The Cost of the Wall: Sacrifice, Unity, and the Gospel

• Church History and Growth 00:00:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor reflects on the 40-year history of the church, noting that he and his wife have grown with the congregation and that they are 'just getting started' rather than retiring.
• Demonstration vs. Theory 00:01:01 ▶️ 📄
  > Using the 'chicken gun' anecdote, the pastor illustrates that practical demonstration is often more effective than theoretical directions, applying this to how the church learns from biblical examples.
• Nehemiah's Wall Building 00:05:26 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor introduces the biblical account of Nehemiah calling the people to 'arise and build' despite the walls having been down for 150 years, highlighting God's glory in accomplishing the impossible.
• Leadership and Participation 00:07:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor observes that in Nehemiah's time, anyone willing to serve was given an opportunity, starting with the high priest, demonstrating that leadership sets the example for the people.
• Adaptation and Learning 00:12:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor notes that unskilled workers like goldsmiths and perfumers learned to build walls, illustrating that the church is a group that adapts and changes methods while keeping doctrine constant.
• Exceeding Expectations 00:17:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor highlights that many workers in Nehemiah's time 'repaired another section' beyond their assignment, showing a willingness to be inconvenienced for the mission.
• Willingness to be inconvenienced for the mission 00:17:25 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor highlights how the builders in Nehemiah went beyond their assigned sections to help others, illustrating a spirit of sacrificial service.
• Willingness to work in difficult places 00:19:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts those who repaired the 'dung gate' near the garbage dump with those who worked near the king's garden, emphasizing that some are willing to endure worse conditions for the mission.
• Leadership and participation in God's work 00:20:59 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor notes that while the Tekoites worked, their nobles did not 'put their necks to the work,' contrasting this with the whole people who had a mind to work.
• Divine accomplishment through human effort 00:23:24 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects the people's willingness to work with the perception that the work was accomplished by God, stating this is how God's work happens today.
• Church building campaign and financial goal 00:23:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor transitions to the current church's 'next step of faith,' announcing a $3.5 million goal to order steel for the new building by December 31.

• Sermon Illustration 00:01:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a story about British engineers using a NASA 'chicken gun' to test a train windshield. The test failed because the chicken was frozen; NASA's advice was simply to 'thaw the chicken,' illustrating that demonstration is better than reading directions.
• Sermon Illustration 00:10:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about the church's first service at East Cary Middle School, where he placed a free ad in the newspaper and received a front-page interview, leading to 28 strangers attending the first service.
• Sermon Illustration 00:15:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the church's early days, when they debated buying a small photocopier for 300 sheets a month, with the present day, where the church uses a fleet of copiers handling 58,000 sheets a month.
• Sermon Illustration 00:15:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a personal story about a deacon meeting where they spent an hour debating the pros and cons of buying a large photocopier for 300 sheets a month, contrasting it with the current reality of 58,000 sheets a month.
• Sermon Illustration 00:18:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a story about a piece of paper given to volunteers in the old building who parked bumper-to-bumper, which read 'Jam me in,' illustrating a willingness to be inconvenienced for the sake of the mission.
• Sermon Illustration 00:19:28 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the working conditions of Malkijah, who repaired the 'dung gate' near the valley of Hinnom where garbage was dumped, contrasting this with Shalom, who repaired the fountain gate near the king's garden.

• Pastoral Charge 00:12:17 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asks the 'pioneers' who attended the early services or helped build the campus to stand up as a sign of recognition and thanks.
• Pastoral Charge 00:25:21 ▶️ 📄
  > Raise $3.5 million for the building project by December 31.
• Pastoral Charge 00:26:02 ▶️ 📄
  > Sacrifice and give financially to meet the $3.5 million goal.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Thank you for your kindness as well, all the wonderful comments, Marsha and I. There aren't many pastors and wives that have been blessed to stay in one church and be able to give their lives to one ministry. We were married for five years when we planted this
[00:00:21] church, so we have essentially grown up with you together. And to watch what God has done over 40 years has been amazing, and 40 years has gone by very quickly. This is not a retirement
[00:00:36] announcement, by the way, as far as I'm concerned. We're just getting started, okay? We're just getting started. But I do want to reminisce a little bit with you. There's little doubt to me that some of the best directions come by demonstration. I was in my pickup truck years
[00:01:01] ago driving and, uh, John MacArthur was on the radio and, uh, he told a true story, a humorous story. He had read it in a journal on aviation and, um, evidently the British, uh, didn't have
[00:01:18] clear enough directions on a project they were working on, but they, they wanted to use a special gun, uh, to test the strength of, of the windshield of their new train, a high speed train.
[00:01:31] The gun was developed by NASA, and it was called the chicken gun, and that's because it would launch a dead chicken into the windshield of planes, trains, even the space shuttle to test its strength, because often there were collisions with fowl when they were flying.
[00:01:54] so the British engineers borrowed the chicken gun from NASA to test the windshield I think it should have been a cat gun but never mind that it's a chicken gun so you know the testing site
[00:02:08] was all arranged the train brought out on the tracks stationary gun was loaded with a dead chicken and when the gun was fired the engineers were just shocked they were stunned because the chicken hurtled out of the barrel, smashed through the shatterproof windshield of the train,
[00:02:32] blasted through the control console, broke the engineer's backrest in two, and embedded itself in the back wall of the engineer's cabin. Well, the horrified Brits, they contacted NASA with what had happened. They explained what they'd done along with the designs of, you know, the
[00:02:51] windshield, asked for further directions. NASA responded with one line, next time, thaw the chicken. They'd launched a frozen chicken. Well, sometimes it's better to see something demonstrated than read the directions. And as a church, isn't that true? We go to the Word of God
[00:03:24] and we literally watch, frankly, the church in Jerusalem handle problems, handle growth.
[00:03:33] You heard Scott Wiley talk about what life was like back in our old building where we had to go to three services and we used all these different schools for Sunday school.
[00:03:44] I'll tell you a little bit more about those days.
[00:03:48] We are in the Scriptures watching the church in Thessalonica as they turned from their idols to follow the true and living God.
[00:03:58] Their faith was renowned.
[00:04:00] We watched the Apostle Paul demonstrate humility and perseverance through the things he suffered.
[00:04:08] I think even of the Lord Jesus.
[00:04:09] He didn't deliver a theological treatise, a dissertation on substitutionary atonement and sacrificial love.
[00:04:19] He did it.
[00:04:20] and we watched him do it through the pages of Scripture.
[00:04:27] I'm holding up here in my hand something I wanted to bring along.
[00:04:34] This is the Bible I preached from on our first service 40 years ago and opened it and preached from the book of Nehemiah.
[00:04:48] I went through the entire book in five sermons.
[00:04:54] Thank you for your patience, because we've definitely slowed down.
[00:05:00] But I wanted to bring to that congregation, whoever would show up, how Nehemiah called them to do something impossible, something in the face of opposition, in the face of cultural pressure, political pressure, possible enemy attack.
[00:05:21] And Nehemiah arrives on the scene and he makes this incredible statement.
[00:05:26] Let us arise and what?
[00:05:30] And build.
[00:05:31] Let us arise and build.
[00:05:34] Now, I want you to keep in mind, because I want to review for 15 minutes or so, some of what happened and how I can make observations for today in our church.
[00:05:43] But keep in mind that the walls have been down for 150 years.
[00:05:49] it's rubble several attempts to rebuild have failed if you're young in the faith and you haven't read the book here's a spoiler alert uh what has not been accomplished in more than a century they're going to accomplish in less than 60 days god is going to receive great glory
[00:06:13] all the surrounding nations are going to recognize that this is a people yielded to god and then God through them accomplishes the impossible.
[00:06:28] If you take the time, as I have, to go through his journal, you'll come up with about 40 names recorded here.
[00:06:38] These are leaders then of crews, of volunteers.
[00:06:42] And I think that what we can see here is a demonstration from an Old Testament construction site that is applicable to any faithful New Testament church today.
[00:06:52] In fact, Nehemiah chapter three reminds me in so many ways of why God has blessed the shepherd's church for over 40 years.
[00:07:03] Let me give you some observations quickly.
[00:07:05] Number one, anybody who was willing to serve was given the opportunity.
[00:07:12] You're going to find in here the names of priests and noblemen, ordinary peasants, families, single men, single women, professionals, politicians, craftsmen, artists. Some of them are going to repair the wall closest to the house where they lived. Some of them are commuting in
[00:07:33] because they don't live within the city and they're going to drive in, so to speak, and work on various locations. Some are going to repair existing walls that have been broken down to some degree. Others are going to start from scratch, from the ground up. Some of them are going to
[00:07:50] work on gates. Some of them are going to work on hinges, massive hinges on these gates. Others are going to pick up rubble and spend these weeks carting trash away. I find it interesting that
[00:08:06] the very first group of workers Nehemiah mentions here were led by the high priest, which makes sense because if the leaders of the people will not lead, why will the people do anything?
[00:08:20] And so here in chapter three and verse one, we read about Eliashib, the high priest who rose up with his brethren, the priests, and they built the sheep gate and they sanctified it. And they also
[00:08:34] worked even into the tower here of Mia. They sanctified it and the tower of Hananil.
[00:08:41] Now, this is not an accident.
[00:08:43] These towers are on the westward side of the sheep gate.
[00:08:47] It's no accident that Nehemiah assigns them here because the sheep that are brought in to be sacrificed in the temple come through this gate.
[00:08:57] And I couldn't help but think that they had no idea that 400 years later, the final lamb, the lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is going to walk through that gate.
[00:09:12] under arrest as he prepares to be sacrificed for the sins of the whole world.
[00:09:21] I don't want to overlook the fact, by the way, that these priests were not skilled with stone, mortar, hammer, but they demonstrated their commitment to God, and it was an example to the rest of the people. So anybody who was willing, beginning with the leadership,
[00:09:37] they worked on the wall you've heard a little bit this morning and if you're new it's refreshing to hear how the lord started everything we had chosen by the way east carry middle school told services there for one very spiritual reason it was the only school in carry
[00:10:02] that had air conditioning so we didn't even pray about it we ran an ad in the newspaper in fact i didn't have any money to do it, I went over to Cary News. They were owned by Raleigh News at the
[00:10:13] time, circulation about 12,000. And I asked them if they had a paragraph or something in the religious section for free. And I remember the editor coming out who said to me, well, tell you what, we're a little short on religious material. And I couldn't help but think, I'm sure
[00:10:35] you are. And she said, if you'll come back tomorrow, we'll interview you. And they did right inside front page. And we got all of our individuals basically who came that first Sunday came because of that. In fact, I remember getting a call before that Sunday from Larry Hoxie. I see
[00:10:56] sitting down here, Larry and Tamara still with us. In fact, Larry, I looked it up to just check the data. Uh, I was 28 and you were 34 and I was really God. Cause that meant old people were
[00:11:13] going to come as well to the, to the church. I mean, you know, he got people when they're mid thirties. Well, anyhow, you, you told me you're going to come. And I remember going out on the
[00:11:25] sidewalk after we set up the chairs and waiting for the oxys and a couple came walking up and I said, you must be the Oxys. And they said, no, we're not. And I thought, man, we just doubled
[00:11:40] our attendance. We're going to have four people here. Another couple comes up soon after. I said, you must be the Oxys. No, I stopped asking. We had 28 total strangers who came to East Cary
[00:11:56] up middle school. And we've had you stand. I think the middle school folks stood.
[00:12:04] And six years later, we would move down the road. I wonder if you started attending when we were down the road and you went through all of the shuttling and all of that and took the step of
[00:12:17] faith to build this campus. And this campus, by the way, costs six times our annual budget. So it was impossible. But if you were down there and you were part of that decision, would you stand
[00:12:28] if you're here? We want to thank you, pioneers. Thank you. Let me make another observation from the Journal of Nehemiah, number two. Everyone did not automatically know how to accomplish the work.
[00:12:52] In verse 8, Nehemiah records that a man who was a goldsmith made repairs on the wall.
[00:13:02] It reads, and next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, perfume maker, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the broad wall.
[00:13:15] Then verse 9 tells us that you had an official of the city who repaired as well.
[00:13:22] So you have a goldsmith, a perfumer, and a politician hammering away at this wall.
[00:13:31] What did they know about building walls, repairing breaches, hanging gates?
[00:13:39] It didn't matter.
[00:13:41] They quickly learned what they needed to learn.
[00:13:45] And I think that's an excellent testimony, beloved, of the church.
[00:13:50] Frankly, it's a group of people who adapt, who change, who learn, who develop.
[00:13:58] We're not changing our doctrine.
[00:13:59] That's why I can still hold up the same Bible 40 years later.
[00:14:03] Nothing's changed.
[00:14:04] But the methods, the ideas, the incentives, the goals, they do change.
[00:14:13] And as we're preparing to build again, we're now adapting.
[00:14:19] Just a couple of weeks ago, I met with our children's pastor to talk about using off-site space, once again, because the rooms are filling up.
[00:14:29] ABF Sunday school spaces are at a premium.
[00:14:32] We just began our largest greenhouse class in our history.
[00:14:37] Just over 200 prospective members are attending this class.
[00:14:42] But when I think about adapting, I have to tell you this.
[00:14:49] I went back to my files and pulled out the minutes from our very first deacons meeting.
[00:14:56] Today, we have 70 deacons.
[00:14:59] We had originally four.
[00:15:02] And we had rented offices near Cary High, a little two-office suite.
[00:15:07] I had the office in the back where I put my library.
[00:15:09] And then we had a part-time secretary, Caroline Beck, who was out in the front office by the hallway. And we had this little tabletop photocopier. The whole lid moved, if you're old enough to remember how that worked. We were now copying at the rate of 300 sheets,
[00:15:32] if you can imagine it, a month. I mean, that was breathtaking. 300 sheets. That's a little over a ream of paper. And I'm not sure we had it budgeted or not, but the photocopier was always
[00:15:45] breaking down. And I didn't know how to fix it. I didn't even know how to work it. I knew the repairman by name. He came over so often. In fact, I do remember witnessing to him. He didn't get
[00:15:58] saved. He was probably tired of coming over. But at any rate, here we had the deacon meeting minutes And we spent over an hour discussing the pros and cons of purchasing a large photocopier.
[00:16:12] I mean, that was a big commitment.
[00:16:14] And 300 sheets a month, I mean, that was quite demanding.
[00:16:19] Last week, a couple of days ago, I texted our IT director, Brad Bogart, and asked him for the data of what's happening now.
[00:16:28] he told me, we've got a fleet of copiers photocopying not 300 sheets a month, but 58,000 sheets a month. I can't imagine the toner budget. I didn't ask, by the way, what it was.
[00:16:45] Let me give you another observation. Some of the people were willing to offer more than what was expected. In fact, if we took the time, you would circle this little phrase that appear six different times. Verse 11, verse 19, verse 21, verse 24, verse 27, and verse 30. It's
[00:17:07] that repetition of an interesting phrase, and they repaired another section. They repaired another piece. In other words, they did what they were assigned, and they had time to do more.
[00:17:25] They were willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of the mission.
[00:17:31] And I'm sure for Nehemiah and for the other leaders, this warmed their hearts that somebody finished that section and they said, hey, where can I go next?
[00:17:41] What can I do next?
[00:17:42] How can I be inconvenienced to keep going for the sake of the mission?
[00:17:49] I found a very simple yet profound illustration of this same spirit in a box of mementos I went through this summer I found this piece of paper in fact I had actually forgotten about this it
[00:18:07] was given to people who were willing to park this is back in the old building if they were willing to park bumper to bumper so that we could get everybody in the parking lot. And they would put
[00:18:22] this paper on their dash when they arrived. And it says, jam me in. Is that great or what? I mean, we would park rows of 10, 15, 20 cars, bumper to bumper, which meant you could not leave the
[00:18:40] service until the guy behind you left. I mean, you could only hope, you know, they hadn't gone forward to get saved or something because you had to get out of this. So this was it. You asked for
[00:18:53] that sheet. Jam me in. To me, this says, I am willing to be inconvenienced. I'm willing to wait on others. Jam me in. We might have to do this again. I mean, we're probably there already.
[00:19:14] Okay. We've got a photocopier that can handle this now. Trust me. Here's another observation.
[00:19:22] Some of the people were willing to work in more difficult places than others.
[00:19:28] Here in verse 14, it'd be easy to miss, but you got this man named Malkijah. Love this guy. We're told here, he repaired the dung gate. I mean, you hardly need to say anything about that.
[00:19:41] You could translate it the refuse gate. Basically, it was the gate through which all the garbage and all the filth was taken. It was dumped into the valley below where they had a fire perpetually
[00:19:56] going, that valley of Hinnom below. So here he is working, and you've got the smell of basically the town dump wafting up while he and his crew worked away. Compare these working conditions with the location mentioned next in the next verse, verse 15, where you've got this guy by
[00:20:19] the name of Shalom. He is repairing the fountain gate and it says he built it by the wall of the pool of Shiloah next to the king's garden. So you got one crew working willingly near the garbage
[00:20:39] dump, and you got another crew working near the flower gardens. Which would you choose?
[00:20:47] Can you imagine? This is another way of saying some people were willing to work in more difficult places than others. Let me make a fifth final observation.
[00:20:59] Here it is. Not everybody who saw the need caught the vision of what God would do.
[00:21:10] Nehemiah records back in verse 5 that Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles, their leaders did not put their necks to the work of the Lord. That's an expression that we would say today, they never put their hearts in it. They never joined in this great adventure of faith that
[00:21:35] we're still reading about 3,000 years later. I don't want to be too hard on anybody back in Jerusalem. Maybe it was the sheer immensity of the project. It was audacious. It was unreasonable.
[00:21:55] It was, simply put, impossible, and they chose to sit on the sidelines.
[00:22:07] The opposite attitude and spirit is found if you skip ahead to chapter 4, where you read in verse 6, so we built the wall, and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the whole people had a mind to work.
[00:22:26] In other words, they were the ones and their hearts were in it, in the work.
[00:22:33] We'll handle the inconvenience.
[00:22:35] We will sacrifice.
[00:22:37] We'll accept the challenge.
[00:22:40] We're in this together.
[00:22:42] Kind of reminds me of saying, hey, jam me in.
[00:22:47] Then over in chapter 6, you have this incredible statement.
[00:22:52] So the wall was finished, verse 15, in the 20th and 5th day of the month of Elul.
[00:23:00] Note this, in 52 days.
[00:23:05] Can you imagine?
[00:23:07] 52 days.
[00:23:08] And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard about it, they were cast down in their own eyes.
[00:23:14] The record records here.
[00:23:16] For they perceived that this work was accomplished by our God.
[00:23:24] You put those two texts together, the people had a mind to work, and the work was accomplished by God. That's how it happens to this day. That's what it takes. Now, it is no coincidence
[00:23:46] that according to our discussion on the elder team, that today would be the day that I would announce our next step of faith in our campaign. We're calling generations. And that's because our buildings that we're going to build will touch the lives of every group, every age group in our
[00:24:06] church. We've taken down those earlier banners. They were concept designs and they've changed dramatically in both the exterior design and the interior design of these facilities. It'll include a 2,500-seat dedicated sanctuary, facilities for every age group. Lord willing, we're going to be
[00:24:25] able to show you some finished drawings in the next couple of months. Now, last year, if you were with us at the same time, we had a 90-day, $1 million goal. And from late September to the
[00:24:40] end of December, and that allowed us to launch the design work with our architectural and engineering firm. Our congregation responded. You remember, giving $1.2 million in 90 days, we exceeded our goal, and now it's time for the next step. That was a warm-up. We need to order the steel
[00:25:09] for this project. The steel costs $3.5 million. And we need to raise that by the end of December.
[00:25:21] So from this point to December 31, we need to raise. And if we raise more, well, hallelujah.
[00:25:28] But we've got to raise at least $3.5 million in order to stay on schedule. By the way, our building schedule has us breaking ground next summer, Lord willing, roughly one year from now.
[00:25:45] Now, once the plans are finalized and no questions are coming to your mind, the final cost of the campaign is defined. We're going to have a three-year pledge we'll do together next spring, early spring, as we get closer to breaking ground. We're going to give you a lot more information
[00:26:02] and details in the month ahead. But for now, from now until December 31, we need to sacrifice together and give so that we can meet this $3.5 million goal. You know what? When I hear that
[00:26:18] amount of money, I'm thinking maybe what you're thinking. That's impossible. That's impossible.
[00:26:26] I thought $1.2 million last year was impossible. The goal can be reached. It is not impossible.
[00:26:35] but it will take people whose hearts are in it. And think about this. It's who we are right now, engaging, serving, praying, giving, and by the way, anticipating a day out there in the future when we're going to look back on this moment, these few months, this next year,
[00:27:04] and we're going to be amazed because our hearts were in it and God did a work through us and it takes both. And we're going to one day look back and say, oh, that group,
[00:27:22] we're going to have you stand when we get into that sanctuary. If you were in that gymnasium, you know, with all the stripes on the floor for Awana and pickleball, which is, you know, the new thing. If you were part of that group, would you stand because you sacrificed to make
[00:27:41] that possible? God will have brought us then in writing a new chapter. And I'll tell you what it's going to look like. Scott mentioned it earlier. Impossible, difficult, done. For 40 years, God has been faithful. He has led us this far. He will lead us farther still.
[00:28:14] And along the way, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
[00:28:29] Amen.