Swords and Trowels: Building the Church in a Chaotic World

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:04:22] Good morning, church family. It is really good to be back together again. I hope you're able to catch our last couple weeks online as we continue through our study of Nehemiah together. If you missed those, go check them out. Great. And help you catch up to where we're at right now. But it is really, really good to be back together this morning. One thing we will let you know about is we were supposed to have something we call starting point last week. Weren't able to do it because of snow. So we have a new date for you. Starting point is going to be on Sunday, February 22nd. If you are newer here to Peninsula, you want to know,
[00:04:52] about how to get involved, membership, what we believe as a church.
[00:04:56] This is a great event for you.
[00:04:57] It's at 1215, so immediately following our second service, we'll have lunch provided for you.
[00:05:02] We have child care, so make sure to register for that.
[00:05:04] We look forward to seeing you on the 22nd.
[00:05:07] Also, this coming Tuesday, we are starting off our Joshua Bible study.
[00:05:11] This is our spring Bible study.
[00:05:13] It's going to be Tuesday evenings at 630.
[00:05:15] It's for sixth grade through adults.
[00:05:17] So if you've got middle school, high school, bring them along with you.
[00:05:20] We do have two different groups.
[00:05:21] We have a men's group and a women's group that all meet together at the same time, but it's a great opportunity to really dig into the scripture together.
[00:05:28] So join us starting this Tuesday.
[00:05:30] If you haven't signed up yet, do so, but join us this Tuesday evening for our spring study.
[00:05:35] As well, this morning, we had a great group who met together to talk about how they can be involved in some of our international teams.
[00:05:42] If you have questions about those and you're like, hey, I couldn't be there this morning, but I would like to serve.
[00:05:46] Can I still be a part of that?
[00:05:47] Absolutely.
[00:05:48] We've got two opportunities.
[00:05:49] We're sending a team to Paris in April and Guatemala in October and would love to help answer any questions you might have about that.
[00:05:57] You can also apply for those online and let us know you're interested, but we look forward to the opportunities to encourage you to pray and consider how God might be leading you to be a part of one of these teams in 2026.
[00:06:07] Last, another great way we can be a part of God's work, not only here at Peninsula, but outside of our church family is through our partnership with Heritage Church.
[00:06:15] That's our church plant in Davidson being led by Brad Millett.
[00:06:19] They actually have an interest meeting coming up on Wednesday evening, February 25th at 630.
[00:06:24] If you want to know more about Heritage Church, how you can pray for them, how you can encourage them, maybe you feel like the Lord's leading you to actually go and be sent out with him as a part of this new church.
[00:06:33] You should be there Wednesday evening, February 25th at 630.
[00:06:37] Join us for that Heritage Church interest meeting.
[00:06:40] All these things you can find online.
[00:06:42] There'll be more coming up in the spring because after the last couple of weeks, we are thankful for the spring to be coming.
[00:06:47] But there's a lot of things happening here at Peninsula.
[00:06:49] But above all other things, we just want to say thank you for being here and we are looking forward and excited to an opportunity to worship together this morning.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:06:57] Well, good morning.
[00:07:08] Doesn't it feel good to be together?
[00:07:10] We had ice, then we had snow, and I thought we were going to be blown away with the windstorm.
[00:07:15] But we're here today.
[00:07:16] so glad that you're here with us as we continue to worship through the book of Nehemiah today, and we're looking forward to that. We're learning even more today about how faithful God has been over the times. He didn't fail then, and He's not going to fail today because He is
[00:07:31] the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And we get to worship Him. And I want to start us out in a time of prayer as we make our hearts right before the Lord to be able to sing and worship
[00:07:42] Him in truth and spirit, and then we prepare ourselves for the Word to be proclaimed. Let's all stand together as we get ready to come into our time of worship. And again, it is so good to
[00:07:52] see you here today. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your love and your grace and the fact that you are an unchanging God and that you are a powerful God, omniscient God. We come here today
[00:08:03] to worship you through music, through our thought process, through our hearts, through opening up the Word and reflecting on it and allowing your Spirit to move in our hearts. We know that you are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and the God that did things there that we can read about
[00:08:21] in the Old Testament is the same God. You're the same God that can work for us today, so help us to lean into that promise, into that goodness, and to worship you well. For in Jesus' name we pray,

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:08:31] amen. It is good to see everybody here this morning. Let's continue like we usually do.
[00:08:41] Lift your voices to the Lord. Give Him praise this morning through song.
[00:08:45] I count on one thing, the same God who never fails, will not fail me now, you won't fail me now, in the waiting, the same God who's never late, is working all things out, you're working all things out.
[00:09:16] Yes, I will lift you high in the lowest valley.
[00:09:24] Yes, I will bless your name.
[00:09:30] Yes, I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy all day.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:09:39] Yes, I will bless your name.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:22:57] Thank you so much for the blood that you brought, Father, to cover the sins of us.
[00:23:02] father we're not worthy of that we're not worthy at all but father you're so good and you love you

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:23:10] love us thank you good morning today we're continuing in the book of nehemiah and we have a very special treat for us today we are going to hear from reagan suitors reagan is a recent
[00:24:04] graduate of liberty university he is on staff with us he is our middle school ministry associate it. And as Nehemiah teaches that it's not just about brick and border, but it's about building people and building forward in who we are as a body, I am very excited for us to be able to hear
[00:24:24] from Reagan today. He said he was a little bit out of his comfort zone because he's a middle school pastor. He hardly ever wears a jacket, and he said he would do that for us today, though. So
[00:24:36] Maybe we could give him a little bit of slack on that as well.
[00:24:39] But anyway, please welcome to the stage our middle school associate, Reagan Suiters.

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:25:03] You know, I always wanted to preach at the Super Bowl.
[00:25:11] No, it's probably good that I'm not the one preaching at the Super Bowl because rookies rarely do well in the Super Bowl.
[00:25:17] But at least today I can make you appreciate Pastor Daniel that much more.
[00:25:24] So I can make sure that happens.
[00:25:26] My official title is Youth Associate of Middle School, so yams.
[00:25:33] I don't know if that was intentional, but even if it wasn't, now it's stuck in your brain forever.
[00:25:41] So either that or you're just thinking about sweet potato casserole.
[00:25:44] I know that I am.
[00:25:46] It's good stuff.
[00:25:47] No, but I've been on staff now for almost two and a half years, which has really been an awesome thing.
[00:25:54] It's been great to be here.
[00:25:56] and I found out recently that I now qualify for the church's 401k, and I thought that was a pretty cool thing. I was excited about that, but I have to admit that when Pastor Steve came and told me
[00:26:09] about it, it made me a little nervous because I've never tried to run that far before, so we'll see how that goes. I know my wife was hoping I'd come up here and tell some jokes. That's her favorite
[00:26:27] of thing. I'm pretty sure she married me for my sense of humor. That was what it was all about for her, that and all the money that I have. So, those two things combined really did it,
[00:26:38] and she was probably hoping that I would talk about her as well, but she's been awesome. She's been my rock through ministry and through the things that God has allowed us to go through to
[00:26:48] help us to grow and become more like Christ, and it's just been a blessing to walk through life with her. But one of the things I really love about her is her laugh. She has a great laugh.
[00:26:58] And since I have a good sense of humor, it's important that she has a great laugh. And so I'll be telling jokes and she'll just be cracking up all the time. And so when I tell a joke,
[00:27:10] I'll try to impersonate her laugh a little bit for you just so that you can get a glimpse. Because you know that person that has just such a good laugh, they just light up the whole room and you
[00:27:18] just can't help but have a great time because they're having a good time. That's her. So when I'm telling jokes. I'll just look over, and I'll see her, and she'll be like, and it's just, it's good.
[00:27:31] It gets me. I'm just kidding. She doesn't really do that. She's good. All right, now you're wondering if I'm going to actually preach this morning, and yes, that's going to happen. So let's jump into this. We are in Nehemiah here. Just a warning, a caveat here, if you will, that as I'm preaching,
[00:27:50] you're going to have some urges to shout out things like hallelujah, amen.
[00:27:58] You might even get so excited that you jump up out of your seat.
[00:28:02] It's normal.
[00:28:03] This is the typical response from the middle school students.
[00:28:06] So I thought that you would want to be prepared for that.
[00:28:09] That's usually how it goes.
[00:28:10] All right.
[00:28:11] So we're in Nehemiah, the back end of chapter four here.
[00:28:14] We're coming through verses 14 through 23, guarded and graced.
[00:28:19] And I feel like we need like a little recap video, like a previously on Nehemiah kind of thing where we talk a little bit about what happened last time.
[00:28:29] So we had the opposition.
[00:28:30] We had good old Sandy and Toby, and they were coming after the Israelites, talking about how they were not going to be able to build this wall.
[00:28:40] They're jeering at them.
[00:28:41] They're saying all kinds of nasty things.
[00:28:43] They're saying, this isn't going to work.
[00:28:45] Why are you guys even trying it?
[00:28:46] and then Nehemiah doesn't even listen to them he prays instead and gives the battle to God and they start building and they get the wall up to half its height so this is where we are they've got half of the wall up ready to go kind
[00:29:02] of preparing for it and then that makes the opposition even more angry because they're moving forward and they're they're doing things in spite of what what they're threatening and so they increase their threats they start
[00:29:14] threatening even more violence and things against them. So, this is where we pick up in verse 15.
[00:29:20] I'm going to read through this section here, and then we'll kind of break it down verse by verse as we go. So, the work resumes beginning in verse 15. It says, spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah,
[00:29:51] who were building on the wall. Quick pause. Why in the world did they put verse 17 in the middle of this sentence? I do not understand that. If someone who's smarter than me can explain that
[00:30:00] to me, that would be great. But there it is. 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
[00:30:10] weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built.
[00:30:17] 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, and we are separated on the wall,
[00:30:28] far from one another. And 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
[00:30:39] of dawn until the stars came out. 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 may labor by
[00:30:51] day. 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. Thus ends the reading of God's
[00:31:03] word. There you go. All right, so let's jump back to verse 15 because there's so much in here, and I'm really excited about what God is saying in these verses. It says, when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plans,
[00:31:18] we all returned to the wall, each to his work. Have you ever had your plans frustrated before?
[00:31:24] All of you are thinking, yeah, the last two weeks in a row. We've had our plans frustrated the last two Sundays. It's been kind of ridiculous, all the crazy weather that we've had, And that can frustrate your plans.
[00:31:38] There's another word that I really like, thwart.
[00:31:41] That's a fun word to say.
[00:31:42] Our plans have been thwarted.
[00:31:44] I love a good Middle English word, especially if it sounds like you're impersonating a toad when you say it, thwart.
[00:31:49] All right, so God thwarts the plans of the enemy through the faithfulness of his people.
[00:31:58] That's what I think is really cool about this, because you read it at face value, you're like, wait a second, what did God do?
[00:32:03] I don't remember him doing some supernatural thing here to thwart the enemy's plans.
[00:32:08] And you look back and you see, wait, we see this in verse 9 of chapter 4 when Nehemiah writes, and we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and
[00:32:19] night.
[00:32:20] That was the action.
[00:32:22] That was what God used to thwart the plans of the enemy.
[00:32:26] It was the faithfulness and the obedience of his people.
[00:32:29] And that's exactly how we need to respond to things that are happening.
[00:32:33] When we are faithful, when we respond with obedience, it thwarts the plans of the enemy.
[00:32:43] Last week, Pastor Daniel said, action without prayer is pride.
[00:32:49] And so when we look to be faithful, when we look to be obedient, the first thing, the first response that we should have is prayer.
[00:32:58] This is the first response that Nehemiah has when the opposition comes.
[00:33:02] He stops, and he doesn't gather a council together and say, all right, what's our battle plan?
[00:33:07] What are we going to do?
[00:33:07] No, he stops, and he prays.
[00:33:09] That's the first thing that he does.
[00:33:11] That's his first response.
[00:33:14] Persecution, prayer, and then perseverance.
[00:33:19] These are the three steps for us as Christians.
[00:33:21] When perseverance comes at us, I alliterated this just for you, Pastor Daniel.
[00:33:26] Isn't that nice?
[00:33:26] Persecution to prayer to perseverance This is what we do as christians that that when we are persecuted when people say things against us we respond through prayer God, what would you have me do god? How would you have me respond god?
[00:33:42] What are you trying to teach me in this and then we persevere through that persecution?
[00:33:47] This is exactly what we saw happen In acts chapter 4. This is the book. We just came out and we saw so much of this happening in acts especially in Acts chapter 4 verses 27 through 31 where Peter and John are brought before the
[00:34:01] Jerusalem council and they're being questioned and they're they're they're being ridiculed and persecuted and and these religious leaders want to stop them from talking about Jesus and their response is are we supposed to obey you are we supposed to obey God
[00:34:17] we're going to choose to obey God and so they persevere through the persecution no matter what because that is what God had called them to do.
[00:34:27] In fact, what they did after they were released from this Jerusalem council, they let them go, they go back, they gather with the believers, and the first thing they do is pray.
[00:34:37] And they pray for boldness.
[00:34:39] And they pray that God would allow them to continue to teach and to do the things that they were doing to spread the gospel.
[00:34:46] And they persevered.
[00:34:48] After the threats, the church prays and keeps preaching.
[00:34:52] There's a quote from this guy named George Herbert, who was a 17th century English poet and clergyman.
[00:34:59] And he said this, living well is the best revenge.
[00:35:07] I think that's great because our first response when people are coming after us or persecuting us, we want to get even with them.
[00:35:14] We want to do something to vindicate ourselves or to throw dirt on them so that they don't have any credibility so that whatever they're saying about us doesn't work.
[00:35:28] But I think the best response that we can have, this is the response that Nehemiah chooses, is instead of going out and trying to address issues or push back against the enemies, he chooses to live well and obey God.
[00:35:45] And that's what keeps our integrity.
[00:35:48] And keeping your integrity is the best defense against these things.
[00:35:52] because the enemy wants to pull apart what God wants to bring together.
[00:35:59] The enemy wants to pull apart what God wants to bring together.
[00:36:03] And when we allow opposition to come in and pull things apart, the enemy wins.
[00:36:15] Because when we step up to do the work of God, we should expect the enemy to come after us.
[00:36:21] He doesn't want that happening.
[00:36:22] The enemy doesn't want the wall built.
[00:36:24] The enemy doesn't want Christians coming together and doing the work of God.
[00:36:29] And so he's going to do everything he can to try to pull that apart.
[00:36:33] We need to stay faithful and obedient together.
[00:36:35] When persecution comes, God's people shouldn't panic.
[00:36:39] We should pray and persevere.
[00:36:42] 16 and 17.
[00:36:44] From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.
[00:36:52] and the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah who were building on the wall.
[00:36:57] 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. What I think is cool about these two verses, it demonstrates that God's people didn't wait around for peace to be obedient.
[00:37:16] There's always that temptation to say, you know what, when things slow down, that's when I'll jump in and get involved. I'll wait until conditions are right to do what God is asking me to do. When I have more time that's when I'm going to serve. When I have more money
[00:37:34] that's what I'm going to give. We tend to use those as excuses. I've used them as excuses many times in my life. But the Israelites they chose not to wait around for perfect conditions to be
[00:37:47] obedient to what God was calling them to do. They pushed through those difficulties. They persevered challenges came. And so when we can't expect to go through life having perfect conditions for everything, we need to be obedient in the face of opposition, the face of difficulty. We need to be
[00:38:05] obedient while staying alert. They carried these building materials in one hand while holding weapons in the other. They were demonstrating a balance of faith and practicality. They had both.
[00:38:20] They were committed to their task, but they also remained vigilant to the threats.
[00:38:27] You know, modern Israel's story reads a lot like Nehemiah here.
[00:38:33] Because in 1948, Israel declared independence.
[00:38:37] They established a government, legal systems, schools, and basic infrastructure overnight.
[00:38:44] they absorbed Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees from Arab nations around them with very limited resources and then they were immediately invaded by those surrounding Arab nations and they fought the war of independence while still forming an army an economy and a
[00:39:07] leadership structure and they were doing all those things they were building and protecting simultaneously. One quick side note, I thought this was really cool, and I love biblical prophecy, and so whenever I get to see something like this, I just, I had to talk about it, because Isaiah 66
[00:39:27] verse 8, it says this, who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she
[00:39:39] brought forth her children. This is from the book of Isaiah, which is written in like 700-ish B.C., prophesying that Israel would become a nation in one day, and that happened in 1948.
[00:39:56] That just, I love that. The Bible is so cool. Can a nation be born in a day? When God is the one who is orchestrating things, the answer is absolutely yes. But just like Israel,
[00:40:08] the church never gets the luxury of choosing building or protecting. It has to be both simultaneously. God gives us two tasks as Christians, and we have to be involved in both of them, building and protecting. That first one I'm going to talk about is God gives us an
[00:40:35] assignment to build his church. God gives us an assignment to build his church. This is one of our primary responsibilities as Christians. First Corinthians 12 says this, for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is
[00:40:56] with Christ. One body, many roles. Each of us has been equipped with individual callings and purposes that align with our giftings that we need to use to build the church, to complete that assignment that God has given us of building up the church. We all have unique gifts and talents
[00:41:21] to do that. 1 Peter 2.5 says, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I love the imagery of this, living stones, because immediately I began to
[00:41:44] think, and bear with me here, so the Israelites, imagine as they're building a wall. They're doing it with living stones. So like stones that have arms, legs, free will, that kind of thing going on. And they're trying to put this wall together. So they pick up a stone, they put it on the wall
[00:42:00] and it's like, I don't really want to be here. This is kind of uncomfortable. And it jumps up and it runs like 20 feet away and just sits out in the middle of nowhere doing its own thing.
[00:42:12] is that stone an effective part of the wall? You see where this is going. No, it is not being very helpful. I mean, maybe it'll trip one of the enemies as they're running, but it's not doing
[00:42:27] a very good job being part of the wall. So just like one stone does not make a wall, one member does not make a body. If we want to be an effective part of the body of Christ, we need to be united
[00:42:44] with its members. We need to be working together as part of the body of Christ. Each believer has a unique calling that is part of God's larger work. And when we coordinate together, we can
[00:43:01] accomplish so much more. It took every family in the Jewish community working on their section of the wall to build it in 52 days. It takes every member of the church body to do amazing things
[00:43:20] when we come together according to God's purposes. That brings us to the second assignment that God gives. God gives each of us an assignment to protect His church, and this comes out of verse 18 here, which says, and each of the builders had a sword strapped at his side while he built.
[00:43:46] The sword strapped at his side while he built, ready to protect what he was building.
[00:43:52] First Peter 3.15 says, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with
[00:44:06] gentleness and respect that was the first thing that i thought of when i read this to always be prepared second thing that i thought of because as i think of our sword which is the word of god
[00:44:18] being ready to use it i thought of jesus as he was brought out into the wilderness led by the spirit to be tempted by the devil and he's out there and he's fasted for 40 days and the devil comes to
[00:44:31] tempt him and each time his response is it begins with it is written and then he says it is written and then the third response again it is written three times in a row what Jesus uses is the Word of God to defend what is true to defend
[00:44:56] what is right this is how we need to be prepared as Christians Psalm 119 11 I I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
[00:45:07] We need to have that readiness with the sword to defend against sin.
[00:45:12] In today's culture, it's even more crucial for us to be grounded in God's word and know what the truth is.
[00:45:19] Because so often I've seen these, and it seems like the devil's getting even more crafty with the way that he's trying to twist truth in our culture.
[00:45:29] just the other day i saw a video where someone tried to twist the entirety of jesus ministry by redefining the word repentance that's used and i thought wow that could be really convincing if you ignore everything else that jesus did and said in the word of god and had no idea what his
[00:45:56] ministry was really about. You could be convinced, but if you know what Jesus taught about repentance and what His expectations were and the things that He did in His ministry, then not for a second
[00:46:12] would you believe the lies, the twisting of Scripture. When we know God's Word, we can defend against untruth, the sword and the trowel. That's what they are called, the sword and the trowel.
[00:46:30] We need both.
[00:46:31] We need the sword to defend against sin and the attacks of the enemies.
[00:46:35] And we need the trowel.
[00:46:36] You guys know what a trowel is?
[00:46:37] It's a flat hand tool used for brick laying, like spreading mortar and things like that.
[00:46:46] That's what a trowel is.
[00:46:47] It kind of looks like a spade, but it's flat.
[00:46:50] It's a trowel.
[00:46:52] That's what they would have used as they were laying different bricks and stones there.
[00:46:58] We just finished going through the book of Acts where we saw the disciples constantly participating in both sword and trowel work, and they were doing it simultaneously.
[00:47:11] We saw again and again where the Apostle Paul or the other apostles, they're going out and they're building the church, they're making disciples, they're teaching new believers, establishing churches in these different cities, and then they also spend their time going
[00:47:27] into the marketplace, going into the synagogues, and preaching the word of God and defending it, defending what was said against it. They were doing both simultaneously, and that's what we're called to do as well. Verse 18, the second part of it says, the man who sounded the trumpet
[00:47:49] was beside me. In my family, suitorsmen are known to fly by the seat of their pants.
[00:47:59] this is just an unfortunate reality sometimes and that's not to say that we can't get into the weeds and hash out the details of things because we can we have that ability it's just that most often we are not overly concerned with
[00:48:18] the details we figure they'll work themselves out you know and I found this rang most true in one particular instance early on in marriage. In 2017, my wife was having her 25th birthday party. I can see you guys doing math right now. She was having her 25th birthday
[00:48:43] party. And so I wanted to go big for it. I was like, 25, that's an awesome year. Let's make this a special birthday for her. So I decided, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to plan
[00:48:52] a surprise party for my wife, and it's going to be awesome. I'm just going to blow her away. Her birthday is on November 4th, so mark your calendars. And the surprise party that I planned was on November 5th. Some of you already see where this is going. And I
[00:49:14] put it all together. I was like, the best way to get, because in order to surprise someone, they have to show up somewhere expecting something else to happen, but really it's the surprise party. That's the best way to do it. And so the fifth was a Sunday night, and I knew the best way
[00:49:28] to surprise her was for the evening youth service, instead of having youth to have a surprise party for her, that she would walk in thinking we were doing youth that night, but instead it was a
[00:49:39] surprise party. I thought it was just a brilliant idea. I have those sometimes. And so this is what happened. I've got the party ready to go, all planned out, everything's set. And then November Number fourth, I wake up in the morning, and I'm like, oh no, today is her birthday, and
[00:50:03] she doesn't know that anything's happening tomorrow, so what are her expectations for today?
[00:50:10] So we're moseying along, doing different things, and she's like, so what are we doing today?
[00:50:15] And I was like, that's a great question.
[00:50:19] What would you like to do?
[00:50:21] We ended up going to Ikea and walking around.
[00:50:25] Great birthday, by the way.
[00:50:27] Who doesn't love walking around Ikea for your birthday got some Swedish meatballs like that's a it's a good time And then you know went home and and just didn't really do a whole lot at the end of the day
[00:50:39] My wife was rather disappointed as you can imagine. I had a little bit of an oversight here So that did not go well But we did certainly surprise her the next day at the party and I was able to redeem myself slightly
[00:50:52] So I learned a valuable lesson. Never, ever plan a surprise party Reagan. So I don't do that anymore. But when you have a plan, you save yourself a lot of headache and a lot of heartache. When you have a plan, it makes a huge difference.
[00:51:10] This is what Nehemiah understood, which I should have read way before I decided to do a surprise party.
[00:51:17] He had a plan.
[00:51:18] He had the trumpeter with him.
[00:51:21] Why?
[00:51:22] Because the man who sounded the trumpet would be able to rally people to him to sound the alarm in case of attack.
[00:51:30] When things were going wrong, they would be able to let everyone know, and they could coordinate together to do something about it.
[00:51:38] Because faith and planning are not mutually exclusive things.
[00:51:43] And I think a lot of times as Christians, we get this wrong.
[00:51:47] We think, oh, God's going to handle it, so I don't have to do anything.
[00:51:52] God wants to use us for his work, for his kingdom.
[00:51:58] He wants to use your brain, your mind, your ability to plan out things.
[00:52:05] I think that's what's really cool about the God that we serve is that he wants to use our own abilities for his kingdom, for his good.
[00:52:13] And so faith doesn't cancel planning, it demands it.
[00:52:19] And Nehemiah understood this.
[00:52:22] He planned ahead.
[00:52:24] Godly leadership prepares for danger while trusting God fully.
[00:52:32] Verse 19, And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall far from one another.
[00:52:43] Here's the truth I see in this verse right here, is that isolation increases vulnerability.
[00:52:54] Have you ever tried to put sunscreen on your own back?
[00:52:58] It doesn't go so well, does it?
[00:53:00] Or tried to back up a trailer without a spotter?
[00:53:03] It's not a fun time either.
[00:53:05] That can get you in trouble.
[00:53:06] um ecclesiastes 4 9 and 10 says two are better than one if either of them falls down one can help the other up but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up as in my life the times
[00:53:23] where i have felt the most despair are the times when i've been the most isolated the times where I've removed myself from other Christians.
[00:53:37] The times when I decided, you know what?
[00:53:39] Maybe I don't need to be part of a church.
[00:53:42] I don't need to do any of that.
[00:53:45] I can handle this.
[00:53:46] I'm a strong enough Christian.
[00:53:48] Those are the times when I felt the most isolated and the most despair.
[00:53:53] It is such a blessing to be part of a body of Christ.
[00:53:58] Last week, Pastor Daniel said that discouragement always isolates, which means the opposite is true encouragement reduces isolation so when we gather together we're encouraging one another we're reducing isolation in the body of christ which is an
[00:54:19] important thing for us to do being a part of a church that comes alongside its members and encourages them and cares for them is an amazing thing and i've seen firsthand i've heard many times from Pastor Nate over the last couple of years how blessed he and his family are from the
[00:54:38] way that the church has multiplied them and been a part of the journey that they've been on. And that I can't imagine, and I know he can't imagine, going through cancer or other difficult things in
[00:54:50] this life without the body of Christ around you. I can't imagine doing that. What a difference it makes being together encouraging one another supporting each other hebrews 10 25 not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but encouraging one another and all the more
[00:55:10] as you see the day approaching because the closer we get to the second coming of christ the more difficult things will be on this earth and the more important it is for us to gather as believers
[00:55:24] encourage one another, pray with one another. It's right there in Scripture. And this is what Jesus does before he leaves the earth. He gathers his disciples into community. He later forms the church so that no one stands alone in the mission. Verse 20, in the place where you hear the sound of
[00:55:47] the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us. There's two things that I see in this verse here. The first one is this, a unified response to attack. A unified response to attack. This
[00:56:03] rallying together. And as the body of Christ, we rally together frequently. At least we definitely provide opportunity for us to rally together frequently. That's why we have Sunday mornings.
[00:56:16] That's why we have equip classes. That's why we have discipleship pathways. That's why we have different Bible studies. That's why we have different things like marriage events and mission trips. These are all opportunities for us to rally together as the body of Christ.
[00:56:34] And we do this because there's so many things that separate us on a regular basis. We've got different schedules. We've got different jobs. Geography separates us depending on where we live.
[00:56:45] Snowstorms. We get separated by life. And so we need to take as many opportunities as we can to rally together and be unified in our response to things. The second thing I see in this verse is
[00:57:01] a reassurance that God fights for His people. A reassurance that God fights for His people.
[00:57:11] This is really cool. Recently, I heard a pastor tell a story about a church in the Mindanao, Philippines. At this church, imagine this small church in this village, and one Sunday morning, these terrorists, they get their guns, they jump in a jeep, they drive over to the church,
[00:57:34] they bust down the door in the middle of the service and go up, guns pointed at everybody, walking up to the stage, and they say, listen up, next week we're coming back here, and all of you need to bring your most valuable possessions to the church, and we're going to
[00:57:53] take them. And if you don't, we're going to start shooting. And not just the church, but the whole village. And then they left. Now, I would imagine, and try to put yourself in this position here,
[00:58:11] you wake up the next Sunday morning and you're thinking to yourself, you know, there's this other church in the village next to us that I'm just really feeling led to go try that church out this Sunday morning. You might want to do that. That's what I would expect some people to
[00:58:32] do, but no. This congregation, they came back together early Sunday morning, and they began to pray, and they prayed, God, will you protect us? Do something about this. Help us here, and they prayed, and the service time came, and they're looking at their watches, and the clock's still
[00:58:51] ticking down. They're waiting, and nothing happens, and the service time passes, and nothing happens, and they all leave and go their separate ways, and they're wondering what's going on.
[00:59:01] They find out later those terrorists, they had gotten in their jeep with their guns, driving down the highway, got into a car wreck. The jeep flipped and killed all the terrorists.
[00:59:17] When God fights for his people, he does a good job, and God has no shortage of ways to protect his people. He may not always do it supernaturally, but he will protect those who he has purpose for. And what's cool is that Christianity is the only religion
[00:59:43] where we serve a God who fights for us, who loves us so deeply that he's willing to make the first move. That blows me away. But the real question that we see here, because we see Nehemiah saying
[01:00:02] our God will fight for us is what makes him so confident. Why is Nehemiah so confident? The answer is that he knew that God's sovereign hand was on the work that they were doing and that God
[01:00:13] would see it through to completion. There is no safer place to stand than right where God has called you to be. That doesn't mean that your life's going to be easy, but it means that God
[01:00:28] is going to orchestrate your steps and protect you when it's not your time to go. We'll finish here, verses 21 through 23, it says, So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from
[01:00:40] the break of dawn until the stars came out. 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 may labor
[01:00:49] by day. 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. What I see here is
[01:01:00] God's work often requires endurance more than intensity. You know, I shoveled my driveway three different times over the course of eight days, and that first time was a doozy because that was mostly ice, and that was not fun. But I knew that if I endured to the end, I would have
[01:01:28] a clear driveway that was safe for my family to be on. It was worth the effort. It was worth the time. It was worth enduring through. We endure many things in life because we know that the
[01:01:41] results are worth the effort. So how much more should we value enduring through the work that God has given us to do? So whether you are doing ministry or you're running a 401k, you're going to need endurance. Galatians 6, 9 says, and let us not grow weary of doing good,
[01:02:08] for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Nehemiah and the Israelites, they were guarded and graced because they chose to be faithful and obedient to God's calling. Like Pastor Daniel said
[01:02:23] last week, we persevere when we remember why the work matters. And when God has called us to something, the work matters. God calls us to do these four things, build faithfully, guard wisely, stay together, and trust Him to fight for us. When we do, God's grace covers when our strength
[01:02:52] cannot. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank You so much for Your Word that we can pull so much truth out of. I just pray that you would help us to apply it to our lives. Help us to seek you in prayer,
[01:03:16] minute by minute. Give us strength, endurance, unity, and courage. We thank you for loving us.

[01:03:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:03:25] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Would y'all stand as we sing the song, My Defense?
[01:03:36] You make a way when I cannot see. You are my strength. Though my heart is weak, you won't let go. You take my place on this battlefield. You go before. You're my sword, my shield. I'm not alone.
[01:04:22] You fight for me, you always have, you always have. My victory is in your hands, it's in your hands. The God of heaven is my defense.
[01:04:49] No weapon fall will get to me, the enemy underneath your feet, my God, my hope, you won't let go, you fight for me, you always have, you always have, my victory is in your hands, it's in your hands.
[01:05:25] The God of heaven is my defense You fight for me You always have, you always have my victory It's in your hands, it's in your hands The God of heaven is my defense

[01:05:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:05:57] the god of heaven is my defense amen gathering together to be unified to be strong against what the world is throwing at us reagan great word thank you so much now you church understand the
[01:06:28] depth of leadership that we have that is leading in our middle schoolers that are being strengthened by the teaching of his word as well and i know that you'll want to as you see him walking through
[01:06:38] the hallways to encourage him and to let Meredith know you'll be praying for her.
[01:06:44] And what a great couple. It's so good to have you on staff with us. As we always do, enjoy walking out on Scripture. We want to read Scripture together as a unified body out of
[01:06:57] Galatians chapter 6, and it is verse 9. Will you read out loud with me as we read this together?
[01:07:02] and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.
[01:07:12] Go with God.