Amen. All right.
Well, thank you very much for being here tonight.
And of course, I'd like to begin by saying thank you to Pastor Shelley
and Mrs. Shelley for their kindness and their friendship and their invitation
to be out here for the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship.
And I'm excited to be here.
I have my beautiful wife with me.
So I'm, of course, excited that she's here
for the conference as well and for the evening that we are here.
And I'm excited, of course, to spend some time with my pastor friends.
And I look forward to fellowshipping with all of you
later on tonight.
Well, we'll see. We'll see how how later on it is.
But we I'm looking forward to it.
I'm going to ask if it would be OK.
Maybe I can ask one of these sessions.
Somebody give me a water.
I would appreciate. Oh, it looks like there's one here.
Can I drink this?
Is it is it Dylan's? No, I'm just kidding.
I'll I'll take this one. Thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
All right. Well, we're there in Nehemiah, chapter number four.
And tonight I'm preaching on the subject of.
This water doesn't want to fit in there.
I'm preaching on the subject of building and battling.
And I'm going to show you tonight that this is a theme.
This this idea of building and battling is a theme
that is seen throughout the Bible.
And I think it's seen the most clearly in the story of Nehemiah
and in Nehemiah, chapter four, like to begin at verse number one,
just to kind of give you the context and kind of build into it.
It's interesting to me because we see Nehemiah in in Chapter four
and leading up to it.
Of course, he's building the walls of Jerusalem.
And what we see in how he is treated, I think that there's some parallels
to what we have seen with the new IFB as the new IFB has built up
over the years in this conference tonight.
This crowd here tonight is a testimony to that.
And thank you, by the way, to you for being here
and for taking time out of your busy schedules to come out for a service like this.
I want you to notice that with Nehemiah, as it was
with the new IFB, when things began to happen first, they when I say they,
I'm referring to the enemies, they had indignation against us.
Notice there in verse one, the Bible says, But it came to pass
that when Sanballat heard that we build the wall,
he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews.
And that word indignation means anger.
The word wroth means anger.
The Bible tells us that he was wroth and took great indignation.
And then I want you to notice that after they get past that initial indignation,
then what we see is that they despise us.
Look at verse two.
And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said,
What do these feeble Jews?
Notice the mockery.
They're talking down to them.
They're despising them.
Will they fortify themselves?
Will they sacrifice?
Will they make an end in a day?
Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
Now, to buy the Ammonite was by him.
And he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up,
he shall even break down their stone walls.
Here, O our God, for we are despised.
And of course, in verse four, we have Nehemiah speaking,
and he's now giving this narrative and he says, We are despised.
And I want you to notice that first they have indignation, then they despise us.
He says there in verse four, Here, O our God, for we are despised
and turn their reproach upon their own head and give them for a prey
in the land of captivity and cover not their iniquity.
And let not their sin be blotted out from before thee,
for they have provoked thee to anger before.
And I want you to notice this word at the end of verse five, before the builders.
And the emphasis here is that they are building.
They are building this wall.
And as they're building this, the Bible tells us that not only did the enemies
have indignation against them, not only did the enemies despise them,
but then we see a transition.
And this is the transition that we find ourselves in in the new IFB today
is that they're trying to destroy them and they're trying to destroy us.
Look at verse six. Notice what Nehemiah says.
He says, So built we the wall and all the wall was joined together
unto the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work.
I love I love that phrase, that just that phrase right there
when it says the people had a mind to work, but it came to pass
that when Sambaland and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites
and the Ashtodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up
and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very rough.
So as they see that progress is being made and things are happening
and getting done, then the Bible tells us that they were very rough.
They were very angry.
Look at verse eight and conspired all of them together to come
and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it.
Skip down to verse number 11. Notice verse 11.
And our adversary said, They shall not know, neither see
till we come in the midst among them.
Notice these words and slay them and cause the work to cease.
What these people want to do is they want the work to cease.
They want the building to stop.
They want to put an end to it.
So we see that they start with indignation.
Then they move to despising and mocking,
and then they move to conspiring against us, Nehemiah said,
in order to destroy the work, in order to fight against them and to hinder it.
Verse eight and to slay them and cause the work to cease.
Verse number 11.
And what we see
in the following verses is the response that Nehemiah
now has to take because of these adversaries,
because of the fact that they're building and the enemy wants to hinder that,
wants to stop that, wants to destroy that.
Nehemiah is forced to take a position.
And if you're taking notes tonight, and I notice on the back of the bulletin,
there is a place for it to write down some notes.
Maybe you'd like to jot these thoughts down.
But I'd like you to notice first
that there is the position of building and battling.
Nehemiah had to take a position, and it is the same position
that you and I must take today.
And it is a position of both building and battling.
And what I'm saying is this, that we must in the Christian life,
like Nehemiah, both build and battle at the same time.
Notice verse number 16, Nehemiah, chapter four, verse 16.
And it came to pass that from that time forth.
Notice the words.
And it came to pass from that time forth
that the half of my servants wrought in the work
and the other half of them held both the spears,
the shields, the bows and the haberjens.
And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.
Look at verse 17.
They which build it on the wall and they that bear the burdens
with those that laid it.
Notice the last part of verse 17.
Everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work
and with the other hand held a weapon.
And what we see here is an illustration of both building and battling.
These individuals began to build something.
They began to build the wall.
But because the building of the wall made the enemies take notice,
made the enemies have indignation against them,
made the enemies despise them and try to destroy them.
Then the position that had to be taken by Nehemiah
was a position of both building and battling.
Nehemiah realized that if the work was going to continue,
the work was going to have to continue while they were both building and battling.
And today we must both build and battle
as we attempt to build for the glory of God.
And you know this.
The new IP is not new to battles.
And we have fought and we have had many battles.
In the new IP.
And I'm not just talking about fighting for doctrine and fighting for the word of God.
Obviously we must earnestly contend for the faith.
But there have been enemies out there who have tried to make the work to come to an end.
To try to destroy the work and to bring it to cease.
To cause the work to cease.
And let me just remind you of some of these things that we have done.
Some of the things that as we have tried to build,
as you here at Steadfast Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Shelley
have tried to build this congregation and build this church and co-labor with God
to build and labor with the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Jesus said, I will build my church.
As you have tried to build this congregation, as we have labored in Sacramento, California
and tried to build the work that's being done there at Verity Baptist Church.
As Pastor Thompson has built in Vancouver, Washington
and Pastor Mejia has built in Los Angeles and Southern California.
As we have tried to build, we have also had to take the position of both building and battling.
Like the builders here in Nehemiah, we have had to take a hammer in one hand and a sword in another.
Everyone with one hand wrought in the work and with the other hand held a weapon.
I mean consider the things that we have had to battle as we have tried to build.
As we have tried to build, we have been protested.
As we have tried to build, we have been sued.
As we have tried to build, we have had our channels deleted and canceled on YouTube.
As we have tried to build, we have had our landlords turn on us.
As we have tried to build, we have had news media lie about us.
As we have tried to build, we have had insurance cancel us.
As we have tried to build, we have had online giving canceled.
As we have tried to build, Pastor Anderson's family got swatted.
I mean as we have tried to build here at steadfast, your bank accounts were hijacked.
I mean as we have tried to build at First Works, they got bombed.
I mean literally that is like an actual battle.
That is like a real battle, like a military battle.
As we have built, we have learned that we have had to take a position where we are not
going to be able to just build.
We are not going to be able to just preach.
We are not going to be able to just reach people with the gospel, disciple new converts,
train people to be soul winners, lead missions, trips.
We are not just going to be able to do that.
We are going to continue to do that.
But as we do that, we are going to have to take a sword in one hand and a hammer in the
other hand because there is a position of both building and battling.
We must both build and battle.
By the way, let me say this, it is the same way in your life.
In your Christian life, you are going to have to realize that the Christian life is a life
of both building and battling.
You are going to have to build and you are going to have to battle.
Now you might ask, well why is it?
Why is it that we must both build and battle?
The reason is this, because when we build, they want to battle.
I mean think about it.
Do me a favor.
Go to the book of Psalms.
Keep your place there in Nehemiah if you would like and go to Psalm 120.
You probably know this but I would like you to see it.
Psalm 120.
If you open your Bible just right in the center, you will more than likely fall in the book
of Psalms.
Psalm 120.
What have we done?
What is it that we as new IP preachers have done?
When is the last time we protested somebody?
When is the last time we stood outside of a building with a sign that says, eliminate
the Jews, which I am not exactly sure.
I am like, that is a cool sign.
I thought you guys put that on.
When is the last time we protested some pride parade?
And of course we don't want to do that because we don't want to hurt our eyes.
But I ask you, what have we done?
We've started churches.
We've gone soul winning.
We've trained soul winners.
We've preached the Bible.
We've preached the word of God.
We've recorded the sermons, posted them online.
To do what?
To try to help other believers in other places, to try to help other people who are searching
for the truth.
What is it that we have done that has caused us to get into these battles?
And the truth is this, we have to take a position of both building and battling.
But the reason is because when we began to build, they began to battle.
When we began to build, when we began to preach, when we began to reach, when we began to grow,
they said, we've got to stop that.
We've got to bring that work to cease.
The Psalmist said it this way, Psalm 120 verse 7, I am for peace, but when I speak, they
are for war.
We could say it this way, I am for peace, but when I post the sermon, they are for war.
And the truth is this, that what they hate is the Biblical preaching.
Go to the book of Acts, if you would, Acts chapter 7.
In the New Testament you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts chapter 7.
Look down at verse number 54, Acts 7 and 54.
In Acts chapter 7 and verse 54, we have the story of Stephen, of course.
And at verse 54, he's already got done preaching his sermon.
He's preached the Biblical sermon.
And if you go back and look at the chapter, all he's done is gone through the history
of God's people and he's preached a sermon about the history of God's people.
Notice Acts 7 verse 54, the Bible says, when they heard these things, when they heard what
things?
Stephen's sermon.
They were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
I mean they got, the Bible says they were cut to the heart and they gnashed.
They were so upset and so angry.
Like the guy out there with the sign.
Every time another car drove in, he's like, ugh, there's more of them.
And when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed.
Look at verse 57, and they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran
upon him with one accord, verse 58, and cast him out of the city and stoned him.
What was it that they hated?
They hated the preaching.
And they hate our biblical preaching.
And as a result, as a result, because we're building people with the Word of God, through
the Word of God, you are the building that's being built, ye are God's workmanship and
as we build people with the Word of God and as we build them through the biblical preaching,
they hate that.
They have indignation against it.
They despise it and they try to destroy it.
So we have to take a position.
A position of both building and battling.
And as a result, we have a target on our back.
Look at Acts 19.
Acts chapter 19, you're there in the book of Acts.
Just flip over from Acts chapter 7 to Acts chapter 19.
Look at verse number 13.
Acts 19 and verse 13, the Bible says, Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took
upon them to call over them which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying,
We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches.
Very interesting how they word that.
It's obvious they don't know Jesus or don't know who Jesus is because they're like, Hey,
we adjure you by Jesus, you know, whom Paul preaches.
And there were seven sons of Siva, a Jew and chief of the priests which did so and the
evil spirit answered and said, because these guys, and look, get the context, these guys
walk up to this demon, they want to cast this devil out and the authority that they're going
to use to cast the devil is, We adjure you by the name of Jesus.
But we don't know who Jesus is, we don't really know Jesus, but we heard this guy Paul talking
about it.
And they said, We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches.
And then the Bible says in verse 15, And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know,
and Paul I know, but who are ye?
And I want you to notice verse 16, And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on
them and overcame them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of the house naked
and wounded.
I want you to notice that this story highlights for us that the demon in this man did not
know who the seven sons of Siva were.
But he knew who Jesus was and he knew who Paul was.
Why?
Paul was actually building, Paul was actually preaching, Paul was actually doing something
and as a result, Paul had a target on his back.
We talked about it on the Baptist Bias just earlier.
Show me the movement of churches that has enemies trying to stop them and destroy them.
Like our church.
I mean I don't remember Calvary Chapel having just an army of people trying to sue them
and last I checked they had like a Hollywood movie.
I don't know, tell me and show me the Life Point Church or whatever, the movement of
churches out there that the devil is saying, you know what the devil is saying?
I don't know Life Point Ministries and I'm not too sure about Calvary Chapel but the
new IFP I know, Pastor Jonathan Shelley I know and look we've got a target on our backs
which is why we must take the position of both building and battling.
On our last attempt on YouTube, we keep getting shut down from YouTube and cancelled from
YouTube.
I'm done with YouTube by the way, officially.
You guys do whatever you want, I'm just frustrated with it but I'll tell you the story of our
last attempt on YouTube.
Our last attempt on YouTube, I went to one of our staff guys, Brother Shaw that works
for me in Sacramento and I said, I'll tell you what we're going to do.
We're going to do a secret mission and we're going to try to get our content back on YouTube
but we're not going to tell anybody.
And I gave him the secret mission, I told him I don't even want you telling the rest
of the staff guys because I'm not sure if I can trust anybody at this point.
And I said look, here's what we're going to do.
We're going to start a separate YouTube channel for every Bible study I've preached.
We're going to start a separate YouTube channel for every sermon series I've preached.
And I told him look, we're going to get a brand new email address.
We're going to get a brand new phone number, so I told him you're going to start a YouTube
channel with a brand new email address, a phone number and then when you go to do it
a second time you're going to get another email address, you're going to call our carrier
and have them change the phone number on the phone.
And because I'm just going to tell you everything we did because somebody's going to come up
to me and say, you should have done.
Everybody kept telling me what to do.
I don't even know what this means but we got some VN router thing or whatever that told
them we were in Russia or China or whatever.
I mean we did everything.
A different IP address, a different email, a different phone number and all we did was
we just started a YouTube channel called 1 Corinthians verse by verse study.
And all it had was my sermons from 1 Corinthians.
And we did another one called Ephesians verse by verse study.
All it had was my sermons from Ephesians.
And we just went through and did different channels, never emailed to anybody, never
told anybody, we were just putting all the content secretly out on YouTube.
We got to about 11, you know because it took time to do this, to re-upload all this.
We got 11 different channels out there and look none of them said Verity Baptist Church,
none of them had my name on it, it just had the sermons and that's it.
And we had 11 of them and in one night all 11 went down on the same night.
On the same night I'm pretty sure Pastor Mejia's Antipas channel, I don't know where Pastor
Mejia is at, but the same night that his channel went down, our 11 secret channels went down
plus our Help for the Home channel which just had public shows.
That went down.
There was a guy in our church that had his own YouTube channel called BBC Music where
he just uploaded music from our church that he started, that went down.
All those sermons, all in one night.
And I just know that at YouTube there's some demon who's just like Mejia I know and Jimenez
I know.
We just have this target on our back and look we just have to realize that the position
of Bible believing Christianity is going to have to be building and battling.
If we're going to build we're going to have to battle.
We must both build and battle.
Why?
Because when we build they want to battle.
I am for peace.
But when I preach they are for war.
So I'd like you to notice the position of building and battling.
But I'd like you to notice also tonight if you kept your place in Acts go back to Luke
if you would.
Luke chapter 14 you go backwards from Acts you've got the book of John and then the book
of Luke.
Not only is there a position for building and battling but I'd like you to notice also
that there is a preparation for building and battling.
Now remember I told you that this is a theme throughout the Bible.
All throughout the Bible you find this theme of both building and battling.
Of course you see it in Nehemiah.
We saw it in Nehemiah.
He talks about the fact that half of his men were brought in the work while the other half
had to fight.
He talks about the fact that with one hand they build it and with another hand they held
a weapon.
With one hand they had a sword and with another hand they had a hammer.
They were building with one hand and battling with another hand.
We saw that in the book of Nehemiah.
But I want you to notice that this is a theme throughout the Bible.
In Luke chapter 14 we have a series of two parables that Jesus gives and these parables
are connected.
They have one truth.
There are two parables that highlight the exact same truth and I want you to notice
the characteristics of these parables.
Luke chapter 14 look at verse 28.
Jesus said this.
For which of you intending, don't miss it, to build?
He said, For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth
the cost?
Whether he hath sufficient, the word sufficient there means enough, to finish it.
Less happily, the word happily means by chance, after he hath laid the foundation and is not
able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build
and was not able to finish.
So in Luke 14 verses 28, 29, and 30 we have one parable that Jesus gives and here is the
parable.
He says, Before you begin to build, make sure you count the cost.
He says, For which of you intending to build sitteth not down first and counteth the cost?
So if you are going to build, you should count the cost.
But then Jesus gives another parable.
Same idea as a tandem parable giving one thought with two different illustrations.
Look at verse 31.
He says, Or.
He said, Let me give you another example.
Or what king, don't miss it, going to make war?
I want you to notice that in verse 28 he says, For which of you intending to build, we're
talking about building.
In verse 31 he says, Or what king going to make war?
Now we're talking about battling.
You say, Why is that?
Here's why.
Because the Christian life is a life of both building and battling.
We saw it with Nehemiah, the position of building and battling.
It's not that we necessarily want to battle, but when we started to build, they began to
battle.
And instead of stopping the work and instead of quitting and saying, Ah, forget it, we're
not going to do this, we made the decision, like Nehemiah made the decision, that if we're
going to build, we're going to have to battle.
What does that mean?
That means that you may be building a church while fighting lawsuits.
That means that you may be building a congregation while dealing with protesters.
It is the position of both building and battling.
But then Jesus says, not only is there a position of building and battling, but he says there's
some preparation when it comes to building and battling.
He said, Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counter the
cost?
But then in verse 31 he says, Or what king going to make war?
Now we're talking about battling.
Once another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand
to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand, or else, while the other is yet
a great way off, he sendeth an embassage and desireth conditions of peace.
I want you to notice that there is an idea here and there's a point that's being made
and the point is this, that there is a cost for both building and battling.
It's going to cost you something.
I want to highlight for you just real quickly that this is a theme throughout the Bible.
Building and battling.
It's a theme you see through the word of God.
You may have not noticed it, but once you start looking for it, I think you'll realize
that you see this constantly throughout the Bible.
We saw it in Nehemiah.
We saw it here in Luke 14, 28 through 32.
Let me just give you some other examples real quickly.
You're there in Luke.
Go backwards to Matthew, Matthew chapter 16 if you would.
Matthew chapter 16 and look at verse 18.
Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18.
Notice these famous words from the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 16 and 18.
And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock, notice what Jesus said,
I will build my church.
That's building.
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
That's battling.
He says, I will build my church.
That's building.
But then he says, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
That's battling.
And by the way, that's the church, our church, the local church, being on the offense, not
the defense.
When it says the gates of hell shall not prevail against, because usually when people read
this verse and the idea that they get and the way that most people preach it is that
hell's not going to be able to overcome us, but it's not the gates of the church, it's
the gates of hell.
Once I checked, when people were on the offense, they didn't bring their gates with them.
The idea here is that we are on the offense, hell is on the defense, and we are charging
the gates of hell.
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
People say, why do you have to fight so much?
Why do you have to preach these sermons against the sodomites and the homosexuals?
Why do you have to preach these sermons about abortion and drugs and drunkenness?
Why do you have to preach these sermons and cause these fights and cause these battles?
Why can't you just build?
Well, let me remind you, Jesus said, I will build my church, and in that process, the
gates of hell, he expects us to battle.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The Christian life is a life of building and battling.
You don't have to turn here, let me just give you some other examples.
Jude 1.3, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,
that's building, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should
earnestly contend for the faith, that's battling.
Psalm 127, verse 1, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it,
that's building, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman, this is a military analogy,
waketh but in vain, that's battling.
I want you to understand that the Christian life is a life of building and battling, building
and battling.
Why?
Because when you actually begin to build something for the glory of God, the devil is going to
start battling you.
By the way, the Bible says this, yea, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution.
If you're building and not battling, I'd be concerned about what you're building.
If you're building and the devil never seems to mind, never seems to care, doesn't seem
to be worried about you, you may want to be concerned about what you're building.
We see the position of building and battling, what is it?
We must both build and battle, why?
Because when we build, they want to battle.
But then we see the preparation for both building and battling, remember Luke, he said look,
if you intend to build, you better count the cost, and if you intend to battle, you better
count the cost, and if you're going to build, you better be ready to battle because if you're
going to build, someone's going to fight you.
That's why, that's why before you got saved, your family didn't mind that you were on drugs,
your family didn't mind that you were an alcoholic, your family didn't mind that your marriage
was falling apart, your family didn't mind that your children were running the streets,
but after you got saved, now, now you're sober, now your marriage is doing better, now your
children aren't rebellious, but now they don't like you.
Now they want to fight you, why?
Because before you were destroyed, but when you began to build, they began to battle.
The position of building and battling, but then we see the preparation of building and
battling, and I will say this, that we must count the cost for building and battling.
It's going to cost you something to serve Jesus.
Just understand that.
It's going to cost you something to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and why shouldn't it?
It's caused believers all throughout history.
It caused Abraham something when the Lord said unto him, get thee out of thy country
and from thy kindred, did it not?
It caused Abraham something when the Bible says that God did tempt Abraham and he said
to him, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him there for
a burnt offering.
I mean, it caused Joseph something when his brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery.
It caused Joseph something to stand for God and serve God and do right when he was lied
about, falsely accused, and thrown into prison.
It caused Moses something when the Bible tells us in Hebrews 11 that by faith Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
It caused Daniel something when he was thrown in the lion's den.
It caused Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego something when they were thrown into the fiery
furnace.
It caused John the Baptist something when he was beheaded.
It caused Stephen something, we saw it already, when he got stoned.
It caused James something when he was killed with a sword.
There's a cost to build and to do something for the cause of Christ.
Should we be carried up in peace while others fought?
Second Corinthians chapter 11, if you would, I'd like to just highlight for you, hey, it
caused Paul something.
I'd like you to see this passage because Paul really details what it caused him.
Second Corinthians 11 and verse 23, notice what Paul says, second Corinthians 11 and
23, are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool.
I am more.
When he says I speak as a fool, he says I know that I shouldn't be bragging on myself
and I know that what I'm about to say is not necessarily the best thing but he said I'm
fighting right now.
I'm battling.
They're attacking me and if you want my credentials then let me just go ahead and give you my
credentials.
He says are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool.
He says I'm going to go and defend myself.
I am more.
And then what he lists for us is a series of battles.
In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
off of the Jews five times received thy forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with wrath, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night
and a day I have been in the deep, injournings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers,
in perils of my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in
perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness
and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
nakedness.
What is he describing?
He's describing battling.
He's describing the fact that if you're going to build, it's going to cost you something.
But notice what he says.
Verse 28.
You say, Paul, why, why, why are you having to go through these things?
Why in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths off, why five times received
thy forty stripes save one?
Why all these things?
And he says in verse 28, beside those things that are without that which cometh upon me
daily.
Notice what he says.
He says, you want to know why I went through all that?
Because of the care of all the churches.
That's building.
He says because I built up some churches.
Because I had the care of all the churches.
And by the way, what he's saying is, while I was caring for the churches, while I was
helping new believers, while I was helping people restore their marriage, while I was
helping people raise their children, while I was helping people get victory over addictions,
while I was doing the care of all the churches, while I was doing the building, I was also
battling in stripes above measure, prisons more frequent, in deaths off.
I mean, all these things, barrels of water, barrels of robbers, barrels of my own countrymen.
The idea is this, that it's going to cost us something to build and to battle.
And allow me to remind us that though I'm not minimizing anything that anybody in the
new IP has gone through, we've gone through protests, we've gone through persecution,
so have you.
Let me just remind us that none of us have resisted unto blood.
We have not yet suffered like Paul and like James and like Stephen and like these men
of God, none of us have bled at this point for the cause of Christ.
Other than maybe a paper cut or something.
There's a cost.
And I've got to ask you the question, are you willing to pay the cost?
What if being a member of Steadfast Baptist Church meant you got sued?
What if being a member of Verity Baptist Church meant you got sued?
What if it meant you lost your job?
What if it meant you got thrown in prison?
Because if you're going to build, you're going to have to battle.
You're going to have to be okay with this idea that because we're building something
great for God, we're going to have to both battle.
So we see the position of building and battling.
And we see the preparation for building and battling.
I'd like you to notice thirdly tonight the purpose of building and battling.
Why do it?
I'd like you to go to 1 Samuel 17 if you would.
In the Old Testament, if you can find the 1 and 2 books, they're all clustered together.
1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, I'd like you to find 1 Samuel 17.
And of course 1 Samuel chapter 17 is a famous story of a great battle.
And it's a story of a battle between David and Goliath.
And I want you to notice why it is and what it is that David states as his purpose for
battling.
In 1 Samuel 17 and verse 45, the Bible says this, then said David to the Philistine.
Remember Goliath gets up there and he's challenging them to a battle, mocking them, they're all
dismayed and they're afraid.
Then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with
a shield.
But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel
whom thou hast defiled.
Remember they want to defile.
Look at verse 46, this day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand and I will smite thee
and take thine head from thee.
And I will give the carcass of the hosts of the Philistines this day to the fowls of the
air and to the wild beasts of the earth.
Now I want you to notice this phrase, I love this little phrase.
It's printed on the backdrop of our backdrop back home at our church.
He says that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
The stated purpose that David would give for going to battle.
He says I battle for the glory of God.
He said I battle and I will fight you Goliath and I will beat you Goliath and you're coming
to me with sword and spear and shield.
But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts and he will deliver thee into mine
hand.
He said you want to know why I do it?
I do it that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
I want you to understand that we battle.
David battled for the glory of God and we must battle for the glory of God.
We have to battle for the glory of God.
I'd like to tell you about a battle I recently had.
I want to tell it to you because it came as a result of you.
I preached here at the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship not too long ago and you know I'm
going to tell you a story but let me just say this.
I'm not going to use any names because I don't want to get sued.
I'm in enough lawsuits and I don't want to get sued so I'm not going to give you any
names.
Let's just call this guy meth.
I mean I wouldn't be shocked if he was on meth.
Before I keep going any further I do need to read this disclaimer that my lawyer asked
me to read.
I need to read this okay?
All characters appearing in this story are fictitious.
Any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
So there's this guy, let's just call him meth, let's just call him meth lookout.
I get up here at the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship and I preach this sermon and I'm
just half joking but in my sermon I said I bet his mother wishes she would have aborted
him and then he sued me for saying that.
So we went and got lawyers and we beat him in court but halfway through the process his
lawyer left him or they had some sort of separation and he didn't have a lawyer for a while.
So then my lawyer gets contacted by a new lawyer but this new lawyer, it's a lady lawyer,
she has the same last name, Lookout.
And you know it's like a relative of his and depending on who you ask because I got different
answers from different people.
Some people said it was his aunt, other people said it was his mother.
For the purposes of this story it's going to be his mother.
Because I just love to think, you say well what if this new lady lawyer with the same
last name as meth lookout, what did she come in to do?
She came in to broker a deal where meth lookout wrote Verity Baptist Church a check for ten
thousand dollars to settle the lawsuit that he brought against us.
And I just think it's poetic justice that I got up and said I bet your mother wishes
she would have aborted you.
He sues me for saying that and then his mother has to broker a deal where he pays me ten
thousand dollars to settle the lawsuit.
And look there are two takeaways from that story that I can see.
One takeaway is this, if she hadn't wished she had aborted you before she definitely
does not.
And the other takeaway is this, that's gone.
I mean you can't even make that up although I did for legal purposes.
I mean I look at the story and I think to myself I got up and said I bet your mom wishes
she aborted you then your mom has to broker a deal where you pay me ten thousand dollars
and I think to myself to God be the glory.
You say why do we battle?
We battle for the glory of God because when we fight, because when we build, and when
we battle you know who gets the glory?
God does.
And when they say it's bad publicity, it's all good publicity.
Any time the word of God is preached, any time clips of preaching are put throughout
the internet and throughout the media and throughout the news, hey God gets the glory.
You say why do we fight?
We fight for the glory of God that all the earth may know.
That's why we battle.
We see the position for building and battling.
We see the preparation for building and battling.
We see the purpose for building and battling.
We say why do we build?
Why do we battle?
Why do we go to war?
Why do we fight the giants?
That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
I love that little phrase that's near and dear to my heart because it's like I said
printed on the backdrop of our church that all the earth may know.
I want you to notice it's interesting you're there in First Samuel, go to First Kings if
you would, pass Second Samuel into First Kings.
I want you to notice that this phrase is used pretty much again several years later not
by David but by his son Solomon.
David said that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
Solomon said something very similar.
I mean it's obvious that he's quoting his father.
He probably grew up hearing the story of David and Goliath.
The difference is that when David said that all the earth may know, David said it right
before he went to battle.
When Solomon said it, he said it right after he had done building.
First Kings 8, look at verse 54.
First Kings chapter 8 and verse 54, we have the story of the dedication of the temple.
Solomon has built this great temple for God, this house for God.
In First Kings 8 and verse 54, the Bible says, and it was so that when Solomon had made an
end of praying, all this prayer, and if you look at the verses leading up to this, we
have this great dedicatory prayer from Solomon for the temple.
The Bible says that when Solomon had made an end of praying, all this prayer and supplication
unto the Lord, he arose before the altar of the Lord from kneeling on his knees with his
hands spread up to heaven.
Look at verse 59.
And let these my words wherewith I have made, this is Solomon speaking, made supplication
before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night that he maintain the cause
of his servant and the cause of his people Israel at all times as the matter shall require.
Verse 60.
Notice what he says.
He says that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is
none else.
It's interesting to me, and again I'm highlighting for you that this is a theme throughout the
Bible, building and battling.
We see Nehemiah saying we have to both build and battle.
With one hand we build, with another hand we battle.
We see it with the parable of Jesus.
He says you better count the cost before you build and you better count the cost before
you go to war and before you battle.
We see it throughout the Bible and here we see David.
He goes to battle and he says that all the earth may know and we see Solomon.
He builds and he says that all the people of the earth may know that there is the Lord
God and that there is none else.
This is why we build and battle.
This is why you build.
By the way, we're actually building right now, physically building in Sacramento, California,
and by the way, let me just say this.
You've done an amazing job with this building.
It's a beautiful building and congratulations on the purchase of this property and it looks
great.
It looks amazing.
I would ask you to pray for us.
We're actually in the process of remodeling a property that we just purchased.
I know you Texans don't like to go to California, but if you ever want, I'd love for you to
visit once we open up our church property.
We just bought this property.
It's a beautiful property, four acres, which again, I know for you Texans doesn't sound
like much, but in California, that's a lot of property.
Four acres.
That's a beautiful building, a 400 seat auditorium.
It's beautiful.
It's older.
We're remodeling it, but when we're done with it, it's going to be beautiful.
Right now, the four acres are kind of brown, but they're going to be green and we're getting
these beautiful Corinthian pillars that are going to be in the front.
It's got a beautiful steeple.
It's going to be beautiful.
You can see it right off of the freeway, right off of Interstate 80.
You can see the building.
It's centered on Norwood Avenue, which is a busy street with thousands and tens of thousands
and probably millions of vehicles that pass by it every day, right in front of a Starbucks.
You cannot go through this busy Starbucks.
As you're sitting in the drive-through of the Starbucks, all you can see is this building.
We're excited about it.
We're excited about what the Lord is doing.
We're excited to get in there.
We're excited to continue to grow and we're excited about what God is doing, but can I
tell you my non-spiritual reason why I'm most excited?
You know why I'm excited?
I mean, I'm excited for a lot of spiritual reasons, but my most non-spiritual reason
although I think it's probably still a spiritual reason that I'm excited is because back in
2016 when we had our big protests, we had all sorts of enemies there in Sacramento that
said we were done.
They said they were going to shut us down.
They said they were going to destroy us and cause the world to cease.
They said they were going to protest us until we no longer had a church.
They said that we were done and they were going to destroy us and I just can't wait.
I just can't wait until these queer liberal protesters are sitting in the drive-through
of Starbucks and they're looking at this building and they're like, what's going on over there?
Look at all those cars and it's all green and it's all remodeled and look at what's
going on.
What church is that?
I can't wait until the Church of Christ, it used to be the Church of Christ building signs
coming off.
I can't wait until a beautiful lit sign and I wish I could be in their vehicle when they
say Verity Baptist Church, I thought they were done.
I mean I would love to be in the car.
I mean it's going to be like they're listening to a Pastor Shelley sermon.
They're going to be like, what the?
I'm not going to say it, but they're going to be like, these people not only did they
not shut down, it looks like they're growing, it looks like they're thriving and let me
tell you something, we do it for the glory of God.
We build and we battle for the glory of God that all the earth may know there is a God
in heaven.
We see the position of building and battling.
We must both build and battle, they make us build and battle, why?
Because when we build they want to battle, well we'd be obliged.
There's a preparation for building and battling.
There's a cause for building and battling.
We must count the cause.
It will cost you something personal in your life to build for the glory of God.
I hope you'll pay it because no suffering in this present time, no persecution in this
present time is worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to you.
We must count the cause.
There's a position, there's a preparation and then there's the purpose.
Why do we fight for the glory of God?
Why do we battle that all the earth may know?
Why do we build that all the earth may know?
Let me just leave you with this thought and it's this, we cannot wait until we are done
building to start battling.
We just can't.
Some preachers they get this idea like, well let me get all the building and then I'll
get in the fight.
It doesn't work that way.
It's building and battling.
We cannot wait until we are done building to start battling.
You say why?
Because they battle us to stop our building.
And we cannot wait until we're done battling to start building because if we don't build
there's nothing worth battling over.
So you say well if we cannot wait until we are done building to start battling because
they battle us to stop building and if we cannot wait to be done battling before we
start building because if we don't build there's nothing worth battling over.
Then what should we do?
The answer is that we should pick up a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other and we
should do both.
It's building and battling.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord thank you for your word, thank you for these dear people that would
come to a place like this, that would come to a conference like this.
I think because they want to build they're not afraid to battle.
Lord I pray that you would help us.
I pray that you would help all of us to go home after this conference excited to build
and ready to battle.
I pray that we as pastors and preachers would go home with a renewed fervor to build great
congregations for God and to battle in the process.
Help us Father to remember that the Christian life is a life of both building and battling.
In the matchless name of Christ we pray, Amen.