Highlights: Nehemiah - Week 3

If you got a Bible, go to Niemiah chapter four. Niemiah chapter four,

and on your way there. I want to tell you what happened between

where we stopped reading last week and where we're starting reading this week. Niemiah

last week, when we finished reading, he had went and scouted out and

developed a plan. He saw what the needs were there as the walls of

Jerusalem were broken down and the gates were burned, and he formulated a plan,

and he met with the elders, he met with those with those who

were in charge of trying to rebuild who were being unsuccessful at it, and

he developed a plan. And I think it's very important that we learned those

principles that he put in place as we moved towards our destiny and build towards

that plan that God has for our lives. It was an immense task that

was at hand, being entire walls were down, the gates were burned,

and the city was just left in ruin. Those that had been in captivity

have returned and they're completely vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. And Neemiah

got a plan, and just like any plan, he began to strategically divide

the wall into pieces. He developed sections, and he appointed groups of people

to work on each section of the wall that as they began to build the

wall, those sections would meet, and when everyone finished their task, the

wall would be complete. I want you to understand that as we move towards

our purpose and our destiny with God, we often only get a big picture

or the first step. And when we see those things, when God gives

us the big picture, it becomes a little daunting. Sometimes it becomes almost

unreachable. When we see those things that God has dropped in our hearts,

think, how can I, little me where I am, ever get to

that place, to that thing that God is calling me to Because it seems

so immense, that it seems so much beyond my skills, so much beyond

my intellect, my resources, and we don't know how to get there.

The step to achieving anything is to break it down into small sections and steps

and tackle those things one at a time. Amen. So I want to

encourage you, as God has been speaking to you over the last couple of

weeks, as we've been in this series on personal leadership through Nehemiah, to

begin to write down those things that God's calling you to and then begin to

strategically think about those first and second steps. Prioritize those things so that you

don't get ahead of yourself, because often when we get ahead of God,

come on somebody, when we get ahead of our plan and we actually create

things that get in our way because we don't strategically take the time to plan

from where we are through Step one. God didn't create animals before he created

the land for them to stand on. Amen. It was a strategic creation

process, and he wants the same thing from us. He will equip,

he will guide, but we need to strategically think about where we're headed.

And as we strategically think about that and write those things down, most spiritual

thing you can ever do. Write it down, and you write those things

down, then a plan comes into place so you can achieve things beyond anything

you ever believed you could achieve. It's one thing to dream and call yourself

creative, but you're not truly creative until you have created something. The dream

is not creative. Creating something is creative. And I want every one of

you to allow that anointing of creation to come out of you, to create

something that doesn't yet exist, or to be part of fine tuning something,

to see away and create a way to do something better, to revolutionize the

way we do things, to be able to carry humanity to a new level,

so that God can place you as a city set on a hill,

so other people can navigate their lives by the thing that they see God doing

in and through you. Do you realize that for a lot of people,

the only Jesus they will see is that Jesus in you. So stop hiding

in by sitting in the shadows, and step out and get ready to do

something great for God. So now we pick up in Nehemiah chapter four,

verse twelve. They're creating the wall. They started building the wall, and

the first adversity comes. How many of you know when you're doing something great

for God, if adversity is gonna come, people are going to get jealous.

Say amen, listen. If you want to see jealous people, you

need to go to a pastor's gathering. Listen, I'm telling you pastors are

the most jealous people in the world. There's more jockey in for position.

You can go to a pastor's convention and have a church of fifty and by

the time you leave, you've grown it to five thousand because every time somebody

says, oh, yeah, we running fifty five, how many you run?

I run fifty six, and then the next one so oh I run

a hound. Oh yeah, you know what, we had one hundred and

one and we know it's lies, but there's just that competitive spirit that goes

because jealousy is a real thing, and we try to protect those things that

are ours. Let me tell you something, nothing here is mine. Everything

here belongs to Jesus. Listen. If it's mine, I have to keep

up with it. If it's Jesus, he has to keep up with it.

Come on, somebody, you want to belong to Jesus because he knows

where you are all the time, and he's right there with you. I

have to take a nap every once in a while. I'm not always there,

but Jesus is. We see that jealousy and fear had begun to rise

up in those kingdoms around the city of Jerusalem, and they began to plot

against the people, and they said, listen, they're building that wall over

there. They're trying to fortify themselves, and we don't want it to go

back like it used to be, because right now we have free access anything

we want, we're able to just go in there and take it. And

they began to devise a plan, and they said, Hey, this is

what we're gonna do. We're gonna hide in the woods. We're gonna hide

in the woods, and we're gonna be able to run out, and we're

gonna be able to kill those people walking or working on the wall before they

even see us coming. And it's gonna strike fear into the hearts of the

other people. It's gonna strike fear, and they're gonna stop building the wall.

They're gonna put down their shovels, they're gonna put down their hammers,

and they're gonna quit working, and things are gonna stay like they are.

Listen, insecure people want things to stay like they are, and they will

try to pull you down, bring fear and discouragement into your life to keep

you from achieving what God has called you to achieve. So in verse nine,

in verse twelve, we see when we pick up in verse twelve near

my chapter four, verse twelve, it says, so it was when the

Jews who dwelt near them came, they told us ten times, from whatever

place you turn, they will be upon us. In other words, Hey,

we're not safe. We know they're coming. They've already told us they're

coming. We're not safe. What are we going to do? Therefore,

I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall at the openings, and

I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears,

and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles,

to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, do not

be afraid of them. Remember the Lord great and awesome, and fight for

your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

He said, I'm gonna I want you to. I want you to

keep working, no matter whether fear grips your heart, insecurity and doubt grips

your heart, keep working because the work is worth it. And then Neamiah

did something that, as as someone looking from the outside end, you may

wonder why he did that. Because why he did it. He sent everybody's

wives and children out to the wall where they were working. The ones that

had the swords and the spears and the bows, their families accompanied them to

the construction site. I began to think, Lord, why would you send

the women and the children of the warriors why would you send them out there?

And I believe the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and he said,

because if the people you care about are there, you'll fight harder than if

it's people you don't know. See, the wives and the children were there

because the warriors were not going to let an invasion happen if they thought they're

loved ones. We're gonna be injured in the skirmish. And the reality is

that we have gotten to that place in building something great and in personal leadership

where we have to understand that our purpose is never about us. Let me

say that again, Your purpose is never about you. God's not trying to

bless you just so you can have more money. God's not blessing you so

you can have a bigger house or a nicer car. He's not blessing you

so that you can get a massage every Friday afternoon. Come on, somebody.

God is blessing you so that you can pull other people up towards greatness.

God is blessing you so that you can distribute to those that aren't as

far along in the journey as you are. And the moment we fall in

love with the people, the purpose is for the harder we fight discouragement,

the harder we fight against those who are trying to bring us down, because

we know it's not just about us, it's about somebody else. And we

fall in love not with the purpose, but the people that the purpose is

for. What makes me do what I do. I love y'all. Look

at your neighbor and say, Pastor loves you. But here's the reality.

If this is gonna sound terrible, but it's too late, I put in

my notes and everything didn't wrote how bad it's that, So I'm getting ready

to say it. Amen, if every one of y'all died right now,

y'all going to heaven. You're going to heaven. If you've trusted Jesus as

your savior, asking to forgive you of your sins, Madam, the lord

of your life, you are going to heaven. Somebody shout the reason we

keep building the wall, the reason we hold the sword. It's not about

you. It's about those who have not yet found Christ, because they may

not go to heaven when they die if they haven't accepted Him yet. So

we keep stacking the blocks, we keep building the wall because we love those

who have not yet found Jesus. Because our mandate is to help them experience

God. And when we are fall in love with the people that the purpose

is for, we never lose sight of the vision because it's not some abstract

thing now, it's a face that will die and go to Hell if we

don't achieve what God has called us to achieve. You know, I probably

I don't know that i'd give my life for a Bilden, but I give

my life for the people in the building. You know that thing that God

is speaking to you about, that idea that God is speaking to you about.

Whatever it is, there are people tied to it in some way.

God's speaking to you about starting a business. God's speaking to you about going

back to school. He's speaking to you about whatever it is. Maybe he's

speaking to you because there are some people that are going to go without if

you don't succeed and you don't begin to chase after what God has called you

to chase after. Maybe maybe your purpose is linked to to that one kid

we speak to teachers. For just a second, Maybe your purpose is connected

to that one kid that you go to school every day and the kid just

seems little more down than everybody else. Each and every day. But there's

some fear in your heart. There's some some fear somewhere that says, I

can't talk to him about Jesus, I can't talk to her about Jesus.

And that fear is holding you out of your destiny because your destiny is not

actually your job. Your destiny is about a soul. It's about a life

that's called to reach the multitudes. You know, I enjoy this story because

it it lets me know that that on those weeks where you make the altar

call and nobody comes, come on somebody, that it's it's not that everything

was a failure. This uh, This man worked at a shoe store and

he felt God calling him into ministry, felt him calling him into the field

of evangelism. So every single day when he worked at the shoe store,

he would talk to people about the Lord. He would talk to pastors.

His ultimate his ultimate desire was to go and preach large camp meeting services like

you saw Billy Graham do on Tell, like he almost gave away the story,

like he saw televangelists and saw other evangelists do. And one day a

local pastor invited him to come and run a revival at his church. The

man was so excited and he came on that first night and he preached his

heart out and he made the altar call, and nobody came. He went

home. He was discouraged, but he still had that I'll get him tomorrow

night attitude. Come on somebody. So he preached that second night. He

preached his heart out and with a great emotional appeal. He made an appeal

for people to come and accept Jesus is their Lord and savior. And nobody

came. And he talked to the pastor and he said, listen, Pastor.

He said, I just don't think this is working fast to know we

need to finish the revival. You got two more nights. Just come on

back tomorrow night. You're preaching great. Just believe God, great things are

going to happen. On that next night of the revival, preached his heart

out, He made an emotional appeal for the altar, and one eight year

old boy walked down to the altar and he knelt and gave his heart to

Jesus. Man was still discouraged because, after all, was just an eight

year old boy. The next night he preached, he made the altar call,

and nobody came to the Lord, and he retired from ministry that night

and never preached again. Here's the amazing thing. That eight year old boy

was Billy Graham. That eight year old boy one more people in the first

world than anybody has ever led to salvation because his vision and his purpose was

to be the instigator, the connector. He had an origin story. It

was not for him to see the multitudes. It was for him to see

those that would go on to do great things. See, your purpose is

tied to people, and if you can see the people beyond the purpose,

then you will powerfully lead towards God's calling on your life. Nehemiah positioned these

families there so that the fight would be stronger, so that there would be

a tenacity, so that there would be a place that line in the sand.

Some of us need to draw a line in the sand because we think

that God's plan, in God's purpose, is this abstract thing. We think

it's this mystical idea that well if and listen, we say this in well

meaning we say, oh, well, if you don't do it, God

will get somebody to do it. How many of you have ever had that

spoken to you, or said that to somebody or heard that said. But

the reality is God is calling you to do it. And we turn that

around when people say that well meaning thing, we turn that around and we

think to ourselves, well, if I don't do it, God will get

somebody to do it. Why do I need to step into the unknown.

Why do I need to do the hard things. God's going to get somebody

to do it, because, after all, if it's God's will, it's

going to come to pass. That's what we think. Let me give you

a passage of scripture. It's God's will that none should perish, that all

should be saved. How many now if you know somebody that's died and gone

to hell. If people die outside of a knowledge of who Jesus is,

they go to hell. But the Bible says it's God's will that none should

perish. God's will is not about it having to come to pass. It's

his desire for your life. And when you get involved in his desire,

he empowers you to accomplish everything He's called you to accomplish. But we are

a piece of the story. In One Kings, chapter nineteen, starting in

verse nineteen says, so he departed from there, and he found Elisha,

the son of Shafat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him,

and he was the twelve. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his

mantle on him. The mantle represents the call of God. When you read

the mantle in scripture, it represents the call of God, purpose and destiny

Verse twenty. And he left the oxen and he ran after Elijah, and

he said, please, let me kiss my father and my mother, and

then I will follow you. And he said to him, go back again,

for what have I done to you? Something stirred the young man.

Elijah didn't say anything to Elisha. He walked by. He put a mantle

upon him, and the young man recognized the call of God and immediately knew

I have to leave where I am and go to somewhere else. So he

runs and he says, who whah, Let me go kiss my mama and

my daddy. And he says, I don't let it. Do what you

gotta do. Here's the reality. God is a perfect gentleman. He will

not force you to do anything. God does not possess you. God empowers

you. And he said to him, go back again, for what have

I done to you. So Elisha turned back from him, and he took

a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them, and he boiled their flesh using the

oxen's equipment and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose

and followed Elijah and became his servant. He said, this is a moment

in my life. Elisha recognized that this is that moment. Some of us

get one moment like that. Sometimes we come to the precipice of our destiny

and it happens multiple times, and we know that that next step is pivotal.

And here is what this young man knew. He said, Listen,

I'm a farmer by trade. I'm plowing the field, and I know how

to plow the field. And the only way I'm ever going to chase after

something I don't know is if I get rid of what I know. So

he went he broke his plow into pieces, and he used that plow to

start a fire, and he slaughtered the ox, and he put the ox

over the fire, and he boiled the ox over the plow, because I

can't be a farmer if I don't have a plow and I don't have an

ox, and sometimes I have to kill that thing in order to see that

thing come to life. Sometimes I have to get past that in order to

step into that. So he burned the plow and boil the meat, and

he went on about his business, and he ultimately ended up in his life

receiving a double portion from Elijah. He did twice as many miracles as Elijah

did. Elijha did sixteen major miracles in his life. Elijah did thirty two

major miracles in his life, and we tracked the story of greatness and destiny

through him. But it came down to a pivotal moment, a moment that

was suspended in eternity, that it was there until time caught up to it.

Your purpose and your destiny. That pivotal moment is strategically placed, and

time may not have caught up to it. Yet today may very well be

that day where God is calling you to rebuild the wall. But in order

to rebuild the wall, you got to get rid of some stuff from the

past. You got some stuff in the past that's affecting who you are today,

and that's affecting you in a negative way. Listen, I pulled from

the good stuff of the past all the time, but all the hurt and

all the brokenness, it's time to walk past those things, you know.

When I became when I became the lead pastor at Cornerstone, Pastor Robbie called

me into his office, he said, and I could tell this was not

just another one of those meetings where it was one of those preposterous things that

we often talked about. Like he would challenge me and he would say,

hey, he reamb me, past He's a that's aliens, isn't it.

And he would just stare at me and wait for me to decide and watch

me squirm in the chair. Right because I didn't know which way to bro

I don't know never tried to. I never tried to build a theology about

aliens. I've just never tried to do it. If they show up,

all tell them about Jesus. He sat me down and he looked at me

and he said, hey, now I'm the youth pastor. He looked at

me, and this is the way phrase the question. He said, do

you think your time as youth pastor is coming to an end? And what

I wanted to ask was do you? And I sat there and I stared

at him, and I remember all these scenarios racing through my head. I

just looked at him and I said, yeah, I do, and he

said yeah, I think so too, And I thought, well, where

am I working next? He said, Hey, I believe God's calling me

to Israel, and I believe that that God wants you to be the next

pastor here. But I wanted to make sure that you thought that was over

before I gave you the possibility of what might be next. And three years,

three years later, it happened. Three years I felt like David be

an anointed king and sent back to the pastor. And in those three years,

I wrestled and I believed, and I stayed obedient, and I stood

in my place the whole time. I'm realizing that God had something else,

something more, and I stayed the course until the time came. And I'm

not going to preach through when the time came, because that was a very

weird, confusing time as well that I had to believe God like I've never

believed God before, because suddenly the dream was almost pulled away. Had I

not had a conversation about that being over and knowing what was next, had

I not burned that plow and boil that meat. I had told my boss

I'm not supposed to be the youth pastor here anymore. At any moment,

he could have just hired somebody else that was called to it. Come on,

somebody. You're faced with those moments where you have to step ahead into

the future, even if leaving the pass behind is scary, even if your

identity is wrapped up in it, even if even if if you're funding is

wrapped up in it, even if you're just filling the blank of what's wrapped

up in it, because tomorrow can be better. Some of you have been

playing it safe for so long that you're no longer safe. Clay, you

guys can come and get ready. Let me say that clear. The band

can come and get Sometimes I say that and they don't know what I'm talking

about. The band can come and get ready, Saco Timothy. Chapter four,

verse six, Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy, his son and the

Lord, and he says, for I'm already being poured out as a drink

offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. On the other

side of this thing, he's looking back, and he says, I have

fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the

faith. Now listen, we read that, and somehow in our minds because

he finishes his third thing in the list, it's a list of three things.

That's a list of three different things. And because he ends with I

have kept the faith, we think he said, man, I stayed saved.

I accomplished it all because I stayed saved. That's not what he's talking

about. He said, I kept the faith. The exclamation point on the

end, I'm going to go to heaven. My time is over. I

know it's getting closed. I kept the faith. But in the process of

keeping the faith. The reason I kept the faith is because I fought,

and I fought, and I fought, and I fought, and I fought

the good fight. And I didn't stop fighting, and I kept on pushing

and I kept on doing it. And everything that tried to discourage me,

everything that tried to keep me from pioneering churches, everything that kept me from

building congregations, everything that tried to keep me from doing what God called me

to do, I fought it, and I fought it, and I fought

it. He wasn't fighting to say to stay saved. Just wake up in

love with Jesus. Every day you want to make it to heaven. The

question is not whether you make it. How many people are you taking with

you? What are you building as a legacy? He said, I fought

the fight? Did I finished the race? Said? I know a lot

of people that started the race. When we keep reading this passage of scripture,

you find out the reason he's writing it is because he finds himself alone.

Those close ministry partners that he surround himself with on this journey left him.

And then he looks around. He says, it's not enough to art.

We have to finish. It's not enough just to start. We have

to finish. Everybody, look right here in my eyes. It's not enough

to start. You have to finish what God has called you. Because people

are tied to the finish line. People are tied to the purpose, and

if you stop, they will perish. So that's ridiculous. God has committed

into your hands the ministry of reconciliation. You are the aroma of God.

We'll make the altar call after this last story. I worked with a guy

he uh. He graduated from the Great Florida State University, and he was

he was pioneering a church in the Buford area, and he uh, he

came on staff with us over a cornerstone and people that graduated from Florida's they

have great pride in their university. And uh. John decided he was gonna

run the Peachtree road Race. And he kept saying, he announced it,

he was gonna run the Peachtree road Race. He's gonna run the pe Tree

because and I'd say, hey man, are you training? No, not

jen, And he got closer and closer, and it was like he never

trained. So he comes back into the office the next wing. I'm like,

hey man, how did he go? He said, I almost died?

I said, really, he said, yeah, he said. I

started running, he said. And I didn't run very far, he said,

and everything started going white. I thought I was going to pass out.

I felt like I was going to do he said. It's hot in

July. Said, I know, I know. It's why I don't run

the peach Tree road rays, right, he said. I started running and

I thought to myself, Hey, I gotta quit. I can't make it,

he said, And I came up on this little hill. When I

came up on little hill, he said, I have my FSU shirt on.

He said, I came up on top of this little hill. When

I came up on top of the little hill, there was people standing there

watching the road rays, he said, and they started doing the war chand

and the tomahawk and the job. He said, whoa good job, And

he's like then I started chopping back and I smiled. I just kept running,

he said. And then things went from going white and everything started going

black. He said, like now it's not just light it I'm going unconscious.

Said, I can see these shades trees down there. He said,

I'm just gonna sit down in the grass in the shade. I'm gonna quit,

he said, I get down there. When I get down there,

there's this group a Florida State fan standing on the side of the road,

and they see my shirt and they start doing the chant. They start doing

the chop and I chopped back and I keep running. He said that happened

two other times. Every time I got ready to quit, people started chopping

and chain. I said, what happened? He said, I finished?

I said, you finished the whole thing. He said, y'all didn't run

the whole thing, he said, but I finished. I didn't quit,

I said, because people were chopping. He said, yeah, he said,

because you heard the war chat. Yeah, he said, I couldn't

let down those people. They believed in the same calls I believed in.

Now that that's not spiritual at all, But there is a deep spiritual principle

there that we run, and we keep running, and when we get tired,

we realize that we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses that we

run and when we get weary, we're plugged into a group, and the

group starts doing the chop and starts doing the war chat and continues to encourage

us and continues to push us forward because they love us and they care and

they know that us finishing the race is about people. It's not about saying

we did it. It's not saying about I'm done. It's about all the

people that were touched on the way. Listen, God sending me here to

be your greatest cheerleader. I will cheer you on if you get down,

I will make you laugh. We will help you do everything we can.

That's what those four things are about. Remember that there are faces behind your

purpose, that there are lives and people, and the race is worth finishing

the fight is worth fighting, not just so you get to heaven, but

so you take people with you. I fought the fight, I finished the

race. I kept to the faith, and finally, finally there is laid

up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge

will give me on that day, and not only to me, to all

those who have a loved disappearing. Everybody's staying with me. I think somebody

probably needs to stretch because you're getting ready to run church. Nobody here can

reach everybody. Nobody here can reach everybody, but bless God, together we'll

reach somebody. We'll make an impact in lives. We'll see destiny stern.

We'll see people born again, we'll see people ill. Listen. We're gonna

dedicate more babies. We're gonna baptize more people. We're gonna do all those

things because we're all. I'm going to get a hold of purpose and we're

going to run because today we're burning the plow of more and pulling the meat.

Today we're passing that point in the sind. Now, if you're here

today, you've never asked Jesus to be your savior. You're never asking to

forgive you of your sins, or maybe you did that a while back,

but you've allowed sin to come between you and God. The only way for

you to run without a weight is to lay aside that weight, just to

ask Jesus to wash you clean, to make you new. So when I

count to three, if you want to ask Jesus to be your savior,

you want to rededicate your life to him, I want you to step out

and move when I count to three. I just felt. I just felt

something, and just connect with what I said. Don't wait, don't play

a game, run a race, alter team. Come now. If you're

here and you say today is the day, this was my moment, Pastor,

this was my moment, Pastor. I'm ready to tie the shoes.

I'm ready to run the race and fight the fight. I'm chasing after destiny,

and I'm gonna make a public profession that today it's on. We're gonna

pray for you when I count to three. If that's you, I want

Jesus to cleanse me. Or I'm ready to run the race more. If

it's both, that's great too. When I count to three, I'm gonna

ask you to step out and move. Don't wait. The race already started.

The enemy's already been running. You got to catch him and pass him.

So don't wait, don't wait another week. Start today. On the

count of three, one, two, three, step out and move right

now. Come on, where are you? I'm chasing after destiny. I

want what God has for me like I've never wanted anything. Give me Jesus

or give me Heaven. Give me purpose, give me purpose, Give me

purpose, Give me purpose, give me purpose. Where is that person that

I talked to when I said, hey, you need to make your life

right with Jesus. You hadn't come yet. Just so you know, I'm

avoiding making eye contact with you right now because the Lord showed me a picture

of who you are. So come on, come on, come on,

come on, make your right life with you, Make your life right with

Jesus. Come on. You don't have to play anymore. That's too hard

to do. Step out and come right now, Come on, come on,

come on, hash your clay. You're ready, let's go. Mm hmm