God Still Uses Burnt Stones

Pastor Joey shares a message from Nehemiah, and God is still using burnt stones. It's a word for Hope City on this birthday celebration!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning. Let's we're going to jump into a book called Nehemiah. A little Old Testament for you. I know some of you guys are like, man, I hate to take a break from Luke. We've been doing it almost a year and a half, but we'll endure it. We'll make it through today. Nehemiah, I want to give you some context if you're not familiar with Nehemiah. So Israel, God's chosen people, there had been a long period of time, a significant period of time, where they become disobedient towards God. And they had been given a land, and in that land was a place called Jerusalem, right? Israel. And so the people of Israel had become rebellious. And so God's judgment, listen, we talk about God being a holy God, his judgment poured out, and his protection was lifted, and they were overthrown by the Babylonians. Babylonians come in them. It's called the exile. They're taken away, right? And then after a while, the Babylonians are overthrown by the Persians. So now we've got uh people that are in Israel sit sitting under, uh man, I always mess this name up. King Arkterxes, Arctaxerxes. He's a poor guy, man. I feel bad for him. Xerxes, yeah, yeah, yeah. That guy. You know who I'm talking about, wink wink. So this king, he comes in and he's like, okay, we're gonna send some people back. God speaks to me, we're gonna send some people back to Jerusalem. Uh a guy shows up by the name of Zerebbabel, right? We got all the fun names today. Zerebbabel comes in and he's working on getting the temple right. And then after him, a guy comes in named Ezra. So originally in the scrolls, when it was all written out, Ezra and Nehemiah would have been together in a scroll, right? And so Ezra comes in, and Ezra's like, he's trying to get the heart of the people right. Because just because you have a temple doesn't mean the people are right. Okay? That's how I know that we can come to church and it's like, hey, we can be in this building, but we can still be flawed, right? And we don't have to fake perfect, but but we can come in and still be flawed. So listen, at this moment, as we go through this message, I need you to understand this. You need to be able to receive today, put down all your defenses about having to look any particular type of way. Maybe you don't normally go to church, you're like, I need to be kind of like buttoned up and not listen, just be you, right? Now I'm just gonna ask if you hold off on vaping till a little later, right? We don't need cherry flavor vape in the room. Oh, that's probably not a bad smell, right? But like I last thing I need is a contact tie while I'm preaching. So uh so like you know, just hold off on that stuff till later. But but but be you in this place, right? I I think one of the reasons that it's so frustrating for people that hear about Christians or they or they know some Christians that they show up in their that they're one way for an hour and a half on a Sunday morning, and then they're wildly different the rest of the week. And it doesn't compute, it doesn't make sense. So now we're caught up. So there's been an exile. Some people have gotten to go back to Jerusalem. Zerebbabel is there, Ezra has shown up, and uh that's what we're about to pick up. Cool? So this is in Nehemiah chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Nehemiah is asking about uh the state of Jerusalem from some of the people who have just returned from there. They said to me, Things are not going well for those who return to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire. When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. He hears about his homeland, and it is just completely, utterly smoked. Yeah, there's people back there, but even the people that are there, there's no quality of life. They're in fear of their life. Like nothing is really clicking, nothing's working. The city's in ruins. One of the things I want to capture is Nehemiah begins to catch a glimpse as he hears about the brokenness as the walls that are fallen. I believe it's the heart of God that raises up in him, saying, Man, I'm grieved about this. There's like a glimpse, if you can catch this, Nehemiah serves in the Old Testament as like a Christ image bearer, right? So if you'll just keep that in mind as we go forward, I'm not saying that Nehemiah was Jesus, but aspects of his life bear resemblance to what Jesus came and did. Right? Because Nehemiah sat with the king, and now he's asking to leave to go to a place that's in trouble. That's where Nehemiah was. He was in the courtroom of the king, and he gets grieved by what's going on. I want to just say this. This is the first point. When you're moved by what moves God, you'll find you've never wasted time. When you're moved by what moves God, everybody's spending time right now. Everybody in this room, you're in, you came to, I'm so honored that you're in this place, but you came and invested time. People rolled up in this house yesterday, investing time. If it's your first time visiting uh yesterday in the morning, the speakers were on the floor, now they're on the walls. The TVs were on the floor, now they're on the walls. Like it took people showing up, there's effort, there's rooms that got painted, work got put in on this place, right? Wires got run, that that kind of stuff was happening, and that's awesome. People invested their time then. You're investing your time right now. And what I want to say to you is this are you making a good investment? Because there'll be a day where time runs out, the shot clock runs out, and you're just at the end of your day standing before the judge of the universe. And did you invest in something that was worthy? Because you can either be investing in you or you can be going after what God has. And listen, I believe something in that moment for Nehemiah, he heard about the city, his heart was broken for the city, and he begins to pray and fast. And I think about it today, even still, there are so many people that I talk to, there's families that I interact with. And if you're honest with the state, if it could be a symbol, there are so many broken down walls. I get around families and they're torn apart. Marriages and they're broken apart. Right? There's people being oppressed, they're just crushed under the weight of anxiety. They're not standing anymore. It's just taking them out. Depression has wrecked lives. And I'm around people, I'm like, man, this is still, there are still walls on the ground today. You feel me on that? So we're talking about something that was physical then. And check this out. This is really cool because in 2007 there was an archaeological dig. Remember how I tell you, it's so amazing how archaeology over and over again will prove the Bible. 2007, they're on a dig, they find the wall of Nehemiah. Right? They're searching under this tower, and then all of a sudden they come across a wall that's built different than all the rest of the walls. And they're like, wait, this wall was built hastily. Without too much spoilers, you find out that when Nehemiah shows back up there, he's gonna go to work on getting this wall rebuilt for the city. The walls are down. I want to say this real quick. If you try to navigate around mourning and brokenness and simply trying to cultivate happiness, you'll find that you're neither sad, but you won't be fulfilled either. There's a lot of us that there's damage in our life, and we're trying to navigate around the pain because it's hard to deal with things that are broken. I I know what it is to become like to a broken spot in life and be like, man, this is I have made terrible choices. And you don't you don't want to deal with it face to face. So what you'll try to do is you'll try to find happiness to compensate for the pain. And there's a lot of people, and maybe even in this room now, that you're investing in life, you're like, you know what, I'm not really sad right now. I'm not sure why I need God. I'm not really sad right now. You you might not be sad, but let me ask, are you fulfilled? How's your soul? Because happiness can can make you good for a minute, but there's a time where you wake up in the middle of the night and you still start thinking about what's going on in life. Right? So, so listen, I want to say this. The return to Jerusalem was more than Nehemiah's heart for God's people. When he asked the king, he comes to the king and says, Hey, and he and he and he prays a powerful prayer. Let me let me say this prayer before he talks to the king. This is Nehemiah's prayer. Oh Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God. This is verse 5. You can write it down, it won't be in your screen. I just need you to hear this. O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him. And check this out obey his commands. Listen to my prayer. Nehemiah is calling out to God here. Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess, check this out. I confess, this is huge. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned. Nehemiah is not playing the blame game. He's not pointing the finger at other people. He's like, Me and my family, our hands are dirty. We have sinned terribly by not obeying your commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave to us through your servant Moses. Check out what he says. Please remember what you told your servant Moses. If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. That's what's happened, right? There was unfaithfulness. God was true to his word, he scattered them. And Nehemiah is reminding God of his word. He says, If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, listen, not just know them, but live by them. Then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored. The task to rebuild something that is torn down can be wildly overwhelming. The question, the question of God, what can I really do to move the needle and helping your kingdom? That's a legitimate question. Like if there's a there's a moment Nehemiah sneaks out at night, he gets back, the king gives him favor, and he sneaks out, he's looking around the city. He's looking at all the walls that are torn down. You can you can have a moment in life where you can look at your family, your marriage, your workplace, whatever it is, wherever the walls are falling down, say, man, this is wildly overwhelming. This is more than what I can. God, what could I do about it? What could I do with what's going on in my city? What could I do with what goes on in my nation? What could I do with what goes on in my family, my school? That can be wildly overwhelming. It's a legitimate question. Check this out. But if you're bold enough to pray for the heart of the Father, repent from your sin and not point finger at the sins of others, he will bless your life with what brings honor to his name. If you're bold enough to pray, not point the finger and say, God, I I've missed it. I've just, I've wildly messed up. And I just ask you to forgive me. And I want to repent, I want to return to what you have for me. I want to go after what you've got for me. It's scary to me. Building a wall that's torn down and whatever that is in your life, it can be overwhelming. But to be bold enough, courageous enough to pray that prayer of God, would you just use me? Right? He will use you and he will move you. Now check this out. Rebuilding of Jerusalem would not be celebrated by everyone. I want to go to Nehemiah 2, verse 10. So he's rolling back in. Even the king sent military aid to protect him. He's coming back in to rebuild the walls. He is on mission. Nehemiah shows up, verse 10. Check this out. But when Sanbalat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of my arrival, they were very displeased that someone had come to help the people of Israel. Listen to this point really quick. The rebuilding of Jerusalem would not be celebrated by everyone because they were neighboring provinces that benefited from Jerusalem's destruction. The rebuilding would have affect would affect the regional authority and the territorial control. Jerusalem being made right is going to mess with some people's money. It's going to mess with people's life. It's going to mess with people's wallet and surrounding area. They wanted to see Jerusalem stay in shambles. But Nehemiah comes in agreement with God's plan. And it was God's plan because the return of the people was prophesied by Daniel. Right? There's multiple places in the Old Testament. The return of God's people to Israel was prophesied. So God fulfilled his promise. And when you come in agreement with God's plan, this is the next point I want to make. Your agreement with God's plan will cause problems with those who love control. When you come into agreement with God's plans for your life, not everybody's going to be happy about that. You with me? Like I've had people that aren't really thrilled that I'm around. Can you believe it? It's it's shocking. I've had people that are not excited. I remember showing up to one place to help out, and uh it was it was a new position of ministry for me. And I showed up as a as a youth director over like at several states to help out at this camp. And they go to pray for me. And the leader of that camp, I'm there to help. The leader of that camp's not happy that I'm there. This is a fellow Christian. God, we know that they're praying for me. God, we know that there was probably more qualified people. That was in the prayer. I'm like, I don't know if I opened my eyes instantly. I don't know that I'm in agreement with this. I need y'all to take a step back. This is, right? Sandballot and Tobiah, who you can also find in history books, right? They they had archaeological discovery of their existence. Once again, the Bible proven true. This is again, this is the time probably 500 BC. So they hear about the arrival, they're displeased with it, and they start making trouble. When lives are restored, this will always be the case. When lives are restored, not everyone is happy. The people that benefit off brokenness, lives with no boundaries, and hopeless situation, these people don't celebrate rebuilds. Not everyone will find joy in your healing. So you can choose if you'd rather have the approval of manipulative controllers or the God of the universe who loves you deeply. You can choose who you seek approval from. Because not everybody, when you get healthy, you're gonna start setting boundaries for your life. Right? You're not gonna involve yourself in toxic situations. There's some people as you get healthy that might not get to have the privilege of your presence. And so you got to set boundaries, and not everybody's gonna be happy about that. Oh, you're too good for me now. No, it's not a case of that. But I'd rather not be breathing toxin when I can have life. Right? And so you can search for the approval of manipulative people, or you can have the approval of God who loves you and he looks at you and he's like, Man, I'm for you and I'm not against you. And I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you in a future for your life. I came to give you life and life abundantly. I come to set the captive free, and who the Son has set free is free indeed. That's what God has for you. But there's other people that they want to see you coughing, they want to see you limping, they want to see your life never get close to the potential that God has for it. And one of the reasons is when you start getting free, it reminds them that they're bound. When you start finding purpose, it reminds them that they don't really have one. Because the loss of control means the only power they ever had was taken away, and it wasn't a real power, anyways. It was just perceived. When you begin to read pushback, check this out. When you begin to read pushback from the enemy as affirmation you're going the right way, you won't be detoured by challenge. You'll be inspired by it. When there's people in your life that start to come against you, situations that get harder, check this out. I I know there's people that say, I'm gonna give church a try. I'm gonna give God a try, right? Like it's like like you're at uh uh um the frozen yogurt place. What's that called? Sweet frogs. You're sweet frogies, right? You're sweet frogies, and you're like, man, Adam doesn't abide in the yogurt. Okay, okay, just making sure. So, so I didn't know what that emotion was. You go and you're like, I think I would like to try the swirl of this. I don't know if I want all of it. And they give you like the little tiniest spoon ever invented that you're surely gonna drop on the floor. There's not enough there, but to get a tiny taste, you're not really sure if you like it or not, and then like, what you think about that?

unknown 17:08

Right?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

They tiniest little sample. Some people say, I'm gonna try church, I'm gonna try God. I've talked to so many people that are like, man, I'm trying to give this God thing a go. And they'll get a few weeks into it and they're like, Man, things have only gotten harder. Things only got worse for me. I don't know that I want to go after this God thing because I started going to church. I started getting around Christians, I started reading my Bible, I started trying to pray. I started, and things got worse, and it didn't get better, and and I don't know if I really want that. And so what has happened is listen, you're not a threat if you're going to hell. Hell's not worried about you if you're on that direction already. Hell gets nervous by people who know there's a God who loves them and has a plan for their life. Hell does not want you to step in God's plan for your life. So when you become a threat, you become a target. And so he's gonna push back on you and he's gonna push back on your family. And what he's gonna try to get you to do is relent and say, no, no, no, I'm not gonna go that way. But when you receive the opposition as affirmation, you won't receive it anymore as frustration. You'll receive it as something that'll get you hype. No, I am going the right way. This wind in my face, I don't need it at my back. Enemy, if you're coming against me, I'm just gonna push harder. I'm gonna pray more. You will regret coming after my family because the Bible tells me the prayers of the righteous, man, they they they can move a lot, they can do a lot. There's so many people, and it gets a little bit hard and they fall off and they drop off. These people, Sandballot and Tobiah, they're trying to come and they're trying to give resistance to Nehemiah. Man, if we can shake this guy, he'll give up on his well on his plans. And Nehemiah is not having that. So many people decide to try to get closer to God, but man, listen, I want to just say really quickly before I move off this point, hell is indifferent to your existence until your joy is found in God. Once your joy is found in God, hell begins to take notice of you. But it's very hell is very indifferent about your life until it has a realization of destiny and purpose, and your joy is found in God. So Nehemiah is now dealing with these with these jokers, right? Verse 19. But when sandbalot, so the bit the wall's getting built, right? But when sandbalot, Tobiah, and Geshem, there's another guy in the jo in the crew, and Geshem, the uh Arab, heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously. Woo! Have you ever been scoffed at contemptuously? That sounds wild. They were, I don't even know if I could try to mimic a scoff contemptuously at you. Put has to come out or something. This is what they say. What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king? First, they're coming after his credentials because that the land is still owned by who? Persia, who they're not in control, but they don't know that God gave him favor with the king and he's got the green light of the one who's in charge. And so they're saying, like, man, you're trying to start a revolt. You're trying to be a treasonous person. What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king? They asked. I replied, the God of heaven will help us succeed. We, his servants, will start rebuilding this wall, but you have no share, legal right, or historic claim in Jerusalem. Woo! Nehemiah was fired up. When following God, the enemy will mock you. But your security in Jesus assures you that their volume does not equal authority. The enemy, the more frustrated he gets with you, the louder he will get. But his volume does not equal authority. Because what does Nehemiah push back with? Nehemiah uses three legal covenantal terms. He first says, What? But you have, he's talking to these guys, you have no share, no legal right, or no historic claim to Jerusalem. He's saying, No share, you don't have any inheritance rights here, you don't have any legal right, you don't have any legal claim here, or historic, you don't have any covenant remembrance. We have a covenant with God that as we repent, he brings us back to the land that he promised. So I'm walking with God's favor, and it doesn't matter how loud you get in my life, I'm gonna keep doing what God's called me to do because he is the one that's in control of what goes on with me. Hard days don't get to dictate if I'm gonna be obedient. I'm gonna be obedient when the enemy gets loud, when the enemy gets frustrated, when the enemy starts to carry threats. Because check this out as the walls were getting rebuilt, threats begin to come that they were gonna get attacked to stop the work. You know what they did? They rallied and said, Hey, listen, here's how we're gonna work you're gonna carry a shovel and a sword. So I'm Ready to build and I'm ready to fight. I like when things come easy and not hard. Right? I like when I want to watch the Olympics and curling for my Apple TV just to know what I want intuitively. Right? I want I want it to know. I want it to be easy. I don't want to have to shut, uh like swipe up to close something because it's not functioning properly. I want things, I want everything easy. Right? I was super stoked last week because we get this frozen corn and they reduced the seconds that you had to heat it up. I was like, saving 30 seconds, that's a win in life. Right? Can I just be real with you? Okay, you're like, this is highly ridiculous. I like I like things, I like things easy. But the things that are worthwhile require fight. Destiny requires effort. Destiny requires- I need to say that again. Somebody needs to hear this. Destiny requires effort. You don't trip into destiny. You don't fall, you just happenstance into it. So here's what I gotta know when the fight gets hard. I gotta know where authority in my life really comes from. Because if I feel like I'm responsible for the outcome of my destiny, that's a weight I can't carry. But when I know that he's responsible and my responsibility is obedience, okay, now we're talking stuff that I can do. That God can be God. Listen, can I just say something real quick? If my peace begins to come from my government and not his kingdom, things aren't gonna work out well for me. There's so much that wants to detour and detract your eyes off of him. And Nehemiah comes, he's like, Man, you guys, who are you talking to? You're lying, saying that I'm a trader? No, I'm here because the king said I could come, and he said I could come because the king with the capital K said I could come. Nehemiah chapter four, verse one. Y'all rolling with me, y'all hanging? Okay. I'm like, how am I gonna connect the dots on a book of the Bible? I've been preaching out of one book for the last year and a half. Nehemiah chapter four, verse one. Sandballot. Ooh, this guy keeps showing up. The wall's getting built, they're not slowing down, they got a shovel, they got a sword, they're getting work done. They said, in fact, hey, listen, we got some guys with trumpets. If danger comes, you hear a blast of the trumpet, everybody comes running. The enemy loves, loves people that are loners. But the but but but God calls his believers to don't forsake the gathering together of the fellowship. Right? Because fellowship, man, we we find strength, we find people that will fight for us when the trumpet blast happens. When we throw up this this number to text, if you got a prayer request, we're not doing that to be cute. We're doing that so when the trumpet blasts, we know where to run to. All right, cool. Nehemiah chapter 4, verse 1. Sandbal was ooh very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Sumerian officers, what does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they're doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap and charred ones at that? Tobi the Ammonite who was standing beside him remarked, this that stone wall would collapse even if a fox walked along the top of it. Then I prayed, hear us, O God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, may they themselves become captives in a foreign land. Do not ignore their guilt, do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders. Nehemiah is not playing games. There's something about when the enemy's picking on you to say, Hey, do you you know, you know how this is all gonna end? Does anybody ever have a moment like that where it's like at the end of the day, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, is what the scripture says. Right? So all that mock you and would not turn to God, they're gonna still have to bow their knee. And ultimately, everything that is not for God is against God and will fail and be doomed. Can I just keep it real with you on that? So that's what the word tells me. And so Nehemiah is standing his ground because they're like, man, y'all are gonna use burnt stones to build a wall. Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? You you're gonna you're gonna use all these stones that got knocked down, trampled, and and I was trying to be clever. You know what I did? I looked up and I was like, anybody ever watched like Survivor Man? Like there's TV shows of survival back in the day, right? Um, and now it's just like how housewives, as I right? Like, I don't know. So pray for our nation. So, anyways, like, but I remember a guy one time, he's making this stick like to hunt, and then he puts it in the fire to like harden it. I was like, I didn't know that happened. That's cool. It just had to be just enough. And I was like, what if the burnt stones are better stones? Because what if they like got stronger low-key? I didn't know. I was just searching. I just what if? Do you know what I found out? That is absolutely not the case. I was like, this is gonna make a crazy sermon point. The burnt stones are stronger ones. No, they don't. They make terrible, terrible building material. They are more fractured, they are more weak, they are more fragile, they are more brittle, they are worse, they are like like the worst grade of building material. It's like, let's not use those stones. So Sam Bellard kind of got a point. He's not he's not wrong. God loves building with grimstones. I'm sitting in a college class, like junior year. Ashley and I are are are dating. She's in college just down the road. And um she's so in love with me. I had hair. It was a wild time to be alive. My cell phone was monochromatic, no color. It had a little antenna you pulled up, right? Oh man. And uh I was sitting in a class on evangelism in Bible college, and our professor said the number one method to reach people for Jesus at that time, statistically, was starting a new church. And I sat in that class and I was like, I guess I'm gonna start a church. That and that was just it. Like, I don't I don't even remember what the conversation was after that, just talking to Ashley, like, hey, do you know the number one method of evangelism? Because if I'm gonna be here and serving the Lord, and it's so that uh the Great Commission, so that so that to go make disciples, man, well then I want to the most effective way possible. And um so we get we get married after college, and we almost immediately moved to Charlottesville and we started church. We don't know anybody. This is how this is how it happened. We're driving around just praying that God, is this where we're supposed to be? And I'm at a gas pump, just sitting there looking around, and I just felt like the Lord said, This is it. So I got the gas pump, put it back in, sat down. I was like, hey, Ashley, I man, I felt like the Lord just spoke to me. This is where we're supposed to be. We don't know anybody. We get some contacts, and then we start meeting. And listen, can I tell you something? It went terribly. I mean, cool things happened. There were some cool things that happened. But check this out I was pastoring a church at the age of 22. I had I had people in my congregation that were almost retirement age. Like there's a lot of, I didn't have, we didn't have any kids. There's people in the church with kids. There was so much stuff I didn't know. There's like, listen, Bible college, you think, man, four years is a lot of time? I remember in our first meeting about uh what this church could look like and what we could do. There's a dude that showed up and he wanted to know if he could have multiple wives. I was like, we didn't have that class. We did not have that class. I was like, nah, man, I don't think this is the one for you. This is not the church you were looking for right here. It was crazy. And we tried hard and we tried hard, but I didn't know how to deal with conflict. I was still afraid of conflict. I didn't know that conflict was a great thing, that conflict can build trust, that conflict can get us closer to what God has for us rather than further away if we remain humble and address things honestly and openly. Right? Conflict's not a bad thing, man. It's a beautiful thing. Iron sharpens iron. There has to be some friction there, and I didn't understand that. So I would sidestep conflict, I'd be nervous. And there were things I didn't know just from being young, and we're there for seven years. And can I tell you by the end of the seven years, it had just beat the life out of me. I was like, I don't think I'm built for this. I I was sure that this is what I was supposed to do. I was almost positive this is how I was supposed to roll. And and and now I'm like questioning everything. And I got a friend and I call him, and I'm like, hey man, like, this is kind of rough right now. I need to know. Like, I think God might be transitioning us out of this. I was like, what does transition feel like? He goes, it feels like that. I was like, well, that's not sexy, right? That wasn't and so, anyways, I end up stepping back into youth ministry. We moved from Virginia just with my tail between my legs, to Montana to help out in youth ministry. I love youth. And man, we were we were we were we were doing our best and pouring into ministry, and but in the back of my head was all this stuff like, man, you failed, you failed, you failed. You failed, you failed, you failed. Man, you tried to build something that collapsed, like you failed. About a year and a half after we were gone from Virginia, that church closed down. I told people over and over again, I said, you know what? I love Jesus, but I will never plant another church again. Ever, ever, ever do that again. Never. And then God scoffed contemptuously. And all of a sudden, like, man, this this fire lit back up that I never thought would light again, and I was still afraid. I was sitting in a room just like this, and there was a there was this amazing woman of God just sharing this powerful message, and the whole time I'm sitting there feeling like we're supposed to come back to Virginia to start a church. I'm like, but God, I we I I I jacked it so bad the first time. I made such a mess. And and literally, the next moment, this woman of God she goes, and do you know who we need to celebrate? We need to celebrate all the church planners that tried once and they failed horribly and they made a huge mess. We need to champion those people because God's got more for them. I was like, Well, if you're gonna play that way, right? Like, and then people would keep encouraging and keep encouraging. And we had this crazy prophetic word. Like God shared a word, like a prophetic word is something like you since you hear God and you share it with somebody, right? Because that's how kingdom works, to encourage, to build up, to strengthen. And this person shared a word and said, You've been circling the mountain, but God says it's time to go north. I'm like, bro, I am not moving to Canada. We were in Great Falls, Montana. I'm like, I'm not going any further north. We live in a frozen tundra three quarters of the year. I'm not, it's not happening. And uh I come home one night and we've been praying about are we supposed to move back? And Ashley goes, Joey, you gotta you gotta read this verse. And it was about Israel had been defeated in battle and they fled and they had been circling this mountain for years. And God worked in their heart and said, now it's time to go back north because I'm gonna give you victory. I was like, Well, what do you think that means? She said, I guess we're going to Virginia. We get to Virginia, Ashley. Could you come for me and play something beautiful as only you do? Our other musicians play beautiful stuff, but um we get here and can I tell you something? It was not fireworks instantly. It was hard. Can I tell you where where we met? We first met in the house. Then we met in the holiday inn. We stopped meeting in the holiday inn when they had like a a um, we walked in and they were doing how to respond to a shooter, and they were dragging a person down the hallway like they had been shot, and we're trying to greet people as they're coming into like our conference room. I'm like, this is this this might not be the place. And we met at another building and another building, and then there was a summer where we're like, man, maybe, maybe we missed it again. So we just started going to other churches and we're like, man, do I need to uh I'll help with parking, help with kids, whatever. And we kept searching, and God's like, no, I called you to plan a church. So then one day we roll up into this place called, we're just looking for a place to meet, roll up in this place in uh Grandon called Colab. Walk in there, and I and I'm getting the tour, and the person giving me the tour is like, hey, you're a church? That's cool. There's actually this other uh church that meets all the way in the back. Like, no way. I was like, Do you have the number? Called this number of a person I didn't know. Pastor Sheila picks it up. I'm like, hey, and we just we go get coffee, and thank God I had my daughter Lucy with me because she loved Lucy but was uncertain about me. She'll tell you that to this day. Sheila's daughter Sienna was there. She's like, nah, give them a chance. And uh, and we just we and we found a man like we had been through it. But maybe God wanted to do something, like to bring, could he bring, could he bring two burnt stones together? We're leaving, well, so we start having service together. We leave, we're leaving service one day, and all of a sudden this big, huge like trailer pulls up.

unknown 38:00

Boop, boop.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

There's a truck that's completely painted camo, pulling it. Justin's truck, shout out Justin. Justin gets out, ready to start moving equipment. It's like a 600-pound speaker. He just picks it up, brings it in, like, right. I'm like, what? I think probably the first time I passed by you, I was just like, hey. Like it wasn't, you're trying to get your stuff ready, we're trying to exit, and um, and out of nowhere, man, like, hey, can we get coffee? Can we talk? Because it had been a grind for me, it'd been a grind for Sheila, a grind for Adam. We come together, Hope City didn't exist. There were three different churches, if you could call it that, small groups, right on the verge of being churches. And can I just say, because they've been honest with you with their story, I'm honest with you with mine, we just three burnt stones. Is it possible that God would want to stack these stones for his glory in this city? Sheila's in seminary at the time, shares this plan with one of her professors. Her professor's like uh uh about to like shun her in life. Like, this will never work, this will never happen, you're dumb for thinking, like he comes, like he just he called you. Yeah, he called you. This wasn't even like texting. A phone call, imagine. And just like, nah, just and I had people who's like, man, I don't know if that'll work. I'm like, I don't know what to tell you. I know that we love Jesus, and we want to know that we're living in a way that other people can know Jesus. And there's a lot of stuff we got to figure out, all different backgrounds, but like, man, God, we think this is what you're saying. All different backgrounds. We come together, and it's like, isn't it amazing though that God brought three burnt stones, three burnt churches together in a place called Kolab? Ironic, right? Shortly after we met each other, we all got kicked out. No more going back to collab. Yeah. But I don't know what to tell you other than God loves building with burnt stones. And when we get honest with each other here in this place, I one of the things I love about Hope City is that we can be honest, and we're not going to be the church that's like trying to just make everybody happy. Hope City is not a church looking to cultivate happiness by ignoring brokenness. We are tasked to engage with ruins, to grieve the pain, to fast in repentance, and to pray for favor and building not for our glory, but for God's glory. Get happy when you can ignore everything that's going on. We can come in here and we can teach fluffy sermons that make you feel good for like a half hour, and then Monday punches you in the face. Or we can talk about hard stuff and see God get the glory as He says, Man, listen, you're a burnt stone. I'm so glad you're here. I got a place for you to fit. I got a, I got, man, you were, I've been waiting for. Listen, he's not looking for polished stones. He's looking for burnt ones that are available. Would you be available to the call of God on your life? And I'm not even saying that, this is not even an invitation to say join in with what God is doing in the in in building this wall that Hope City is taking a part of. But I'm saying this if you're following Jesus, you're a part of the wall. You need to find where you plug in. It could be another church. I celebrate that. If it's this church, I'm honored by that. But regardless, don't ever let the enemy say you're too frail, you're too brittle, you're too broken, you're too burnt, you're too messed up, you're too disheveled, you're too far gone. Don't let the enemy ever tell you that. Because what God tells me when I read in his word, he's like, no, no, no, no. Do you know the title Jesus got? The stone that the builders rejected. Then he's become the chief cornerstone. What our wall is built off of is his goodness, his glory, his perfection. And my imperfection takes a side seat. He's like, No, no, no, no, I got you. My perfection is going to cover it. In fact, you're so flawed that when I begin doing my thing, only I will get the glory for it. And so I just wanted to come today, make sure I don't have any more points. Your frailty has never deterred God's heart and his plan for you. I want to I want you to remember this. God will handle his responsibilities, you handle yours. Scripture says to live justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. That is an effort. But if we'll just say, Man, like, God, I just want to submit to being usable by you. I don't know how you could use me. But I'm available. I don't know. I don't know how you could build something, but I'm available. And you know where it starts? It starts the same way Nehemiah did, just with repentance. God, I man, I missed it. There's not shame in that. There's freedom in that. Man, the lie in me is like, you can't admit you're wrong. Because then it just everybody will see how flawed you are. No, no, no. The goodness of God is I can say, man, I was so broken that somebody had to die for me. But I'm so loved that somebody did, and his name is Jesus. And that we are all so broken that somebody had to die for us. Because the wages of sin for missing the mark, the Bible says, is death. It's separation from God. But Jesus came as a sacrifice on our behalf to pay a price so you wouldn't have to, and I wouldn't have to, and that we could never pay so that we could have relationship. So I just want to pray right now with you in this room. Would you close your eyes really quick just for a moment? There's nothing more holy about closing your eyes other than just a moment just to say, I'm not worried about who's around me. Because everybody has to come to relationship with Jesus in the same way. To confess with your mouth and believe with your heart that Jesus is who he says he is. It doesn't say confess with your mouth and understand completely with your mind all the details of doctrine and theology. Confess with your mouth and believe with your heart. There's some stuff that you learn along the way, but the Holy Spirit works in our heart, stirs in our heart, and he says, Man, I've got more for you. And some of you right now are maybe sensing something, you might even feel it physically, but you're sensing it maybe in your chest, your heart, you're like, man, something's stirring. And that's the Holy Spirit saying, This is real. Jesus loves you. Receive him. Receive him. If that's you and you're like, man, I want to have a relationship with Jesus, and I've never ever prayed a prayer before to have relationship. Would you do me a favor? Would you, would you be bold in this? Would you just raise your hand and say, man, I want to pray a prayer to come in relationship with Jesus? I want to pray a prayer just and have somebody join in with me. Yeah. I see you. I see you. That you would say, man, I want you to be the Lord of my life. I want to ask too, man, I get a sense there's some people in this room that at some point you prayed that prayer, but man, it's just almost like an exiled Israel. You did your own thing for so long that you can't remember what it's like to walk with God. And now it's time to come home to repent and say, man, you know what? I've been doing my thing. I've been serving, I've been the master of my life. I've been serving my needs. My life's been about me. Don't ever believe that God can't take you back. The prodigal son is a beautiful story, and in that story we see a son coming home that had lost everything, had done everything wrong, and yet the father ran towards him with open arms. Right now, I just want to say, if you want to come home, now's the time. And I want to pray with you in that. Would you just slip your hand up and say, Yeah, man, I just want to make an outward sign of an inward act that I'm coming back into relationship. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. See those hands. Anybody else? It's still going to count if you don't raise your hand and you want to. But I feel like there's something in it that assures you that I remember doing this. We're going to pray together. Church family, can you all pray together with us right now? Jesus, I believe that you're the Son of God and that you died to pay a price for my sins for every time that I missed the mark. And I believe with my heart, and I confess with my mouth that you are the Messiah, the Savior. And I ask you to forgive me of every time I got it wrong. Be my Lord, my Savior, my King. My life is yours. The pretty and the ugly, the victories and the failures. I give it all to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We're going to party in just a second. But what scripture tells me is that heaven parties right now. The one one says yes to Jesus, heaven. Heaven is like, woo. And I'll say this to you for those that have prayed that. Find a place to connect. Man, if it's here, if it's another church, it's okay. Find a place to connect. Because we're all burnt stones, but something beautiful happens when we come together. And we stack. And it presents something to this world that declares his glory, where God gets the honor and the praise. You with me on that? Would you just stand? I'd love to pray a blessing over you as we close. Lord, I thank you for these, your sons and daughters. Bless them and they're coming, they're going, and they're lying down, they're rising up. I pray that you'd be their front and their rear guard. Give them the mind of Christ and the wisdom of God. Lord, everything's their hands touch, let it prosper. James 1 says if we ask for wisdom, you'd give it abundantly without reproach. So I pray that you'd give this family James 1 wisdom right now. Lord, I thank you. Also I just take a moment, God, and just pray healing over the sick, healing over infirmities, God. That by your stripes, Jesus, we are healed. We thank you for that. We thank you for healing the rejection that happens in our life, where we feel like, man, I I can never be placed or used to build anything. But we thank you, God, for healing in that rejection. Lord, we thank you, God, for your goodness, your grace, and mercy. Favor, favor, favor on these, your kids in Jesus' name.