Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Well, good morning, everybody. Good to see you this morning. My name is Craig Jarvis, so I haven't met you yet. I'm the lead pastor here at Village Chochiste, and it's my privilege to bring God's word to you this morning as we talk and continue on our journey through Nehemiah, the life of this incredible man who made such a difference for the Lord. Before I do that, let me just give you a quick update on some things. Some of you have been asking about how things are going with the building.
[00:00:33] We're going to give you as much information as we can next week at our business meeting. So hopefully you'll be able to come to that. We call it a family chat. Give an update on how our finances are going. Give an update on how plans are for the building. Right now we're still in negotiations on what the lease is going to look like, so still working through it. Thank you for your patience on that. But we should have some nice information for you on. On all of that starting next week. Let me just say thank you again for your faithful giving. Some of you have really taken it upon yourselves over these last couple of weeks to make a commitment to give to the church and buying, joining us and joining elbows, locking elbows with us to do a mission, the mission that we have, the vision that we have for Carol Stream. Thank you for that. We're excited about what the Lord's gonna do to our. Do to our church and in our church and through our church over this 20, 25 year. And so, anyway, I can't wait to give you all that information, but you have to wait till next week to do that.
[00:01:36] So just wait patiently and we'll give you as much as we can at that time. All right.
[00:01:43] Also, by the way, be ready, because if these doors continue to open as the Lord has opened them for us, we're going to have several work days that you can get involved with. And so everybody is going to be needed. If you can paint, if you can put carpet squares down. We actually have a really cool activity plan for our carpet squares. You're definitely going to want to be there on that night, but we're going to have all of these work dates. We'll get all that to you as soon as we can. I know not everybody can make it to all of them, but if you feel like you want to put your hands to the good work, we're going to do this through blood, sweat and tears. Hopefully not much blood as sweat and tears. Hopefully no tears either. Just the sweat, the Sweat is what we're looking for, but we're looking to do it quickly, and we're excited about what the Lord has for us right around the corner. Thank you for your prayers for that, by the way. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Nehemiah. Nehemiah is an interesting guy, as he has led all of these people from captivity through the desert, as God has led these people out of captivity, through the desert and into.
[00:02:55] Into Jerusalem again, and they start building the walls of Jerusalem. This has lasted for over 100 years. By now, Nehemiah hears that these people are living in squalor. They're just struggling to survive the challenge that. One of the challenges that they're facing is they're having an onslaught from people all around them who don't want to see them succeed.
[00:03:17] These are just vagabonds. They're people that were slaves. They grew up as slaves, and now Artaxerxes has sent them home in order to build the walls of Jerusalem. And all they want to do is to have a place for themselves for the very first time in their lives. And they're struggling to get by, and they're trying to do the right thing. They believe God is sending them home, and all they face is opposition, opposition from the climate, opposition because they don't have stuff that they need, opposition because there are people there that don't want them to succeed. And I don't know about you, but I feel like. And today is what we're going to talk about. I feel like sometimes in my life I take a step for the Lord, and I think to myself, everybody's going to be behind this. Everybody's going to be for me, everybody's going to be backing me on this decision. And once I share my vision or my burden with somebody or how the Lord is leading me, almost every single time, somebody or a group of people just misunderstand. And sometimes they don't just misunderstand, but they take it personally, and they begin to. To create opposition.
[00:04:25] In the throes of trying to do something for the Lord, I end up finding that there's more opposition than I thought there would be.
[00:04:33] Not necessarily just from people, but also from things like, there's always things that happen that I'm just going, well, I wasn't planning on that. And then all of a sudden, I got to deal with that. And the whole time I'm thinking to myself, I'm doing what God wants me to do. Why is it so hard?
[00:04:48] Have you ever felt like that?
[00:04:51] I think that's a Normal thing. And I know for these folks in Nehemiah's day, this is exactly what is happening. They had no homes, they had no temple, they had no name, they had no income, they had no crops, they had no food. They try and go back and they try and make a living for themselves and they just live in squalor. Nehemiah knew he had to do something. When he hears about what's going on.
[00:05:16] Nehemiah is a cupbearer to the king. And he decides, I'm going to go back. I'm going to try and do what I can do. We've already talked about all of this. You can catch up if you'd like to watch the last few sessions that we've had together. But he runs to God, he prays, he fasts, and God works solely in his heart, he says. And Nehemiah feels drawn by God to go back and help these people. Now, Nehemiah has never, as far as we know, laid a brick in his life, but all of a sudden he wants to go back and he wants to step out in faith and do what he can.
[00:05:50] And so the work begins. And the work begins. He's got perfume makers. We talked about this. Who does he have to work with? Like, if I'm doing. Like, if we're going to move into the new location for us, you know, if I'm taking down a wall, I want to know that I'm working with somebody who's taken down a wall before. Or if I'm putting up a wall, I want to make sure that I'm working with somebody that's done drywall before. I want to make sure that I'm with somebody that knows their stuff. Nehemiah doesn't, as far as we know, know anything about this. He moves back and he calls all these people to help him. And all they are is. We have this in the chapter three of Nehemiah. Their fathers, their iron smiths, their daughters, their nobles, their servants, they are not. They're perfume makers. They are not bricklayers.
[00:06:38] But each person takes their own section of the wall and they begin to rebuild.
[00:06:44] And then we run into trouble.
[00:06:47] Everybody's trying. Everybody's doing what they can. They may not feel like they're equipped to do it, but they're willing to try.
[00:06:54] And I don't know about you, but whenever you try and step out and do something right or make a change in your life for the Lord, anytime you take a step of faith, you live by faith. You almost always run into opposition.
[00:07:07] And this Bugs me. Doesn't that bug you?
[00:07:09] Bugs me.
[00:07:11] Trying to do the right thing, trying to live by faith. You open your home, you help with your money, sacrifice your time, you lend your heart. You start being accountable. You surrender this issue. You share your burden with others. And somehow, eventually, you are faced with such opposition. Sometimes you actually become the bad guy.
[00:07:29] Try and step out for God and follow his leading, and others may just not understand what you're doing.
[00:07:37] And so you answer the call by believing that God has laid it on your heart and the world seems to turn against you.
[00:07:43] So today, what I want to talk to you about is this. What do you do when your faith encounters opposition?
[00:07:50] What do you do when your faith encounters opposition? You're going to try something new. You're going to surrender this to the Lord. You're going to reach your heart out to somebody that you feel like God has laid on your heart. You've got to help them. You're going to surrender your finances. You're going to try something different in life. You're going to try a new habit. You're going to. Whatever it is, whatever it is that you're stepping out in faith to do.
[00:08:11] What do you do when you encounter opposition? Momentum. You got the gas. You got your foot on the gas pedal. You're ready to go. All right? And by the way, beginning of the year 2025 is a great time to do this message, because I go to the gym now, and it's never been so popular.
[00:08:28] 2025 in January, the gym is packed. 2025 in March, the gym is empty.
[00:08:37] So people decide that they want to try something different, they want to give it a go, and then they face opposition. Now, let me just say this right off the bat before we go any further, all right, Here's a caveat to keep your calling in check. There are four steps to be sure that you're following God's lead and not the pizza you ate the night before. All right, so what I want to make sure that this is really God calling me to do this and not some harebrained idea that I came up with because I went to, I don't know, one of Craig's messages, and I decided I'm going to do it, but it's not a leading of the Lord. All right? So this is like how to keep your calling in check. Number one, counsel, seek the wisdom of spiritual leaders. All right? This is biblical. All throughout the scripture, make sure that you are. If you feel like God is calling you to do something, you. You should go To a spiritual leader, somebody that you know is walking with the Lord, Somebody that will hold your information confidential. Somebody that will be very careful with you and love you through this. Go to a spiritual leader and say, hey, listen, I've decided to do this. Can you help me in this? What do you see in this as a fault line that I need to be aware of? All right? So be humble enough to hear from your spiritual leaders and be humble enough to receive what they say. All right?
[00:10:01] Number two, truth. God will never lead you to do something that is not in his revealed word. So if you decide that you want to do something but it is against God's word, you are not doing God's will. Well, Craig, I feel like my girlfriend is like, she doesn't know the Lord, so we're going to move in together so I can constantly witness to her. All right? I would look at you and I would say, that is not what you should do, because that is against God's truth. Right? Sex is for marriage. That is God's plan, not mine. And so you need to have a relationship that is pure before God. You can witness to her on your own time. And I would actually question whether or not you should be dating somebody. That's a nonbeliever. All right? So you need to go to somebody for counsel and then somebody, a spiritual leader, and then dig diligently in God's word. God will never lead you to do what is against his word.
[00:10:57] Number three, prayer. You will definitely need prayer. When you put on the armor of God, the thing that you bathe all the armor with is prayer. Pray always. Paul reminds us, pray without ceasing. Prayer is a normal thing. When you read God's word, that's how he speaks to you when you speak to him is through prayer. So you need to be in prayer on a constant basis. Prayer and fasting, I would say, would be a good combination, especially if you're seeking God's will and doing something specific. And number four, sacrifice. Every time you walk out in faith, it will require sacrifice, so be prepared for it. You will have to give up something. You never go to God and say, okay, God, I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do. With your fists closed, you go to God and you say, God, I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do. So take what you need to take and replace what you need to replace.
[00:11:51] Walking by faith requires sacrifice. It always, always does. And sacrifice is a wonderful thing to learn how to do as a child of God. Okay? So those Are the caveats to keep your calling in check? Is what I'm doing really what God is calling me to do? Is this God's calling for me? Should I date this person? Should I. Should I sacrifice this thing? Should I open my home? Should I adopt child? Should I. Whatever it is, should I take this job?
[00:12:23] Always. Always. These four things will keep you out of hot water, okay?
[00:12:29] Now, if you decide that you indeed are following God's will for your life and you're going to take a step of faith, there are several things you need to be aware of, all right? Barriers. I'm going to call them. And they all start with the letter M.
[00:12:44] So here's the first one. You will be misunderstood.
[00:12:50] You will be misunderstood not by everybody, not from everybody, but from a few. So be prepared for it. Here's what happened with Nehemiah. If you're using your Bibles, we're starting in chapter four, verse one. Here it is on the screen. Now, when Salabat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged. I love that. Remember, greatly enraged. Can you say greatly enraged?
[00:13:16] Okay, you're going to like that in just a minute. And he jeered at the Jews. Ever have somebody jeer at you? That's not a good thing, right? Jeer at the Jews. And he saw and he said, in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing?
[00:13:36] All right, there are two guys that we're talking about, and you'll hear about the next guy later. His name is Tobiah. Let me tell you about Tobiah and Sanballat. These are two friends that were not friendly to the people coming back from Artaxerxes camp, All right? They're not friendly to the people coming back from Babylon, which is where they were taken in the first place. Tobiah. Let me tell you about him. First, Tobiah was actually a governor of Ammon across Jordan. He had great power. He was an Ammonite. And the Jews and the Ammonites never got along.
[00:14:11] God was not very fond of the Ammonites either.
[00:14:15] Here's a Passage from Deuteronomy 23:3. No ammonite. This is God speaking. Now, no Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord even to the 10th generation. None of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam, the son of Beor, From Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse you. All right, so Tobiah, Sanballat's friend. We'll hear about him in a minute. Tobiah was an Ammonite. Ammonites were not looked highly on by God.
[00:14:52] The Ammonites did not help the Israelites escape from Egypt. They wouldn't let them walk through their land. In fact, they kept picking them off. Smallest, first, most feeble first. And they were killing the Israelites because they hated them so much. God had little time for the Ammonites, Tobiah, which we'll find out in a minute. Tobiah and Sanballat were two of a pair. Tobiah was an Ammonite. Sanballat was also a governor. Sanballat was a governor in Samaria. Now, Jerusalem was close to Samaria. It was within his reach, within his jurisdiction. So when Artaxerxes had anything to say about the area of Jerusalem, Sanballat was the one that received the letters.
[00:15:37] Sanballat was the one that was closest to the king. He wanted Jerusalem also, because Jerusalem was a trade route that he used between Egypt, Persia, Arabia and Asia.
[00:15:51] Jerusalem was the main connection between Egypt in the south and all that's in the north.
[00:15:59] You had the Mediterranean ocean there. You had all of that. So Jerusalem was a powerful.
[00:16:05] A place that Sanballat didn't want to give up because it brought him lots of cash.
[00:16:12] And Sanballat was looked on highly by Artaxerxes, and he didn't want to lose his place with the king.
[00:16:19] So what is Sanballat's first response to these Jewish people coming back?
[00:16:27] His first response was, how did he feel? Do you remember the word that you just said a few minutes ago?
[00:16:33] Greatly enraged. Anger.
[00:16:35] Now, you're going to love this. This literally means in the Hebrew to breathe hard.
[00:16:43] Have you ever been so angry that you breathe hard? We actually have cartoons that describe what this kind of anger looks like. It's when you breathe hard or smoke comes out of your ears.
[00:16:57] Did I get that picture up there?
[00:17:00] Yeah, there you go. All right.
[00:17:03] Have you ever seen a cartoon like this? Right? This is normal. This is like when you're so angry you let off steam. All right? This is like, what is that Emotions movie where the little guy burns with fire on top of his head inside out? That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My kids gave me one of those for my birthday. All right. Why would Sanballat be so angry?
[00:17:29] He was angry because his status with the king and his income was going to be affected. His power was going to be Affected. He was jealous.
[00:17:42] Jealous because these newcomers seem to be under the good graces of the king. And he was helping these vagabonds instead of appreciating Sanballat.
[00:17:53] All right, so they were mistreated. They were also mocked.
[00:18:01] Verse 2. And he said, in the presence of his brothers and all 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? Can you just hear the sarcasm in this guy's voice? Were they going to finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish? And the burned ones at that? And Tobiah, the ammonite. Here we go with Tobiah, was beside him and said, yes, what they are building, if a fox goes up on the wall, he'll break down their stone wall.
[00:18:36] Mocked.
[00:18:39] Mocked. Do you ever feel like you're mocked for your faith?
[00:18:44] I do.
[00:18:48] I can give you so many illustrations. I did a class in Madison, and it. I was sitting there with these PhD students, and we're sitting around the table, and we were talking about religions of the day. And they didn't know I was a pastor, but they were exalting all of these different religions, all of these different factions. They talked about how great the Muslim faith was, and they talked about how great the Hindu faith was, and they talked about how great Indian the Buddhist faith was. They brought them all up. And I was sitting there going, wow, that's just like. Just glowing words.
[00:19:34] And then they got to Christianity and they said that was the bane of society.
[00:19:40] And they started talking about Christianity in a way that it was just like, that's not the Christianity that I know.
[00:19:48] It's interesting to me that. And you can even turn on the television and you can hear these people that they don't know Scripture, they're not theologians, and yet they quote scripture like they think they know what it means. And they use it so poorly and so profoundly destructive. And they do not do justice to Scripture.
[00:20:08] And they say, Jesus would never do this. And they don't even know the Jesus that we do.
[00:20:14] And it seems to me that in our world today, mocking Christianity is almost a normal thing. Like, you can almost expect that these days didn't always used to be like this, but it certainly does today. And when you say you take a step for Jesus, or you stand up for Jesus, or you. Or you say, you know, I live by faith in Jesus Christ, you are going to stand out in a crowd, and most certainly there will be some in that Crowd that will mock you for your faith even by saying silly things like we just read in this passage of Scripture. This is human nature.
[00:20:51] They cannot or they refuse to understand. And so we have to decide. Will I do? Will I say? Will I live out what makes people happy? Or will I live out my faith in this moment?
[00:21:05] Listen to the words that they used to chide these Jewish remnants that are coming back from Babylon. Listen to this. What are these feeble Jews doing? Isn't that great? Listen to what they're actually saying. There is no way you will ever amount to anything. That's literally what they're saying. Have you ever felt like somebody has told you that before? Those are harsh words to hear, right? There's no way you're going to amount to anything. That's what they're saying. And the truth of the matter is, these Jewish people knew they were feeble. They were definitely feeble. They had been living in squalor for 100 years trying to make something happen, and it hasn't happened. They knew it.
[00:21:49] But to hear these words from the voice of Sanballat, what are you feeble Jews doing? There's no way you can amount to anything. Look what they say next. Will they restore it for themselves? These people are incapable of wiping their own noses without help. They don't have any idea what they're getting into. Their whole lives have been slavery. They don't have the first idea how to build a city. You know what they're saying when they say this? They're saying, you don't have the ability to do this.
[00:22:19] Have you ever had somebody say that to you? You can't do this. You're not able to do this. You don't have the ability to do it. They also say, will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Any reasonable person can see this is going to take an army of engineers.
[00:22:39] They're starting a project that we're going to go. This is going to go on for millennia. Why start? The task is too daunting.
[00:22:49] What they're really saying, they're saying is you got no plan, you got no resources. How are you going to make this happen?
[00:22:56] And then the last thing they say is, will you revive the stones of rubbish and the dead too, and the burned ones at that. Do you know what they're saying there? They're saying, this project of Jerusalem has been done before. It didn't work. The Babylonians destroyed it. And now you see all your past is just rubble. How can you make anything of yourself with that kind of A past.
[00:23:23] Your past cannot be forgotten. This one, I think, hit well beneath the belt.
[00:23:29] You can't bring the dead back to life. What is done is done.
[00:23:34] All of these, Church, all of these are lies that come from the Evil One. And all of these are regular lies that he uses to speak against those who try and live by faith.
[00:23:49] Listen to this.
[00:23:51] All of them, by the way, are refuted by God.
[00:23:55] These are all lies. Why do I call these lies? Because they are not true. Here's why. I say that if somebody says you're not strong enough, you're not able enough, you don't have enough plans or resources, you cannot get rid of your past. Can I give you a few passages that you can use to go against these lies?
[00:24:17] You are feeble. But listen, Church, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You are feeble. I am feeble. But you know who's not feeble is the one who empowers my faith.
[00:24:30] You don't have the ability to do this. You know what? I don't. I don't have the ability to do this. But I can do all things through Church, Christ who strengthens me.
[00:24:44] I can do all things through Christ. I am not able to do it by myself. You're right. I agree. But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You don't have enough plans or resources. Well, that's almost always true. Right? That's almost always true. But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus.
[00:25:07] And then the last one, your past, will chase you down. Your past will never let you go. Whatever you have done will chase you until the ends of the earth. And nobody will ever believe. You are a changed person.
[00:25:21] Oh, Church, you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things are passed away. How many things are made new, Church?
[00:25:28] All things you see, the lies of the evil one always speak against our steps of faith.
[00:25:35] But with Jesus Christ, he gives us all the reason to keep walking by faith. Because it's not us, but he who works in us.
[00:25:45] Isn't that great?
[00:25:48] Faith is not about what I can do. Faith is about what God is doing through me and through us.
[00:25:56] Have you ever stepped out to follow God in some way and heard these kind of taunts? My guess is you have. I have. We have. And God is leading us to walk by faith. In fact, it is our requirement that we walk by faith and not by sight.
[00:26:12] Because when we walk by faith, we trust that God is giving us the strength, the ammunition, the power to keep on going. It's not me, but it's Christ who works in me. And when I live by that, my faith grows strong.
[00:26:29] That's why we need the church. It's when we gather in here that we hear these words of truth that squelch the lies of the devil that we hear everywhere else.
[00:26:39] You may not understand what God is doing, but if you believe that your brother sisters answering God's call, then we as a church, step in and we encourage them. Joel, I'm going to use him as an illustration. He doesn't know this, but I'm going to use him. Joel is exploring like he's got this heart for missions, but he doesn't know quite what that's going to look like in this year or next year or the year after that. But he has a heart for the Ukrainian people. And so he comes to the elders and he says, I got a heart for the Ukrainian people.
[00:27:09] What should I do with this? Or how? I've got a couple of ideas. I want to do this, but I can't do it myself. And then the church says, you know what? We can help you with this vision. We can help you with your faith. And so we rally around him and we build into his faith. And listen, you might be experiencing something where you're trying to walk by faith and you're thinking to yourself, it's just too hard. You got to rally into the church. You got to submerge yourself in here. This is where you will hear truth. Truth that squelches the lies.
[00:27:39] By the way, this is not the first time we've seen Tobiah and Sanballat.
[00:27:44] Back in chapter two, in verse ten, when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek out the welfare of the people of Israel. And there you have it.
[00:28:00] Isn't that something? These two guys were ticked off because somebody was coming to help these poor people that could barely scrape their lives together for 100 years.
[00:28:14] When Nehemiah showed up. The reason they were so angry is because Nehemiah had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel and they didn't want that.
[00:28:25] And usually when people squelch your steps of faith, it's because they have a hidden agenda. I don't know what it is, but usually that's true.
[00:28:36] The last thing is mistreatment.
[00:28:40] Opposition will always come in the form of mistreatment.
[00:28:45] Down in verse seven of chapter four. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem were going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed. They were very angry and they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and cause confusion in it.
[00:29:04] The sad truth is when ridicule doesn't work, sometimes people attack you physically.
[00:29:11] In verse seven, it is no longer true that only two people hated these people. They got a cohort of individuals to start attacking the Jewish people together. It's interesting. The threats came from the north. That's Samaria, what we just read. The threats were from the east, that's Ammon. The threats were from the south, that's the Arabs. And the threats were from the west. That's the Ashdod that we read about. They were being attacked on every side.
[00:29:39] Nehemiah prayed, and you know what happened? The danger got greater when you pray. Don't you pray and you say, I'll walk this step of faith if I have peace in my heart.
[00:29:50] Don't you often pray about that? Well, if the Lord gives me peace, I'm going to take this step of faith. Let me just tell you, sometimes you don't get the peace.
[00:29:58] Sometimes you get mistreated, sometimes you get attacked.
[00:30:02] And there's a time to pray with your eyes open.
[00:30:06] Nehemiah 4, 9, down in verse 9. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. This is an undeniable truth. If you have prayed and sought the Lord and you are giving yourself to the Lord and taking a step of faith, you will face opposition.
[00:30:26] There are forces at work. Sometimes you can see them and sometimes you cannot. And as a church, we know this to be true as well. Nehemiah had his teams to pray and to work and to prepare for the challenges that they were to face. And now he has to face the challenge of physical attacks.
[00:30:45] Nehemiah said, pray. And now he's got to set a guard out for 247 so that they don't get killed while they're trying to do their acts of faith. When the threats came. What I love, though, is when the threats came, Nehemiah, I am certain, would pray, lord, crush my enemies.
[00:31:06] Help them to not throw their arrows in our direction. Help them to back off. Right? Squish them would be his prayer.
[00:31:16] But instead, Nehemiah's prayer was answered differently. You know how it was answered? Nehemiah's prayer was answered because the people that he was leading only grew stronger as they unified together against the onslaught.
[00:31:30] Their faith deepened because of the opposition.
[00:31:37] Over a hundred years, the Jews had scattered. Do you remember how we started this? They couldn't work together. They weren't used to working together. There was no one to rally them together. Nehemiah's greatest challenge was to get all of these people who have tried and tried, and their grandparents had tried and their parents had tried, and they couldn't make it work. They couldn't build the walls. They could barely survive. Nehemiah comes there and he says, let's give it another shot. And his answer to prayer was, when the onslaught came, it unified their vision.
[00:32:09] It solidified them like glue together. And they became a people that worked harder because they were convinced they were doing what God called them to do.
[00:32:19] Nehemiah's prayers for unity and success were answered as they battled the opposition to their calling. Look down in verse 14.
[00:32:27] And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people, don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, you, sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
[00:32:46] We have a tendency to write this off as a story like Old Testament people when they talk to God and God gives them a vision and they follow the vision. Like Noah who was told to build an ark and he was given the dimensions of how to build the ark, and he built the ark because God said, build the ark and build it this way. Or we read about Moses and Moses has to talk to a burning bush. You know, tell them, I am sent you to go let my people free. And Moses had a confrontation directly with God. Or Jacob. Jacob's wrestling with an angel, and the angel gives him directions. Or Abraham having lunch with God and Sarah laughing. You remember all of this. Like, this is God saying, this is what I want you to do. And everybody was going, oh, okay, I better do that. Nehemiah had none of that.
[00:33:38] Nehemiah never talked to God that we know of in scripture. We have a prayer that he prayed, but God never sat down with him and said, nehemiah, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go. I want you to get all your stuff together. I want you to get letters. I want you to go see this guy that owns the forest. He owns the, you know, the Home Depot. I want you to go down there. I want you to get all of that stuff together. You're going to meet Sanballat. He's a bad dude, Tobiah. Watch out for them. But here's what I want you to do. Here's how I want you to build the wall. Here's the dimensions I want in the wall. Here's the people, and here's all the people I'm going to give to you. None of that happened, which is why I love this story so much.
[00:34:17] Because sometimes in my life, when I take a step of faith, I really like for God to give me the details. But he doesn't.
[00:34:25] And he didn't to Nehemiah either.
[00:34:29] Nehemiah felt burdened by God to go do this job simply because he prayed and he fasted and God put it on his heart. In church. There are things that God is calling you to do personally because he is putting it on your heart. And you have got to listen to that voice, and you've got to take a step of faith. You'll be misunderstood, you'll be mistreated, you'll be mocked.
[00:34:55] But if God has put that thing on your heart, you've got to do it. Nehemiah is a great example of this. Apparently he felt so convinced this was God's will for his life, he would stand even in the face of opposition to get it done.
[00:35:10] Nehemiah 2:11.
[00:35:12] Here's how he felt. God lay this on his heart. So I went to Jerusalem. Look at these verse, these words. And I was there three days, and I arose in the night, and I had a few men with me, and I had told no one what God had put on my heart to do for Jerusalem.
[00:35:29] This is how we talk today.
[00:35:32] We say, God has put this on my heart. I can't explain it to you. I don't know why it's that case, but I can't get it out of there. And I feel like I need to walk by faith. And so we go for counsel and we spend time in prayer, and we do all those things to make sure that this is indeed what God is calling us to do. But when we take those steps of faith, we do so with the idea that we're going to be mocked, we're going to be mistreated, we're going to be misunderstood, but we're going to walk forward even in the face of opposition, because this is what God has called me to do.
[00:36:05] And sometimes it's just an alone thing between you and him.
[00:36:09] Nehemiah chose to step out in faith and answer the call. And he united the Jewish tribes, something that hadn't been done a hundred years. And he finished the wall in 52 days.
[00:36:22] The mantra for those stepping out in faith is simply this. If God is for us, who can be against us? Nehemiah 4, verse 6. So we built the wall and all the wall was joined together to half its height because the people had a mind to work. Don't you love that? That's one of my favorite phrases in this whole book. The people had a mind to work. You want to say that with me? I know you do, because it's really good, right? For the people had a mind to work. I love that the people had a mind to work. By the way, we're going to move over to this building. We're trying to get it done in record time. So I'm hoping that the people will have a mind to work when we go over there.
[00:37:03] This is meant to convey simply this. They didn't give in to despair. They were determined. They faced the foe. They faced the opposition in faith. Everyone joined, united in support of their leading, of what God is doing. And the wall was joined together at half its height. Don't you love that the wall was joined together? Everybody did what they needed to do, and they all joined their pieces together to get to the same level.
[00:37:33] Well, here's the rest of the story. Verse 15. When the enemies heard that, it was known to us that God had frustrated their plan. Don't you love that God frustrated their plan? Actually, it was a people that were like out there with mail and armor and arrow, bows and arrows. But God had frustrated their plan. Because they completed their work. We all returned to the wall, each one to his work. From that day on, half my servants worked on construction and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. Remember coats of mail? And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah who were building 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 hand. And each of the builders had his sword strapped to his side while he built. The men who sounded the trumpet was beside me, shoulder to shoulder, brother to brother, ready to defend each other to the death. Do you remember me reading coats of mail? Do you know why you wear coats of mail, by the way?
[00:38:38] You wear coats of mail? Because arrows are coming at you. They deflect or try and deflect the arrows. These guys were actually building the wall while the enemy was shooting arrows at them. Isn't that crazy? And so they decided, when we carry burdens, when we carry the bricks, and we carry all the Materials, we're going to carry them, but when we carry them and you strap them to our backs, we're going to hold the stuff that we're carrying with one hand. And with the other hand, don't let go of your weapon.
[00:39:12] One hand you work and one hand you defend.
[00:39:16] And if you read a little further, they wouldn't even take their weapons off. When they slept, they were always ready for a challenge. Faith led their days and their nights. They worked together for God in purpose, defending one another out of love.
[00:39:33] They were unified. This was an answer to prayer. Unified.
[00:39:40] I think this is like. I think this is what it should be like when a church works together, don't you?
[00:39:47] With one hand we do the work, and with the other hand we pray, pray, pray. With the other hand we hold onto our weapon, which is the word of God, the sword that slices both ways. With the other hand we hold fast to our weapons, and with the other hand we do the work. I think that's what we should be doing as a church.
[00:40:08] So here's some. So what's for you, Number one?
[00:40:11] Faith is a show of strength to the enemy, so it will always face attacks. That might be the best so what I've ever written, by the way.
[00:40:20] Faith is a show of strength to the enemy, so it will always face attacks. Faith moves forward, but opposition follows.
[00:40:30] Faith in a faithless world will always be misunderstood. It will always be mocked. It will even cause you to be mistreated. Doubt, fear or ridicule from others may cause you to even doubt whether you're doing the right thing or not in serving Christ. Listen, doubt is normal, but faith overcomes doubt. Doubt is normal, but faith overcomes doubt. Don't you remember what Jesus said to his disciples constantly, O ye of little faith. Because they doubted, they constantly doubted. Faith overcomes doubt, but doubt is normal. Let me ask you a question. Do you think Nehemiah ever doubted what he was doing was right?
[00:41:09] What do you think?
[00:41:11] I think so. I think there had to be times when people got nailed off the wall, when they died, when they got hit by arrows or something bad happened. I think he took it personally and I think he sat down and I think he thought to himself, is this really of God or am I just promoting myself here?
[00:41:28] I think he did.
[00:41:32] But once that call was answered by Nehemiah, he never looked back and he kept moving forward in faith.
[00:41:38] Second thing I would say about this is fear is normal, but faith overcomes fear.
[00:41:44] Fear is normal. Courage is necessary when you follow the call of God. That's why the Bible constantly says, be of good courage, be strong and courageous. Right? It's always courage, courage, courage. Because fear is a normal thing when we walk by faith. And number three, ridicule is normal too. But faith overcomes the mocking. No one likes to have their life of faith ridiculed. I didn't in that class.
[00:42:13] I took it personally. But know that it's going to happen. Jesus experienced all these things just like we do.
[00:42:21] Do you know in Mark 3 and verse 21, Jesus had brothers and sisters? Did you know that? If you're Catholic, you may not know that, but Jesus did have blood brothers and sisters. And in Mark 3, in verse 21, his blood brothers and sisters, his own family thought he was out of his mind. It literally says that. You can look it up if you want. His own family did not believe what he was saying.
[00:42:49] And when he talked to his disciples, and when he talks to us, he said in Luke 6:22, Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, when they revile you, when they spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of man. That means when you walking, showing, living by faith, rejoice in that day and leap for joy.
[00:43:14] That's funny.
[00:43:16] Sorry. For behold, your reward is great in heaven, for so their fathers did to the prophets.
[00:43:23] When people mistreat you, when they mock you, when they malign you, what should you do? Church, according to Jesus, you should leap for.
[00:43:31] Oh, that's funny, don't you think? Because that's the last thing I want to do. I want to go crawl in a hole somewhere. But Jesus says no. When you're walking by faith and people don't understand that you're walking by faith, and they mistreat you and they mock you as evil, jump for joy. Because then you know what you're doing is making a difference for Jesus.
[00:43:56] On account of Jesus.
[00:43:58] Number two, momentum for the Lord will most assuredly bring opposition. When you're finally getting momentum in your life, you most assuredly will face opposition. Steps of faith are rarely comfortable. That's why people in the Old Testament are commended for walking by faith. Hebrews 11 talks about this. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen for. By it, the people of old receive their accommodation. You know what that means? That means that when we walk by faith, we please the Lord.
[00:44:32] You can do everything you can to make sure your path is clear of the painful bumps.
[00:44:37] But once the roll, once the roll starts and the cart starts moving, you're going to Hit bumps. It's going to become obvious you have an enemy that never sleeps and he does not want you walking by faith.
[00:44:51] Ephesians 6:10 says this. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Your enemy never sleeps.
[00:45:15] And if you walk by faith, you become a target.
[00:45:19] So don't be surprised.
[00:45:22] First John 4:4 says this, Little children, you are from God and you have overcome them for greater who is in you? For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Be bold and courageous. The Lord is with you. Number three. True faith will keep you running back to the source for strength.
[00:45:42] Make sure as you're having momentum in your faith, as you're seeing these large steps occurring, make sure that you keep going back to the source of your strength, which is Jesus Christ. Nehemiah, 6, 9. Listen to this. For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking this is Nehemiah talking about the enemies, Sanballat, Tobiah and all of those people. They got to follow them. They all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not get done. But now, O Lord, strengthen my hands. Don't you love that?
[00:46:20] People, situations, circumstances that attack us when we walk by faith almost always are driven by some evil force somewhere in the supernatural realm that wants to keep us walking by faith, to stop that in our lives.
[00:46:39] And the goal is to get our hands to drop from the work, to give up and to go home.
[00:46:47] It won't get done. Listen, the last thing the enemy wants is for you to walk by faith.
[00:46:54] You are the greatest threat. When your light shines bright in his dark world, he will attack you with everything he's got, including the people that you love the most, situations, finances, whatever it is. He will give you every lie. He will make your life miserable.
[00:47:15] But church, we walk by faith and not by sight.
[00:47:20] We are looking to do damage for the kingdom of God in this evil world. We are looking to drag prisoners of this darkness into the arms of Jesus. C.S. lewis called Jesus the hound of Heaven because he seeks us out, all of us, to tear us from the darkness and bring us into light. And that is why we do church. That is why we live by faith. That is why we do what we do.
[00:47:48] The evil one is opposed to Anything and anyone that takes moves of faith. And so I would say church faith is perhaps best refined through the fires of opposition. If you want to grow in your faith, be prepared for opposition, handle it well, and you will grow in ways you can't even imagine.
[00:48:10] You've heard this before, but there's. When they refine gold, they burn it and burn it. They purify it and they purify it until all of the dross goes aside and they're left with the pure gold. Nothing but the most valuable metal left behind. And God does the same to us in our faith. It burns. And burning is never good.
[00:48:34] It's never comfortable. It's almost always painful. But what's left behind is a wonderful thing that God can use.
[00:48:42] Remove sin. This process, you feel like you're going through this. Maybe God's trying to get some sin out of your life. If you're going through this process, maybe he's trying to get some doubt out of your life. You can trust him if he's doing this. Maybe it's to strengthen your weaknesses so you can be strong for what he has for you next. But whatever it is, this is the process that God initiates so that our lives can be purified and stronger and we can live by faith. First Peter 1:6 says this. These opposing forces have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
[00:49:29] May we all have a pure faith that faces opposition and keeps trucking. Let's pray.
[00:49:38] Father, I'm grateful for Nehemiah. I'm really grateful for. Probably the thing that stood out to me most in this passage was the fact that you never had a conversation with him.
[00:49:50] You laid this burden on his heart and then he moved forward in faith.
[00:49:57] We often think that we would do much better if we could just sit down with you and you could explain some things to us.
[00:50:03] But then we read somebody like Nehemiah and realize, Father, that you put the burden on our heart and faith. Is our steps that follow.
[00:50:15] Help us to live by faith and not by sight. Use our lives to do amazing things for your glory. We can't do it on our own. We're not able. We're feeble. We don't have the resources. We do doubt.
[00:50:29] We flail all the time. But you, Father, give us the truth of your word that reminds us you do all these things through us if we're just willing to be used. So, Father, use us in ways we couldn't imagine. I pray for your honor, for your glory. In Jesus name, amen.
