Standing Together! | Dr. John Ewart

Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Inglewood

Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, NC.

Thank you so much for tuning in to our podcast.

You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word

about important issues facing your life that can guide you

according to the Bible. Well, good morning, Englewood.

Listen, I hope that you're safe and sound and warm right now.

Thank you so much for tuning in and watching us here online.

And just continue to pray for the weather.

Continue to pray for those who might be out in it, those who

are working in it, and pray that you're doing well where you are

safe and sound. Listen, I've got a couple of

things to share with you before we dive into Nehemiah Chapter 4.

Nehemiah 4 · chapter mention

First of all, you can download a worship guide if you want to off

of our website. Go to that resource page.

You ought to see a banner, I think on the homepage and you'll

be able to click on that and find that.

Pay attention to some of those things in the worship guide.

There's several signups coming up right now.

You've got the kids camp, you've got the the Valentine's weekend

marriage conference. Don't forget about Prime Timers

Valentine's dinner as well. Also the 252 weekend for

students that you've heard Dylan talk about.

And then also the East Coast Men's Bible Conference.

A lot of things to sign up for right now.

And so I would download that worship guide, really pay

attention to that and then and then sign up for the things that

you need to be a part of. Also, we have a couple of

mission trips coming up in March and I'm looking for about 3 more

people to go on both of these trips.

We have teams, they're going to go the trips, OK, But just to

beef up the teams a little bit, we have a trip to Armenia that

we would love to have folks go to that.

I think we have that one about full.

But here are the 2 that are really probably need some help

with Uganda, which happens March 21st through 30th.

It's going to be a great trip. You're going to go down to the

edge of the Congo. You're going to work with kids,

their opportunities to teach. There's humanitarian as well as

a lot of evangelism. Great opportunity.

Going to work with one of my dearest friends, former student

of mine. So if you're interested in that,

you need to contact Cassidy or me at the church and we can get

you information. Then a little bit later, April

24th through May 2nd, there's a trip to the Middle East.

Don't let that worry. It's a safe place, but it's

incredible work with people who've been displaced and also

refugees from another country, Evangelism, counseling,

humanitarian aid. Once again, it's an incredible

trip working with some of our partners there.

Both of these trips will be so much fun, so, so profitable.

So if you're interested in either one of those, about three

people on each of those trips would be great.

More, more than there now. And, and if money is the big

issue, come and talk to me. Come and talk to me about that

and let's see if we can get you ready to go for that.

And then don't forget midweek. Right now we're scheduled to

have midweek and so we'll obviously let you know if

something changes. But this week we're talking

about engaging the Bible. Had a great crowd last time.

And this week at midweek on Wednesday night at 6:30, I'm

going to talk about how do we actually interpret the Bible in

my personal Bible study as I'm reading the Bible, how do I

interpret that when I'm I'm there engaging with that?

It's going to be a really, really important study.

So I hope that you'll be there. And thank you again so much for

tuning in. Listen, pray for next week's

weather. I don't know if you've been

watching it or not there, some projections are showing snow for

next weekend. So hopefully, hopefully that'll

move away or we'll get it some of the time.

Some pretty smug snow during the week would be great.

And maybe let us be clear on a Sunday so we can get back

together again. That would be fantastic.

Listen, Nehemiah, Chapter 4, you turn there.

Nehemiah 4 · chapter mention

Let me catch up to you. This is a really important study

and I'm so thankful that we've been able to walk through this

incredible book together. Teresa and I grew up in eastern

Oklahoma in a, in an area that sometimes people when they think

of Oklahoma, don't think of this, but it's a lot of lakes

and a lot of rivers, hills and trees.

And, and one of the rivers that flows through there's the

Illinois River. And you, and I've mentioned this

to some of you before, but, but we used to do what were called

float trips. Now, now some of you might do

whitewater rafting. We've done that too.

We've gone to Colorado and we've been to Tennessee and different

places to do, to do whitewater rafting.

This is different. A float trip is using a canoe or

an inner tube and you're literally just floating down the

river. In fact, at times you're

probably getting out of your canoe and dragging it across a

sandbar because the river's so low.

So it's, it's not a, it's not a, it's not a dangerous, exciting

kind of thing. It's a relaxing kind of float

trip down the river as compared to say whitewater rafting.

And, and I always think of that when I think about a couple of

things that sometimes churches struggle with, frankly.

So. So when people or organizations,

including churches, lose their focus along the way or sometimes

chase after the wrong goals, they enter into what we call

mission drift. Or I also talk about mission

distraction. Mission drift drifting is

passive. It's like the Illinois River

float trip. You don't have to do a whole

lot. Yeah, yeah.

You know, your, your, your, your paddle goes in the water every

now and then to steer you along with the flow.

But there's really not a whole lot going on.

It's kind of just an unintended relaxing, floating down the

river thing. And sometimes you have to even

drag the bottom and pull yourself across the sandbar.

So mission drift take a lot of effort.

It didn't take, it didn't take any effort at all to drift.

Mission distraction is different.

That's when you're chasing after the wrong things, where you

intentionally pursue something. It's kind of like squirrel,

squirrel, squirrel. It's that kind of thing where

you're going after stuff that they're not really the most

important things. So often OK things or even good

things may maybe even self perceived vitally important

things. Sometimes they take the

priority. But what happens is, is they

siphon off the clear focus and best energy from the highest,

most important goals and priorities that an organization

ought to be achieving. Sometimes this happens in the

church and, and it's a deception or a deceptive temptation from

our enemy to lure us into this, into this distracting chase.

And it's very common. And so it's something that,

that, that we're always aware of and something we want to defend

against, make sure proactively we're not following into either

drift or distraction, frankly. And so we, we accomplish our

mission. Sometimes in mission

distraction, when we're chasing after what we want, we may

accomplish our mission, but we miss God's mission along the

way. We, we, we seek our agenda, but

not his power and we miss out. So we chase after bumper cars

instead of building a train. So, So here at Inglewood, This

is why we're so trying to be focused, so engaged in an

intentional vision to fulfill the mission of God, to bring him

great glory, to join him in redeeming the nation's and doing

so by by making disciples, multiplying fruit, producing

disciples who love him, love one another.

And, and we want to help each of you and your families to become

more like Jesus. And one of the reasons and one

of the ways we're doing that is by defining discipleship, by

talking about what we call the seven essentials of

discipleship. And we want 100% participation

in this effort. So, so this, this must have

clear and understood value. Do you understand it?

Do you have a clear understanding and value of that

pursuit? Not only for us, but that's also

what our community needs. This massively lost community

around us needs us to be that laser focused.

And, and I just wanted to say this to you.

You're doing very well now. I, I listen, I mean it, you all

are awesome. And I'm not just saying that

Teresa even bought me a shirt the other day.

I almost wore it. I should have wore it.

I should have wore it to be to be recorded here.

But but even she bought me a shirt the other day that says

this pastor has an awesome congregation because we believe

that and we mean that. And I just wanted to say thank

you. You're doing very well.

And I mean that. I know I've been pushing you a

little hard and I know that I've been leaning on you a little bit

in this Nehemiah series maybe. But I and, and I know some

things are changing and sometimes that's hard for some

people. But I just want to say thank you

for your willingness. Thank you for your willingness

to listen and to respond and to follow.

And friends, God is blessing us and we're making great progress.

And I hope you're aware of that. And I hope you stop and thank

him for that because not a lot of people get to be in churches

that are growing and churches that are really reaching and

seeing things happen. In fact, we have baptism

scheduled now and this weather is just kind of making this kind

of keep putting that off a little bit.

But we have multiple people who are ready to be baptized with

multiple people who are ready to join our church and to join us

as we move forward. So thank you so much for that.

And so I'm just, so I'm so thankful for what he's doing.

If you're sitting with somebody wherever you are right now, turn

to them and say way to go and give them a high 5 or a pat on

the back. And if you're all by yourself

where you're listing, give yourself a pat on the back.

And thank you so much for being a part of this To God obviously

be all the glory. He's the one doing this.

But for us to continue to that, for us to continue to take these

next best steps with God that he has for us.

We're leaning and learning from Nehemiah, leaning on and

learning from him. We're we're learning how from

Nehemiah to build his future. We're learning about

restoration. So what does restoration really

mean? And, and the only way we're

going to move forward. Last time we talked about

building together. Now we're talking about standing

together. The only way we can move forward

is if we stand together. So, you know, the Holy Spirit

changing lives, the Holy Spirit's savings people, the

Holy Spirit's seeing people commit to church membership and

involvement in service, that that should result in a huge

celebration. And we want to always be careful

to celebrate it. We've also got to be careful and

we need to beware because frankly, as his revival occurs,

there are also things that come with that.

Sin is also exposed. Truth is taught, the darkness is

pushed back, and his light will shine so brightly that it

reveals reality. And for some people, it's going

to be a difficult moment in their personal lives where

they're they're, they're convicted and they realize I'm

not walking with God the way I should.

And so when revival comes, when restoration really hits, it can

also be kind of a difficult time for people, people, people are

going to fall on their faces before God in repentance and

brokenness. And in the sense of total

dependency, in this realization that I can't lead my life by my

own power, that I'm dependent upon Him, this clear awareness

that I must constantly and passionately abide in and with

my Creator and Savior and let him take over.

So there can there's this interesting combination when God

works, interesting combination of both a deep sense of burden,

a deep sense of, of even guilt or forgiveness, but also of hope

and of peace and of love and joy all at the same time.

So to so to be burdened and joyful at the same moment is an

interesting combination. And sometimes that's the way

revival is. And, and I'll just be frank with

you, when God moves this way and God begins to move his people

and they're responding and you all are responding, we also have

to beware because this makes the devil and his followers furious.

So we, we've got to be aware of this.

They know when it's real. They know when it's more

powerful than they are. They know when it's jerking

humanity out of their grasp, and they will tempt others and

frankly us to try to stop it or to be distracted or to drift

along some other way instead of remaining focused, Right.

In fact, out in this world, anger and confusion are the

world's response to God's work. I mean, you can just listen to

the news lately and the anger, the rage, the wrath, the

protesting, the, the, the, the confusion that's out there.

That's the world's response to God's work as well.

Because he challenges their worldview.

I mean, if he's real, they can't believe what they want to

believe. They got to believe in him and,

and, and challenges their values because they can't control him.

They can't cancel the Holy Spirit in his power.

And so when God is truly at work, he will not be ignored.

He will not be stopped, and he cannot be denied.

In fact, when God really works, we read in Scripture.

When God really works, demons will be cast into herds of swine

who will charge off a Cliff. Sides and whole villages will

know it. But the Bible also tells us that

that doesn't necessarily mean they're all going to believe.

Not everybody will like it. You just wasted my pigs.

That's almost the attitude of some people when they see that,

you know, I've read the end of the book and the book's clear.

Not everybody's going to believe, not everybody's going

to get on board. So man's going to fight God to

the very bitter end, and enemies are going to challenge major

movements of God. Charles Spurgeon once said God

had one sin, one son. Let me say that right?

God had one son without sin, but He never had a son without a

trial. And so God can use these trials.

God can use these challenges to bring out the very best of us.

And in Nehemiah 4, we're going to see that.

So in Nehemiah 4 chapter, chapter 4, verse one, it says

this. Now when Sambalat heard that we

were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged.

See that phrase? Greatly enraged.

And he jeered at the Jews and he said in the presence of his

brothers into the army of Samaria, what are these feeble

Jews doing? Will they restore it for

themselves? Will they sacrifice?

Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out

of the heaps of rubbish and burned ones at that.

And Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him.

And he says, yes, what they're building, if a fox goes up on

it, he'll break down their their Stonewall.

So as we take our next best steps here in 2026, and I'm

telling you it, it's been in between flu and weather, it's

been issuing to get started here in 26, isn't it?

But as we take our next best steps, we need to be aware of a

few things. Let me just share a few of those

things and and you follow along. There's an outline with your

worship guide if you want that. The first thing we just got to

be aware of is opposition and conflict.

So when Nehemiah and the people were serious about God's will

and they really got going in God's will, their enemies became

very serious as well. So Sanballat, who's the governor

of Samaria, was it says it was angry and greatly enraged, or

another translation would say he was furious and very indignant.

The original words mean to become hot.

I mean, in other words, it's to be angry.

But it's not just any anger. This is a high intensity of

anger. This isn't just a normal.

He wasn't just a little upset. He is raging mad.

So he seeks to humiliate, to discourage and to cause doubt.

What are these feeble Jews doing?

So he mockingly, mockingly questions what they were doing

or why they should even try. I mean, listen to the voice.

You're too feeble. You're not good enough.

You'll never succeed. Look around you.

All is hopeless. You can't revive a pile of

burned rubbish, so just give up. You, you can't restore your

purpose. You.

You're never going to find your peace.

So there's not even any use trying, can't you?

That's the voice they're just trying to shout at God's people

and Tobiah the Ammonite joined in by saying even the weight of

a little old fox would smash their little walls.

It's weak, you're weak. All your work is weak.

It's all going to fall and fail. It's interesting historically

and archaeologically, they actually in a dig they had, they

found the foundations of Nehemiah's walls.

I mean, this isn't some made-up story.

This is real. And they found the foundations

of Nehemiah's walls. And they were about 9 feet

thick. And so that would that would

have taken one big old fat fox to break that down.

But, but do we, you know, sometimes in your life, maybe

you hear those voices, maybe you hear those voices inside, or you

hear those voices from others or people in your life who, who

don't want to follow Christ and, and, and you hear that you

can't, you're worthless, you're unlovable, you're unforgivable,

you're of no use. You can never do it.

You'll fail. There's no way you can be used

by God. So just quit trying.

And that the enemy will shout that voice.

The world might shout that voice at you sometimes, but let me

encourage you. In fact, let me invite you to

come and stand together with us here at Inglewood.

Because God is at work and he wants to use us in this work,

and he's doing so. And the people here are

responding. You have great value.

God has a grand purpose for you and for us together.

And we welcome you to be part of that effort.

We welcome you. Just like folks who are going to

be joining our church very soon. People getting baptized, people

are going through, new member present, people are joining us.

They're getting on board. So shut out those voices and

join God's people and their future.

So, you know, I used to be bothered in my younger days.

I used to be bothered. Can you believe it or not?

I was younger once. I used to be bothered by

unbiblical unchrist like opposition criticism.

And then frankly, I grew up and and understood that what it was

and where it came from. I recognized when God doesn't

work, I have to expect it. I can't be naive.

The enemy will work to try to stop God and the enemy will lie

to us. He'll tell us how weak we are,

how unworthy our effort is, and attempt to force us to believe

that the task before us, it's just impossible.

It's too big, it's impossible. But my friends, I'm here to tell

you I believe in the God of the impossible.

I believe in the God of gigantic things, who wants to do

something, hear his voice, hear his voice of truth and grace

instead. So these former enemies, it's

fascinating when you understand the backdrop here, these former

enemies and competitors who should be fighting one another

over control of the region, Instead they join forces.

People like Sambalit and Tobiah they hate would have hated each

other in any other context because if Jerusalem's

fortified, if it's re fortified, they're going to lose control

over the whole region and they know that.

So they had to try to stop it. So this common thread, a threat,

this common danger to them, and this is true in life, often

brings together strange teammates who will join together

against God and His work. It's kind of like Herod and

Pilate in the trial of Jesus. Luke 23 shares a verse, verse

12, and it says this. And Herod and Pilate became

friends with each other that very day, for before this they

had been at enmity with each other.

So, so the perfect life of Jesus and what they saw and what they

were trying to do to stop him 'cause his enemies to unite.

And so sometimes I wonder, are we living enough like Jesus to

even catch, to even catch Satan's attention?

Are we worthy of his opposition as he seeks to stop it because

he knows God is at work at Inglewood?

Winston Churchill once said historically he said you have

enemies. Good.

That meant you stood up for something sometime in your life.

So let's look at Nehemiah's response to these, this mocking

this, these accusations. Look at verse 4 here, O here, O

our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their

own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they

are captives. Do not cover their guilt.

And let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they

have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

Wow, what a response from the leader.

I mean, going to God in prayer was Nehemiah's primary weapon.

You're just going to. It's going to be consistent

throughout the whole story, from the first chapter to the end.

Nehemiah asked God to fight for them.

Now, one of the things that we're trying to teach here.

In fact, I'll be doing a whole midweek series about this later.

Is is that we believe one of the most important essentials of

discipleship is that we abide in prayer with dependence and

anticipation that we actually are are are are dependent upon

God and anticipate him working when we talk to him.

And so Nehemiah, it's interesting here.

He left justice to the Lord, didn't he he he asked God to

remember his enemies. He also asked God not to forgive

or to forget their sins. And that's an interesting

question for us today. The New Testament commands us to

personally love and forgive our enemies.

But listen, that doesn't mean that we still don't seek and

anticipate God's justice one day.

We know that. The reason I am free and, and,

and able to, to move past what some enemy might do to me or

what's, how somebody might offend me or somebody hurt my

feelings. The one of the reasons I can

move past that is because I live in Christ and, and I know that

that I can forgive them because Christ has forgiven me.

But that doesn't mean that they won't be held accountable.

One day God will remember those who oppose him.

And so I don't have to try to reap revenge.

I don't have to try to do that because I promise you God's

keeping track and, and, and when man fails or opposes you, not

not if, but when. Trust in God.

Let prayer be that first reflex. Let that be your first response.

Go to God, ask God to deal with them.

Ask God to take care of that and, and, and give you the

freedom to just keep focused, to stay focused, to keep moving

forward. I'm going to take the next best

steps with you, God, I'm going to trust you to take care of

this. I'm going to trust you to deal

with this. And I promise you he's keeping

track. Look at verse 6.

So we built the wall. You can just go see that see

that response? We prayed.

So we so and we're just going to move on.

We're not stopping. Sorry, son ballot.

Sorry Tobiah. We're just going to keep moving

forward. So we built the wall and all the

wall was joined together to have its height.

But the people had a mind to work.

But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites

and the Ashedites, it's an old group.

We're going to talk about them in a minute.

Heard that the the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going

forward and that the breeches were beginning to be closed.

They were very angry and they all plotted together to come and

fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

So Nehemiah and the people, they, they, they just kept

working. They kept focusing on the

rebuilding. This is what God has called us

to do. This is what God has called us

to. This is what God has called us

to do. We're going to join his mission.

We're going to make disciples. They're not going to waste time

responding to ungodly distractions.

So Satan may want us to focus on the obstacles instead of God's

power and promises. But, but, but my God, our God,

the God leading us overcomes obstacles.

So Nehemiah wouldn't fall for it.

And so he focuses on finishing the primary objective.

The gaps in the wall were being closed due to their

intentionality, due to their mind and their spirit to work.

And so they're, they're halfway, they're halfway to its height

already. And of course, this alarms the

enemies even more. This makes them panic.

And so it's interesting because it's interesting because in the

passage in verse 7, they reach out to the Ashdodites.

Now, who are these people? Well, if you remember your Old

Testament, Ashdod was the capital of the old enemies, the

Philistines. So they reach out to the

Philistines. These old enemies might even

rise up. People from the past might even

rise up. You never know out of the come

out of the woodwork when you least expect them, because some

people just won't let old grudges go.

Some people just won't forgive. They won't forget.

They won't move on. And they water and they nurture

these seeds of bitterness, these roots of bitterness in their

life and resentment in their life.

And, and they, they can't see God's future because they're so

hurt from the past and, and something from back there is, is

right in their line of vision right now.

And that's all they can see. They're clouded.

They're blinded to what God might want for them.

I feel for those people. I, I, I hurt for those people,

but also can't let those people stop what God wants to do.

So the Hebrews were surrounded by old enemies, new enemies with

danger from the over, I mean, real danger from the armies of

Samaria and the armies of Philistia.

And so these enemies plotted together and it actually says

they divide, they're devising a strategy is what they're doing

to attack and to create even more problems.

So what was Nehemiah's response to this?

And this, this, this is serious. It's more prayer, more

preparation. Look at verse 9.

The Bible says, so we gave up and went home.

We quit, we ran back to Babylon. Is that what it's not doesn't

say that. It says and we prayed to our God

and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

I mean, here's a great recipe for moving forward.

You see, you seek the Lord and you take wise practical action

to deal with the issues and you move forward.

So the the threat drove him closer to God, drove him closer

to his work. But they're also watching.

They're also guarding, they're protecting.

This is going to require non-stop effort.

We need vigilant warriors who are watching and guarding

against the enemy. I mean, this is how to be a

picture of the church protecting the flock while actively,

intentionally with great focus, obeying and pursuing God's

mission. But a new problem arose.

A new problem arose. Look at verse 10.

In Judah, it was said the strength of those who bear the

burdens is failing. There's too much rubble.

By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.

And our enemies said they will not know or see till we come

among them and kill them and stop the work at that time the

Jews who live near them. In other words, the enemies came

from all directions and said to us ten times, you must return to

us. So as we take the next best

steps in God's plan, we expect opposition and conflict That

that's, that's just part of it. Whenever God works, the enemy is

going to work. But we also need to expect,

secondly, some weariness and doubt.

The hard work and the added tension of this opposition begin

to take a toll on the people. It says they were failing is

what it says in verse 10. That word failing means to

stumble or or to or to totter. The image here is of a worker

carrying weight on his shoulders and he's following under the

load. He can't bear the load.

It's too much and he's following.

Oh, there's just too much rubbish.

Nehemiah. The ruins are too great to be

cleared. They were tired and they were

about to give up hope. And then those living near the

enemies were constantly telling them of the threat.

They're going to come get you, they're going to come get you,

they're going to come get you. They they would speak non-stop

to those who are trying to focus on the good work, trying to get

the work done. All they can do is talk about

the gloom and doom. So these enemies were probably

telling them their lies and threats, knowing that they were

going to run to tell everybody back in Jerusalem.

See, so they're probably planting this and, and sometimes

this happens, I mean, when your own people begin to gossip, when

your own people begin to talk nonstop about fear or failure or

believe in inaccurate information, this can really

lead to discouragement. In fact, maybe some of these

people were more aware of the opposition than they were of

what God was seeking from them. In fact, maybe some of these

people lived a little too close and listened a little bit too

much to the enemy. If all you hear and all you

believe are negative lies and threats, your focus will shift

to doubt and fear. In fact, verse 12 again, it says

from whatever place you turn, they'll be upon us.

You can't escape. They're going to come.

No hope, no faith in God's ability, no no seeking his face.

Just the enemy. All they could see was the enemy

and all that's bad and everything that'll go wrong.

I don't know if you know people like that in your life.

I do. Some seem to almost enjoy living

in the negative. Some people enjoy being cynical.

Some people seem to enjoy spreading inaccurate information

and even criticism. It it it.

I often describe it this way. They refill and live in a

dumpster full of rubbish rather than allowing that rubbish to be

hauled away by a gracious God. They they choose this toxicity

and they seek to tear down others rather than to roll up

their sleeves and help build up what God wants.

Well, I, I, I hope you're not one of those folks.

I hope you don't have relatives like that.

I hope you don't know church members like that.

Frankly, I hope you don't have to work with people at work that

way. My fear is, is that some of us

do, and I have an ancient word for them.

An ancient word. It's called shush.

Be quiet, Just shush. Hard work and hard words can

create real stress that force people to break under the

pressure if something's not done.

So it would have been so easy for Nehemiah to just throw up

his hands and say, you know what?

I'm kind of tired of you people. That's it.

I quit. I'm heading back home to Persia.

I'm going to go live in the palace.

I'm going to go taste the King's wine.

I mean, he had a pretty good job back there.

But what? But what if we did that and we

truly miss a historic movement of God that's just beginning.

We can't build on the rubbish. Those ruins that they were

dealing with represented past defeats and historic wrong loves

and fears and they had to be removed.

They had to be replaced with the proper love and the proper fear

of God. If not, they were just going to

build on a pile of rubbish. Same thing is true in our life.

We can enter into a never ending cycle of sin and constant

collapse and we work hard sometimes to stay there.

What we really need to do is work harder to excavate the sin,

the sinful ruins out of our lives so that we can move on

because God wants to do something very, very special in

your life. So Nehemiah, once again, he

didn't run, he didn't shy away, he didn't give up.

He took both spiritual and practical steps.

What a leader. Look at verse 13.

So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open

places, I stationed the people by their clans with their

swords, their Spears and their bows.

And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the

officials and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of

them. Remember the Lord who is great

and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons, your

daughters, your wives in your homes.

So here's this man of prayer, this man of action, this man

who's both spiritual and practical.

More go more guards need to be posted.

Let's arm them with swords and Spears and bows and we're going

to carefully place them. We're going to carefully equip

them. Everybody needs to understand

and value the specific role, the specific position that you need

to be put in because you have a very important job to do.

And they were well equipped. They were equipped with weapons

for both long range and hand to hand combat.

They're ready for attack from any angle.

They're ready to deal with the enemy coming their way.

And then Nehemiah inspires them by appealing to their faith in

God and their desire to protect and to love their families.

Our great and awesome God works and fights on our behalf.

We must stand together, well equipped, specifically placed in

service and ministry, well equipped and ready to go, to

encourage one another to stand together, to respond in faith,

Paul wrote to the Galatians a verse that would fit right in.

In Galatians 69, he said, And let us not grow weary of doing

good, for in due season we will reap if we don't give up.

We have to persevere. God has a plan.

Look at Nehemiah 4:15 When our enemies heard that, it was known

Nehemiah 4:15

to us. Now look at this Ness phrase and

that God had frustrated their plan.

We all returned to the wall, each to His work.

So as we take these next best steps, we get into 2026.

If we take this next best steps with God, we got to expect some

opposition and we got to expect some conflict.

We're also going to expect some weariness and doubt along the

way. But we must respond in a certain

way. And the best way to respond #3

is faithfulness and commitment. God frustrated their plan.

Another translation would read this way.

God. God had brought their plot to

nothing, so God had brought their plot to nothing.

God fought on their behalf just like he does for us.

Nothing's changed. And Nehemiah and the people were

used by him. Well armed, well prepared, well

positioned people who can remain focused, who can remain

faithful, who understand their role and are fulfilling it.

So God is going to be faithful to his commitment to his own

mission. We can count on it.

We can, we can bank on that. Then we must faithfully be

committed and stand together in his mission as well.

So they were all in they all. It says we all return to the

wall. Guess what percentage of that is

100%? Didn't think you were going to

escape this morning without it, did you?

100% They all returned to the work.

They were in their proper spots. They were being well equipped.

They knew what they were supposed to do, encouraged,

empowered by their faith in God and in God's commitment to to

them. So let's, let's see how this

goes. Verse 16.

Then from that day on, half my servants worked on construction

and half held the Spears, Shields, bowls, bowls, bows,

sorry, bows. Those are bows and arrows and

coats of mail. And the leader stood behind the

whole House of Judah, who were building on the wall.

Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each

labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with

the other, and each of the builders had a sword strapped to

his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet

was beside me, and I said to the nobles and to the officials and

to the rest of the people, the work is great and widely spread.

We're separated on the wall, far from one another, so in the

place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us

there our God will fight for us. So we labored at the work, and

half of them held the Spears from the break of dawn until the

stars came out. And I also said to the people at

that time, let every man and his servant pass the night within

Jerusalem that they may be a guard for us by night and they

labor by day. So they, they had a very

specific plan. We would call it a vision

excuse. Yeah, we would call it our

vision plan. The vision to fulfill the

mission of God. And so Nehemiah assigned half of

the workforce to military duty and equipped them with weapons

and armor, a weapon in one hand and a tool in the other, the

sword and the trial. I mean, that's a great image for

us. Different jobs, different

positions, but every one of them vital and 100% of the people

engaged in the core work. Worship Connect group, midweek

stewardship service. They even established an

emergency response system. If you you read closely enough

at the sound of the trumpet, they were supposed to all

assemble wherever they were for battle.

Right there they were ready to support one another when

somebody was in trouble. We're going to come to your aid.

We're all going to rush to your aid.

We're going to fight for one another.

We're going to stand for one other because we're united,

because we're focused on a, on a known, understood, valued

direction and destination. Kind of like a set of train

tracks. And they were reminded that our

God will fight for us. So constant readiness,

intentional sacrifice, surrender of self, we're all required for

their next steps and for ours. In fact, if you read toward the

end there, no one involved in the rebuilding was even allowed

to go home at night. They couldn't even leave the

city. They performed night watch duty

along with daytime labor, and they were so intensely

committed. Notice this.

They didn't even take time to regularly wash and change their

clothes. Look at verse 23.

So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of

the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes.

Each kept his weapon at his right hand.

Another translation says it this way.

So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the

guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that

everyone took them off for washing.

So they did a little washing every now and then, it seems

like. And, and these, these words are

actually kind of hard to translate into English.

The Hebrew has deeper meaning. So, So a very literal reading

would be each man, his weapon, the water.

And So what it means is there was a constant preparedness.

There was a constant readiness. There was a constant alertness.

They were ready to build. They were willing to persist.

They were willing to overcome no matter what the sacrifice.

And I think about that word sacrifice, I think about a lot.

I think about how difficult that word is in our culture today,

sometimes even in the church. So many in the church want it to

be about me. They, they wanted to be about

self. And it's a tough word and, and

part of my life experience. And I've alluded to some of

these people and stories with you already.

I'll tell you more down the road, I'm assuming maybe help

you meet some of them. Go on these mission trips and

you'll meet some of these people.

But over the years, I've been so blessed to be taught.

By brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who have

experienced incredibly great sacrifice for the Kingdom.

I've been taught by those who are living through genocide in

the world's largest refugee camp, sharing Christ, and I've

seen them. I've been there, watching them

volunteer to go plant churches in places where they're probably

going to get killed and fighting one another for the privilege of

going there to do that and to die.

I've been taught by those who live on the edge of the Congo,

who train leaders and children while ministering to victims and

orphans of war and disease. I've been trained by those who

are leading relief work, training and church planting in

Ukraine, even after their own homes and their own churches

were destroyed, bulldozed by the enemy.

I I I've been blessed and taught by those who operate massive

underground house church networks in Asia amid incredible

persecution and imprisonment. I I I have dear brothers who

have survived prison while being threatened with their own lives

and those lives of their family if they wouldn't recant their

faith, but they refused to budget.

I, I I've been taught by those who praised Jesus after losing

part of their feet while being forced to build railroads in the

snow and Siberian work camps because of their faith.

I know people who work with lepers disowned by family and

society, and many, many more of these teachers and these

examples. And I think about some of the

experiences my own life. I've watched God work.

I've watched him work while I was helping law enforcement in a

major US city, mediating conflict between national level

urban street gangs. I remember him working in a

situation when I was facing a mob of 40 men armed with

machetes who wanted to steal our supplies just to feed their

families. I remember staring in the hollow

eyes of a mother holding a dying baby due to malnutrition.

I remember living under dictatorial martial law and

having loaded M sixteens pointed right at my chest while being

robbed of our food or or while taking cover under my dining

room table when a revolutionary firefight was taking place right

outside of my front yard. I've watched God spare me when

I've been robbed multiple times by weapon point.

I've been beaten, I've been stabbed, I've been shot at, and

I've seen God work in these situations.

And yet I don't believe I have sacrificed anywhere as much as

these dear brothers and sisters. I've seen our God work in the

dramatic, but sometimes it might even be more special because I

watch Him working the day-to-day.

Sometimes the little things are just as special.

Seeing a child learning about Christ because their family

brings them to church and our children's ministry or our

preschool ministries teaching them, watching students making

life decisions about serving the Lord, watching adults saved and

families joining and people binding together to serve Him

together. Nothing amazes me more still

today than when somebody is saved or when somebody is

baptized or someone commits to serve in a new way.

So here we are in Nash County, North Carolina right now.

God's brought us together at this moment, at this time for a

reason. What an opportunity to engage in

the work. God is assigned to us right

here. We have an assignment.

And part of that is to make disciples who produce fruit and

multiply, but also to reach this population around us.

And I want to see God work. I want to see God work in you

this morning. So what is your next best step

to being his disciple? I, I like college football.

Some of you do too. I know I won't bore you with too

many Sports Illustrations, I hope over the years, but but I

was listening to the the head coach of Indiana who just won

the national championship, Curt Cignetti, and he had a famous

saying that he used to teach his team.

And he says you have or you get, you get freedom of choice, but

not freedom of consequence. We have the opportunity to

choose who we're going to be, how we're going to serve, how

I'm going to plug in with 100%. And we also will reap the

consequence. We will reap what we sow God

will bless us. God will work in us.

God will take our our faith and multiply it and we'll see him do

miracles. If you refuse to work, if you're

the enemy, if you're that negative, cynical, critical,

critical person, God's also going to remember that.

What is your next best step in discipleship that you need to

take? And I pray that as you sit there

today, maybe in the cold surroundings of what this

weather has brought to us, that maybe maybe the stillness of

that, maybe the quietness enough when you're not in the big room

with a big crowd, maybe you can focus right now.

Talk to him. Ask God, what do you want from

me? How can I be who you want me to

be? What's my next step of growing

as a disciple? Let's pray together.

Father, we're so grateful. We're so grateful that Father,

you have designed, you have assigned, you have created a

specific purpose for us. And Father, I pray that we will

join together, stand together. I pray, Father, that we will

rejoice together. We'll celebrate together.

Thank you for allowing me to be the pastor of such an awesome

congregation. I mean that that's not just a

T-shirt. But Father, because of that,

you've also given us an awesome responsibility and opportunity.

So Father, I pray right now if there's someone listening to me

who's never prayed and asked Jesus Christ to be their Lord

and Savior, that they'll listen very closely, maybe pray

something like this. They need to pray and recognize

that they are a Sinner. And, and I pray that they would

honestly be able to say I'm sorry for my sin.

I want to repent, I want to turn for my sin.

So I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart to save me because

I believe He's the only one who can because of who He is.

And so I accept Jesus as my Lord and my Savior.

I want to live for him. I want to commit to service in

His church. I want to help others to grow in

Him. Maybe someone is making that

decision, that choice that that response to God's calling in

their life for the very first time.

Others maybe say I I need to be bad.

Others are lining up for baptism.

Maybe I need to be baptized. I want to be a member.

What do I need to do to learn about that?

And they need to contact us. I need prayer.

Reach out to us, help us to know how we can pray for you.

So Father, I just pray, Lord, that you will bless everybody

listening right now, wherever they are, you'll draw them to

you, Draw them to the next best steps to walk with you.

Thank you, Father, in Christ's name, Amen.

I just want to say thank you so much for joining me today and

listening to this. And, and if you have any

response, any need that you would, you would contact us, you

would let us know so that we might be able to reach out to

you and to help you along the way.

Don't forget, we plan on being here for midweek.

I hope to see you then. But thank you so much for

joining us. God bless you, Englewood, your

scent. Thank you so much for listening

today. And I also hope that you'll go

to [email protected]

as well as our app and find many other resources that will bless

you and your families. Thank you once again.