Laborers build His church

Me this morning to Nehemiah chapter 3.

Nehemiah 3 · chapter mention

Nehemiah chapter 3.

Nehemiah 3 · chapter mention

Last week we looked at the three ring leaders that brings opposition to God's word.

Sam Balat, Tobias, and Geshem.

But today we're going to be looking at how God uses in chapter 3.

In fact, chapter 3 is probably the most difficult chapter in Nehemiah 13, the book of Nehemiah out of the 13th chapter.

In fact, a lot of theologians or commentaries just skip it.

They just don't deal with it.

And I know why.

After I tried to, and I've read it several times, and I mispronounce every name at least three or four different times.

And all the names, all the lineage, and all the people that were working on the wall to rebuild it.

And so some preachers do an allegory of the gates, and that there is a good message on the ten gates, but really there were 12 gates representing the 12 tribes of Israel.

But so they do that.

And then some, one of my favorite pastors, Moody, D.O.

Moody back in the early 1800s, where the people were working on the wall close to their own homes.

And as Nehemiah would divide the people into groups to work on certain parts of the wall, they were close to their home.

He would put them close to the home, the priests toward the temple, the people for the water gate, close to fountains.

So he used it as if we don't build a godly home, then there's no need for the gates.

And he went on to say that the gates represented different parts of the home that needed to be built, except the Lord built the house of labor in vain that built it.

I can take that allegory and run with it.

But the real context of the chapter deals with leadership.

And it deals with cooperation and community and unity together as a church body to build God's church or to build the community church that God places us in to bring, as we remember in chapter one, what's the purpose was to bring God's glory and God's gospel to that community.

And that's where church planning came in.

This is where the missionary work starts, planting churches all over the world.

So today we want to look at God uses laborers to build his church.

And I did not get an outline.

Do we have a I need an outline?

Thank you.

Do we have some more back there, please?

Or are we out?

Okay.

Well good.

That's a good problem.

That means we need to make more, more people.

All right.

But now here's the day.

What we're going to look at.

And last week we looked at God gave me that opposition to God's work.

But now chapter four next week is how you and I, we looked at the opposition last week, but next week, as today, we're going to look at how you and I cooperatively and together and get unified and in harmony, do a work for God.

And then next chapters four, and really the rest of the chapters, we see opposition continually to stop God's work.

But next week we're going to look at the core foundation at how to respond to that opposition.

So that's going to be good next week.

You don't want to miss a chapter.

We got a lot of people online right now.

You know what we have learned out of this flu, I call it pandemic, whatever you want to call it.

I just call it Satan trying to stop us.

That's what I call.

He uses the disease to try to stop us and to kill us.

But all that said, what I've learned is all the fantastic ways to communicate to thousands of people that aren't in this building.

Can I get an amen?

Susan was just telling me this morning she had 224 people log on for her Sunday school class this morning.

That is unbelievable.

Amen.

That's unbelievable.

So, now that doesn't mean to stay the whole time, but at least they log in.

And we have, we'll have hundreds log in on our program right now.

And uh by the end of the week, sometimes we have as many as five, six hundred.

So it's amazing the people we're watching and you that are watching.

We love you.

God bless you.

Now let's go to work.

How do you and I work together?

Do you know every one of you in here is an individual by himself?

Do you realize that?

Do you realize your DNA that makes up your body, makes up who you are?

There's not another one like you.

Not another one like you, folks.

You can't be like me.

You said, hallelujah.

And I can't be like you.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

There's only one me.

There's only one you.

You don't know how liberating it was when I realized I didn't have to preach like Adrian Rogers, or how I didn't have to preach like my mentor, Jerry Falwell.

But you know what?

Then God said, but guess what?

They can't preach like you.

Amen.

We're all an individual in our own rights, in our own makeup.

But yet, God has called us to work together.

And let me tell you the greatest example: God Himself.

Have you ever thought about that?

God the Father, Jesus the Holy Spirit, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We call it the Trinity.

They're all, hey, one, but yet they're individuals, and each have their own purpose and their own function, but yet they work in unity and uh harmony together to fulfill God's plan.

So the greatest example is God Himself.

And so today we're going to be looking at that.

And Ephesians 4, 3 says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Now, in chapter 3, I'm not going to try to read that chapter or those words.

I'm going to make reference to a lot of the verses.

And you can go back and read that whole chapter.

And I know you're reading through with me.

Next week we'll be in chapter 4.

But if you can do a good job with all those names, God bless you.

And I got news for you.

They are important.

They really are.

You know what I loved about this?

God cares about the individual.

He lists them.

Nehemiah listed everyone.

Well, he couldn't have listed everyone, but the like the captains and those that, you know, he'd get a group and he'd have a leader in each of the group of the people.

But he named those leaders.

He named those people that were in charge of a group of people to help get the wall done.

Each of the family members, there was a name for all the families.

And there's about anywhere from 37 to 40, I think.

Unbelievable.

So he cares about you.

Do you know he cares about your work in this church?

Somebody said, Well, it doesn't matter as long as I'm just working for the Lord.

Yes, it does matter.

It does matter.

It does matter.

Oh, I'm just being the Lord's servant wherever he sends me.

That's true.

That's good.

But God ordained the local church for you to be a part of a local church to reach your community.

It matters that you're involved in a local church, not just coming and sitting, but coming and serving.

Can I get an amen?

It really matters, folks.

And one day, as I close this message this morning in 1 Peter 4, you'll see why it matters.

And you'll be rewarded for it.

I meant majorly.

So it matters.

What little time we hear when I have another one of my friends die, like Steve did, it really brings to my attention how short a period of time we have, folks.

So every day we ought to be living as it's our last day, serving God with everything we've got.

Everything we got.

So, why did God include Nehemiah chapter 3?

Nehemiah 3 · chapter mention

Well, what do we learn from it?

I believe that it's here to show us the importance of working together and accomplishing God's purpose.

So, with that said, there's three things we're going to look at this morning.

To accomplish God's purpose, and that's to bring glory and honor to him and to bring the gospel to our community.

That's why we're here to lift him up.

And he says in John 12, 31, if I be lifted up, I'll draw men unto myself.

Amen?

So that's why we're here to bring glory to him and to lift him up.

And as we do that, to accomplish God's purpose, we need a common vision.

And that's the first thing we're going to look at this morning.

And we need dedicated leaders and we need willing workers.

Those are three things we're going to look at.

So, number one, let's get to work.

To accomplish God's purpose, we need a common vision for the task.

Now, Habakkuk, I think you've got it back there in your notes.

You do.

Habakkuk chapter 2.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

Well, first of all, you got Proverbs 29, 18 there.

And it says, where there's no vision, the people perish.

But he that keeps the law, the word, happier they that fulfill it.

In other words, what he's saying, another translation, put it this way, and I love this.

When people do not accept divine guidance from the Word of God and his vision, they what?

Run wild or they have no restraint, but who obeys is joyful and restful and peaceful and excited because they have fulfilled the purpose of God.

That's why you cannot be happy and content and joyful if you're a Christian, not, hey, if you're not involved in a local church doing ministry, you are void of that joy and the ultimate peace.

You really are.

You really are.

You're just doing your duty.

You're not fulfilling a purpose.

There's more to life than just doing your duty, it's doing God's purpose.

Big difference.

Big difference.

And see, when you start looking at everything you do, it's God's purpose.

For example, your job.

Let me give you a good example.

Right here.

Your job.

If you see your job as a Christian because God saved you, God's placed you in that job, that now you have a platform to what?

Bring glory and the gospel to where you are, it brings on a whole new perspective.

Oh, I get to go to work today.

I get, hey, I get to be a light today.

I get to share the good news today.

I get to wear my bracelet and tell everybody Jesus is awesome today.

Big difference.

I need to be a vessel to be used to help somebody today.

To bring comfort to someone today.

Now, Habakkuk 2-2, one of my mentors, Dr.

Falworth's favorite verse.

Write the vision and make it plain on tablets that we may run who read it.

And then verse 3 says, the vision is for an appointed time.

In other words, God gives us a vision for an appointed time.

When you walk in here, clear biblical truth, vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service.

You see the vision written on the tablets right here.

Here's why we're here.

How do we do that?

Through clear biblical truth, through vibrant worship, through intimate fellowship.

And I can't wait to bring our love feast back, and we will do that as soon as we feel that we're ready and it's safe and we're getting close.

Our love feast of fulfilling service at home and abroad.

That's our, hey, that's our vision here.

And that's why we built all that we built, and I'll be telling you more about that.

Specifically, the fields and the multi-purpose building.

I mean, we've got a vision.

God gave me and David a vision.

God gave David a vision of starting a church, and then God gave me the vision of the church.

That's the way it worked.

That's the way this started.

All David knew was God said, I got to start a church in this community.

This community needs a church out here.

A vibrant church.

A church that sees no color.

A church that sees no social status.

A church that was going to be like heaven.

Everybody, whosoever.

And then as I came and started praying, and he and I praying together, walking and praying for an hour or more, two or three days a week as we walk.

We lived right across from each other.

God began to give me the vision.

And as we started looking for land, and God gave me that vision about a sports complex and fields because I knew that, hey, you can use sports as a God for the devil or a God for God.

A tool, thank you.

By the way, you can use anything almost for good or bad.

So, but I saw the and the demographics.

We did our homework, we studied, we counted the cost, all the things that we're going to look at.

We did our homework and we knew what God had told us to do.

We had peace.

So we had purpose, we had a vision.

Man, that's so good.

It really is.

And then what I think I see most about this vision is what happens as people when we find sufficiency and joy in Jesus Christ.

The only way we can find that joy and sufficiency is in Christ and in Christ.

It's when we're doing the purpose.

Hey, Christ has called us, and that's the minister.

Can I get an amen?

2 Corinthians 3.5, we're not sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiency is in him.

John Piper told you this the first sermon.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

Jesus is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with him.

That's good, folks.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all those other things should be added unto him.

What's our purpose?

Matthew 6.

Hallow be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

That's our purpose.

To bring heaven to earth through his church.

And that's exciting.

Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.

1 Peter 2 9, that's a good verse.

Write it down.

We're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.

See, I'm not as I'm not the norm.

No, I'm really not the norm.

A peculiar people that we should show forth the praises of Him, God, who's called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Folks, there ought to be a radiancy about us.

Those who look to him are radiant.

They shall never be ashamed.

Psalms 34, 5.

Amen.

So we see this.

Everything we do for the Lord should have the vision in mind, even though it's not, you know, constantly right here.

But every time you walk in this door, you see our vision.

And this vision is to spread a passion for God's glory among all the nations of the world.

Pathos, passion.

People, listen, if you can get excited about sports, and by the way, I was a sports fanatic, still am.

But if we can get excited, or whatever you get excited, I mean that thing that you can't wait to do, that's the way it ought to be about serving Christ.

I can't wait to serve Christ.

I can't wait to be here on Sunday to serve Christ.

I can't wait to be here on Wednesday.

I can't wait to, with the churches doing this, let's go do it.

I can't wait to, I, man, I that's what I live to do.

Now, when you get to that point that you can't wait to do what the Lord's called you to do, folks, you are gonna be so excited, so hey, vibrant and so enthusiastic and so happy that you won't be able to contain yourself.

I promise you.

And I know Jesus said it this way These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.

Whoa, I'm full, I'm full, I'm full.

Amen.

Say he's crazy.

Yes, I am.

So, accomplish God's purpose, we need a common vision.

We've got a vision here.

It's plain, it's written down, and bless God, we're fulfilling it.

Secondly, to accomplish God's purpose, we need dedicated leaders who can help everyone work toward that common vision.

God accomplishes his purpose through people.

1 Corinthians 3 9, we're co-laborers together with God.

That means we are his field, we are his building.

In other words, we are together, God's feel to bring glory and hey, and the gospel to our area, to our community.

Well, first of all, it starts in Acts 1.8.

Hey, hey, you should be filled with the Holy Spirit, and hey, you should bring the gospel where?

The Holy Spirit to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaritan, Samaria, and to the othermost parts of the world.

That's what we're to do.

You should receive power out the Holy Spirit's come upon you.

And you should be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the othermost parts of the world.

Amen?

Acts 1.8.

So that's what we're to do.

And we see it right here.

We really do.

But people need leaders to motivate and organize the cause.

Remember.

We see right here the people have been here for years.

They had been living there for years.

But the walls didn't get built until God sent Nehemiah.

And by the way, his name's really not even mentioned in Nehemiah 3.

Verse 16, it mentions, but that's not the that's not Nehemiah the leader.

But his labor is behind the whole chapter.

He did at least seven things.

Are you ready?

All right, leaders.

And some of you will be called to lead.

Right now, I I love the leadership in our church.

People all the time ask me, sometimes they say, Well, hey, the children of doing what about this?

What about this?

What about that, Pastor?

Sometimes I'll say, that's a good question.

You mean you don't know?

No.

I don't know everything about this church.

I don't know what every group's doing every minute of the day.

In general, I know.

In staff meetings, we know, and we go over everything.

But when I told David to go out here and build the soccer teams and get it all done, that's all I said.

And what else did I say?

David, whatever you need that I can help provide you to be successful, I'm here.

Rick, go build a great youth program.

Whatever you need, whatever you need, I'm here to help get you the supplies and the money, whatever you need to do that to reach those kids.

Gwynn and Matt with the Wana.

Same thing, same thing.

We place these leaders over certain areas.

Paul put him over the building program.

Bob McKay at the very beginning over all the other buildings, all these add-ons things in the Sunday school era, all that.

And guess what I did?

Did I just then try to dictate and tell them what to do?

Absolutely not.

I let it go.

I delegated and let it go.

I'm here.

I like to know how it's going and constantly.

I ask, especially with staff.

Hey, how's it going?

If we have problems, then I try to help Paul get involved with the problems.

How can I help solve the problems?

I mean, but folks, we all have a mission, a calling, a gift, a talent.

I don't get up here and try to lead music.

If you did, everybody'd leave.

And they don't let me in the kitchen except to eat.

Amen?

Darren didn't let me get on those bulldozers.

He did one time.

And boy, I you know what my dream was to get on the bulldozer and just hit have big old trees and just run into them.

And I did that right at the very beginning.

I just took that circumrim right in the wood.

Bam! He's got a video of it.

Then that was it.

That's all I wanted to do.

I'm through.

That's enough.

So what I'm saying is, folks, we all have our place, our talents.

This is gonna be exciting.

So let's get into it.

What's this?

A leader must not mind if the credit goes to others.

That's number one.

Hey, hey, I thank God for Darren Hyde and all the work he's done.

Thank God for Paul.

Thank God for Bob McKay.

Thank God for Rick.

Thank God for David.

Thank God for you.

Thank God for the sound people back there.

Thank God for the nursery workers.

Thank God for the children workers.

Thank God for them.

Thank God for Matt and thank God for them.

Hallelujah.

I love you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

But I can't do that.

And you couldn't do it all either.

I couldn't do all that.

Thank God for our security.

Thank God for the kitchen crew, and they're eager to get back to cooking.

You can see they bless their hearts.

It's so ingrained in them.

There's Jack's biscuits, uh, Bojangle biscuits, they're just starting to bring biscuits.

That's a hint to us.

Let's get back to fixing breakfast for everybody that works.

Thank God for our church.

I don't care who gets the credit.

I really don't.

Long, hey, look, we know who ultimately gets the credit.

Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God.

Amen.

1 Corinthians 10, 31.

But people do the work.

And it was so important that their names and their families were listed.

It is important to get credit.

Because one day you're going to stand before the Lord and be rewarded for your ministry.

Number two, a leader must motivate people.

And by the way, when you there was a word I wanted to.

Nehemiah 13, 31.

Remember me, Nehemiah said, oh my God, for hey, for the my God for good.

In other words, remember me for my good.

And what he meant there, my good work, yeah, but my good ministry, that I've finished what you call me to do.

I finished the wall.

I finished rebuilding Jerusalem.

Thank you.

Remember my good.

So now he wasn't asking the people to remember.

Big difference.

He said, I'm asking you to remember.

It matters, folks, not to me, it does matter to me.

But it's really the reason I motivate you to do your ministry is so that he will reward you.

All I can do is say I love you and a good job, but he's gonna do more than that.

You've been faithful over the few things, I'm gonna make you ruler over many.

Woo! That's good.

Matthew 25.

A leader must motivate his people.

Proverbs 12, 25, a good word cheers a person up.

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the throw and health to the bone.

Woo! Amen.

Motivate the people.

Let them know.

Motivation is the key to productivity.

Have you ever had a project you really didn't want to do?

And you keep looking at that garage that needs cleaning.

And you keep saying, I'll get around to it.

And then all of a sudden, one day, you can't move, you fall over everything, you bump your head, scratch your arm, because there's so much junk.

And then you say, I'm motivated.

Bless God, and you just start throwing stuff out the back door.

You don't care where it goes.

But bless God, you get it clean.

Amen.

You get it clean.

You get it done.

You know what?

Now you might have got motivated for the wrong reason, but you got motivated.

And you got it done.

You got it done.

Sounds like somebody else throws stuff out after you get tired.

This is ridiculous.

It's been here taking up, but we don't use it.

It's gone.

Or yard sale, time for yard sale.

Throw the doors up.

Come in.

Anything's for everything's for sale.

Give me an offer.

Yeah, or yeah, if you don't, then start giving it away.

Just get it out of here.

Get it, get it, get it.

Y'all know what I'm talking about.

Number three.

A leader must plan and organize.

Proverbs 21, 5 says, good planning and hard work leads to prosperity, but shortcuts leads to poverty.

Hello?

You hear that?

Plan succeed through good counsel.

Proverbs 2018.

Luke 14, 28.

Count the cost.

I can promise you, everything we've done here, we have planned, we've counted the cost.

More than what?

We really do.

We have a building team.

We have the counsel.

We all agree.

We've run stuff by.

We're looking at everything.

That's what we do.

That's what God's Word says.

That's what we do.

Now it may seem like we're haphazardly or spontaneity.

But we're not.

But bless God, once we say go, now I'm going, yeah, let's go.

So this is exciting.

This is exactly what Nehemiah did.

He planned, he organized, he motivated the people.

Number four.

A leader must delegate.

I want to give you a good verse here.

When I was thinking about delegation, I said, now where's there a verse?

Usually verses just pop to my mind.

I said, where's a verse that I can really contextually apply to the delegation?

You know.

So anyway, let me show you the verse God gave me.

Paul.

Galatians 6, 4.

Here's what it said.

Let each one examine his own work, then he will rejoice in himself and not another.

In other words, my responsibility is to help Rick to delegate for the youth program, but then for me, it's up to Rick to do his work, to do his job, to do his planning, to get his leaders.

And then he feels good within himself.

It wouldn't do me or Rick any good if I said, okay, Rick, you're going to be over the youth, but here's what you're going to do.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

No.

God's laid him on my heart as a leader.

That's his calling.

My job is to help him.

Same with everybody else.

And Dave and everybody else.

Benji with the music.

All that, all that.

But here's the thing: once you are delegated a task, it's up to you to do your job and you do it so that you'll feel good about yourself.

That's why I cannot stand people.

That's why I am against welfare, unless it's medical or something like that, because when people don't work for what they have, they don't feel good about themselves.

Come on, church.

You gotta feel good about who you are.

You got a responsibility.

God's giving you a purpose.

God's giving you a job, and you gotta do it.

I've known of people that were on welfare, but once they got back on their feet in their jobs, they said, I don't want that welfare.

What's happened, we've gotten so dependent on the governor that we don't even know what to do.

God help us, that's our problem.

We need to be dependent on God, folks.

I've never not paid a bill, not once, in my whole life.

Not once.

And I started working when I was almost 11 and a half, almost 12 years old.

I had to buy my own bicycle, I had to buy my own motorcycle, I had to buy my own car.

I did it all.

You know what?

You know why I went to work?

I like money.

Hello.

I like money, I like stuff.

Well, will you just give me my new car?

Oh, give me a break.

Work.

Work.

You can have anything you want.

I was so excited with my daughter.

I just spent a few days with my daughter.

And she showed me what she's doing for her four kids.

She showed me their little banks.

They have three banks.

They're out there taking out garbage.

Little little Bradston's four years old.

Oh, Poppy, I gotta take the garbage out.

I get a dollar at the end of the week for taking the garbage out every day.

I said, what are you doing that dollar?

He said, I'll show you.

So she showed me.

One, guess who gets the first 10% out of the dollar?

God.

Second, savings.

Third, braid.

I meant uh Braxton.

What is it called?

Their greens money.

What does that mean?

Oh, spending money.

Hey, starting at four years old.

Guess when my kids started.

Four years old.

And now for me to see my kids teaching their kids, and you know what?

All my kids have been unbelievably successful.

Very responsible.

They've worked.

With the first two, hey, with Eric, we didn't have any money.

With the girls, we got a little bit more money.

But I still made them work.

They had to cut grass.

They got$15 a lamps at the end of the week on Saturday morning.

But they had a list of tasks that they had to do, and if they didn't do any of those tasks, there was a certain amount of money subtracted.

You ought to seen them on Saturday morning.

They were up early, getting our lawnmowers out, cleaning, growing down.

It was unbelievable.

If they hadn't done it all week.

That's what I'm talking about.

Make you hey, makes you feel good.

Can I get an amen?

A leader must delegate.

Number five, a leader must oversee.

Proverbs 12, 14.

In other words, what you put in is what you get out.

Can I get an amen or owe me?

Amen?

What you hey, the harder you work, the more it's gonna pay off.

I promise.

I promise.

I've had three jobs most of my life.

All those years of education, higher education.

I was a dean of the seminary, full-time professor, taught all the evangelism plus leadership courses at the graduate and undergraduate level.

And then every weekend I was on the road as an evangelist and recruiting for Liberty University.

I did that most of my life.

Susan did too.

She was teaching over the consumer science department, and then out there doing ladies' retreats and singing for me.

And everybody said, Man, that's a lot of work.

No.

It was our calling, it was our ministry.

We loved it.

And we were doing what God taught us to do.

I wasn't, I didn't, oh, I've got to go do this again.

I can't wait to get on that plane.

I can't wait to get in that RV and take off and go do youth camps and preach every Sunday.

You said, Well, you get me tired thinking about it.

Well, I'm sorry.

Yes.

I mean, I don't, people ask me all the time, I said, not that I've gotten anywhere, but what we have where I am, all the accolades God's allowed me to have, it's because of hard work.

Do you understand that?

Young people, if you catch this, you'll be so successful.

10% to the Lord first, 10% savings, and then the other 80% is yours.

But remember, God still holds you accountable how you spend it.

I promise you.

Other people say, well, I hadn't done that, but I've been successful.

Yeah, but are you really fulfilled and happy?

No, there's a lot of successful people that aren't happy.

A lot of rich people.

You know the highest percentage of suicides in a lot of wealthy people.

You know why they're not fulfilled.

You know why?

Because you can only be totally satisfied when you're fulfilled with Jesus.

And then when you're fulfilled with Jesus, it doesn't matter what you have because it's not yours.

You're going to give it back to him anyway.

That's good preaching, preacher.

It's not yours.

I'm just a steward.

Moreover is requiring a steward than a man be found faithful.

And then number six, the leader must give proper recognition.

Nehemiah wrote down in detail who was doing what on this project.

The whole chapter.

Verse 4, verse 21, verse 5, verse 27.

And by the way, he even wrote down in verse 5 the prophets that weren't doing anything.

So he knew who was working and who wasn't working.

Let me help you out right here.

God knows who's faithfully serving and who's not.

The eyes of the Lord in every place beholding the evil and the good.

Proverbs 15:3.

Proverbs 15:3

Number seven, a leader must not get distracted by those who are not cooperative.

Woo! Psalm 16, 8, I have set the Lord always before me.

I shall not be moved.

I'm not going to stop doing what God's called me to do.

Hey, they had a shovel in one hand and a sword in the other as they were building the wall.

I'm not coming down.

They tried to get me and I and the guys are coming.

I'm not coming down.

And I'm not coming down until it's through.

So to accomplish God's purpose, we need a common vision and we need dedicated leaders.

Number three.

This will be the last point.

To accomplish God's purpose, we need willing workers who do their part.

Can I get an amen?

The people heard Nehemiah's vision and they responded.

Remember verse 18 in chapter 2?

Let us arise and build.

Working together, they accomplished what no one could have accomplished individually.

Are you ready for this?

Get ready.

Four things they accomplished.

Number one, the workers were willing to cooperate and coordinate with one another for the overall cause.

Acts 9, 6.

Lord, what Paul said, what will you have me to do after he got saved?

We see all many others came from out.

We see in chapter 3, verse 2, verse 5, verse 7, verse 13, verse 14, 16, 17.

All these different people, even from without the city, coming in to help rebuild the walls.

You had people on the walls building, people fitting the gates together.

And you had people from surrounding areas coming in.

And somebody said, Well, why would they want to rebuild the wall?

Because they wanted Jerusalem to have protection.

They wanted the temple to be protected so that they could do their four feasts and worships every week.

Man, that's good.

Number two, the workers were willing to compliment each other for their overall cause.

You have bank, I mean, you had urals, uh, people that work with jewelry, you had all kind of different talents and things, and they were all working together.

It was important.

Paul tells us that the eye is important.

The ears are important, the hands are important, the feet are important.

Some of you may think, well, I'm a foot, I'm just not important.

I'm not gonna show up today.

Now that's good.

So what am I gonna do?

Walk like this.

That's really effective, isn't it?

Well, what if the right hand says, Well, I'm just a hand, or my hands, I'm not gonna show up today.

That's really that's really gonna be effective.

Or my eyes, I'm not gonna show up today.

Uh-oh, I'm blind.

My ears, I can't hear.

Listen, we all have a place, we all have a part, church.

Can I get an amen?

And we're all important.

Number three, some workers were willing to work outside of their areas of strength.

It didn't matter what needed done.

Oh, that's not my job, that's not my gift.

Sometimes it doesn't matter.

You just jump in and help.

Can I get an amen?

We all do do what we have to do to make it work.

And then number four, I love this.

Some workers were willing to do the less glamorous, desirable job.

Malachi, well, Makaiah repaired, what's this?

The dungate.

It was at the south end of the city and opened to Kindram Valley.

That was the dump where all the smell was.

He got jumped in there where the dirtiest, stinking place of working on wall, he says, I'll do it.

I'll do it.

A lot easier to work on the water gate than the dung gate.

But he said, I'll do it.

I want to close with this.

I read this illustration and I thought, my my, if the church was really this way.

There were some missionaries in the Philippines, and they decided that they would introduce croquet.

Anybody know what croquet is?

You have a mallet, and you have the balls, and you go through these little wire.

Ooh.

Wickets.

Wickets, that's the word.

Thank you.

Wickets.

Alright?

Now, the purpose of the game is for you to win, and one of the ways you win is by if somebody's in front of you, you, if your ball hits them, then you can what they call croquet them.

You know what croqueting is?

I put my foot on my ball, your ball's there, and then I break my foot.

No.

You hit your ball to knock their ball out of the way so you can go through the cricket, hit the pole, and win the game.

So the missionaries are explaining this to the Filipinos.

And they look up and they look kind of stunned at what they're saying on how you play the game.

And they just shook their head and said, Why would we do that?

And the missionaries said, Well, that's the way you win the game.

They didn't say anything, but guess what?

They didn't croquet anybody.

You know what they started doing?

They started helping each other.

When one would go through and hit the pole, they wouldn't jump up and say a one.

They would go back and help others go through the rickets to get to the pole.

And so when the last one came through the rickets and touched the pole, they all jumped up and said, We win! We win, we win! Oh my goodness.

What it would be if all the churches came together and was not worried about who's this, who's that, who's biggest, who's smallest, and they would just say when the rapture takes place, we won! We won! We won.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's the purpose of the church.

It's to win together.

There's not a person in here from the babysitter in the nursery to the changing of the diapers to the to the cooking to the to the mowing the grass, and I know Dave even does that a lot on the everything.

I meant from the little thing as as building, and and when y'all go Paul and you go to Honduras, you build the littlest thing, the water boy that brings you the water.

What in the world would it be in the football game if we didn't have a water boy?

Hello?

You'd get dehydrated and couldn't play.

Thank God for the water boy.

So the next time you think you're insignificant, just remember the water boy was one of the most important persons on the football field.

The Hysum trophy winner couldn't do it if he didn't have water.

Somebody say that's good.

So it doesn't matter how insignificant you think you are.

Let me remind you, you're fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are your works.

He has something beautiful for you, he has something fantastic for you, and all you have to do is to receive him as Lord and Savior, make him Lord of your life, and be obedient, and God's gonna take you for the ride of your life.

I promise.

I promise.

Father, we thank you.