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God of The Underdogs -Nehemiah

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Well, good morning, everybody. How are we doing? All right. So good to see you on this beautiful Sunday. Hey, last week, we kicked off a new series around here. We’re calling God of the Underdogs. And if you missed last week, like Becca just said, you can go back and watch it online. But basically, by definition, an underdog is anyone who is, you know, little known and unlikely to succeed. But then they go on to do something amazing, and they accomplish great things. And I think there’s just something inside all of us that loves an underdog story. How many guys just love an underdog story? I would venture to bet that even your favorite movie is a movie about an underdog. I just think there’s something inside all of us that are just so inspired by an underdog story. And I think that thing inside of us is really put there by the spirit of God because we see an underdog story. And even if it’s just for a moment, even if it’s just, you know, for a glimmer, we think, to ourself. God. Could you do something like that? With me. Could you do something like that with me? Got. And were so inspired. You go see a, you know, a movie. It’s an underdog story, and you just walk out of there so inspired. And then you go home, and you wake up the next day, and reality kind of just has a way of slapping you in the face, and you wake up to what you’re screaming kids and your and, you know, all kinds of stuff going on at work and maybe stuff going on at home. And all of a sudden that that sense of inspiration quickly fades to a sense of inadequacy and being overwhelmed.

And I don’t know what area of your life where you might be, you know, sensing some inadequacy. You know, maybe it’s, I don’t know, with your parenting, maybe it’s, you know, in your finances or in your career, you know, maybe it’s in you know, I don’t know, even maybe spiritually speaking, you have a sense of inadequacy. Like you go, and you hang out with your small group, and you hear someone in your small group pray, and they’re just like calling down fire from heaven. And they’re just like, So you’re like sitting in a praying, and you’re listening to them, and you’re thinking, God must be up in heaven being like, Wow, well done, you know? And then you pray, and you just do your best to kind of get it out, and you think God must be up in heaven thinking like, seriously, really? Like that’s the best that you’ve got. And often times we have just this sense of inadequacy. And I don’t know what area of that might show up in your life, but I do know this that this series, God of the Underdogs, is for everyone who at one time or another, at one level or another, has wrestled with a sense of inadequacy, has felt overwhelmed or fearful in life. And today, I get to tell you another one of the greatest underdog stories of all time. And this story is, you know, what I love most about it? This guy that we’re going to talk about today, he wasn’t a priest or president or prime minister. He wasn’t like a multi-millionaire. He was just like an ordinary guy. I mean, he wasn’t even verified on Instagram, Right? He’s just this ordinary guy. But what we’re going to discover in this series is that God specializes.

In using ordinary people. To do extraordinary things. And today, as I tell you this story, it’s the story of Nehemiah. And there’s an entire book actually named after him that records his story. Nehemiah is the cupbearer for the King of Persia. The King of Persia. His name is Archaic Xerxes. Now, that might sound a little bit familiar because last week, we studied this King’s father, whose name was Xerxes. Now his son is on the throne of the Persian Empire, and his name is artist Xerxes. And Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the King. You say, What does a cup bear do? A cupbearer is someone who sits next to the King and drinks the King’s wine, and eats the King’s food before the King eats or drinks. Here’s why. Because if you wanted to assassinate the King in that day, typically, you would do it by trying to poison the King’s food or drink. So King would have a cupbearer who would taste everything he would eat or drink before he would eat or drink. And as he’s getting ready to pick up the glass, he would kind of look down and look at his cupbearer. And if the cup bears like a thumbs-up, it’s great. Have some, you know, foods. Great. Dig in. Then the King would begin his meal. But if he’d look over and see, you know, his cup beer, like foaming at the mouth, the choking King would be like, no, I think I’ll take a hard pass. All right. So this is what Nehemiah his job was. He was there to protect the King, and he was the cupbearer of the King. Now, if I was Nehemiah, I’d want to make sure that this job came with a really good life insurance policy.

I don’t know about you. Now, the story of Nehemiah begins when Nehemiah receives some really bad news. Senior Maya was among some of the Jews that were displaced and living in the Kingdom of Persia. Remember, we talked about this a little bit last week that when the Babylonians overthrew. Many years ago, prior to this story taking place. Israel, they took in exile some of the best and the brightest of the Jews and brought them back to their kingdom. Of course, then, their kingdom was overthrown by the Persians. And when the Persians came into power, they released all the Jews that were living within the Kingdom of Persia and released them from captivity. Many of them returned to Israel, but others. That was the land that they grew up in. It’s where all their friends were; it’s where their home was. And. And they lived there. So they were free. They really still weren’t quite at home. And Nehemiah was one of these displaced Jews. Well, he hears this news about a sad scene that was taking place back in Jerusalem. We all know Jerusalem. It’s been in the news today is very important to the Jews. It was back then, and it still is today. It was the center of their life. It was the capital of their nation. It was the center of the religious life. And the news comes back to Nehemiah. It’s like a body blow. And it literally, like, knocks the wind right out of him. And he writes about it. This is what he says. It says this in Nehemiah Chapter one in late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the 20th year of King Xerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa, and I one of my brothers came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah.

That’s in Jerusalem. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from the captivity and how things were going in Jerusalem. They said to me. Things are not going well for those who have returned to the province of Juda. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire. Nehemiah hears this news, and it literally crushes him. I mean, it just it’s like a body blow to hear of his city. And the place of his home is in a pile of rubble that everything has been destroyed. And their precious holy city, the walls of the city, have been reduced to rubble. Even the gates to the city had been burned by fire. The Temple of Solomon, if you’ve ever heard of that, had been torn down. Another 50,000 Jews that have returned there, and they have just been dejected. Everything is shut down. The economy has shut down. Temple worship is the center of the religious life shut down, and they had lost all hope. They literally had wall-to-wall problems, and they didn’t know what to do. Here’s a question for you. What do you do? When you don’t know. What to do. What do you do when you’re so overwhelmed? When the problem seems so big. And you don’t know what to do when you see a great need in front of you, and you sense that God wants you to do something about it, but you don’t know what to do. Well, let’s look at what Nehemiah does because he puts on a clinic when he does these five things. Here’s the first thing that you do when you don’t know what to do.

Number one, you sit down, and you cry. It says right here in the middle one for when I Nehemiah, when I heard this, that my city had been reduced to rubble, that the plight of my people. It was one of hopelessness and destruction and despair. When I heard this, I sat down. And wept. He sat down, and he wept. Even though Jerusalem was over a thousand miles away from where he was. This was personal. This was his hometown. This was his people. This was his ancestors where his grandfather, great grandfather, and great great great grandfather lived where they raised their family. And it crushed Nehemiah. It literally broke his heart. And the first thing he does is he sits down, and he just cries, and he weeps. He can’t just blow this off. He can’t just go to his brother’s hand and say, Hey, here’s a little check. You know. Sucks to be you. I’m busy here, though. I’m an important person in this kingdom. He doesn’t just, you know, write a check and blow him off. He can’t just go back to, you know, serving the King, you know, taking selfies, you know? You know, the duck little thing and the hashtag blessed to serve. You know, he can’t just, you know, go home after a long day serving the King and start playing video games. No, this wrecks him to the very core of his being. It’s personal. Can I ask you the same question that I asked my friend Ken some years ago? What breaks your heart. I mean, like what, Rex? You. What is the thing that you see the injustice in the world around you that when you see it, there’s just something inside of you, maybe a small little whisper that says you need to do something about this?

This is not right; this is wrong. Somebody needs to do something about this. What breaks your heart? I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s illiteracy. And you see kids growing up or even adults that move here trying to learn a second language, and they can’t read, or they can’t write. Maybe it’s global poverty and children that are dying every single day from a lack of nutrition or clean water. Maybe it’s those who’ve been trafficked and abused. Maybe it’s foster children who just kind of fall through the cracks. And boy, has that been exasperated because of COVID. Talk to Ken after the service, and he’ll tell you the story of what’s happening right here in Monroe County. Maybe it’s family and friends that you know and that you love so much, but they’re so far from God. They’re so lost, and their lives are so broken, and you just so desperately want them to know that God, that you know, that he’s for them and not against them, that he loves them. And you want them to know. God’s grace and his love, his forgiveness. You want them to know the joy of his salvation. What breaks your heart? You know, for me and Becca, when we moved here 18, almost 19 years ago, what broke our heart was when we see a lost and a hurting in a broken community full of people that are so far from God that somehow they think that they’ve done something so terribly wrong that God hates them, that He wants to smite them and just destroy them, take them out, that there’s no way that God could be, you know, for them that obviously, God must be mad at them. What broke our heart is, is people that were far from God trying to figure out how to cope with the pain of this world, knowing all along that God has provided a solution.

It’s called a life-giving local church that’s going to love and accept everyone. And what broke our heart was that what broke our heart was when we see even this next generation just walking away from the church and walking away from God. You know why? Because church to them was boring. The church was irrelevant. It had nothing to do with the practical, you know, everyday aspect of their life. And that broke our hearts to see lonely people that were out there thinking that somehow God was against them and not for them. And so what broke our heart let us. To plant this church that would reflect the heart of God to the Poconos, to restore broken families, to help lost and hurting people, find the hope that Jesus brings to to to bring a community back together where white and black and Latino can come all under the banner of Jesus Christ and find this beautiful community that we will enjoy for eternity as we gather around the throne of heaven where every tongue and every tribe and every nation will lift up the name of Jesus together to see the Kingdom of God. Come here. Come now. Come to the Poconos. And to build a life-giving church. People can find hope in Jesus. That’s what broke our hearts and continues to break our hearts. Friend. I don’t know about you. But I want my heart to break for the things that break my heavenly father’s heart. To let it move you. To let it crush you. To let it be personal to you. To let it change you. Can I just tell you? Never underestimate what God can do when you embrace the burden of a broken heart. So, first of all, he got to sit down and cry when you don’t know what to do.

You sit down, and you cry. But there’s a second step. Here’s the second thing that Nehemiah does. After you sit down and you cry, and you embrace the burden of a broken heart, then you kneel down to pray. Look what it says here next. It says, In fact, four days I mourned, I fasted, and I what? I prayed to the God of heaven. And then I said, Here’s one of the prayers, O Lord, God of heaven, Listen to my prayer. Look down and see me praying night and day for your people. Israel. This wasn’t just a once-and-done kind of prayer. Now, this was a prayer that he prayed not just once, not just twice, not just one day, but day after day after day for four months. He prayed this prayer along with 17 other prayers that are recorded. You have to go back and read the rest of the story. 17 prayers where he confesses his own sins, where he confesses the sins of his people, and he stays in constant communication with the with God in heaven as he just calls on his name consistently, persistently, passionately. He prays. I want you to know when you don’t know what to do after you’ve sat down to cry, then you need to kneel down to pray. Because when you pray, it moves the heart, and it moves the hand of God in your life. God hears these People when they pray, God responds with great rich mercies and His grace to people who call upon his name. You don’t know what to do. I encourage you do what Nehemiah did. Kneel down. Pray. The Bible says the prayers of righteous people are powerful. They are effective. Come on. Prayer changes things. Prayer moves not only the heart of God, and not only changes our circumstances, but it also changes us.

And it gives us the courage to step out in faith. Do something about it. You see, Nehemiah prays, and he prays, and he prays some more because he didn’t want to just come up with his own plan. He didn’t want to just move out in his own strength. He wanted to hear from God. He wanted God’s plan. He wanted God’s power, and he prayed, and then he prayed some more. You know, some of you you’re dealing with some situations in your life right now. I just, you know, I think of all that we’ve been through over the last almost a year and a half of COVID, this pandemic. Some of you are dealing with situations right now in your life. And it looks like a pile of rubble, and you think, Oh, God, how could we ever rebuild this? Oh, God, how could we ever rebuild our family? God, how could we ever rebuild this marriage? God, how could we ever rebuild this relationship? It’s so. It seems, so erivo’s irreversibly broken. Oh, God. How could we ever rebuild this business? Oh, God. How could we ever rebuild our finances? It’s so overwhelming. You feel so far down the hall, so deep in debt. Oh, God. How could we ever dig out from underneath? All of this is such a mess we’ll never be able to recover. And I know you feel so overwhelmed. So what do you do? You sit down, and you cry. And then you kneel down, and you pray. You take it to God in prayer. Because prayer, as I said, will not only change. Your circumstance but it will give you the courage to do what Nehemiah did next. And that’s the third step. You stand up and act after you, and you sit down, and you weep over it.

And then you kneel down, and you pray. The third thing you do is you stand up. And you act, Senior Maya. He’s the cup heir to the King. So he brings a cup of wine to the for the King one day. And, you know, as hard, as heavy. And the King could. Obviously, he knows what’s going on. He knows he knows something’s, you know, not quite right. He can tell something’s wrong with Nehemiah. So the King asks him. Hey, why are you so sad? I mean. You really look troubled. Do you need something? And so with humility. This is what Nehemiah says to the King. Long live the King. How can I not be sad for the city? Where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and the gates have been destroyed by fire. And then the King asked, Well, how can I help you? You see prayer changes? Have you ever been amazed at what happens when you pray and then what God does for you? This is an unbelieving king. This is a pagan king. This is not a king that believes in the God of creation. The God of Israel. And he says, How can I help you? To which Nehemiah thinks, Well, this is going better than expected. So let me continue. And with a prayer to the God of heaven. Isn’t that beautiful? I mean, you know what that means. It’s not like he just started praying. That would be so weird. But it was in a spirit. You see, friend here’s the deal with prayer. Prayer. If it’s about anything, it’s really about the posture of your heart. Prayer by very definition. It realizes that there is a source of great power and strength that is greater than you.

That when you when Paul says, I want you to pray continually, he doesn’t just want us to walk around muttering prayers all day. How weird would that be? If you’re at work and you’re just like our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, they will be like, Dude, what’s wrong with you know Bob over there? That’s not what it means to pray continuously. It means that you walk around in a spirit, in a posture of prayer that God is. I go into this meeting; you’re not saying this out loud. It’s in your spirit. As I go into this meeting, go before me. So I pick up this phone to have this conversation as I sit down with this coworker, as I get ready to have this conversation with my son or my daughter or my wife; God, be with me. Go before me. Give me the words to say. Give me the wisdom that I need in this situation. It’s an attitude. It’s a posture of your heart that says I’m not big enough to handle this on my own. I’m not smart enough to know what to do on my own. God, I need you. Prayer, by definition of, flies in the face of self-sufficiency. It’s a recognition. The there is a supernatural authority that is orchestrating the events of my life. That is for me. So I’m going to look to him for help. So he says, with a prayer to God of Heaven, I replied, If it pleases the King and if you are pleased with me, your servant. Send me to Judah to rebuild the city. Where my ancestors are buried. I just love this. He goes, and he says, Listen, I got word my friends and my family back home.

They’re in a heap of trouble. Walls of the city of. And broken down. They’re defenseless. They’re helpless against their enemies. The gates of the city have been burned. It’s rubble. Trouble. And I wept over it. King. I’ve prayed for four months over it, and I just can’t sit around here in the plush palace and do nothing about it. I want to go back. And I want to help my people. And so the King replied. With the queen sitting next to him. Well, how long will you be gone? When will you return? After I told him how long I would be gone, the King agreed to my request. Isn’t it great? How? God. Come on. He answers the prayers of his people because he knew he might not. He might not know Nehemiah was God. But he knew Nehemiah. He knew his character. He knew his work ethic. He knew how he showed up every day with a positive spirit. And that’s a sermon all by itself, innit? He knew this man. He was a good man. And he worked hard. He was loyal to the King. And in response to that, the King’s like, Yeah. Okay. How long you be gone? What do you need? How can I help you? Animals. Like, I’m kind of, like, on a roll here, so I might as well just keep going. And so humbly and. And boldly, he says, Well, kind of gets out his like list from lows. He’s like, I’m going to be concrete. I’m going to wheelbarrows, I’m going to need some lumber, I’m going to need some bricks, I’m going to need I need some power tools. I’m gonna need some drywall and his paint spackle. And he just kind of lays it all out there before the King, and the King agreed to every single one of his requests.

And even in addition to all of that, he’s like, I’ll pay for it all, and I will provide you with an escort to get you there and back safely. How amazing. Come on, is our God. You know, 18 years ago when. When Beck and I came here. Just start a community church. You know, we had no idea what would happen. We just didn’t know. We had no idea what God would do. I look around this room, and I can see at least two or maybe three or four faces that were with us on that very first night of prayer. You remember that? It was over behind what’s now Planet Fitness Fox Wire condominium. It was a big IOC night. Bring your own chair. We didn’t have chairs. We just had a little like little condominium place. It wasn’t even as big as a stage. Everyone had to bring their lawn chairs. I remember your beverage of giving your lawn chairs. And we did have a sound system. We didn’t really have anything, but we had a word from God to go and plant a church. And I remember getting up, and that night I preached, I think of the pulpit. I didn’t, I didn’t have, I didn’t have a stand. I had nothing. And so I grabbed a chair. I turned it around backwards, and I set a box on it. And then I put my Bible on the box. And I preached in that box from the New Testament passage. It says this. If God is in it. No man can stop it. If God is in this. And I got up, and I said, I have no idea what’s going to happen. I don’t know if this thing is going to fly or if it’s going to fail, but I just said this Hey, if God is in this, no one can stop it.

Not even us. Because God is even bigger than us. No one can stop it. And I think back all that God has done over the last 18 years. Literally, thousands and thousands of people have come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Miracle after miracle after miracle that, God has raised up a church on top of this mountain that has become one of the, if not the most largest and single influential churches in the history of this community. And I say it with great humility because he was all God, because of God’s in it. No one can stop it. And that’s the same attitude that Nehemiah had got. If you’re in this, you can even move the heart of a pagan king, not only to grant me permission but to pay for the entire construction project and invest literally millions and millions and millions of dollars. Listen, something happens when you and your spirit connects to the supernatural God in heaven who breaks out on your behalf. But you got to stand up, and you got to act. And you got to take courage and make a move and put some feet on those prayers. Some of you have a burden for something you wept over, and you prayed over it. And I don’t know what it is. I don’t know. Maybe some of you guys, you have a burden to get a girl? I don’t know. Maybe you’re just like, I need a date, Pastor. I mean, I. Well, let me help you. All right, First of all. Take a shower. Okay. Put on a shirt. Other than the ones that come, you know, with the case of beer that you buy from the beer distributor. Maybe something with a collar on it.

Okay. I’m just trying to help you guys. All right? You know? You know, get yourself cleaned up and, you know. You know, go to Target. I’ll just go to Target. Go to Target. Go to Target. That’s where all the girls go to find stuff they don’t need. Just. Just go to Target. I’m just trying to help you. I’m just trying to help you. Oh, Jesus. Oh, let me talk to you about. Something’s going on in our church right now. We’ve been through your half of the pandemic. I think we met for three months last year. Everything went online. It’s crazy. You know what’s going on in the church in America today. There’s about 350,000 churches in America. The latest stats I read last week, over 100,000 churches will close their doors this year. Think about that. 100,000 churches are going to show off the lights. They’re going to walk out. And that’s it. It’s over. They can’t pay the bills. People have left. They didn’t come back. They’re not coming back. That breaks my heart. I think the trick of the enemy here. To see the enemy can’t hurt God. He can only hurt the ones that God loves. And he’s trying to destroy this. I’m not just saying at all. Just hear my heart. I’m not a newscaster. I’m not a politician or a political pundit. I’m a preacher. And I look at this not from just a geopolitical viewpoint. I look at it from a biblical viewpoint. And this is what’s happening. Satan has tried to take out the Church of Jesus Christ here, not only in the US but around the world. Oh, here’s how I’ll do it. I’ll shut it all down for a year. I won’t allow them to gather. And as we’ve gone through this, you know, I feel, you know, we’re about now back a couple of weeks before Easter, we came back to in-person gatherings.

We run about 30%. Pre-COVID numbers. And, gang, here’s the deal. We’ve got to rebuild our church. We’re going to rebuild this church. And I just want to speak to your life, kind of like Nehemiah right now and just say, come on, let’s rise up and build. Let’s rise up and build. Let’s rise up and build. Let’s rise up and build. Who is with me? Some of you were like, Yeah, I’m with you. I love this church. I want to be part of the Nehemiah team here to rebuild the walls, rebuild it relationally, rebuild it financially, rebuild it, you know, spiritually. And thank God, you know, even through all of that, we never missed a bill. We never missed a payment. God has been good. God has been faithful. You have been so generous. But we’ve still got work to do. CHURCH We’ve got work to do. We need to rise up and build. And some of you might be wondering, Well, what can I do? Here’s what you can do. I’m going to be very specific and practical. Some of you. You’re either in the room, or you’re underside of the camera. You love this place. This is your church home. But the extent of your engagement with this church family, with this spiritual community, is this you show up on the weekend, your kids love it, you love it. Then you go home. That’s the extent of your engagement. I’m asking you if you want to help us rebuild this church. You’ve got to increase your level of engagement. Sunday mornings are just not enough. Watching it online is just not enough. And your next step? And the rebuilding process is to just join a community group that connects everybody. We believe everybody has a next spiritual step.

Join a group. How do you join a group? What is a group? Is this a small group of, you know, five, ten people? The friends, they get together, and they grow in their faith. They eat. They laugh. They meet with gladdens, sincere hearts. Once every other week, about 20 times a year. And they walk away from that time where they’re breaking bread together, studying God’s Word, growing their faith. And they say, Man, I know I had a million reasons why I couldn’t go or why I’m too busy and all this, but I’m so glad that I went. That was the best hour and a half of my week. That’s what it means to be part of a group that you have a circle of friends that you’re connected to in community. So if your level of engagement is only, we can only. Here’s your next step. Join a group. You can do that before you leave today. Just go out to the group, serve in the lobby, or even online. Just, you know, fill out that digital connection card, say I want to join a group, and one of our team members would be in touch with you this week, and we’ll help you get connected in a group that works just for you. Now, for some of you that you’re in a group, maybe you. You know you got a little, you know, life has gotten away, and you got out of the room. You need to get back into your group. Get back in your group. So what you’re thinking like it’s like, you know, if you haven’t been to the gym in a while, right? You know that feeling like, Oh, I can’t go back to the gym. I got a little put a little couple pounds on there.

I’m going to think I’m such a loser. No, no, no, no. You go back to your group, and they’re going to be like, Oh, we’re so glad to see you. Come on in here. Let me give you a hug. That’s what you’re going to experience. No judgment, just love and acceptance for some of you that are in a group, but you’re not serving around here. Your next step is to join a service team. God has uniquely given you wonderful, beautiful gifts and talents that you can contribute. To the spiritual community to help build the church. And it’s so fun. You will find joy and purpose that you never thought was even possible that you heard, even Ken shared earlier in the story. So join a surf team. And for some of you, maybe your next step and somewhere along the line on that spiritual pathway, maybe you started to give, or maybe you haven’t even stepped in the generosity around here. Your next step is just a step into generosity. I don’t care what the amount just doesn’t even matter. What matters most is you just get in the game and just start trusting God and putting Him first in your finances. Does it matter if it’s a dollar a week, $5 a week? Some people get a, you know, you know, $1,000 a week around here. It doesn’t matter. What matters is your heart. God says he loves a cheerful giver. So just. Just do something. To help rebuild what God is doing around here. And for some of you that are giving, it might look for you to increase your giving. Go to the next level of your faith. Watch what God will do. I got a text this week from a friend of mine.

He started his generosity journey about four years ago here. Community Church started giving $20 a week, and he and his wife just had a conversation last week. And God has been so good. He’s been increasing, you know, periodically along the way. And they just increased their giving this week to $80 a week. God has blessed him. He has more work than he knows how to, you know, what to do with it. And God has just provided for him and his family in so many different ways. So whatever you are, your next step, take this stand up and act. Stand up and act. And last of all, after you sat down and cried, after you’ve knelt down and prayed, after you stand up to act, here’s what I want you to know. Here’s what you need to expect. Opposition. This isn’t just all like fun and games and unicorns and lollipops and, you know, gumdrops. No, I’m telling you, whenever you purpose in your heart to partner with your Heavenly father to do something that matters, to do something that has eternal significance, all hell is going to break loose. I’m just telling you, this is not for the faint of heart. You need to expect opposition. And as they stand up to act, Nehemiah says, let’s rise up and build. And they all clap just like all of you clapped. And then this is what happens. It says this The Sumerian leader that was around and watching this all take place. It says this in the next verse, Sam Black. He was an enemy leader of Israel, one of their bordering nations. It says he was very angry when he learned that they were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage, and he mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends in the Sumerian army officers, What is this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Because remember, when he goes back to lead this construction project, none of these were construction workers.

These were not stonemasons. These were not, you know, guys that had hard hats. These were merchants; these were perfumers. These were they were, you know, work with precious metals. And what does he think they’re doing, these poor, feeble Jews? Do they think they can rebuild the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? And he begins to ridicule them. He begins to like, you know, hate on them and throw criticism a shade their way. And it doesn’t just stop with sambal it because it goes on and it says this. Then Tobias, the Ammonite, another leader of a border nation that was not happy about them rebuilding their wall to fortify their the great city. He was standing beside them, and he remarked that the stone wall would collapse even if a fox walked along the top of it like you guys don’t know what you’re doing. This isn’t going to last. This isn’t going to work. And friends, whenever you step out to try to honor God, spiritual opposition will step in because you become a threat to the enemy and you have a target on your back. When you step out with the purpose of your God, to partner with him to do something that really matters in this world. But I’m here to tell you greater is he that is within me than he that is in the world. Come on. If God is for me, who can be against me? Come on. Nothing. Come on, Show no weapon formed against me shall prosper. But I want you to know the bigger the assignment, the bigger the attack. So you take it to heart. Expect the opposition because God is with you. God will not fail you. God will help you to accomplish what it is that He has called you.

To accomplish. It just could be. I mean, you are maybe trying to get out of debt, but you make a decision today. I’m going to start trusting God with my finances. He said I’m going to set up a recurring gift for ten bucks a week. She’s telling you, you know. Some of you have been there. You know, soon as you did that, the car breaks down, and you get a 5000 dollars expense. You’re like, Oh, what is going on? I’ll tell you what’s going on. This is spiritual. We’re not in a battle of flesh and blood, but a spiritual forces is. Oh, but God is with you. Come on. And if God before you come on, who can be against you? But you have to expect a spiritual attack. You’re like, Oh, I’m going to step in. I’m going to start serving. So maybe you join kids, and you’re back there rocking a baby. And the first thing that happens is they puke up all their Froot Loops all over your new dress. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that happens. You step out in faith and trust God. Maybe you share something with a friend like, Hey, I heard about this monster thing at my church, and I really want a foster kid. You know, maybe your friend just looks at you as like a foster kid. You can’t even take care of the kids you already got. You know, they start saying stuff like that to you. Or maybe you feel like, you know, you say to somebody, Hey, I want to start a small group. Start a small group. You can’t even find the by the book of Nehemiah in the Bible. You know, they might say all these kinds of negative.

How could you do that? You can’t afford that. You can’t do that. You’re not smart enough. You’re too young. You’re too old. And here’s what I want to say to all the naysayers and the Debbie Downers and the haters and the critics. I want to say you don’t know me nor the power of the God that I serve. That his spirit is within me, and I’m not going to listen to your voice and your negativity. I’m going to listen to the voice of my God, who says that he goes before me and that the battle belongs to the Lord. I’m not going to be moved by what you say. I’m going to be moved by what God says. And God says that he is for me. I’m not going to listen to what you think. Come on. I’m going to listen to what God thinks, and I’m going to put my trust in him. You see, underdogs become underdogs because their commitment. To serve God and to sacrifice for him is greater. Then their comfort. God, when he asked you to pick up and move. Like you asked me, Rebecca, 18 years ago. Pick up. Move. Leave it all. We had a very comfortable life. Go back across the country to your hometown. You start this church. That’s what underdogs do. That’s what people serve God to. But their critics, they were relentless. I came up against Nehemiah, and here’s what they say says a sustainable lot. And Gresham sent out a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plains. So here’s the enemy’s rate they asked to meet. Hey, let’s have a meeting on the plane of, Ono. Can I just give you a tip? If one of your critics or haters or enemies ever ask you to meet in a place called Ono.

Just say. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. We will not have this meeting. But I realize that there are plotting to harm me. So I replied, sending them this message. I am in great engaged in a great work, so I can’t come down. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you? Listen, when you set out to do something great for God, the enemies will come against you to try to distract you and derail what God is trying to build in and through your life. And you just say to those enemies, Oh, no, Oh, no, oh, no, I’m doing a great work. I will not come down off of this wall to meet with you. I’m doing great work. You are doing a great work. This church is doing great work. And we will not be distracted, and we will not listen to any of the naysayers. They didn’t just ask for this meeting once. It was five times. And he said, No, no, no, I’m staying focused. I’m staying put. I’m staying right here on this wall until it’s done. So it says on October 2nd, the wall was finished just 52 days after they had begun. 52 days when our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God. When all the critics and all the naysayers and all the haters, when they saw this thing happen in like a little over a month and a half. They were like, Oh, my God. They couldn’t have done this on their own. They must have had help from their God. And what happened? God. Got all. Of the glory. God got all of the glory.

Let me just show you the scoreboard. Here’s what it looks like. Year since the city wall was destroyed, 92 years, it laid in ruins for almost 100 years. Years. The people were stuck there. 92 years of failure, 92 years of broken dreams, 92 days to rebuild the wall. 52. 52. Don’t ever underestimate. Come on. What happens when you embrace the burden of a broken heart, and you kneel down, and you pray after you weeping and seek the face of God. You stand up to act, and then you even muscle through the opposition that God will go on your behalf, and He will do things in and through you that you never dreamed or dared or thought were possible. Because with God, come on, all things are possible. And what I love most about this whole story is. I love most about it is that there was like there was no miracle. Like from heaven. The guidance just start dropping bricks in place. Like, would it not be cool, right? Just bricks. We woke up one morning, and all the bricks on the wall were in place. There was no manna from heaven. There’s no fire from heaven. There was no angel army standing around the walls. The fire was coming out of their eyes, chainsaws in their hand. We are the, you know, there was like none of that supernatural stuff. It was just a group of people. That embraced the burden of a broken heart. So we’ve got to do something about this. Can’t allow this to go on. We can’t let this happen on our watch. Scott City. This is his temple. Got to do something. And it was just a group of ordinary people that decided to roll up their sleeves. Get to work. Partnering together.

Stepping out, taking their next step. Faith. The walls are completed. The enemies realized that the work that had been accomplished could have only happened because it was God. And, you know, I long for people in the Poconos. To look at our church. I long for people in the Poconos to look at community church the same way. They looked at Nehemiah and the people of God’s story that the only way that could have happened. Who’s got help. I long for people to look at our lives and say the only way that could have happened was that God helped them from above. I long for people, I mean, just to look at your life and say, look, I know that I was friends with them. They were a mess. They were a wreck. And now I look at them, and I see their marriage and how beautiful it is and the joy in the peace that they have in their home and the, you know, the blessing that they have in their life. And I just see this, and I know that the only way is because they’re not that good because I know them. They couldn’t have pulled this off on their own because I know them. It must have been hard. You see, you can’t manufacture that. And listen wherever you might be in the process right now. I want to. I want to encourage you. God is with you. God is with you. God is with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will empower you by His Holy Spirit. Your. And when the enemies come. They will come against you. I want to remind you greater is he that is within you then he that is in the world. And when they try to meet with you, and they try to distract you, you say, Oh no, I’m doing great work.

I will not come down. But listen to me, friend. You will never finish. What? You don’t start. So at some point. You’ve got to. Cry over that thing and let it rip you. And after you’ve cried, you’ve got to kneel down and pray and call upon the name of God. Then you’ve got to stand up and act. You’ve got to expect opposition. And at the end of the day. All you have to do. Give God. All of the glory. 100 days from today. We will start our next ministry season together. First week of September. Gang. We got a 100 days. To rebuild a wall. Let’s rise up. It’s built. To take that next step of faith, whatever that might be for you today. Join a group. Get back in your group, back

in the building. If you’re comfortable, Read today the lowest rates of COVID since this thing started. People are getting vaccinated. I got my vaccinations. Go get. You’re comfortable to do that? Let’s rise up and build. Step out in face. Let’s do it. The impossible. So that God can get all. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the story. I pray, God, that. As we listen to it, it all just washes over us. Think about it. Maybe even go back later this week, and we read the story in its entirety. I pray, God, that your spirit will whisper to us some of the things that break your heart. We see every day. Maybe we didn’t see it, but God, the cry of a heart is that our hearts break for the things that break your heart. Then let us do something about it. Give us the courage to stand up and act to, not just. Push aside. God, give us the courage to make a difference for you.
In this community. In our sphere of influence, in our family, among our coworkers, on the job, in our schools, in our neighborhoods. Use us. We can rise up. And rebuilt. Then you get all of the glory in your name. We pray. Amen.