strengthens you, so it makes you courageous. 00:20:56.779 --> 00:21:01.540 So remember, nehemiah was not building a wall, but he was rebuilding a wall, right? 00:21:01.540 --> 00:21:06.551 So what was there before he was raising back up again? 00:21:06.551 --> 00:21:09.885 And some of us are in a season of rebuilding something. 00:21:09.885 --> 00:21:11.630 Some of us are building. 00:21:11.630 --> 00:21:13.300 We're just building our walk with Jesus. 00:21:13.300 --> 00:21:24.653 We're brand new in this, but a lot of us are rebuilding, and maybe it's a season of rebuilding for you, rebuilding what was there before, but it's been damaged for whatever reason. 00:21:24.653 --> 00:21:29.269 You rebuilding what was there before, but it's been damaged for whatever reason. 00:21:29.269 --> 00:21:36.887 And maybe it's your personal walk with God that's being rebuilt, and maybe it's your marriage or strained relationships, or it's a career or it's a ministry something. 00:21:36.887 --> 00:21:51.260 But God is in the midst of rebuilding, midst of rebuilding. 00:21:51.280 --> 00:21:52.423 And here's what happens in this chapter Opposition. 00:21:52.423 --> 00:21:56.288 Opposition from Nehemiah's enemies is so loud and so consistent and so embarrassing. 00:21:56.288 --> 00:22:00.134 It seems like it multiplies too. 00:22:00.134 --> 00:22:02.743 But you know what. 00:22:02.743 --> 00:22:08.401 We might as well expect that there's opposition too. 00:22:08.401 --> 00:22:09.084 But you know what. 00:22:09.084 --> 00:22:10.828 We might as well expect that there's opposition. 00:22:10.828 --> 00:22:11.250 Life is not easy. 00:22:11.250 --> 00:22:11.692 Either way you go. 00:22:11.692 --> 00:22:13.298 You might as well go toward the Lord Amen, you might as well. 00:22:13.298 --> 00:22:20.866 And if you have no opposition in your life, it could be because you're not doing anything of eternal consequence for God, maybe. 00:22:23.554 --> 00:22:24.876 What kind of opposition did they face? 00:22:24.876 --> 00:22:26.079 Well, there was angry people. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:27.202 So what will you face? 00:22:27.202 --> 00:22:28.867 Angry people will mock you. 00:22:28.867 --> 00:22:31.636 They're rebelling against the king. 00:22:31.636 --> 00:22:32.339 They're feeble. 00:22:32.339 --> 00:22:35.298 Can they restore these ruins? 00:22:35.298 --> 00:22:36.855 What can they do with this? 00:22:36.855 --> 00:22:41.319 If a fox walks on this wall, it'll fall down. 00:22:41.849 --> 00:22:55.317 I mean, you know, weak men have weapons, and their weapons are words, words of accusation, words of shame, and they just mock the efforts, and sometimes, though, that's all it takes. 00:22:55.317 --> 00:22:58.798 It just takes somebody mocking you, speaking against you. 00:22:58.798 --> 00:23:14.615 That's all it takes for you to turn back because you feel ashamed or your reputation is important and people are speaking against you, and the fear of man is a snare. 00:23:14.615 --> 00:23:16.421 Fear of man is a snare. 00:23:16.421 --> 00:23:21.878 It snares you, it captures you and you stop. 00:23:21.878 --> 00:23:24.904 Words are a weapon the enemy uses. 00:23:24.904 --> 00:23:28.492 Look what he did, though. 00:23:28.492 --> 00:23:29.596 Nehemiah prayed. 00:23:29.797 --> 00:23:32.531 Okay, this is a pattern through this whole book, especially in this chapter. 00:23:32.531 --> 00:23:42.759 Here comes the words from the enemies, and here goes Nehemiah turning his words to the Lord Hear O God, for we are being despised. 00:23:42.759 --> 00:23:43.913 God, you fight for us. 00:23:43.913 --> 00:23:46.121 We're going to remain focused. 00:23:46.121 --> 00:23:54.082 So here's the pattern that happens throughout this Give the burden to God in prayer and be faithful. 00:23:54.082 --> 00:23:58.039 Give it to God, be faithful. 00:23:58.039 --> 00:24:00.997 Give it to God, be faithful. 00:24:00.997 --> 00:24:02.080 What do you do in opposition? 00:24:02.080 --> 00:24:05.055 Well, this is pretty good pattern. 00:24:05.055 --> 00:24:05.236 Here. 00:24:05.236 --> 00:24:06.900 You turn in prayer. 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:09.275 This is what he did, and it's really interesting to me. 00:24:09.891 --> 00:24:15.757 It says the wall was restored to half its height and all of these things started happening. 00:24:15.757 --> 00:24:27.116 I mean outside opposition, inside opposition, from the Jewish people even and I thought about that because half its height, that's halfway, right, that's the middle point. 00:24:27.116 --> 00:24:33.034 And it says that the people had a mind to work and that's why it got built that big. 00:24:33.034 --> 00:24:34.957 They all agreed this was important enough. 00:24:34.957 --> 00:24:41.605 But then the middle is the most dangerous part of any endeavor. 00:24:41.826 --> 00:24:42.873 The middle is the hardest part. 00:24:42.873 --> 00:24:46.063 Starting out, there's a lot of adrenaline. 00:24:46.063 --> 00:24:47.307 This is awesome. 00:24:47.307 --> 00:24:49.231 Finishing is awesome. 00:24:49.231 --> 00:24:53.940 The middle is long and tedious and hard. 00:24:53.940 --> 00:24:58.970 Can I get any amen? 00:24:58.970 --> 00:25:02.252 Okay, I see your faces. 00:25:02.252 --> 00:25:04.535 A lot of us are in the middle, aren't we? 00:25:04.535 --> 00:25:14.405 The long middle is the trickiest part of any endeavor Middle of marriage, the middle of raising kids, the middle of school You're not finished. 00:25:14.405 --> 00:25:16.007 You're right in the middle of raising kids. 00:25:16.007 --> 00:25:17.048 The middle of school You're not finished. 00:25:17.048 --> 00:25:18.710 You're right in the middle of it. 00:25:18.710 --> 00:25:27.884 The middle of waiting through a season of isolation where God is working inside of you so he can make you into the person that is capable of doing what he's called you to do. 00:25:27.884 --> 00:25:31.560 That's a long middle and it's hard. 00:25:31.560 --> 00:25:36.401 And they rebuilt to half its height and here comes the hardest opposition. 00:25:36.401 --> 00:25:44.413 Sometimes right in the middle is the hardest opposition. 00:25:44.413 --> 00:25:45.494 Okay, so don't think it's something unusual. 00:25:45.494 --> 00:25:45.756 It's normal. 00:25:45.756 --> 00:25:47.078 The opposing voices are the loudest right there. 00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:48.843 So Sanballat heard. 00:25:48.843 --> 00:25:50.512 He was very angry again. 00:25:50.512 --> 00:25:51.535 He was a mad guy. 00:25:51.535 --> 00:25:55.303 He plotted to come and fight against Jerusalem. 00:25:55.303 --> 00:26:02.750 Okay, we're going to attack All these people together, attacking the purpose of God, not just Nehemiah, but the purpose of God. 00:26:02.750 --> 00:26:04.352 Okay. 00:26:04.352 --> 00:26:06.714 So what happened? 00:26:06.714 --> 00:26:09.778 Nehemiah prayed and he set a guard. 00:26:09.778 --> 00:26:10.838 Give it to God, be faithful. 00:26:10.838 --> 00:26:11.700 And he set a guard. 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:14.241 Give it to God, be faithful. 00:26:14.241 --> 00:26:16.884 Give it to God, be faithful. 00:26:16.884 --> 00:26:17.925 This is over and over. 00:26:24.529 --> 00:26:28.547 And then the Jews who lived near them came to them because they heard of this scheme to attack and they came and they said you've got to return 10 times, 10 times. 00:26:28.547 --> 00:26:30.353 They came and said you've got to stop and come to us. 00:26:30.353 --> 00:26:31.717 You've got to stop this building and come back to us. 00:26:31.717 --> 00:26:34.224 You've got to stop this building and come back to us. 00:26:34.224 --> 00:26:35.288 You've got to stop this building and come back to us. 00:26:35.288 --> 00:26:37.414 You've got to stop this building and come back to us. 00:26:37.414 --> 00:26:39.181 You've got to stop this building and come back to us. 00:26:39.181 --> 00:26:41.816 10 times, over and over. 00:26:41.816 --> 00:26:42.436 What do you do? 00:26:42.436 --> 00:26:45.042 Not only from the enemies, but from your own people. 00:26:45.042 --> 00:26:45.971 You get opposition. 00:26:46.030 --> 00:26:55.904 Sometimes Wow, words are a weapon From the enemy, sometimes from your friends. 00:26:55.904 --> 00:27:01.682 Words are a weapon and they hurt sometimes, but Nehemiah didn't panic, he was not paralyzed. 00:27:01.682 --> 00:27:02.872 You know what he did? 00:27:02.872 --> 00:27:06.842 He put courage in the hearts of people with his words. 00:27:06.842 --> 00:27:12.397 Words are a weapon both ways, you know. 00:27:12.397 --> 00:27:18.414 You can put courage into the hearts of people around you with your words, every single day. 00:27:18.414 --> 00:27:23.863 You can use your words to build people up, man. 00:27:23.863 --> 00:27:31.773 It's a great way to live, it's a great way to live in the same house together is building people up with your words and putting courage in. 00:27:31.773 --> 00:27:38.155 How can I put courage, how can I bless the people who are around me today? 00:27:38.155 --> 00:27:38.997 And he did it. 00:27:38.997 --> 00:27:40.099 He did it. 00:27:40.099 --> 00:27:42.671 They were fighting, they were struggling. 00:27:42.671 --> 00:27:43.732 He said don't be afraid. 00:27:43.732 --> 00:27:45.717 Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome. 00:27:46.679 --> 00:27:55.663 Fight for your brothers, fight for your sons, fight for your wives, fight for your daughters, fight for your homes. 00:27:55.663 --> 00:27:59.557 Guys, I want to just speak to you again. 00:27:59.557 --> 00:28:00.961 Fight. 00:28:00.961 --> 00:28:05.496 If you're wondering what is God's will for my life, here's a good place to start. 00:28:05.496 --> 00:28:08.076 Fight for your homes. 00:28:08.076 --> 00:28:20.018 Fight for your sons and your daughters and your wives, your wife I was speaking corporately, okay. 00:28:20.018 --> 00:28:30.112 Speaking personally, you only have one, okay, fight, fight for her man. 00:28:30.112 --> 00:28:31.657 Start there. 00:28:31.657 --> 00:28:34.068 Remember, remember chapter three. 00:28:34.530 --> 00:28:37.157 We saw that the wall was rebuilt by families. 00:28:37.157 --> 00:28:37.619 Did you see? 00:28:37.619 --> 00:28:38.181 You remember that? 00:28:38.181 --> 00:28:39.675 Tyler had that last week? 00:28:39.675 --> 00:28:46.218 It was a clan or a family built from this point to this point and this family built from this point to this point. 00:28:46.218 --> 00:28:49.200 It's a whole bunch of families building the wall. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:50.836 This is what the church is. 00:28:50.836 --> 00:28:57.698 It's a whole bunch of families who are coming together and doing their thing and the whole wall gets built up. 00:28:57.698 --> 00:29:01.740 This is the way God works through strong families. 00:29:01.740 --> 00:29:03.436 So build a wall, guys. 00:29:03.436 --> 00:29:05.109 Build a wall around your family. 00:29:05.109 --> 00:29:12.795 This is also if you're a single parent and if you're the only Christian in your household, man, fight for it. 00:29:13.471 --> 00:29:16.400 Build a wall in prayer around your family. 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:29.894 Build a sanctuary in your household where they are safe, where your family is safe, where your family can worship, where your family can learn about God, not just from Sunday school and they will, in Sunday school youth group, they will. 00:29:29.894 --> 00:29:43.253 But your home needs to be a safe place, it needs to be a sanctuary, and your family is top priority, top priority, most important thing God's put on your plate. 00:29:43.253 --> 00:29:45.439 Well, what are the weapons? 00:29:45.439 --> 00:29:48.674 Nehemiah's weapons Number one was prayer. 00:29:48.674 --> 00:29:49.875 Again, this is it. 00:29:49.875 --> 00:29:51.236 Give it to God, be faithful. 00:29:51.236 --> 00:30:02.442 Give it to God, be faithful, eat what's on your plate, leave the stuff to him that only he can do, and do what you can do Prayer, prayer. 00:30:03.163 --> 00:30:07.325 Let me just tell you a story about, uh, about my kids when they were small. 00:30:07.325 --> 00:30:11.455 Um, they were maybe, uh, six, seven, eight years old they were. 00:30:11.455 --> 00:30:27.044 My kids are all close together, most of you know that, but they were small and there was one particular child who had a real issue, and if you know my kids and you think you know who this child is, you're probably wrong. 00:30:27.044 --> 00:30:40.048 Okay, just tell you, don't try to guess because you're probably wrong, and no names will be used here, nor genders, I hope. 00:30:40.048 --> 00:30:54.142 But there was one particular child who had a real struggle with lying, just like seven years old, and this child just lied all the time, I mean many times a day. 00:30:54.261 --> 00:31:06.839 Lying was the worst thing in our home, the worst offense, because if you can't trust each other, you can't have a relationship, and so lying carried the greatest discipline in our house. 00:31:06.839 --> 00:31:24.857 So lying was just an issue and we were careful to discipline, sometimes many times a day, and this just kept going and kept going and Melissa and I just looked at each other one day and just said what are we even supposed to do with this? 00:31:24.857 --> 00:31:31.815 So we prayed, and I know I'm a pastor, I should have prayed first. 00:31:31.815 --> 00:31:36.431 I know that you don't have to tell me that, but we did pray first. 00:31:36.431 --> 00:31:38.154 But I mean, we got serious about praying. 00:31:38.154 --> 00:31:48.070 We just we said this is, this is spiritual, and there's something here that's beyond normal, and so let's, let's go, let's go abnormal in our attack of it. 00:31:48.070 --> 00:31:52.655 So we fasted and we prayed, and you know why it took. 00:31:52.655 --> 00:32:02.346 It took several weeks of being faithful and going to God in prayer and being faithful with discipline and talking and explaining. 00:32:02.346 --> 00:32:15.523 But you know, that thing was broken and this child is the absolute, most honest of all of my children. 00:32:15.523 --> 00:32:22.583 To this very day I'm not even sure that this child is capable of lying today. 00:32:22.583 --> 00:32:29.900 But this is something that was spiritual, you know, and it was not even anything that we could do anything about. 00:32:29.900 --> 00:32:32.397 We could be faithful, but it took prayer. 00:32:32.529 --> 00:32:34.696 So one of the weapons is prayer. 00:32:34.696 --> 00:32:37.413 Give it to God, be faithful in what you're doing. 00:32:37.413 --> 00:32:50.636 Second thing you know they have swords in their hands, right, and I'm going to draw a metaphor here which I think is appropriate, because the sword of the spirit is the word of God, and you remember that Nehemiah was joined together with Ezra, right? 00:32:50.636 --> 00:32:55.684 This is like Ezra and Nehemiah are actually the same book in the Hebrew Bible. 00:32:55.684 --> 00:33:06.095 So Ezra and Nehemiah Ezra was a scribe and he was reintroducing the law of God, and so they were working together. 00:33:06.095 --> 00:33:13.278 So there's this weapon that we have of the word of God, and it's how we play defense and offense at the same time. 00:33:13.278 --> 00:33:28.721 You know, a sword is both defensive and offensive weapon, and putting the word of God in our own hearts, reminding ourselves of it, putting it in the hearts of those around us that we love, it's like the trowel that we build with. 00:33:28.721 --> 00:33:31.375 It's the sword that we fight with, the word of God. 00:33:31.375 --> 00:33:32.999 So prayer, the word of God. 00:33:33.038 --> 00:33:42.531 And the last thing that I see here, which was such a powerful weapon, was community, because when you read this, you realize there were people building. 00:33:42.531 --> 00:33:45.097 There were people behind them holding weapons. 00:33:45.097 --> 00:33:53.400 There were all the elders of Judah behind them together and they said we're so spread out when the trumpet. 00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:59.634 When you hear the trumpet, rally to your brothers, run to your brothers. 00:33:59.634 --> 00:34:00.778 When you hear the trumpet. 00:34:00.778 --> 00:34:03.597 They were building together all of this. 00:34:03.597 --> 00:34:07.357 This was not just Nehemiah, this was a huge project. 00:34:07.357 --> 00:34:11.021 Clans, families, people together, community. 00:34:11.021 --> 00:34:13.878 Don't be afraid to call out for help. 00:34:13.878 --> 00:34:17.132 Sound the trumpet when you need to. 00:34:17.132 --> 00:34:18.514 I need some help up in here. 00:34:18.514 --> 00:34:22.081 We're not supposed to do this alone. 00:34:22.081 --> 00:34:24.592 It literally says we can't bear the burden alone. 00:34:24.592 --> 00:34:31.974 And we can't bear the burden alone, and in the walls that we're rebuilding, we need others. 00:34:31.974 --> 00:34:35.521 By ourselves, we will not be able to defend the wall. 00:34:35.521 --> 00:34:37.753 It says in the passage, and this is the truth. 00:34:37.753 --> 00:34:40.181 We can't do it ourselves, but we can do it together. 00:34:42.670 --> 00:34:44.717 And so, nehemiah, what did he do? 00:34:44.717 --> 00:34:46.442 Again, what do you think he did? 00:34:46.442 --> 00:34:50.655 He prayed and he was faithful. 00:34:50.655 --> 00:34:53.643 Okay, here's what he prayed though he prayed God, get them. 00:34:53.643 --> 00:34:54.244 And he was faithful. 00:34:54.244 --> 00:34:59.637 Okay, here's what he prayed, though he prayed God get them, get them, get our enemies, lord, get our enemies. 00:34:59.637 --> 00:35:03.594 Could you just stand against the enemies and you know what God did? 00:35:03.594 --> 00:35:06.280 He worked, but not in the enemies. 00:35:06.280 --> 00:35:15.273