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Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Let's take our seats and open our green hymnals to page 164. Praise him, praise him. Green hymnals page 164. We're going to sing praise him, praise him. Sing it out loud with me on the verse. Praise him, praise him. Jesus our blessed redeemer. Sing oh earth his wonderful love proclaim. Hail him, hail him. Highest archangels in glory. Strength and honor give to his holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard his children. In his arms he carries them all day long. Praise him, praise him. Tell of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him. Every joyful song on the second. Praise him, praise him. Jesus our blessed redeemer. For our sins he suffered and bled and died. We are rocked, our hope of eternal salvation. Hail him, hail him. Jesus the crucified. Hurls out his praises. Jesus swiveled for sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful deep and strong. Praise him, praise him. Tell of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him. Every joyful song on the last. Praise him, praise him. Jesus our blessed redeemer. Heavenly portals, loud with those in his wing. Jesus, savior, reigneth forever and ever. Crown him, crown him. Prophet and priest they king. Christ is coming. Over the world victorious. Over and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise him, praise him. Tell of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him. Every joyful song. Amen. Great to see you all this morning and great singing. Brother Steven, can you open us with a word of prayer? Lord God, thank you so much for the opportunity to come and worship. And hear the preaching in your house, Lord. May the peace be fastened with the Holy Ghost. And bless your fellowship and soul with him today. And Jesus, may we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to page 389. We're going to sing Bring Them In, page 389. Let's sing it out on the first. Hark! Tis the shepherd's voice I hear. Out in the desert, dark and drear. Calling the sheep who've gone astray. Hark! From the shepherd's fold away. Hark! Tis the shepherd's voice I hear. Out in the desert, dark and drear. Calling the sheep who've gone astray. Out in the desert, dark and drear. Calling the sheep who've gone astray. Hark! From the shepherd's fold away. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them in from the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus. Bring them in from the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus. Out in the desert, hear their cry. Out on the mountains, wild and high. Hark! Tis the master speaks to thee. Go find my sheep, where e'er they be. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them in from the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus. Amen. At this time we'll have our announcements. Good morning. Welcome to Sherriff's Foundation. Let's take our bulletins and go through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, would you just lift up your hand and one of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. Anybody need a bulletin? That would be the time. On our front cover we have our verse of the week. It says, He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. Psalm chapter 62 verse number 2. It's a great scripture there. And our service times are 10 30 a.m. on Sunday mornings and 3 30 p.m. Sunday evening. Tonight we'll be continuing our series about pictures of the Antichrist. And I'll be preaching about Nebuchadnezzar tonight. So basically all the ways that Nebuchadnezzar pictures the coming Antichrist of the end times. And then Thursdays is our Bible study. And that's at 6 30 p.m. every Thursday. And we just finished the book of Titus. So you'll have to show up on Thursday to see which is the next book that I have picked because I haven't picked it yet. But I'm going to pick it. So if you have any last I know people always want me to do Revelation and stuff like that. But I'm probably going to wait a little while to do that one. But if you have any recommendations I might just go ahead and do Revelation. I don't know. So I'm not going to take it to a vote or anything like that. But I'll definitely listen to anybody's recommendations or why you might want me to study a certain book. I like to do New Testament books on Thursdays and Sunday nights. I usually am going through an Old Testament book. But right now we're kind of just taking a break. We had a long study in the book of Genesis which was really great. But I just wanted to do a series in between starting the next book which is going to be the book of Exodus. So anyway that's Thursday nights Sunday nights. Usually we do some kind of Sunday nights are kind of geared toward the family more or less. But obviously the Antichrist series is not so much that. And I realize it's a dark subject so I don't want to get stuck there for too long. Go down deep stay down too long with the Antichrist. But it's just really interesting a lot of the people that picture the Antichrist in the Bible. So I've never heard anybody preach a series like that so I just thought I would do it. But anyway our soul winning times are listed below the service times. And we have various different soul winning times that are available for you to get involved in. And today we'll have a soul winning today at 1 p.m. It's usually actually we meet in here about 1.15. Or you're welcome to meet on site. We have a WhatsApp group that basically puts all the map we put all the maps in there. So if you're interested in going you're not in the WhatsApp group and you want to go soul winning. Then please see Brother Sean Collin he's right there would you lift up your hand Brother Sean. And he's one of the leads on Sunday afternoon. So if you want to go so when you're not in the WhatsApp group just get with him. And he'll make sure you get an address to meet up at. And yesterday we had about it said six soldiers but I think was counting children right. But we had some children and six adults go out solely yesterday in Yakima. And they were just trying to see if maybe you know we just were fortunate the other times we went there. And maybe it wasn't as receptive as we thought it was going to be but they end up having five salvations yesterday out so winning. So praise the Lord for that. And Brother Robert said that it would have been eight more but the other three they went through the whole gospel with them. And then they just didn't want to pray and trust Christ at the very end. You know maybe they got saved maybe they prayed their hearts or whatever but we don't count them unless we know that they called upon the name of the Lord. So anyway if you want to get if you want to know what soul is where we go out and knock doors. And we put invitations on people's doors or we hand people invitations and invite them to church but we're also trying to make sure that everybody knows for sure they're going to have. And that's the main reason why we go out knock doors. And we just basically challenge people with those questions and just ask them hey are you 100 percent sure if you died today you go to heaven. And then based upon their answer you know we you know we kind of have a few questions that we go through but then we also just ask people hey can I show you from the Bible what it takes to be saved. And so our church is really big into that. And because Jesus said go out go you there for it and say bring them into church. He said go you there for we're thankful for people to come to church and get saved here because that happens too. But Jesus said to go. Paul went. Paul knocked every door he turned the world upside down for Christ and he didn't do it by sitting in a church service preaching and telling other people to bring. You know we say that's all I'm bringing them in. But let's talk about getting them saved and bringing them into God's family I think you know. So anyway our praise report you see the salvation totals the baptisms which is not accurate. I should have fixed that because brother Ian had 62 baptisms last week in case you didn't realize it. Sure Foundation Baptist Church UK is our church is part of our extension of our church. And I forgot to add one from Spokane. I think Pastor Anderson baptized someone in Spokane during the road trip. And in case you didn't get a chance to see the short documentary The New IFB Road Trip then I suggest you watch it's about 40 minutes or so. It's actually probably about 30 minutes without the Bible way to have it on the end of it. And it was really good. I mean it showcased all the different churches that are friends of ours and showed our church a little bit had some interviews in there. And it was really good. So if you get a chance to watch it's on YouTube. Anyway upcoming events we have August 26. It's actually August 27 is the Seattle Tacoma soul winning trip. And so we're going to be going up there and preaching the gospel in the Tacoma Seattle area. We're going to try to find a good spot. And of course there'll be breakfast and coffee and lunch provided. And that'll be Saturday the 27th. And we'll have more details about that coming soon. And then September 29th through October 1st is going to be the Yakima soul winning trip. So that will be where we book hotel rooms for people and we'll get a sign up for that here shortly. But that'll be Thursday Friday and Saturday in Yakima. So we've done this a couple of different times and it's been very fruitful. We basically knocked you know most of the doors in the reservation. So the Yakima reservation is pretty big. I mean we haven't gone to the small places out the middle of nowhere. But all the big towns that are part of the reservation we've knocked those doors. And we've had several hundreds of people saved in those events. So and then now we're moved on to Yakima proper where it's the main city of Yakima which is about. I think it's about 200,000 people somewhere around that for the total Yakima area. And it's very receptive also. So looking forward to going to that trip. If you want to go to that trip please see me for more details about it. We're going to put out more details about it anyway. October 28th and 29th is going to be the Blaine Soul Winning border crossing event. So we have a church that we planted in Canada and right now they can't come to us. We can't go to them so we kind of meet at this park where we can all meet together. And so anyway we've done this a couple times this year already. Last time we went to Blaine we had some people we've had people say both times in our soul winning there. And last time we had two people baptized the same day which was great. And then we I preach to both churches at the same time on the 29th which is Saturday. So anyway we're a family integrated church. That means that children and infants are welcome during the church services. And we do have available for your family mother baby rooms and a dad baby room for your convenience during the services. The mother baby room is located back there. The dad baby room is back there. And we would ask that men don't go into the mother baby room during the services. And also the ladies don't go into the dad baby room likewise. During the services. And then the gliders or the rockers are for pregnant and nursing mothers and elders only. Please let's make sure to reserve the back rows. These back gray rows here for families with young children. And let's make sure that we're watching our children at all times in any area of the building. Please know food in the assembly area during the church services or in between. We've got a kitchen upstairs, a break room that you can go and eat at. Please make sure you're cleaning up after yourself in those areas too please. And silence your cell phones if you haven't already done so. I think I didn't do it so I'm bad. But anyway if you have a cell phone please silence it or put it on airplane mode for the service so it's just not being a distraction. And if you need to escort to your vehicle the ushers are available to do that. The ushers are the guys with the pin on their jacket that says usher. The ones that take up the offering and stuff like that. The donations are available online if you wish to do it that way. And the amount for the month is supposed to be in there. But we're having technical difficulties for that so it will have to be printed in the next one. You can see where the box was raised up there. But for some reason it still didn't print on the bulletins. So I apologize for that. And we also have a few birthdays today. Today is Miss Sarah Luwai's birthday. She's 29 again. And are you 29? No she's 29. That's what I thought. And Owen's birthday was on the 12th. Did we already sing to you? He's in there. We're going to sing to him again anyway. It's his birthday again. And Alex Berea who is not here. So anyway we're going to sing happy birthday to those folks. Let's go ahead and sing. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. God bless you. Happy birthday to you. All right. Do we have the caffeine stations? I think everybody needs to wake up in here. Singing like a bunch of Presbyterians in here. Anyway, one more thing. We would want to appreciate our visitors that have come this morning. And we have little gift bags on the way out here on this little black table as you walk around the corner here. There's gift bags. They look like this or they're pink and blue. But all of them have the same thing in them. So it's a DVD called Being Baptist. And it's basically just kind of what, you know, people think that being Baptist is a denomination which it's not. It can be. But this church is not a denomination. We don't have some pope or some president over our church. Our church is basically the Bible is the boss of this church. That's kind of how we explain it. So whatever the Bible says, that's what we believe in. So we take that very seriously here. Jesus is the head of this church. I'm not the head of the church. You know, the Bible is the word of God. Jesus Christ is the word of God. So whatever the Bible says, that's what we believe. And basically this film, I mean, most people don't even have DVD players anymore. But if you do, or you want one just in case they take away our rights from the internet and you have a hard copy right here, you can always just go and get a DVD player. They're very cheap right now. So, you know, if you're a prepper, you're a prepper and you got like bags of rice in your basement and you got old store cans and you're, you know, you're one of those people and there's nothing wrong with that necessarily. But be a prepper about these because you never know when you're not going to be able to use the internet to watch these great films. And a lot of them are censored. We have a lot of documentaries over there and documentaries at our churches. You know, the people that made them are friends of ours or whatever. They're very well done. But the Internet right now is censoring a lot of preaching. It's censoring a lot of things unless it doesn't fit the agenda that's going on right now. You know, basically you're canceled and your channel is canceled and they just, you know, or they just, you know, delete your sermon or whatever. This is happening a lot. And our main channel is actually on private right now because it's just being hit with all these strikes and stuff like that. So anyway, this is a long introduction as to just, hey, if you're a first time visitor, please grab one of these bags on your way out and make sure you get a DVD player or a Blu-ray player. All right. So I think that's all we have for announcements. Let's sing another song and then we'll receive the offering. All right, let's turn in our Bibles now to Psalm 126. Psalm 126. Psalm 126. Let's sing it out on that first verse. When the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue was singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad, turn again our captivity. O Lord, as the streams in the South, may the sowing tears shall reap in joy. May the sowing tears shall reap in joy. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad, he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed, Shall Dallas come again, shall Dallas come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. Amen. Great singing. At this time, we'll receive our offering. Brother Sean, can you bless the offering for us? Well, in heaven, I thank you for this day, Lord. I thank you for all the believers that are in church today, Lord. I pray that you bless everything that we do today, Lord. I pray that you bless the soul-winning and preaching, Lord. Feel pastored with your spirit, Lord. Help us to pay attention to the message and apply it to our lives, and I pray that you would bless this offering. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Go ahead and open your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 6. Nehemiah chapter 6, if you don't have a Bible, raise your hand when one of the ushers will bring you one. Nehemiah chapter 6. Nehemiah 6, the Bible reads, And it came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiah, and Geshem and Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded 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 Sanballat 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 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? Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner. Then sent Sanballat 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 saith 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 hast also appointed prophets to preach of 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 unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou faintest 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. Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah, the son of Deliah, the son of Mehhetabiel, 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 perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me, for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. My God, thank thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and on the prophetess, Noah-diah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear. So the wall was finished in the twentieth and fifth day of the month, Elul, in fifty and two days. And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw 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 Ara, and his son Joannan had taken the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Barakiah. Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him, and Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear. Brother Bill, will you pray for us? Amen. Alright, we're in Nehemiah chapter six. Let's focus on verse number three to begin with here. The title of my sermon this morning is I'm Doing a Great Work. I'm Doing a Great Work. We're going to focus on verse number three real quick. If you were paying attention during the Bible reading, you have some really bad guys here that are trying to stop Nehemiah from building the wall. They're doing anything that they can, and we'll see a little more of what they do as we go through the sermon, but when we're doing a great work, there's always going to be something that's trying to stop us from getting that work accomplished. Now, we don't believe that salvation is by works. We don't believe that our works prove that we're saved necessarily. Necessarily as in we don't believe that they save at all. The works that we do do not save us. They don't necessarily show people because people can do something good and not be saved. It appears good unto men, but it's not necessarily that. What I want to preach about today is how we're supposed to continue to do the work and not let anything stop us. And the work is what? Doing the work of the Lord. I talk a lot about it in our announcements about soul winning and going out and seeking and save that which is lost. That's the main job of our church. It's not to be a country club. It's not so that we can all get together and have potlucks and stuff like that even though we do those types of things. We do family events. We do family things and we just kind of happen to be on the tail end of a lot of different events that we've done. So you see our upcoming events aren't necessarily like, well, there's not a lot going on. Well, you know, we've done a lot of things this year already and we'll be doing a lot more as the year goes on. But anyway, what I'm talking about is, you know, because you have this great book of Nehemiah and it starts out where Nehemiah is in despair because the wall is broken down of Jerusalem and that was because of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians came and destroyed the temple. They broke down the walls. They burned the gates of the city and he's in despair about this. And so basically what I want to show you through several different passages in Nehemiah, how he faced all this adversity and really I can't even get into all the adversity that he did face because obviously it's a big book. So I'm kind of doing an overview and just showing, you know, the problems that can happen when you're trying to do a great work. Obviously we're not trying to build a wall around this building so people can't get in. We're trying to knock down the wall basically of division and bring people in so we can have unity as a church and we're trying to do a great work. We're trying to do the great works of God in the New Testament that we're supposed to be doing. We don't have a temple that we worship at. Jesus Christ, if He's your Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells you. You are the temple of God inside of you and when we all gather together into this building, the building is not the church. You know, people will make fun of our building because it's an old bank building or other churches that have storefront type buildings, but it's like it's not the building that the church is. We don't have to have huge vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows and all that stuff in order to be a church. We just have to have Spirit-filled men and women and children of God that are in this building together. That makes up the church, the Spirit-filled New Testament church. So in the book of Nehemiah, we have various chapters, like I said, we're going to be touching on this morning and the great work and the adversity that Nehemiah had to face is stuff we can apply to ourselves and apply to our church lives that we are trying to do great works too and these adversities are going to come upon us as well. And we need to be prepared for that. We need to understand that we're trying to bring people together, like I said, and break down the walls that were in the Old Testament. There was a veil that was in between the people and God. Now we can go right to God with our petitions. We don't need the high priest to walk into the holiest place once a year with blood on his ear and thumb and right toe or whatever. We have the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. That blood was placed upon the mercy seat and Jesus Christ placed it there and we are saved by that sacrifice once and for all time. Now I'm going to have you turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and I want to read a little bit of a lengthy passage here. We are going to go to a lot of scriptures today. I hope that doesn't bother you. We are in church. So I'll have a couple fluffy poems for the next sermon. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13 the Bible says, But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. So we're made near to God because of that. It says, For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. See, Nehemiah was trying to build a wall of partition to keep the enemies out, but Christ has broken down the wall of partition between us. And it says, Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. And basically he's talking about the difference between Old Testament Israel which was a nation set apart from God, it was a physical nation, obviously had spiritual aspects to it, but the Gentiles were afar off. The Gentiles were not part of the nation. They could join the nation based upon certain things, but I don't have time to get into that. He's basically saying that, hey, there's no more wall between Jews and Gentiles, Greeks, and anything male or female. We don't have to worry about that kind of stuff. Christ has brought us all near by His blood. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. See, if you're saved today, you're part of the same family, the same fellow citizen as anybody else that's saved, and we are saints. You don't have to have a halo and be on the wall of a Catholic church in order to be a saint. It says of the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. So we are building something here. We are doing some kind of work, and what does that work? Well, we want to help build upon the foundation that's already been set for us, the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. So everything that we do must be built upon that foundational stone, that's Jesus Christ. So if we're doing things that are not part of what He wants going on, then we're not building on that foundation. We've got to make sure we're building on the right foundation, the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, of course, we have the prophets and apostles that are built upon that, and then we want to build upon what has been done before us. We're not trying to strike out in some new way. We are trying to build upon what has already been foundationally set in stone for us. It says, In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. So, you see, we're building something different. It's something spiritual. It's the spiritual church. The congregation in the wilderness of Moses was basically based upon, it was still, the rock was still their God, but they rejected that rock, didn't they? And ultimately, they rejected the rock when He came 2,000 years ago, and then they placed Him on the cross after brutally torturing Him and hurting Him, placing the crown of thorns upon His head, nailing His hands and feet to the cross, and they said, His blood be upon us and upon our children. And so, the nation of Israel was replaced. Jesus said that He, you know, in Matthew chapter 21, it talks about Him, you know, therefore, well, it's a good night, I can't remember the verse right off the top of my head, but anyway, He's replaced Old Testament Israel and replaced them with New Testament Christianity. We are the spiritual nation of Israel. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what it's talking about here. But it also says that the Jews are blinded. They're blinded until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. But anyway, that's not what I'm preaching about. I just wanted to show you that we are building something. Nehemiah was building a wall, a physical wall to keep people out, but we're trying to build a spiritual temple unto the Lord. It's different. It's spiritual. It's not a physical thing. Number one, this morning, don't allow circumstances to stop you from the work. See, we're doing a great work here too, but we don't want to allow circumstances to stop us from that work. So, let's see. Let's look at Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 3. Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 3. And we'll be just jumping around in Nehemiah mostly here. Chapter 1 verse 3, it says, And they said unto me, The remnant that are left in 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. So, this is the situation. He's got some bad circumstances here. Who wants to go and build on something that's just already destroyed? It's got garbage. You don't have the resources. You're not the nation of Israel anymore in the sense that you have a king under the Medes and Persians. So, Nehemiah is the cup bearer of the king, and he basically is in service of that king. And there's garbage all over the place. He's hearing this second-hand information saying that, hey, our city and our temple is in ruins and burnt with fire. So, he doesn't have a labor force at this point. He doesn't have the resources or the permission even by the sitting king to do any of these things. But now let's jump over to chapter number 2. See, when you have a mind to the work, God is going to make things possible for you to get that work done. If you just say, you know what, I'm going to get this work done regardless of the circumstances, then God is going to find a way to bless you and allow you to do that work. Obviously providing that you're doing the right kind of work. So, Nehemiah chapter 2 verse number 3 says, And said unto the king, Let the king live forever, why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father's sepulchres, lieth in waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Because he goes into the king, and the king's like, what's wrong with you? You've never been sad in my presence before. And he gets really afraid because you're not really supposed to go into this king and be sad in front of him. Because, you know, things were a lot different back then. But anyway, so he kind of gets scared for a minute, but then he just answers it plainly. You know, my homeland is in a mess, and why should I not be sad because of all these things? Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. See, before he even makes his request, he goes right to God and prays for those things. And, you know, the king's saying, hey, what is it you're asking for? He goes to prayer. See, before we make a big decision on doing some kind of big project or big work that's for the Lord, or just even if you want to be a soul winning captain, or if you want to, you know, maybe you just want to start soul winning. Maybe you don't know how to go soul winning, or you just want to start this big work. Well, you know, pray to God to help you. Pray to God to put something in your heart so that you will care about other people. Because, you know what, Christianity is in a lot of an apathetic state right now. You know, there's not a lot of church, and I'm not trying to toot our church's horn too much here, but we do do a lot of soul winning here. And you're not going to find a church in this town, probably in the whole Portland area, where soul winning is emphasized as much as it is at this church. Why? Because we have a big work to do. We want to build on Jesus Christ, the apostles, and the prophets, and we want to build this spiritual kingdom for the Lord. That's a great work. That's the main work. Alright, so let's see, what verse was I in? Let's see, five, thank you. It says, And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said unto me, The queen also sitting by him, For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. So the king has given, you know, here's one roadblock out of the way. Nehemiah just had to boldly kind of open his mouth to the king, and the king's like, Hey, what do you want? And he prayed to God, and then the king granted him the request that he had. Right there, there's a circumstance knocked out of the way. At first he's in despair, like, what am I going to do? You know, he's got this burden on his heart to do something great for the Lord and to do some great work for him. And already the king of the whole world is telling him, Hey, it pleases me to send you there. You know, get it done, basically. Verse number seven, Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah. So now he's asking for more. He's saying, Hey, can you write some letters? And, you know, when I get there, people aren't going to give me a bunch of flak. And a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace, which appertain to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me. So here, now he's got resources. So he just asked for the king's resources, and he's like, Hey, you know, can you just cut some trees down for me so I can build these walls? Can you cut some trees down so I can build these gates? And he's like, Yeah, sure. No problem. Verse 12, And I arose in the night, and some men, excuse me, some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night, by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then I went out, went on to the gate of the fountain and to the king's pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered the gate of the valley, and so returned. So what's he doing? He's checking out what he has to do. He wants to see, and he's doing it at night because there's a lot of enemies that are around that hate God, that hate God's people. And so he's just trying to check out what he's got to do. And it's so bad in some places he can't even get his animal underneath, you know, some of the rubbish that's in his way. Then it says, Then went I up by night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned. And the rulers knew not whether I went, or what I did, neither had I yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire, come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem. So he's trying to rally the people, hey let's get this done, let's get this great work done, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also the kings words that he had spoken unto me, and they said let us rise up and build, so they strengthened their hands for this good work. See when you have a great leader that's just trying to drive the work to get done, the people will rally around him and help to build the work and to do the good work that we're supposed to be doing. So that's why churches need a leader, they need a pastor, they need an evangelist, they need someone that's going to say hey let's get this work done. And then let's, you know if someone has a great idea and wants to do something great, let's do another so many times, let's go to this place, let's go to that place. I'm like yeah let's do it, you know let's get the work done. Because we're not just trying to build a big church here in Vancouver, you know I'd like it if this church was bigger, but you know I'm more about quality than quantity. I want quality people that actually care about the work that's being done, that actually care about the Bible, that actually care about what it says, they care about the church, they care about each other, they care about the lost, they care about the people out there that don't know their right hand from their left, that are deceived by the ruler of the wickedness of this world. The devil himself who is trapped and entrapped people in their minds and in everything that they do into this system that is totally against God. So you know sometimes we can see difficulties in a big task and that can cause us to procrastinate in doing the work also. You ever notice when you have something that's a train wreck, you know it's like maybe your garden, they call it a garden in England, but here we call it a yard. I like garden better, that kind of sounds nicer, but my place is not really like a garden, there's a lot of trees around it, but you know when you let things over grow just say, and you got to get it done, you're like man there's a lot of trimming to do, the grass is this tall or whatever. You know you really don't know how to attack that sometimes and it makes you procrastinate and not want to do the work. So what is Nehemiah looking at? Well he had all these things that were stopping him from doing what he wanted to do, God just kind of took care of those needs. Hey you need money, you need timber, you need this, you need that, here's how long you can be gone, get the work done, I'm granting you permission, here's the letters, everything was taken care of for him. Then he goes to see the work and instead of being discouraged by what a mess it was, he's like, he goes back to the people that he knows are going to help him, he's like hey let's get this work done! And they're like yeah let's do it! And then they get past that task of procrastination because that's where our hearts can stop us from getting the work done is that maybe there's just too much to do. You know look at this big apartment complex, look at how many stacks of stairs there are. You know I'm just not feeling it today, it's 100 degrees outside. Or whatever it is, you know we can get frustrated by the difficulty of a task but you know what just setting your mind to the work and getting it done is what's going to get you through to get that job done. Number two this morning, don't allow criticism to stop you from the work. See we can get procrastinating and we can be frustrated by the multitude of the work we have to do but we can also get stopped from the work by allowing others that criticize us to stop working. That'll make us stop working. What do I mean by that? Well, how about your family that thinks you're in a cult because you knocked doors. You know it's like, well don't the Jehovah's Witnesses do that and the Mormons, like yeah they got it from the Bible. Why don't you try doing it for once? You know, thou sluggard. Why don't you actually get out there and do it and then maybe they won't say hey the Jehovah's Witnesses are coming, maybe they'll say hey the Baptists are coming. Because didn't Paul say to you know that daily and in the temple they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ? Is that just for them at that time or is that for us too? You know and that you know daily in every house I cease not to preach and teach Jesus Christ. I mean Paul said daily and in every house. It's not like he wasn't talking necessarily about a house church he's saying every house I go to I'm preaching the gospel if I can. That's what we're supposed to do but you know you can get criticized from fellow believers. You can get criticized by people that don't understand that concept. You can get criticized by your family. You can get criticized by your friends. And you know there is a natural division that takes place between believer and unbeliever and worldly Christian and believer. Because some people might, although they might be saved, they might just be really worldly or really just don't care about the things of God as much as you do. And then they'll criticize you because they feel inferior to you or because they just think you're a loon. You know they think they're just you know what do you think about Nehemiah? Was he a good man of God or was he a loon? I mean sometimes in the book of Nehemiah he seemed pretty zealous right when he's pulling people's hair and slapping people around. You know he does do that in the end of the book. He's just fed up you know but anyway we don't want to allow the criticism by other people to stop us from getting the work done. See that's what people do. Even the enemies of God will criticize us and try to get us to stop doing the work by just spreading lies and telling things that aren't true. Let's look at Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 19. The Bible says, But when Sambalat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite and Gisham the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us. So they're laughing at them. They're making fun of them and they're despising them. They hate them right? And said what is this thing that you do? Will you rebel against the king? Now you know Nehemiah knows that he's not rebelling against the king because the king's the one that gave him permission to do all this stuff. But see how they just like to throw things out and that kind of stuff will get the attention of other people around them and make them think well are they rebelling against the king? Is this what they're really doing? And this is a bad tactic of the enemy that they try to do to us even to this day. Look at verse 20. And isn't this true? The people that will try to be against us, these people, they have no portion, they have no right, they don't even have a memorial. And I would say that this would fit the people that are just God haters that are going to hell someday. They have no portion with us. They're not going to make it into heaven. They have no right. They have no memorial in Jerusalem but yet they're fighting for the things of Jerusalem seemingly. Like they're trying to keep the people that actually belong there out of there by their tactics. And this is what you see today. You see churches that used to be godly churches a long time ago. Me and my brother Ramon were just talking, I think it was brother Ramon were just talking about this. That you know J. Frank Norris had two big huge churches. One was in Fort Worth and one was in Detroit. The one in Detroit is taken over by basically some work salvation heretics now. And then his other church is a cafe down there. So what happened? Well people didn't continue to build. They just gave up. They quit the work. Once that man was gone then the bad people took over apparently or someone else bought the building. But again it's not the building. But what I'm saying is that we can't stop doing the work because that's what's going to happen. Everything's going to go to waste. Now let's look at Nehemiah chapter number 4 verse number 1. Nehemiah chapter number 4 verse number 1. So what am I talking about now? I'm talking about allowing criticism to stop us from getting the work done. The work of God. Now Nehemiah 4 verse 1 it says, But it came to pass that when Sambalet heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. So he's making fun of them, right? And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, What do these feeble Jews? 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? So again they're trying to discourage them and criticize them and say, What are these guys going to do? Are they going to just build the whole wall in one day? Are they going to revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish which are burned? I mean he's basically saying, You are not going to be able to get this job done. And he's criticizing them for what they're trying to do. And isn't that what people do to us today? They try to criticize us for the works that we're trying to do. You know, we kind of come out of the old IFB so to speak. And just, you know, we want to be what the old IFB used to be. You know, a powerhouse of soul winning and hard preaching. And, you know, we care about the things of God. It's not just some money making scam where we're just holding a country club here. And trying to get rich or whatever. That's not what we care about. Again, I don't care about a big church. Our church can stay the same size as it is right now. You know, because I would rather have it the same size as it is right now than to have a bunch of people that don't care about the things of God that are going to be sand bullets and tobias and try to discourage us from doing the work. And try to overturn things and whisper secrets in people's ears in the corners of the church. And things like that. I don't want that. I want a spiritual church. I want a church that cares about doing the work of God. And so here you have this guy Sam Balat and he obviously hates them and doesn't want them to build the wall. And so he's doing anything he can to criticize them to stop the work from getting done. To discourage the people of God that are actually doing the work. And says now Tobiah, the Ammonite, was by him. And he said, even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down the stone wall. You know, he's like, have you ever seen a fox before? Fox, they're skinny, they're sleek, and they're fast. And he's saying if this little fox climbs up the wall, it's going to knock their wall down. So he's criticizing them. He's mocking them and saying, you're not going to get the job done. And you know what? When people try to discourage us that way, we just need to press forward. Look at what it says in verse 4. See, what's Nehemiah's attitude? I mean, you know, sometimes when people say things in the Bible, it doesn't mean that that's how God feels. But we know that God does feel this way sometimes. When there's people that just hate God and they're doing anything they can to destroy the kingdom of heaven. You know, God is not going to cover their iniquity. He's not going to blot out their sin. And these people have provoked to anger before the builders. So they provoke God to anger before the people are doing the work. So God wants the work to get done, doesn't he? God wants the work to get done. And when someone tries to interfere with that work and someone tries to attack that work, it makes God angry. And you know, when God gets angry, bad things happen to people. You know, he's not just the God of love. He also is a God of indignation and wrath and fury. He loves everybody and wants them to be saved. But there comes a time when these people have pushed them too far. And so why is he saying don't cover their iniquity? Aren't we supposed to pray for those that do us harm and all this stuff? See, but we are. But these people are not just the enemy of Nehemiah. These are the enemy of God. And once it becomes an enemy of God, then God doesn't expect us to pray for their good. And Jeremiah, God tells Jeremiah, quit praying for these people. Quit praying for their good because I'm going to destroy them. And he does. So look what it says in verse 6. So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work. So all the things that they're throwing at them are not working. Because why? Because the people had a mind to work. Now we have to have a mind to work in our church. And obviously I know that we do. But we also got to understand that people are going to try to come in and be a Tobiah. They're going to try to come in and be a Sambalat in our lives, and they're going to try to discourage us. And if we have some big project that we're supposed to get done, well you know what? God's going to provide it, or He's not going to. If He doesn't provide it, then that means maybe it's just not the right time to do it. But you know what? When Nehemiah prayed to God for good for him, for the heart of the work that he had to do, God just granted everything He needed, didn't He? And so God will do that in our lives, and hey, if someone's trying to discourage you from being a part of a great church, or from doing great works, they're a Sambalat. They're a Tobiah in your life, and you want to just ignore that person. That's what Nehemiah basically does, and then he just prays to God and says, God, get these people out of my life. So sometimes we can allow the criticism of others to frustrate us, and try to cause us to give up the good works that we're doing. We need to fight through that criticism, we need to fight through that adversity, and we as God's people need to have a mind to the work. Number three this morning, don't allow enemies to stop your work. Now, granted, these guys are their enemies, I understand that, but it was their criticism that they were doing, they were trying to discourage them through criticism. But now, when they realize that criticism isn't working, and they had a mind to work, and they're halfway done with the project, right? See, you can just kind of count on it, when you're halfway done with a project, you know, when you're doing great things for God, and you're halfway done, you're going to have some criticism, you're going to have some actually people do more than criticize, you're going to have them do physical things and threatenings in order to stop the work from getting done. So we need to not allow that to happen. So let's look back at Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 10, and these people are not just the enemies of the Jews, they're not just Nehemiah's enemies, but they're the enemies of God. Because, you know, Nehemiah probably would not pray for their sins to not be forgiven if they actually had redeeming qualities in them. So, Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 10 says, When Sambalat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. What are they mad about initially? That they're mad because Nehemiah has a mind to come and help the children of Israel, to help the kingdom of God, and it's just building a physical wall. But you know what, they had a lot of enemies and they needed that protection, and so he has this thing in his heart that he wants to do, and automatically the enemies of God are going to stop, try to show up and stop you from doing that great work. And you know what, they'll go as far as physically trying to harm you, they'll go as far as trying to get you in all kinds of trouble with the law, or with your work, or whatever it is, they're going to try to do anything they can to stop that work from getting done, and it gets uglier than just criticism. Look at verse 7 in Nehemiah chapter 4, let's go back to Nehemiah chapter 4, and let's look at verse number 7. So Samblat and Tobiah, they're mad, they're grieved exceedingly that there was a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. So apply this to modern day times, we are the spiritual nation of Israel if you're saved today, we are children of Abraham by faith, the Bible says, so apply this to modern day today. There are Samblats and Tobiahs today that are exceedingly grieved that people want to help the children of Israel today. People get upset when there's men of God that rise up and start new churches, or great works are being done in different countries, and many multitudes of people are being saved and baptized, and then you have the Samblats and Tobiahs that rise up and try to stop the work. Look at verse number 7, it says, but it came to pass that when Samblat 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, the work is getting done, everything that they've tried isn't working, then they were wroth. What does that mean? They were very angry, they were very upset, because no matter what they're throwing at these guys, they're still getting the job done. So it says, and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it. So modern day today, people that hate our church, they all rise up together and they conspire amongst themselves together to try to take our church down and other churches like us. Why? Because it grieves them in their hearts. It upsets them. They can't sleep at night, except they've done some kind of wicked thing and brought some kind of wicked device against us, against people in our church. I mean, they'll even attack our church members who have nothing to do with some of these fights and they'll just make videos about people, they'll make comments about people, they'll lie. And this happens today. Satan's game plan has never changed. This is how he attacks. When the work's getting done, Satan is coming against us as an adversary and he's using all of his children of hell in order to help accomplish this thing. There is a spiritual world that we cannot see and spiritual entities that we don't know are there because we can't see them, but they're there, folks. Has anybody ever actually seen Satan in this room? Have you ever seen Satan in this room? Don't tell me if you have. I don't want to know about your deals. No. But I mean, nobody in this room has seen Jesus. Nobody in this room has seen God the Father because you'd be dead, right? We can't even look on the face of God the Father or we would die. Jesus is in heaven and He's not coming back until the appointed time. He said He was coming back. I believe He's coming back. The Bible says He's coming back, but in the meantime, He left us here to do the work. The work is to seek and save that which is lost. Obviously, there's all kinds of works that we do besides just that, but again, that's the main thing. And if Satan and his minions could get us to stop knocking people's doors, to get us to stop trying to reach people that are deceived, then that's a win for them. Because in the book of Revelation, the Bible talks about how the Church of Ephesus, if they didn't get right and start doing the first works again, it says you've lost your first love. Do the first works. What are the first works? Well, when Jesus saw the men, you know, Andrew and John and James and all those guys are fishermen, right? And He said, come follow Me and I'll make you to become fishers of men. That's the first works. That's what He trained them to do. He trained them to preach. He trained them to go forth and preach the gospel. He commissioned the twelve and said, go out, and then gave them certain items that they're allowed to have, but they weren't allowed to have money and things like that, and God took care of them all the way. God is expecting us to do the same thing, to go out and preach the gospel to as many people as we can, and He said we have to do the first works. Okay? So to prove that we love Jesus, He says in Revelation to do the first works, because when you care about other people, when you care about your neighbor as yourself, when you care about someone else that's going to hell, then that shows that you care about Jesus. That shows that you're willing to keep His commandments and do the things that He said are the first works. Okay? So why do we talk about so much of this church? Because it's the first works. And you know what? If we stop doing the first works, we cease to be a legitimate church. In case you haven't noticed, there is no on fire, soul winning machine of a church in the place where Ephesus used to be. That place is a ruinous heap. So obviously they didn't, at some point, they fell down, they failed to do what they were supposed to do, and that place is no longer a church. Okay, so he said, I'm going to take your candlestick, which is the Holy Spirit that represents the Holy Spirit in the book of Revelation. You know, these seven different churches, you know, you've got the menorah or whatever, the lamp that has all these different, you know, the Spirit of God is what lights up every church. And he said, you know what? If you don't repent and do the first works, I'm going to remove your candlestick away. Once God does that, you might call yourself a such and such church, you might have people that show up, but if you're not doing the works, then you're not a legitimate church. God's going to take that candlestick away and you're going to cease to be legitimate in his eyes. Okay, that was a long explanation of that, but look what it says in verse, am I in verse number eight? Help me, brother Bill. Was I in verse number eight? Okay. So these guys are very raw, they're upset, and it says, and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it. Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. And Judah said, the strength of the bearers of the burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish so that we are not able to build the wall. So they're really getting, they're really trying to damage them here and threaten them with physical violence, right? And it says, and our adversary said, they shall not know, till we come in the midst of among them and slay them and cause the work to cease. So isn't that what they're threatening to do? They're threatening to kill them so that the work will cease. They don't want the work to get finished. You know, and today we have enemies that don't want the work to get finished. They want us to cease the work, they want this church to cease to exist by all the things that they're doing, and when it comes to violence, they'll do it. They blew up First Works Baptist Church. But see, it's just the building. They moved to another location. Bye. The work still continues there. You know, you got all these freaks and weirdos protesting Pastor Shelley's church, but guess what? They're still having church every week. And even when they got kicked out of their building because of a wicked landlord, guess what? They still had church every single week. It never ceased. You know, and so we have to have a mind to work, you know? And so what if they throw us out of a building? Or whatever they do, we still have to meet, we still have to get the work done. So, it says in verse number, let's see, 11, and our adversary said, they shall not, oh, I already read that. Verse 12, and it came to pass that when the Jews which dwelt by them came and said unto us ten times, from all places whence he shall return unto us, they will be upon you. Therefore I said, therefore said I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places I even set the people after their families with their swords and their spears and their bows. And how can that translate to us today? Well, you know what? The Lord has called us to be into His army. You know, you don't realize this, but God called you to be a soldier. You know, and we're supposed to endure hardness sometimes, and soldiers fight, don't they? But see, our battle is a spiritual battle. We don't fight with regular, with real swords and whatever. We fight a spiritual battle. And so we have to understand that the battles are going to come, folks. The battles are going to come, and guess what I've learned after being in the ministry for six years? That there's always another battle coming around the corner. There's always another fight coming around the corner. So we always have to be ready with our swords and with our spears and with our bows, spiritually, okay? I'm not telling you to take up arms against people. I'm saying spiritually, because in the Old Testament they did fight those types of battles, but in the New Testament we're not supposed to be, you know, we're supposed to be nonviolent, okay? So it says, And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, be not yet afraid of them. Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible. Remember, God is greater than anything that the enemy can throw at us. And even though it seems like we're getting beaten, we're not getting beaten. Even if we did get killed, which is a possibility someday, you know what? We still win, because guess what? We're going to heaven. And those people are going to be punished. And you know what? God can repay better than anybody else can. You know, when we take things into our own hands and try to make revenge against our enemies, you know, Samson kind of did that, where it's like, you know, they did something bad to me. I'm going to do something bad back to them. But Christ told us to not do that. You know, we're supposed to just fight. We're going to fight a battle, but it's going to be a spiritual battle. It's going to be preaching. It's going to be door-knocking. And when we go out with the full armor of God on, and we take this sword, and we knock on doors, and we preach the gospel to people, you know, we're going against the gates of hell. Everything is trying to stop us. But, you know, we have all these spiritual things happening. I mean, how many times have you been at a door, you know, and you're preaching the gospel to somebody, and some, you know, little kid, which, you know, God bless them or whatever, but they come, and they're like, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, and they're just like constantly trying to bother you, or bother the mom so that they can't hear. The dog is barking. The cat's behind the microwave, or whatever it is. Whatever the excuse is, they don't want to hear. You know, we're fighting a spiritual battle. It might seem like physical things are happening, but those things are spiritual. So, we can't be afraid of them. The Lord, we need to remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and it says, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. So, we're not just doing a great work here, but we're trying to build families for a better tomorrow. You know, this world's saying, go kill your children, murder your children. But what does the Bible say? Be fruitful and multiply. We want our families to be fruitful and multiply. You know, and if you've already made mistakes in that area, you know what? Just, you know, support other people that are. Don't go, well, how many kids are you going to have? Are you really going to homeschool your kids? You know, the homeschooled kids are smarter than the kids in public school. As long as you're teaching them right and doing what's right. They're going to be smarter than the kids in public school. Most of those kids in public school couldn't even point to America and is thinking that you could show them that map back there and they're like, where's Africa? I have no idea. Because they're teaching them more about sodomy than they are about actual studies in, like, math and geography and history and all this stuff. But what are they trying to show you? Well, hey, do you know what my proper pronouns are? Do you know, I'm a he, she, it, they dog, cat, monkey. I got the litter box in the room. I'm a cat, meow, meow. That's the kind of stuff that's going on in public schools and they're not even telling the parents about it. You know, my dogs, you know, my kids a lizard and they won't even let me have a terrarium in here. I don't understand what's going on. You guys, whatever you want to be and you're magically that. Everybody knows you're not a cat, you idiot. You don't look like a cat. You don't, you know, if I pet you, you don't purr, whatever. You know, you scratch your belly and they call you. I mean, they might do that, but. We live in a world that's turned upside down, folks, and it's getting worse. Because nobody's standing up for the truth anymore. So it says, so we got to build, you know, a great family for the Lord. We want our children to be in succession to us and to rise up and build this next generation. Because we're going to get too old someday. We're going to get too old to knock some of these doors. We're going to get, you know, we're going to get less zealous in our age sometimes. And, you know, it's just a fact. It just happens. I mean, you can, some people are zealous all the way until the day they die, but not everybody is. King David's laying in a bed, you know, having to be warmed up by somebody and doesn't even realize his other son that's not supposed to be the king is running around acting like he's the king. So, you know, we got to understand that building our family the best way we can, God's way is a very great work also. And it came to pass, verse 15, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us that God had brought their counsel to naught that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. 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 spears and shields and the bows and the haberdrons and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which built it on the wall and they which bear burdens with those that laid it, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work and the other hand held a weapon. So get the picture here. This is what's happening. Half the people are guarding and being soldiers while the other half are actually doing the work. And those people that are doing the work have a sword in one hand and like a trowel in the other hand ready for an attack. But you know what? That's how church life can be sometimes. Sometimes we're in the middle of a battle but we still got to get the work done. We can't just take our mind off the work, take our mind after what God wants us to do. We just have to figure out ways to get the work done while we're fighting the battle at the same time. And it seems to be that that happens a lot of times. And as a pastor I've learned that that happens too. You can be in the middle of a raging battle but you know what? Soul winning still got to happen. The anniversary services still have to happen. The preaching in different places. Just all the different things that have to get done have to still get done in the middle of a battle. So we can be holding the sword in one hand and preaching the Bible with the other. So, look, there's a lot of great work that we have to do. And it says, and they builded the wall verse 17 and they that bear burdens with, okay, verse 18. I'm sorry, I keep doing that. For the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And they said unto the nobles, unto the rulers, unto the rest of the people, the work is great and large and we are separated upon the wall one from another. And so this is a dangerous place to be in where I mean, if you think about it, if you think of this as different local churches, you know, we're still doing the same thing as that other church is but we're separated and so we're far from one another sometimes but you know what? We still got to get the work done. We still have to have the sword in our hand. We still have to be ready for the battles. And it says, in what place therefore you hear the sound of the trumpet resort you thither unto us, our God shall fight for us. And see when one church is going through a battle, we got to make sure that we're ready with the trumpet to help them. You know, they blow the trumpet and we're there to support other churches. We're there to support other things that are going on in different churches and praying for those people. You know, we got to pray for each other. It's more than just us and our life going on. And it might seem like your life is the one that's going through this main turmoil and sometimes it is. But you know, sometimes we got to think about other people other than ourselves. What other people in our church are going through? What other churches are going through? What other people in those churches are going through? Let's remember to help them and pray for them too. And so we labored in the work, verse 21, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. Can you imagine that? That's the battle that they're in. Likewise, at the same time said I unto the people, let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem that in the night they may be a guard to us and a laborer on the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes saving everyone put them off for washing. So they just worked and guarded and defended and they would take off their clothes when they started stinking and needed to wash their clothes, right? So they're just working really hard. And this is a picture for us too. When we're working, let's work hard. If you're doing something around here, why not get it done fast? Don't you like to get things done faster? I notice the one thing I like to do at work is I like to get in when it's cool and get the work done. And so the hardest parts of your day are already done, then the sun starts blazing on you. That's the best way to do things is to get it done fast because you never know what's going to come for the rest of the day. You get this emergency call, you get something that happens that, you know, and you've already got the main bulk of your work done, that's good. But these people are just working day and night. And, you know, as God's people, the Bible says, six days shall thou labor. So, you know, and that was an Old Testament command. You know, we're not even really commanded to have to only do six days. We could do seven if we want. And, you know, if we get, if we break the Sabbath or whatever, we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore. That's what the New Testament says. So, anyway, let's turn over to Nehemiah chapter 6. Nehemiah chapter number 6. I know that was a long bit of scripture, but it just goes to show you know, the enemies will do anything they can to stop the work, but we have to be there to resist them and to fight this battle that is the fight of faith. Right? The fight that God's called us to fight and it's a spiritual battle. Look at Nehemiah chapter 6 verse 1. Now it came to pass when Sambalet and Tobiah and Gisham and the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had builded the wall and there was no breach left therein, though at the times I had not set the doors upon the gates, that Sambalet 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, the walls are done, but the doors are not put on the gates yet, and they're just like, well let's just see what we can do now, because nothing else worked. They tried to scare them and intimidate them and say they're going to kill them, and now he's like, well let's just meet, let's just live and let live and be friends again. You know, but they've never been friends to them. So, Nehemiah's not a dummy, he's not going to just meet with these guys, knowing that they're going to probably have some thing of mischief going on, so they say, let's go meet in the plain of Ono, and he's like, oh no, I'm not going there. It's not happening. That joke will never get old as long as I preach this verse. Anyway, I love that verse. But anyway, it says but they thought to do me mischief. So, look, don't just make pacts with people that you know, or try to make friends with people after they've tried to do all this stuff to destroy you. You know, obviously, you can forgive them or whatever, but you don't have to be friends with them. You don't have to meet with them in some location or whatever. It says, 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? So, what is he what are they trying to do? They're still trying to get the work to cease. They will do anything. The enemies of God will do anything to get the work to cease, and they were going to kill him, and he knew it. Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner. And what was the same thing that you kept saying? I'm doing a good work. I cannot come down. Why should the work cease? Don't let the work cease. Let's get the work done. It says, then sent Sambalet his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand. So, they sent four times and the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, like this, wherein it was written, it is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith, 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 hast also appointed prophets to preach 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, let us take counsel together. So, basically they're making up this lie to make it seem like hey, you know, the government now is against you, and you know, let's go take a secret counsel together over this. But what are they trying to do? They're trying to get him in a place where they can kill him again. Why do they want to kill the leader? Because he's the one that's motivating the people to do the work. So, they're always going to come after the leader. They're always going to lie about the leader. They're always going to make stuff up and try to get the leader destroyed so they can kill him. Right? Whether that's spiritually, whether that's getting the work stopped, or whatever it is, whether it's physical death, they're going to try to kill the leader. Then I said unto them, verse 8, There is no such thing as done as thou sayest, but thou faintest them out of thine own heart. So, he's like, I know you're lying. You know, you're just making stuff up. You're pretending that this thing is happening and it's not. And it said, verse 9, For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be taken from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. See, when you're in a situation where you don't know what to do, just ask God to strengthen your hands. You know, because when you feel weak, God can make you feel strong. Because He's strong. You know, His arm is never going to wax short. His arm is always going to be as strong as it always was. Now, we as men and women, we're going to have a point in our lives where we're the strongest we'll ever be, physically. But at some point, as a man, you're going to lose that strength in your arm. You're going to lose maybe some stature. You know, people always say, well, I used to be this tall, but now I'm this tall. And that just happens by gravity and whatever. But God's always strong. We can always count on Him. We can always be strengthened by Him. We can always, you know, when we're having a hard time, and we don't know what to do, sometimes all you can do is just say, God, would you help me? Would you strengthen my hands please? Afterward I came into the house of Shema, verse 10, of Shemaiah, the son of Deliah, and the son of Mehetabul, who was shut up, and he said, let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. 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. So see how they're just trying to make this, Nehemiah be afraid, the leadership be afraid. They're just constantly just bombarding with all this stuff. 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. So he's basically saying, I'm not afraid. I'm not going to go hide in the temple. I'm going to stand up and continue to do the same things I've been doing. And lo, I perceive that God had not sent him, but that He pronounced this prophecy against me, for Tobiah and Sambalet had hired him. So you'll even have people that, the enemy, like pastors or preachers that stand with these enemies in order to try to destroy you. Gotta watch out for that too. Therefore was he hired that I should be afraid and do so and sin that they might have matter for an evil report that they might reproach me. See, the enemy wants you to be afraid. They want you to be afraid to come to this church. They want you to be afraid to go soul wanting. They want you to be afraid to do the great works that you're doing. They want you to be afraid to raise your family normally in this world. They want you to be afraid of that. But look, God is on our side. God is going to help us and we need to not be afraid because that would be a sin for us to be afraid. We shouldn't be afraid of anybody else but God. My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sambalet according to these, their works, and on the prophetess Nodiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear. Not everybody that says they believe in God or not everybody that says they're a pastor, not everybody that says they're a church necessarily is on God's side. I mean, you can go over across the river and there's some here too that have their rainbow flags streaming from the walls and let me tell you something, that's not of God. Any church you see with that on the wall, just don't go there. Because there's up to some serious wickedness. They got Tobiah and Sambalet in their church. So sometimes we get focused on fighting the battles and the good works can suffer because of that. So we need to make sure that while we're going through battles that we don't just focus on the battles, but we also remember that we still have work to do even though we're going through a hard battle. And never forget that we are soldiers and slash builders at the same time. Because what was Nehemiah doing? He was heading a construction project. Yet he's also the most spiritual man there and he's their leader and their motivation to get these things done, but at the same time he's building some walls. He's trying to make sure everything's done right and at the same time arming soldiers to help fight the battle. I mean, we have a lot of hats to wear sometimes and sometimes we got to build, sometimes we got to tear down, sometimes we got to fight, sometimes we're in peace. But we have to fight to build at the same time a lot of the times. Point number four is my last point. Don't allow your own desires to stop the work. Don't allow your own desires to stop the work. So in Nehemiah, towards the end of the book I said that he kind of gets a little rough with some people. Look at Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 15. So even though everything is succeeded and now he's still leading these people, now the outside influences come and try to cause problems with the congregation and even some of the priests and Levites are messing things up. The so-called religious leaders at that time are messed up and they're doing things contrary to the law of God. Look at verse 15. It says, So this is on the Sabbath day. It says, So these people aren't supposed to be bringing this stuff in. The children of Israel aren't supposed to be being tempted by these outside influences and this time they did have to keep the Sabbath day. But they're so used to just living their worldly life, when they start to get back involved the world's going to come at them and try to bombard them with all the stuff that they used to lust after, that they used to be into. But see Nehemiah is a great leader and he's like reminding them, hey, this is, you know, we're still the people of God. They're doing stuff wrong on the Sabbath day and he's rebuking even the people that are actually bringing it to them. They're not necessarily, you know, because if we say, hey, well we have church to go to on Sunday, that's just something I don't miss and your boss is like, no, you're going to miss it. You work for me. It's like, no, that's not what we agreed to because when you tell people, you know, when you start off at a job, then all of a sudden you get spiritual and you've already worked every Sunday for the last three years. I mean, obviously you can fight that battle as you go but God wants you to be in church. God wants you to be, you know, in church on whatever the doors are open, we should be there and we need to, you know, make sure that we're following the things of God, not just saying that we believe that stuff but actually believing it. Because if you're just trying to get out of work on Sunday but normally you just don't care, then they're going to call you on that. Just like during the COVID stuff, how they were saying like well, I saw some people's religious exemptions were saying like do you take aspirin? Do you seek medical advice when you're hurt and stuff like that? And what they're trying to get you to do is try to say, well you just won't take this because you just don't want to take this vaccine but then you take aspirin, you know, you hypocrite or whatever but that's not the same thing. You take an aspirin because you're hurt. You take an Advil because you're inflamed or hurting or whatever, you know, you don't pre-take stuff that you don't know what it's going to do to you. But anyway, that's just kind of, and so if you think about it like that, they're trying to, you know, we can't be hypocrites about how we do things. You know, don't say I have to be at church and then just decide to work overtime when you know you should be in church. That's what I'm saying. So anyway, that's what these people are doing. He's contending with them and it says, verse 16, And they brought fish and all manner of wear and sold on the Sabbath day unto the children of Judah and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said unto them, What evil thing is this that you do in profane the Sabbath day? So they don't go after the worldly people, they're going after the people of Judah who are actually buying the stuff that they're not supposed to be doing on that day. Did not your fathers thus and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city, yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. And it came to pass when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut and charged that they should not be open until the Sabbath. And some of my servants also are, excuse me, set I at the gates and there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day. So the merchants and the sellers of all kinds of wear lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them and said unto them, why lodge ye about the wall? If you do so again I'll lay hands on you. From that time forth they came no more on the Sabbath. So these store keepers, you know, they're like, they're still just trying to hide out there and try to sell their stuff and they think that Nehemiah's bluffing. But Nehemiah is true to his word and how he operates and he's like, hey, if I catch you out here again, I'm going to lay hands on you. And what's he talking about? He's going to physically do something to them, right? So he's pretty upset about this. He's like, I'm going to lay hands on you. When he's talking about laying hands, he's probably going to grab them by the hair and throw them out or beat them up or whatever. He says, and I command the Levites that they should cleanse themselves. And they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me, O God, concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy. In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod of Ammon and Moab. And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod and could not speak in the Jews' language but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them and cursed them and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair and made them swear by God, saying, you shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons or for yourselves. So what is my point here? Well, we shouldn't allow our own desires to stop us from the work because why is he telling the Levites they need to cleanse themselves? You know why? Because they've defiled themselves. They've marked themselves unqualified to be Levites and priests anymore. And so he's like, hey, the ones that actually whose names are kept track of, who didn't marry heathen, cleanse yourselves. And basically he had to put out a whole bunch of them from the priesthood because they had let their children marry the heathen, basically. And so they lost track of their genealogy so they weren't allowed to continue. And look, this should just help us to understand that even though we've won the battle, we've built the wall, there's still more battles to fight even after this. Really, in reality, we're never going to be quit. The building project is going to go on forever. As long as we're a church, you know, you go to churches where they go, well give to the building project. And that building project takes a long, it's like government work, it just takes forever to get done, right? We're not going to do that here, but what I'm saying is we're going to have a spiritual building project that's never going to end. We're never going to be done. Just like Nehemiah wasn't done. He built the walls, he put up the doors, you know, everything is going, now he's trying to make sure that the people that are part of this are actually doing what they're supposed to do. So he's checking people, right? He's like, don't bring that stuff in here on the Sabbath day. Don't sell your goods to our people. Hey, you people that are buying it, you're not right with God. Hey, you priest, quit allowing your daughters and sons to marry the heathen, which, you know, he commanded to cleanse them. And then, you know, that last verse there, I would say obviously I'm not going to contend to the point where I'm cursing you or slapping you around or pulling your hair or making you swear to God because the Bible says to swear not. You know, did he get a little overzealous here? Yeah, he did, okay. But again, just because this is written in the Bible doesn't necessarily mean that everything he did was right. So this is like a historical book here. And so he didn't necessarily do everything right, but his zeal to do things right for God was what was right. So I'm not going to slap you around. I'm not going to make you divorce your wife. I'm not going to, you know, pluck your hair, pull you around by the hair. Come here. You know, I'm just like, get out of here. You know, I'm not going to physically harm you or do anything like that. But I might do it from the pulpit. I might pull your hair from the pulpit and say, what are you doing? What are you doing? I might slap you around with the word of God, but I'm never going to physically do that, okay? And so I think the spiritual application for us is that, you know, sometimes when I get up to preach here and you hear some things that you don't want to hear, don't get mad at me. You get mad, you know, at God if you want to at your own peril. But you know, if something hurts that's preached from this pulpit, I'm not intentionally trying to hurt anybody up here. I'm not like, hey, I'm going to zero in on Anthony today and hopefully he's here and I'm just going to rip his face off today. I'm going to just stand here and preach right at Anthony. You know, I don't do that. That's not my job. My job is to preach the word of God and you know, if you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. But you know what? Don't get mad at me. Don't shoot the messenger. So if I'm pulling your hair spiritually, you know, just get right with God. That's what he's trying to do. He's trying to get these people right with God and these priests that profane themselves and he had to throw a whole bunch of them out. And so you know what that means? Less laborers. You know, he needs laborers to do all this work because you know, cutting up cows every single day is probably pretty hard work. And when you have less people doing it, it's going to be even harder. He's like, what's wrong with you people? You're the people of the Lord. You're the people of God. Get your act together. Right? And so don't allow your own desires to stop you from doing the work because that's what's happening here. They're allowing their own desires to come in and it's stopping them from doing the work. Why? Because the priests couldn't do the work anymore. They stopped themselves. You know what? When we give in to our worldly fleshly desires all the time, it can stop us from doing the work. It can make you feel bad to where you think, well God doesn't want me anymore. He doesn't want to use me anymore. But that's a lie. Because God does want to use you. He's like, let me pull your hair and give you a haircut. You know, all the things that Nehemiah was doing, it seems harsh, but you know when you preach that from the pulpit, people get mad. People leave the church and they're all upset. I can't believe he said that. I can't believe he said that about the litter box or whatever. And it's just like, that's what's going on today though folks. We need hard preaching and we need to do the work. That's why I'm preaching this to you. So you don't get out of the work. You don't let your fleshly desires and your worldliness allow you to get pulled out of the work. Because remember, it's a never ending building program. The building project is going to continue with this church forever. As long as these people are meeting together and you know, I hope there's another generation. I hope there's another man of God that will stand up and lead this church when I'm done. Where are they going to come from? Hey, make sure that you're cleaned up. You have the ability to be the Levite that you need to be or whatever, spiritually speaking here. Look at verse 26. I'm almost done. I'm sorry. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Verse 26. Yet among many nations there was no king like him who was beloved of his God and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, him did outlandish women cause the sin. The smartest man who ever lived. The wisest man that ever lived fell because he allowed outside influences to destroy him. He lost ten tribes. God said that he did evil on the side of the Lord in the end. But God appeared to him twice and loved him. He was obviously, Solomon was saved. But see, you can be saved and your life can still end badly. You can be saved and then the end of your life wasn't as good as the first. We want the first of our life, if anything we want the first of our lives to be bad and the end of our lives to be good. To be right with God. It says, Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God and marrying strange wives. And one of the sons of Jehoi-dah, the son of Eliashab, the high priest, was the son-in-law to Sambalat, the horror knight. Therefore, I chased him from me. So, he's a no-nonsense guy. Sometimes you need a no-nonsense preacher to get up and chase the son-in-law, the sons of Sambalat or whatever, the son-in-law, yeah. We got to chase these people out of here and people can't handle that either. How dare you take out that personal Lord. He was in there to infiltrate for Sambalat. That's what it's saying. Remember them, oh my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, everyone in his business and for the wood offering and at times appointed and for the first fruits. Remember me, oh my God, or good. And I know that was kind of a long sermon. I'm sorry about that. There's a lot to cover there, but you know, these things are for our benefit. You know, you're like well what does Nehemiah have to do with me? Well I tried to break it down so you can understand it. And apply it to our lives now. Because what are you doing on earth for heaven's sake anyway? What are you doing? Are you just in apathy? Have you lost your first love? Get out there, have you lost your first love which is Jesus? Well maybe you need to get out there and do the first works. Maybe you need to get out there and care about somebody else going to heaven and you're like thank you Jesus. I love you Jesus. See because we're supposed to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, minds, soul, and strength. And the second commandment is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Number one, number two. People always say well I'm saved because I love my neighbor. Do you really? When's the last time you told someone about Christ? Do you really love them? So we need to make sure that we have our desires and lust and check because we don't want to get out of the work. Before you know it though, once you give in to all these worldly lusts and once you just give yourself over to the world it's going to knock you out of the work and that's something that just can't happen. But it will happen if you allow it to happen. So hopefully these principles help you from the book of Nehemiah. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for this great book and Lord for the great leader that Nehemiah was. I pray Lord that we'd have a zeal in our hearts to get the work done and have a mind to do the work Lord. I pray you just bless us as we go out today. Help us to be fruitful and Lord that we would water, that we would reap, Lord that we would plant seeds, the seed of the word of God. I pray you just help us as we go our separate ways later and that you would just bless the preaching of your word in the next church service. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of our Lord. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen! Alleluia! Let the glory be freed by the Son of God. Let the glory be freed by the Son of God. Give me a gift bag. Give me a gift bag. Here we go. For God's sins and has cleanse every stain. Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen. you you