I definitely will be mentioning not Sunday.
More in detail, but I'm really grateful to everybody
that stepped up the last couple of weeks.
I didn't realize I was gone that long.
It just felt like one long day.
Like I just broke my collarbone on a Friday,
and then it just felt like I was here on a Saturday.
Like it's 22 days went, and I'm not kidding.
It just felt like it was just like this long,
Yeah, I probably would
But turn your Bibles over to Nehemiah 6 we'll read the whole chapter is our custom and then we'll have brother Diego come up and preach
I'll get you set up here in a second to record and everything
Let's start there in verse one it says now it came to pass when Sambalot and Tobiah and Geshem
The Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built build at the wall and that there was no breach left
Therein though at the time I had not set up the doors upon the gates that Sambalot and Geshem
Sent unto me saying come let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono
But they thought to do me mischief and I sent messengers unto them saying I'm doing a great work
so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?
Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner.
Then sent Sambalot, his servant unto me, in like manner, the fifth time with an open letter in his
hand, wherein it was written, it is reported among the heathen, and Gashemu sayeth, that thou and the
for which cause thou buildest the wall, and that thou mayest be their king according to these words.
And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach thee at Jerusalem, saying,
there is a king in Judah, and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words.
Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together. Then I sent up to him, saying,
there are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.
for they all made us afraid, saying their hands shall be weakened from the work
that it be not done. Now, therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. Afterwards, I came unto the
house of Shemayah, the son of Deliah, the son of Mehid Tabeel, who was shut up, and he said,
Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the
temple, for they will come to slay thee. Yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.
And I said should such a man as I flee and who is there that being as I am would go into the temple to save his life
I will not go in and though I perceive that God had not sent him
But that he pronounced this prophecy against me for Tobiah and Sambalot had hired him
Therefore was he hired that I should be afraid and do
Do so, and sin that they might have matter for an evil report that they might reproach
me.
My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sambalot, according to their works, and on the prophetess
Noah Daya and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear.
So the wall was finished in the 20th and 5th day of the month Elu in 50 and 2 days, and
and all the heathen that were about us, all these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes,
for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. Moreover, in those days, the nobles of
Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them, for there were many
in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shekiniah, the son of Ere, and his son,
had taken the daughter of Mesulam, the son of Barakiah.
Also, they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him,
and Tobias sent letters to put me in fear. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for today.
Thank you for just allowing me to be back behind the pulpit even if it's just for a short period and Lord
Thank you also for sending men at the appropriate time to fill this pulpit and preach the word of God
Thank you for brother Diego making the trip taking time out of his busy schedule to preach for us
Fill them with your spirit Lord and may he thunder your words
That we may clean from them and help us to have a good rest of the day in Jesus name we pray amen
I'm going to start recording if you can go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and start recording if you can go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and go ahead
y'all had a good representation. I got to hang out a lot with my good friend Jared and his wife that
I know have been coming here and they represented y'all well. They speak very highly of Paso Reyes
and the work going on here. I'm excited for all the soul winning that's going on. So it's good to
And I just want to go back in the book of Nehemiah
and give some context leading up to chapter six.
So the whole book of Nehemiah surrounds around the idea
of the children of Israel coming back from captivity
and rebuilding Jerusalem.
And so in chapter one,
we see Nehemiah's burden for Jerusalem
and the remnants there.
And I want us to see a few verses,
key verses in each chapter.
So if you will go to Nehemiah one,
let's look at verse three.
Nehemiah 1 verse 3 says and they said unto me the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and
reproach the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire and it came to pass when I heard these words
that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fastened and prayed before the God of heaven.
So Nehemiah gets this report that the walls of Jerusalem are broken down,
and Nehemiah is very sad and sorrowful for this because he loves Jerusalem.
He loves the people there.
And so he asks the king to allow him to go back to Jerusalem in chapter 2.
And we see that...
He goes back to Jerusalem in chapter 2, but then he immediately faces persecution look at verses 18
says, then I told them of the good hand of God,
which of the hand of God, which is good upon me,
as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me.
And they said, let us rise up and build.
So they strengthened their hands for this good.
But when sand ballot, the horonite,
and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite,
and Gisham the Arabian heard it,
they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said,
what is this thing that you do?
will ye rebel against the king?
So we see that Nehemiah and all the people
are very excited to build and do some great for God,
but as soon as they wanna do some great work,
they see opposition.
And we see the same thing today that when,
hey, men of God actually wanna do a great work for God,
they will always face opposition.
Look at chapter three, verse one.
We see more building here then Eliashiv the high priest rose up with his brother and the priests and they build of the sheep gate
They sanctified it and set up the doors of it even unto the tower of Mia
They sanctified it unto the tower of henna Neal
So we just see them building more in chapter 4
We see that they face more intense persecution look at verse 1
But it came to pass that when sandball heard that we build of the wall. He was Roth
into great indignation and mocked the Jews. Look at verse 7.
But it came to pass that when Sandballot and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashtadites
Heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up and that the breaches began to be stopped
Then they were very wroth and conspired all of them together to come to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it
So we just see here that as soon as they start rebuilding Jerusalem
Every enemy from every place just comes and just starts attacking
And we see this parallel with churches and the Christian life.
As soon as the church starts doing something for God, it just seems that
people come out of anywhere and out of everywhere to just go and attack.
Look at verse 17.
Then they which build it on the wall and they that bear burdens with those that laid it every one of his hands
Wrought in the work and with the other hand held a weapon
So we see here that as they're building they're actually having to defend themselves again
We see this principle that as we build for God, we're also gonna have to battle
You can't just build because if you build you're
Inevitably people are gonna come in creep in and destroy as you're building
But we also can't just battle because then you're not building anything you have to do both
You actually have to focus on building and soul winning and laboring for God
But at the same time there's false prophets and false doctrines and enemies that we have to attack and battle
Look at verse 5 we see that
Then in verse in chapter 5 we see that we have internal conflict between the Jews themselves look at verse 9 and
Also, I said it is not good that you do
All you not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies
I likewise and my brethren
And my servants might exact of them money and corn.
I pray you, let us leave off this usury.
So even amongst those Jews,
they were ripping each other off,
they were charging each other usury.
And he might saying like, what are you doing?
No, stop doing this, stop treating your brethren this way.
And we see this even in churches and Christianity
that as we build sometimes we have internal conflict
and we just have to realize,
hey, we need to not have this internal conflict.
The enemy's out there.
We need to be battling out there, not each other.
And that brings us to chapter six.
So we see this constant struggle as Nehemiah builds,
there's battle and he's building and he's battling.
And we see the same concept in chapter six.
And I simply want to go verse by verse through this chapter.
And I titled this sermon, just focus on the mission.
Focus on the mission.
Let's start there in verse number one.
Chapter 6 it says now came to pass when Sandballot and Tobiah and Gisham, the Arabian, and the
rest of our enemies heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left
therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates, that Sandballot
and Gisham sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages
in the plain of Ono."
but they thought to do me mischief.
So we see here that, again, we have the same character,
Sandballot, Tobiah, Gisham, they come up with this plan
and say, hey, let's just invite Nehemiah
to come meet with us in some random village
in some random place called Ono.
But notice that Nehemiah has enough foresight
to realize that they thought to do him mischief.
And what we see here is that when the enemies are attacking,
they're not sincere.
Right, it's not that they actually wanted to have a conversation with the Amaya come to some compromise or just hear his side
They're not sincere and that's what some people just don't seem to realize is that when people are just attacking the work of God and attacking men of God
It's not our job to try to reason with them because they can't be reasoned with because they're not sincere
They don't actually want answers. They don't actually want to talk
They just want to attack and we see here that they were going to do ne'am I am mischief
They could have attacked him. They could have heard him
They probably would have even killed him and a lot of enemies today against our churches and our pastors
If they had the opportunity they would kill them
and
We don't need to trust or negotiate with people that hate God because they're not sincere.
Their only goal is to destroy. And there's people like that today that all they want to do is destroy.
They don't ever build, right?
There's people that they never go soul-winning.
They never try to do anything for God,
but then they want to tell us why we're wrong
in the way we go soul-winning.
They want to tell us why we're wrong
in having a big vision.
They're never going to go to foreign countries
and do great missions,
but then they want to criticize us for doing that.
And these people we just need to ignore them because they're not important and they just want to destroy
They never build. Nehemiah is actually building something. Nehemiah is actually doing great work
Not these other people
Look at verse number three
And I sent messengers unto them saying I am doing a great work
So that I cannot come down
Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you?
And I just love the wording of this verse of Nehemiah saying just hey, I am doing a great work
And I want to know a few different things in this
Statement his number one notice that Nehemiah says I am doing a great work. He doesn't say hey my brethren
are doing a great work.
My family is doing a great work.
My church, my nation.
No, he says, I am doing a great work.
He says, hey, me personally,
I'm doing something great for God.
And that's something that we can learn
is to say, hey, you know what?
I personally need to be doing some great work for God.
I'm not just content that my church is going soul-winning.
I'm not just content that my church is doing something big for God.
I'm not just content that my pastor or some other members are doing something.
Attacks say, hey, I want to do this great work for God.
I want to go soul-winning.
I want to read my Bible.
I want to pray.
I want to be part of the work that's happening at Spring Crest Baptist Church.
That should be the attitude of every Christian that attends this church saying, hey, I am doing great work.
Me personally, I'm involved in the fight.
I also like that he says, hey, he's doing a great work.
And the works that the church does is a great work.
Hey, soul-winning is a great work.
Don't let people minimize that.
You know, there's always this attack on soul-winning
and people want to act like it's just a secondary thing.
Like, oh yeah, if you want to preach the gospel,
that's fine, but where's your programs, right?
Where's your kids' program?
Where's your team program?
And where's all these programs?
And there's nothing wrong with that.
But that's not the main focus of the church.
The church isn't some social gathering
that people come to just to hang out in fellowship.
I can do that pretty much anywhere.
Hey, the main mission of the church is to go soul winning.
And soul winning is the great work that we can do.
And I'm excited to hear that, you know,
y'all are almost at 200 people saved for the year.
I hope y'all crush that number.
I hope y'all get as high a number as y'all can
because that is a great work that's happening.
Let's read the rest of that verse says, I'm doing great work so that I cannot come down.
Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you?
Verse four, yet they sent him to me four times after this sword and I answered them after
the same manner.
So we see also that Nehemiah is persistent here in not giving in to their pressure.
Right because they come four other times saying hey come meet us come meet us come meet us
Nehemiah steadfast and persist in saying no hey, no
I'm just gonna focus on doing great work. Don't let yourself get distracted by people
I just want to take you away from the work of God because really that's all their goal is is to just for the work of God to cease and
It's especially online. I think you could apply this that there's people that just want to waste your time
They just want to argue they just want to debate and you can just a huge time suck that you could be doing other things
That are more productive and doing something for God and a lot of people they just want to take away
From you serving God, but we need to be persistent saying hey, no, I'm doing this great work, and I'm gonna focus
I'm not gonna get distracted from this
Look at verse 5
Then sent sand ballot his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand
Wherein was written it is reported among the heathen and gashmu sayeth it
That thou and the Jews think to rebel for which cause thou buildest the wall that thou mayest be their king
according to these words and thou has also appointed prophets to preach of thee at
Jerusalem saying there is a king and Judah and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words
Come now together and let us take counsel together
And so in these verses we see that they send this letter and everything that they say is just wall
And they're just lies. They're just slander. It's just a railing
Accusation that they're throwing at Nehemiah and saying right
Oh, you just want to make yourself a king and you just want to rule and they try to intimidate and put them into fear by just lying
And this tactic that the enemies do is that they'll just lie and slander good churches, good men of God to just put them into fear, to make them back down.
But that's the worst thing that you can do is to back down and give in when that happens
Because then they learn oh, we can just make stuff up make up false accusations wild stories and people gonna listen to it
Hear it. No, you just need to be persistent and keep going
Look at verse 8 then I sent to them saying there are no such things done as thou say is but thou feignest them out of thine own heart
for they all made us afraid, saying their hands shall be weakened from the work that it be done,
not be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." So whenever we do a great work for God,
we're going to get slandered, and the Bible even says this, go with me if you would, keep a finger
2nd Timothy 3
Look at verse number 12 2nd Timothy 3 look at verse number 12
Bible says yay and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution
The Bible just says, hey, if you're going to live godly,
if you're going to do what God wants you to do,
you're just going to suffer persecution.
And so don't be surprised when people just out of nowhere
bring up a false accusation, bring up a weird accusation,
and try to say weird things about you,
hey, just take it to the bank, this is going to happen.
I'm sure that pretty much every pastor, including Pastor Reyes, Pastor Cobb, could probably tell me stories of people that have lied or attacked them or said something negative about them, because that's just part of being a Christian.
Go with me if you would to Matthew 10.
And the truth is that the enemy out there hates all Christianity
Right, some fundamental Baptist churches want to act like oh if we just aren't as radical as the new IFV on faggots
Then we won't get persecuted. We won't get protested
But the reality is that if we weren't in the way that they would get attacked too because the enemy hates them
Just as much as they hate us
Because they just hate Christianity. I mean first Baptist Church of Hammond got protested like a year or two ago
And they're you know not saying the things that we're saying about those subjects
But they still are persecuted life because they represent fundamentalism in America
So they the enemy just hates Christianity hates godliness hates fundamentalism look at Matthew 10 look at verse number 24
The Bible says, the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord.
If they have called the master of the house, Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them
of his household? Fear them not therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed
and hid that shall not be known. And so
We see there in 20 in verse 25 that says look if they called the master of the house
Beelzebub they called Jesus Beelzebub and accused him of doing things in the power of Beelzebub
How much more shall they call them in this household?
We shouldn't be surprised that people call us names and you know lie about us and attack us because they did that to Jesus
Look, there's nothing in the ministry of Jesus that you could look at and say oh, I think you could have done this better
I think you could have worded this sermon better
I think you could have done this better.
Look, Jesus did everything perfectly in his ministry,
yet they still attacked him and criticized him
because the problem is not the man of God
and the word of God, the problem is that
the enemy just hate the truth.
Go with me to Matthew five.
When people do lie about us and do slander our ministry,
we shouldn't let it discourage us,
but rather let it encourage us, is what the Bible says.
Look at Matthew five, look at verse 11.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my
sake
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted day the prophets which were before you
So hey when you're accused falsely when you're persecuted just be glad and realize hey, I have just more rewards in heaven now
Hey, thank God for the enemies because now I get to serve God more and I have more rewards in heaven
Go with me to Luke 6
Look at verse 26 Luke 6 verse 26
Bible says woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false
prophets when when you see a guy that just everyone loves him and everyone's just for him
it's probably because he's a false prophet
Right, we see that with people like when Billy Graham died. I remember when Billy Graham died
I saw on the TV and it said, you know America's preacher has died
Hey, when you're being called the America's preacher by the
Worldly news, it's because you're a false prophet. It's not because you're preaching the Word of God
When John MacArthur died a lot of worldly people really loved him and respected him
And it's because he's a false prophet and he's in hell
And so we shouldn't seek or expect some popularity from this world, because we know, hey, if they hated Jesus, they're going to hate us.
And when we do a work for God, we're going to get attacked, we're going to get persecuted, but that's just part of the game.
That's just part of the deal.
Go with me, if you would, to 2 Timothy, again.
In Nehemiah 6, verse 9, it said,
for they all made us afraid.
And then I like the end of the verse though,
where it says, now therefore,
oh God strengthen my hands.
Nehemiah realized, hey, you know what?
They did kind of make us fear a little bit.
They did make us afraid a little bit
with their letter and their threats,
but then he's just asking God, hey, give us boldness though.
Let us strengthen my hands.
Don't let me be afraid.
And that's just something that we should keep with us.
Second Timothy one, look at verse seven.
for God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Hey, it's natural when you get attacked, when you get persecuted, when you get threatened,
to just feel afraid a little bit. But we should just pray to God, hey, you know what, God, give me boldness.
Don't let me be afraid. Don't let that fear control my actions
Don't let that fear make me give in to what the world wants to what the protesters want to where the purse cures want
But hey, give me boldness because God is not giving us fear. It says but of power
Go back if you will to Nehemiah 6
So a few things that we've seen is in verses 1 and 2 we see that there's this plot to destroy Nehemiah
In Verses 3 and 4, we see that Nehemiah, we see Nehemiah's perseverance.
He says, hey, I'm not going to meet in that field, and he sticks with that answer.
He doesn't give in.
In Verses 5 through 9, we see that the enemy just comes with railing accusations and attacks.
And then in Verses 10 to 13 here, I want to see the enemy's infiltration.
Says afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Deliah the son of Mehethabel
who was shut up, and he said,
let us meet together in the house of God within the temple,
and let us shut the doors of the temple,
for they will come to slay thee,
yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.
And I said, should such a man as I flee,
and who is there that being as I am
would go into the temple to save his life,
I will not go in.
And lo, I perceive that God had not sent him,
but that he pronounces prophecy against me,
for Tobiah and Sambalot had hired him, therefore was he hired that I should be afraid and do so in sin
that they might have matter for an evil report that they might reproach me. So this guy tells me
my hey let's all go into the temple and let's just hide there because they're going to kill you
but he and I realized hey this is not of God this is not what God wants me to do this is just
and Tobiah to basically trap me, to trap me.
And so we see this infiltration that happens
from within, where they're trying to trick me
and mine from within.
They realize, hey, we can't lure this guy
to come into the plane of Ono.
So maybe we can just get him if we sneak a false prophet,
a some guy that's not legit, if we just sneak him in there,
maybe we can get him to fall that way.
And the Bible warns us that we will add the infiltrators
in the midst of the church.
Look at Matthew 13 if you will
The first line of attack that the enemy tries is from without
So the first attack that he does is he tries to attack us through
Protesters he tries to attack us through the media. He tries to attack us through just outward attacks
But if that doesn't work then he starts trying these inward attacks
He starts trying these attacks with the infiltrators.
Look at Matthew 13, verse 24.
Bible says, another parable put he forth unto them,
saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man
which sowed good seed in his field.
But while men slept, his enemy came
and sowed tears amongst the wheat.
and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tears also.
So, the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou so good seed
in thy field?
From whence, then, hath it tears?
He said unto them, an enemy hath done this.
The servants said unto him, Will thou then that we go and gather them up?
But he said, Nay, lest, while ye gather up the tears, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest, and the time of harvest, I will say to the
first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.
So we see here a parable of the the wheat and the tares and basically what we see here though is
that God allows for the wheat and the tares to grow together and in a church oftentimes you will
have a lot of wheat you'll have a lot of saved people but then you'll have some tares amongst them
you'll have some infiltrators they're just there and they're just trying to sow division.
They're just trying to cause issues.
I mean, over the last year, it was crazy,
because I didn't really choose this passage for this reason.
But as I read this passage, it just
seemed like it was just a replay of what
has happened the last year at our church.
Where it's just like, hey, you have a lot of just plots to destroy us, you know
You have a lot of railing accusations against us and then you have a lot of people that were in our midst that we thought
Hey, these are good people. These are people that are going to be with us for a while
And then it turns out that as soon as they leave they just turn on a dime
And they're just attacking us and hating on our pastor and hating on our church. Why because they were just infiltrators
And maybe they're saying maybe they weren't but I'm saying they were just there to cause issues. They're just there to cause problems
Look at first John to
I mean, even in my last church, my old ivory church that I went to, we had a ton of weird people just coming in constantly trying to just sow division and attacks.
I mean, there's this guy that was trying to debate me every service about whether or not you could lose your salvation.
It's like, dude, this is a Baptist church. What are you doing here?
They're just trying to lead people the simple way, trying to cause issues.
Says they went out from us, but they were not of us for if they would have been of us
They would no doubt have continued with us
But they went out that they be made be manifest that they were not all of us
Bible warns the people that would be amongst us then they go out from us
But it's because they were never of us and what that means is that look hey
They came here and they acted like they were faith alone
They acted like they were pro soul wing.
They acted like they were one of us,
but then they leave and they become a Catholic.
They become Orthodox.
They stopped believing the gospel.
They become some Calvinist or some modalist
and it's just showing, hey,
they were just never saved to begin with.
Because if they were of us,
they would have continued with our doctrine.
They would have continued with the doctrine of faith alone.
They would have continued with, you know,
These eternal security and these core fundamental doctrines the deity of Christ go with you me if you would to 2nd Peter
Just turn your page a little bit
2nd Peter chapter 2
The Bible really warns us a lot of times about people creeping in
It says in 2 Peter 2 verse 1,
but there were false prophets also amongst the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you,
who shall privately, secretly,
who privately shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them
and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
And so don't be surprised when people come in,
And they act normal for a while, and they're taking people aside and trying to teach them weird stuff, weird heresies.
You go soul-winning with them, and you notice that they do weird things out of soul-winning.
Hey, don't be surprised the Bible warns us.
And the enemy is just constantly trying to attack good churches.
Doesn't matter if you're a big church, doesn't matter if you're a small church.
The enemy is just constantly trying to attack good churches that are actually soul-winning and doing something for God.
Go with me if you would to Jude.
We'll see that pair of very similar passage here.
Jude look at verse four.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
So again, there's people that will come in unawares, then out of nowhere they're teaching weird stuff, and
it's because they're unsaved and they're just infiltrators trying to bring people astray. Go back with me if you would to Nehemiah 6.
So we saw number one the plot to destroy Nehemiah in verses one and two number two
We see so we saw Nehemiah's perseverance in verses three and four number three
We saw the enemy's railing accusation verses five through nine and then number four we saw the enemy's infiltration
And verses ten through thirteen, but then I want to notice verse fourteen
We see Nehemiah actually praying an impregnatory prayer
Notice it says my God think thou upon Tobias and ballot according to these
their works and on the prophetess Noah Daya and the rest of the prophets that
would have put me in fear. And I just want to park here in a while because a
lot of people want to act like this idea of impractical prayers is not a biblical
concept. When we bring up the idea like hey I'm praying that such and such is you
know dies because a false prophet.
You know, hey, I hope that swift destruction comes upon Joel Osteen, or Joyce Myers, you know, or Kenneth Copeland.
You bring up some names and people get all offended.
But the Bible actually teaches this concept of impregnatory prayers.
We see it in the book all over the Bible.
We see it in the book of Nehemiah, not just here, but turn back with Few Wood with me to chapter 4.
Because we see another impregnatory prayer too before this in the book of Nehemiah itself.
Nehemiah 4, look at verse 4,
Hero 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 the builders.
I mean, this is a pretty hardcore prectory prayer, right?
Hey, let them be a prey in the land of captivity.
And then it says, don't cover their iniquity
and don't let their sin be blotted out.
Hey, he's literally praying God, don't forgive their sin.
Why? Because they're reprobates.
Why? Because they're reprobates, they're enemies of God,
they hate God, and they're just trying to destroy the work of God.
Let's look at more prectory prayers in the Bible.
Go with me if you would to Psalm 5.
We don't get to choose what parts of the Bible we like and we don't like.
We don't get to choose which parts of the Bible we want to believe and we don't want to believe.
Even though the concept of impregnatory prayers may be a hard pill for some people to swallow,
it's actually a biblical concept.
And it makes a lot of sense because why in the world do we want to pray good things to people
that are literally trying to hinder people from getting saved?
I mean, it's ludicrous.
I preached the sermon against John MacArthur in Spanish.
And you have all these comments, even some that I saw from people that said, you know,
I'm a fundamental Baptist too, but you should have prayed that he got saved before he died.
I think it's just insane to think that a guy that's sending thousands, hundreds of thousands,
if not millions of people to hell, that somehow I should be praying good for him.
I mean, he's literally damning souls to hell.
I'm gonna pray that God brings destruction upon him
because he's wicked as hell.
I'm not gonna pray that God blesses him
or is nice to him or is merciful on him
because he's literally going against the work of God.
I mean, it's one thing to just be unsaved and to just be wrong on salvation,
but it's a whole different thing to actively be teaching people the wrong thing about how to get
saved. And he knew what the right thing was because he constantly attacked it and preached against it.
And so people like that, we shouldn't pray good things for, we should preach,
we should pray impractical prayers against.
Let's look at some preceptory prayers in the Bible. You're there in Psalm 5. Look at verse 10
Destroy thou them. Oh God let them fall by their own counsels
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions for they have rebelled against the
Look at Psalm 34
Look at verse 4
Psalm 34 verse 4 I
Saw the Lord and he heard me and delivered me
From all my fears
They looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed this poor man cried and Lord heard him saved him out of all
His troubles. I don't think this is the verse I was looking for
But go with me if you would to Psalm 58 Psalm 58
Psalm 58
Look at verse 6
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths.
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.
Let them melt away as waters which runeth continually.
When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows,
let them be as cut in pieces.
As a snail which melted the way,
let every one of them pass away
like the untimely birth of a woman
that they may not see the sun.
Before your pots can feel the thorns,
he shall take them away as with the whirlwind,
both living and in his wrath.
In the nose for sin, the righteous shall rejoice
when he seeeth the vengeance.
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
So I mean, this is a hardcore prayer prayer, right?
Asking a break their teeth, you know,
let them melt away as waters, as a snail which melted,
you know, let it be like the untimely birth of a woman.
And then in verse 10, it says that the righteous
will see that and they'll rejoice when it happens.
Amen.
Hey, I'm gonna pray prayer prayer prayers
against the enemies of God.
And then when God answers that prayer,
I'm gonna praise God and be happy about it.
Look at Psalm 69.
You know, when people are getting weird skin diseases,
you know, I'm just gonna praise God and be happy.
When people are dying in alleys and mysterious ways,
I'm just gonna praise God and be happy.
Because to me, it just shows
that God is gonna take vengeance for his people.
God's gonna take vengeance on our behalf.
Hey, we don't have to do it
because we just see God doing it.
All I have to do is just simply pray,
hey, God, would you please avenge me
because they are wicked and they hate you.
Look at Psalm 69.
Look at verse 22
It says let their table become a snare before them and
That which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap
Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loins continually to shake
pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
Let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents, for they persecute him
who thou hast smitten, and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be
I mean verse 27 is literally saying just add iniquity unto their iniquity
Just make it more wicked, right?
Let them let not let let them be blotted out of the book of living and let them not be written with the righteous
Hey, what is he praying that they go to hell that God doesn't forgive their sin that God isn't merciful to them
But he punishes them severely look out with me if you would Psalm 109
Psalm 109
Look at verse 6 Psalm 109 verse 6
So set thou a wicked man over him and let Satan stand at his right hand, when he shall
be judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few, and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually baggabonds and beg.
Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any favor to his fatherless
children, let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following, let their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be
Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them before the earth,
because that he remembered not so mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man,
that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him.
As he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing,
like as with his garment,
so let it come into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones.
Let it be unto him as the garment which covers with
and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord
and of them that speak evil against my soul."
I mean there's some pretty intense things there where he's just praying against him
and his children and that they're just blotted out.
That he's extended no mercy that just bunch of curses come upon him
Hey, I mean, I think this even more radical than some of the preachers. I've prayed but that's just the Bible
Why because the people they're really wicked and I just want to stand in the in against the work of God
God has no love for them
God is not for them and we shouldn't be for them either
We shouldn't be these bleeding hearts that we just see people that are super wicked
Wanting to attack our movement attack our churches attack the work of God being done and just want to say oh
I want to have love for them though. We shouldn't be these people
There's a verse that I was trying that I didn't have my notes, but I wanted to go to
Let me see if I can find it real quick here
Go with me to Luke 18 if you would
And then let's start in verse number one.
So Luke 18, starting verse one.
And he, Jesus, spake a parable unto them to this end,
that men ought always to pray and not to faint.
saying, there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man, and there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, avenge me of my adversary.
And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubled with me, I will avenge her.
Last by her continually coming, she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith.
and shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cried day and night unto him,
though he bear long with them,
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh,
shall he find faith on the earth?
So this is the parable that Jesus gave.
What's the purpose of this parable?
Is that men always pray and they don't faint.
And what's the result that God is saying?
Hey, shall not God avenge his own elect?
Hey, what are they crying day and night for for God to bring justice for God to judge the wicked and Jesus says hey
I tell I tell you that he will avenge them speedily
So we spread from the mouth of Jesus saying hey, you know what when my people are just crying into God and asking God
Please avenges from these wicked people. Please judge these wicked reprobates
They're just attacking and attacking and attacking the work of God. God says that he will avenge us speedily
That's a prayer that God wants to answer and that's a prayer that we should pray
We shouldn't shy away from praying and prectory prayers
We should embrace that because that is a Biblical doctrine.
Obviously, we don't just pray and preach our prayers against people just because they looked at us the wrong way or something.
It's because they're enemies of God. I think I've made that really clear.
Go back to Nehemiah 6.
So we saw number one, the plot to destroy Nehemiah in verses one and two.
Number two, we saw Nehemiah's perseverance in verses three to four.
We saw in verses five to nine the enemy's railing accusations
We saw in verses ten through thirteen the enemy's infiltration
We saw him verses four and verse fourteen the M.I. is impractical prayer now look at verse number six
Verse number fifteen sorry look at verse number fifteen
So the wall was finished in the 20 and 5th day of the month Elo in
52 days and it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof and all the heathen that were about us all these things
They were much cast out in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was rots of God
So we see that even though you have this constant attack and attack and attack we see that the work of God is still done
Because if we just remain steadfast perseverance in the work of God, you know what nothing can stop stay in our way
God will bless us God is with us and we will accomplish the work that God wants us to do
We just need to stick with it
And notice that when the work of God is finished it brings fear to the enemies of God
I mean, it says that they were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that
this work was raw of our God.
Nothing is better when even just the enemies realize, hey, this person is of God.
They may not like it.
They may not be for us, but they realize, hey, I can't say that this guy is not of God.
You should look at how God's blessing them.
And I think a lot of people and enemies of our movement realize that.
That they hate us and they can't stand us, but they see all the soul winning that we're doing
They see the great works that God is doing through us and they themselves have to admit
Well, yeah, it kind of does seem like they are of God
With me if you would to X this 10
This is when the plagues are just coming through Egypt.
Exodus 10, look at verse seven.
It says,
So,
We see here that Pharaoh's servants even realized,
look, don't you see that Egypt is destroyed with all these plagues?
Like, they kind of realized, like, Pharaoh, why aren't you seeing this?
That, you know, it does seem like their God is plaguing us.
Because don't you realize that even Egypt is destroyed?
Go with you, Lord, to Joshua.
Book of Joshua.
I didn't have this in my notes, so I'm going to try to look for it real quick.
This is when the two spies go in to Rahab to spy out the land.
Look at verse nine, Joshua two verse nine.
And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your
terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you."
for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when he came out of Egypt,
and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan,
Sihon and Agh, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things,
our hearts did melt. Now, did there remain any more courage in our...
neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you for the
Lord your God he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. So notice that Rahab
she's saying hey as soon as we heard how y'all went through the Red Sea we've
just been scared and terrified because we realize hey God is with you and this
is the irony that when Moses sends the 12 spies into the land
They're all afraid of the inhabitants
While the inhabitants all time they were afraid of them
Hey, don't let you don't let yourself be afraid of the enemy because if God is before us who can be against us
Because you know a lot of times the enemy they're scared of us
They can talk to big game they can talk all they want but a lot of times
They're afraid of us because they realize that God's with us and they realize. Hey if God's before them
There's nothing that can stop them go to acts 5
When God is blessing a work it will become apparent
Like Pastor Reyes was talking about Pastor Wynn, you know, hey, that's just something that's apparent.
That's something that's obvious. We can see, hey, God's been blessing that work.
I'm not over here wondering. Look at Acts 5, look at verse 34. Acts 5 verse 34.
It says, then stood up, then stood there up one in the Council of the Pharisee, a council of Pharisees named Gamaliel.
A doctor of the law had in reputation among all the people and commanded to put the Apostles forth a little space and said unto them
Ye men of Israel take heed to yourselves what you intend to do touching these men
for before these days rose up
Theodos boasting himself to be somebody to whom a number of men about 400 join themselves
Who was slain and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to not
After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing and drew away much people after him
He also perished and all even as many as obeyed him were dispersed
And now I say unto you refrain from these men and let them alone for if this council
For if this council or this work be of God it will come to not but if it be of God you cannot overthrow it
less happily you'd be found even to fight against God. So here you have cabaliel that's just a
Pharisee, a doctor of the law, but even realizes, hey, look, if these guys are of God, nothing can
stop it. All right, you cannot overthrow it. And notice it says less happily, which just means like
by chance, you'd be found even to fight against God. And I think this is just
More proof that even the enemies can realize hey if God's hand is on a ministry. There's nothing that can stop it
Hey, who am I to stand in the way of a pastor that's been pastoring for a for decades?
Successfully who am I to stand in the way of that and be against them be his enemy?
Hey, I'm just gonna like God, you know if God's blessing him and God's for him
I there's nothing I can do to stop it and it's a foolish errand to try to put yourself as some type of judge in there
And to try to stop that
To try to be an enemy of good men of pastors that have been successful
It's just a fool's errand to do that because at the end of the day
You're probably just gonna end up being destroyed and last year we've seen that the people
you know
That have attacked and hated our churches and our movement the most
Okay, I mean they're not doing these great works for God. They're not going to Mexico City
They're not going to the Bahamas. They're not going on these great mission strips. They're not doing this great soul winning
They just want to be against stuff. They just want to destroy it. I
Mean even even in the last year, you know, I can remember a certain pastor
That made a lot of insinuations against spring crest kind of insinuating that it was like a lesser church or something
That people didn't want it, but where's his church at now?
Spring crest so here spring crest is doing great this year. Where's his church? Who's his name? No one even cares. No one even knows
Hey, when God's hand is on it, it's a parent and it becomes obvious who side God's on.
It becomes obvious which church God is blessing.
And I thank God that, you know, Springcrest is still here because Houston has such a great need.
I mean, I lived in college station for a while and I looked for churches in Houston even when I was looking for an old IFA church.
Where's any IFA church?
And Houston seems like an area where they're just not really any other good churches, from what I can tell.
I mean in the DFW area, I could probably point you to four or five different churches that have the right gospel
They're King James only that are soul-winning, you know
There's there's a pastor over in Fort Worth Pastor Ari Smith
You know, I've gone to his conferences and I try to support him before him, but I'm just looking at Houston
It's like man, this looks like just a barren land and it's really receptive
I mean, I remember when we came for the soul-winning marathon, you know, there's a lot of Spanish-speaking people
They're just ready to get saved
And from what my friend Jared tells me, I mean, he seems like they've been getting a lot of souls saved too
And y'all have been just collectively getting a bunch of people saved
And so hey, we need a church that is just soul winning and zealous and you know
The point of this message is to keep encouraging y'all to keep being that way
Hey keep focus on the mission focus on the soul winning focus on doing a great work for God
Hey support good men support good mission trips
Now with Lord willing in the next few years, you know, y'all can do mission ships on your own and you know
Find that for yourselves and keep doing these so many marathons to keep doing a great work here
But you know when opposition comes because it will
Just keep being steadfast keep being you know
Just keep being faithful because the work of God will be accomplished if you will just stay persistent
Go back to Nehemiah 6
And look at verses
18 and 19
But we saw first of all the plot to destroy Nehemiah and verses 1 and 2 we saw number 2 Nehemiah's
Perseverance in verse 3 and 4 we saw the enemy's railing accusation verses 5 through 9
We saw the enemy's infiltration versus 10 to 13. We saw Nehemiah's impregnatory prayer in verse 14
We saw the work of God accomplished in verses 15 and 16 and then in
Verses 17 through 19 we see that there's some conspiring happening
between the nobles of Judah and
the enemy
Look at verse 17 moreover those day in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters into Tobiah and the letters of Tobiah came into them
For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, unto Tobiah, because he was the son-in-law of Shekiniah, the son of Eirah, and his son
Jeho-Nan had taken the daughter of Mesulim, the son of Barakiah.
Also, they reported his Gideads before me and uttered my words to him, and Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
So, we see that even, you know, amongst the nobles, there are people that are just openly conspiring with Tobiah.
They're siding with Tobiah. Why? Because of family relations, because it's convenient.
And notice that it says in verse 19, they reported his good deeds before me.
I mean, these nobles are coming to Nehemiah and saying, hey, look, look, these are the good deeds that Tobiah is doing.
What are the good deeds that Tobiah is doing?
Because in the story, we just see he's this wicked horrible person, but these nobles are conspiring against Nehemiah in favor of Tobiah.
And we see that even in churches where people side with wicked people and it's weird and you should stay far away from those people.
I mean, when there's just people that are openly wicked and people are trying to defend that person to you and they're attacking your pastor, that's, you know, wicked person.
I mean, it happens where they're just conspiring here and they're just telling, hey, this person
said this and then they're defending that person to you.
You know in our church has been all types of people that have leaked stuff and said stuff and conspired with the enemies
I'm sure that it happens in every church probably
When there's attacks where there's people that just want to side with people and these aren't just bleeding hearts
They don't know any better. These are people that are actively wanting to side with wicked people
And so we see it even amongst the nobles they are conspiring with Tobiah, but like we saw the work of God continues
Look at chapter 7 verse 1 now it came to pass when the wall was built and
I had set up the doors and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed that I gave my brother
Henne and I and and I had the ruler of the palace charge over Jerusalem for he was faithful man and feared God above many
And then we just see there the rest of the chapter, if you read it just talks about, you know, then appointing rulers and nobles and just keep keeping the work of God going.
So, even with the people conspiring and attacking and doing all these wicked things, the work
of God keeps continuing, why?
Because if God is for us, there cannot be anything that stands in our way.
And so, what's the message?
The message is simply this, focus on the mission.
Hey, there's a great work to be done in Houston.
There's great work to be done all across the world, right?
Hey, just basically choose a spot in the world and it needs the gospel.
And especially when there's places that are super receptive like, you know, Mexico City, like the Bahamas, like Houston
Hey, let's just get plugged in into the great work that needs to be done
And let's just put our hand pull all our effort and energy into it and let's give it our all
Don't get distracted with the enemy. Don't get distracted with the attacks
Don't get distracted with the persecution. Don't let your family drag you out of a good church
Don't let your family say oh, but you're an occult though
Oh, but that church has been, oh, but Pastor Reyes says the word slut, you know,
don't let that drag me out of the good church. Keep going. Don't let that distract you.
Because you need, uh, we need to focus on the mission. There's people to be saved. There's
people that are dying, going to hell every day. And that's the mission that we're, that we as a
church need to be focused on.
Folks on that mission. Hey, we're doing a great work. I don't have time to come down with all these stupid distractions
I don't have time to come down argue with people on Facebook all day
I don't have time to come down and deal with this. I am doing a great work
So my encouragement to you tonight is simply that keep doing that great work folks on the mission get involved in the work here
Be as plugged in, you know, stand behind your pastor
And let's just see how God blesses here because there's a lot to be done here
I hope that over the years we can just see more and more growth
But more than important that just more and more people saved and reached
With that, let's go ahead and pray about our heads for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father,
thank you for this great church, Lord. Thank you for allowing me to be here and preach.
I just pray that this sermon would have been encouraging.
Let us keep doing your work, Lord. Let us focus on the mission, not get distracted with the enemies, pray against the enemies,
and let's just keep focusing because there's a great work to be done and
there's so short time in our lives.
Now, our goal should just be to do the most that we can with the short time that we have. Pray us in Jesus' name, Lord. Amen.