 shall not prosper. The greater is he that is in us than he that is in this world." Jesus said that the gates of hell itself could not prevail against the church that was built upon him. But this spiritual battle only intensifies when you seek to serve the Lord in ministry. And within the heat of the battle, you can begin to question your calling. You may even consider deserting your post or beefing up your resume or taking your armor off or no longer running in the race. But it's important for us to understand that this is not a time for us to surrender. This is actually the time to fight the good fight of faith, and we fight from a position of humility and dependence upon God on our knees in heartfelt desperate prayer. This is the time right now to take up the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith and to run to the battle, not from the battle. This is no time to go AWOL. There are still people dying without Jesus Christ in this world, and Jesus is coming soon. There are soldiers that are needed and there are laborers that must be sent into the harvest field. Friends, there are still walls to be built. I want to talk to you this afternoon about perseverance in the ministry. I want to talk to you about building as well as battling. Now no doubt most of you are familiar with the narrative in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was working as a cup bearer in a place called Shushan, the citadel, when one day his brother visited him there in the palace and told him of the condition of his countrymen who had returned back to Jerusalem from captivity. And he informed Nehemiah that the survivors who were left from the captivity in that province were in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and its gates were burned with fire. By this time the temple had been rebuilt, the walls of the city still lay in ruins. The Persian king had sent the people to rebuild, but he couldn't send reinforcements to protect them. And without their walls, they had no way to defend themselves. The people were an open target for their enemies. They couldn't worship without distraction. And when Nehemiah heard this report, the Bible says that he sat down, that he wept, and that he mourned for many days, and he was fasting and praying before the God of Heaven. Nehemiah was completely broken by the news. He wept for many days. And the burden that he felt led to four months of intercessory prayer on behalf of the captives begging the Lord to send him back to rebuild and to repair what had been destroyed. And the burden, it didn't go away. It only increased. And at one time Nehemiah had kept all of his concerns within the confines of his own prayer closet. But eventually he couldn't hide his feelings. And one day on the job he wore his heart on his sleeve, and the king took notice of it. And in that moment all of the prayers that had been prayed led to an open door. And the Lord answered Nehemiah's prayer, and he was sent to Jerusalem. And when he arrived, he went out in the middle of the night, and he surveyed the walls. And what he discovered is that the wreckage that surrounded the city was even worse than it had been reported to him. Yet undeterred, Nehemiah rallied the leaders and told them of the good hand of God that had been upon him. He then rallied the people to rise up together and to rebuild the walls. The people responded with delight and determination. The construction project began with a tremendous amount of momentum. And what formally seemed completely impossible actually was now coming to fruition. The people were so excited that they were working and laboring enthusiastically. But in the midst of this great work that was being done, they began to experience opposition from their enemies. How many of you know today that if you are doing something in the kingdom of God that is worth opposing, that it will be opposed? For a leader, a pastor, opposition is inevitable. It was Charles Spurgeon that said, public men must expect public criticism. And as the public cannot be regarded as infallible, public men may expect to be judged or criticized in a way that may not be fair or pleasant, but we must endure it or we're not fit to lead a congregation. For Nehemiah, the opposition was progressive. It was back in the second chapter in the tenth verse that when Nehemiah first arrived in town, it says that his enemies were deeply disturbed, that a man would come and seek the well-being of the people. But once the work began to take shape and the stones were being moved and the blueprints became a construction site, it was then that the enemy began to oppose the work with greater intensity. Then in chapter 3, there's a record of the beginning of the building process. Some 38 individuals are listed. There are 42 different groups that are identified and each group had a different assignment. They were in different locations on the wall, and the word repair was used 35 times in that chapter. For Nehemiah and the builders, the enemy began their attacks by mocking their work. That is what it says in verse 1. It happened when Sambalot heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and indignant and mocked the Jews. This is the third time in the book of Nehemiah that you come across the name Sambalot, who was Nehemiah's strongest opponent. And every time you read about him, he is always standing against the work of God, rejecting and ridiculing Nehemiah for trying to accomplish anything. And the motive behind the mocking was anger. He was angry over the fact that something was being done. He was angry over the fact that they were rebuilding something that needed to be repaired. He was angry that the people had responded. He was angry that God was blessing the work. Someone has said that ridicule is the language of the devil. And whenever you take serving Jesus seriously and you throw your hat into the spiritual ring, Satan will always stir up dissenters to attempt to block the work of God. And throughout the Bible, we have on more than one occasion a record of the enemies of God's people insulting God's servants. Do you remember when David ran out into the valley of Elah to square off with Goliath? When Goliath saw this little boy coming with a stick and a sling, he mocked him and he said, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Second Kings chapter 19, you remember when the messengers of the Assyrian army, the man by the name of the Rabshaki came and he mocked Hezekiah, said it was only a matter of time before they would be taken captive and yet God overthrew him. How about the soldiers that mocked Jesus during his trial and the crowd that taunted him while he was hanging on the cross? Listen, when the critics raise their voices, listen with a discerning ear. Some of what they say may be warranted, but many, like it was here for Nehemiah in chapter four, the devil's behind it. Listen, he's got one intention. This is the intention right here, to get you to stop building the wall, to get you to stop ministering in the name of the Lord. Sambalot continued to talk trash, assembled an army of haters to help him. And they were his people. They were his brethren. Critics always run together. And he begins this tirade not only by mocking the work, but he actually mocks the workers. Look at verse two. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria and he said, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Are they going to complete it in a day? Are they going to revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish stones that are burned? Notice that Sambalot referred to God's people as feeble. The word means withered, miserable. The group of laborers working on the wall were actually descendants of those who had been carried into captivity. Therefore the enemies suggested that they were nothing. You're a bunch of worthless people and you're never going to be able to accomplish anything. But you know something? The last time I checked my Bible, I realized that God delights in using withered people. He heals people who have been withered by this world and makes them into workers and warriors in the kingdom of God. And in this room right here, we have a group of formerly feeble people, feeble because of our sin. In fact, it was worse than that. We were slaves in sin, in bondage as a result and no way to redeem ourselves. Yet we can stand here and testify today that although formerly withered, we have been restored. Amen? The Bible says that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put the shame, the things that are mighty. The enemy of our souls consistently criticizes and condemns our weaknesses. But here's the interesting thing we have to remember. It's when we're weak that that's when we're actually strong. That when we realize our own weakness, that we tap into a power and a strength that we don't have in and of ourselves, it's the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not by might. It's not by our own power, but it's by the spirit of God that these things can be done. God can then show himself strong on our behalf. For the Bible says the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, and he's looking for those to show himself strong on their behalf whose heart is loyal to him. The enemy not only mocked the workers, but he mocked the work. And he raised at least five rhetorical questions that mocked their intention in building the wall. And these questions, why were they asked? To incite doubt. To incite doubt. Will they fortify themselves? That was the hope. That was the intention. That was the vision. They wanted to fortify themselves, but they're questioning and suggesting how in the world is such a small group of people, so feeble, so withered, going to be able to accomplish the rebuilding of these walls. Do you think they are actually going to make some kind of impact? You ever heard the enemy whisper that in your ear? Any church planners out there? Anybody ever gone out and planted a church? I know there are those among us who have done that or in the process of doing that. And the devil loves to whisper in the ear of the Lord's servants, your church is so tiny. In fact, don't even call it a church. It's embarrassing. I remember our very first church plant and people would come in to visit and I'd be embarrassed. How they found us. We had a little thing in the phone book with the wrong phone number. That's all we could afford was one line. If you don't know what a phone book is, young person ask your grandma, she'll tell you. It's this book with all these numbers in it. We couldn't even afford like an ad. It was like, that's way too expensive. Just Calvary, you know, and people would find us and they would come in and they'd say, we're visiting from Costa Mesa. Oh, that's great. Come sit down. We have one chair for you. It was just awkward. And so the devil says, you don't have a lot of people to work with. You don't have a huge budget to pull from. And by the way, what do you do here anyway? You just teach the Bible chapter by chapter verse by verse. Wow. Suggest those kinds of things. But I'm reminded today of the words of Jonathan when he stood there with his armor bearer and he said, for nothing restrains the Lord by saving by many or by few. God doesn't need a majority. If we're with God, we're the majority. God can do anything. The Lord took 12 men, turned the world upside down. Our God's not limited by numbers. Our God is able to save by many or by few, regardless of what the enemy suggests or the seeds of doubt that he attempts to sow. Listen, we can't stop evangelizing. We can't stop taking risks in ministry. We don't settle down. We continue to pray and we continue to step out in faith. We don't just sit there and pine away on a mountainside, just waiting for Jesus to come back. God wants to use us right where we are and let us never forget this. God has resources we don't know anything about. Do you know that yet, friend? Do you know that God has ways of doing things that we don't know anything about? And it doesn't really take a lot for God to do something great. In fact, I remember reading when the Lord Jesus had a few fish and a few loaves. But when those things were placed into his hands, that's when they were multiplied. And God can do that with our ministry. Maybe today you're here at this conference and you think, that's my ministry. Calvary Chapel Loaves and Fish. That's our ministry. That's all we have. Listen, put it in the hands of Jesus. Commit it to the Lord and watch what He can do with it. Another question, will they complete it in a day? Apparently, they were working with such enthusiasm that they felt it could be done in a day. These guys were laboring fervently. They were excited about what they were doing. But the enemy, listen, mocked their passion, mocked their excitement. What are you so excited about? What are you so pumped about? What's the big deal? Listen, can I just share this with you? If you're not enthusiastic about what you're doing, it will show. If you're the pastor of the church and you're constantly putting down your church to your people. I mean, that creates a culture, a mentality in your church. And everybody, you know, you're coming, some visitor comes in and all your ushers are apologizing. Yeah, you know, spring break, a lot of people aren't here this week. So, you know, we're normally packed. I mean, you know, you start this whole environment, you start just kind of downplaying it, you know, you should have been here last week. There was like 10 more people. I mean, we were just, who, you know, really, who really cares? And there's no excitement in the work. If you're the leader and you're a downer, everybody's going to reflect that attitude. We ought to be excited about the work. And let's face this fact right here. God lets us do more than we deserve. I mean, do you ever just sometimes just think, I can't even believe that I get to do what I do? You see, why? And furthermore, how come these people come back? Like, I didn't know if they'd be back after that last Bible study because I was like the big bomb and here they're back. You marvel because you know, and I know it too. It's not us. It's the Lord. But here are the enemies mocking their enthusiasm for the work. Here's another question. Are they going to revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish, stones that are burned? And what made this construction project so difficult is they were having to sift through what had already been destroyed and repurpose some of the stones in the building process. And their enemies were saying, are you going to try and build a wall with decayed and broken stones? I mean, come on, stones that are burned? That's impossible. Those stones are so old. What are you going to do with that? It's not going to work. And they also mocked their finished product. Tobiah said, whatever they build, let's just say for the sake of building that they built something. If they build something, let's just send a fox in and he'll jump on the wall and it will crumble. I mean, that is a major disc to the construction site. In other words, they are so feeble. Their materials are so pitiful. Let's just hypothetically pretend they build something and then it's all going to fall down. In other words, it's never going to last. Your ministry is never going to last. Listen, you know who speaks those words? The devil. And sometimes he uses people. But listen, it's not true. It's a lie. If you're building the church on Christ, it's going to last. If you're building it on him, the ministry, the ministry, I'm so thankful the ministry is not built on us because surely it would crumble. The church has one foundation. It's Jesus Christ, our Lord. And that's what we build upon. But even within Tobiah's insult, there is a huge error here. He said their wall. But actually, this was God's wall. It wasn't theirs. This was God's idea. This was God's ministry. This is God's movement. This is God's work. So you could criticize it all you want. But this is God's thing. He does the heavy lifting. We're just part of the workforce, man. But it's him. So often the ridicule that the enemy rains down upon us, whether it be from the inside in our own head or from people outside the church, it's always important to remember and to remind ourselves consistently that it's God's church, that it's the Lord's ministry. How do you respond? How do you respond to the mocking of the ministry? I want you to notice Nehemiah's response here, beginning in verse 4. Here, O our God, for we are despised, turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity, and don't cover their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you, where they have provoked you to anger before the builders. What does Nehemiah do? He prays. He turns to God. And I want you to see it's a pretty honest prayer. Don't blot their sins out. Don't forgive them of their sins. That's pretty honest. And when you're on the receiving end of ridicule in your ministry or somebody's mocking what you're doing, you can immediately want to fight back. That's the natural tendency to sink to the level of the opponent who really has nothing better to do to make the mistake of trying to retaliate with the same artillery, but it's far better to turn to the Lord. The battle is the Lord's. Maybe in your church right now there's a battle going on. Maybe there's something happening in your church that is very painful, that's very difficult, and you came to this conference and it's still going on. And you're emailing and texting and trying to, you know, put out fires while you're here. I'll be back on, just don't worry. I'll be back Thursday. We'll deal with it then. And it's just, it's clouding your mind. Listen, listen, the battle is the Lord's. God can still shut the mouth of lions. He did it for Daniel. He can do it for us. You remember in 2 Samuel 16 when Absalom had taken the throne and David was forced to flee Jerusalem and he was accompanied by his mighty men, crossed over the Brook Kidron, made their way outside the city, and a man from the house of Saul named Sheme, he came out and he cursed David, started throwing stones at him. And one of David's mighty men, Abishai, said, why should this dead dog curse my Lord the King? Please, let me go over and take off his head. That would have stopped the cursing. No more rocks being thrown then, but I love David's response. You remember? David responded and he said, let him alone. Let him curse, for so the Lord has ordered him. It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day. Let the Lord deal with it. Let the Lord handle it. In his book, Lectures to my Students, Charles Spurgeon said that pastors should let such rumors die a natural death. Falsehoods, he said, usually carry their own refutation somewhere about them and they sting themselves to death. He said, some lies especially have a peculiar smell which betrays their rottenness to an honest nose. Your blameless life will be your best defense and those who would have seen it will not allow you to be condemned so readily as your slanderers expected. Just live a blameless life. Let the Lord handle it. Just keep doing what you're doing. That's what this whole conference is about. It's about staying the course. It's so easy to get distracted with this thing. Hey, bro, did you read this? Yeah, so what? Just keep doing it. Keep reaching the word. Keep loving the people. Keep evangelizing. Keep doing what God's called you to do. Keep baptizing people. Keep reaching out. Don't worry about all that. Let the Lord handle it. Nehemiah didn't fire back nor did he respond to the ridicule with ridicule, but he prayed. But what else did he do? It says he persevered. He kept on building. He kept building. And why? Because the people had a mind to work. That was the mentality of the people. We're going to keep on building regardless of what they're saying. Now that the wall had then reached half its height, it was even more unsettling to the opposition. So they began to increase their insistent attack now through intimidation and to create confusion. Hey, if slander doesn't get you off the wall, if ridicule and mocking you doesn't discourage you to the point where you just want to quit, then let's try something else. This time intimidation and confusion. Look at verse 7. Now it happened when Sanbalat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashtarites heard that the walls of Jerusalem, I love this, were being restored, that the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. The enemies of Nehemiah were unsuccessful in mocking the ministry, so they decided to increase their alliances and intimidate the laborers. And the groups that are mentioned here, that are listed here under normal circumstances, would never have aligned themselves with one another. They had no common vision among themselves, and their philosophies were completely different, but they decided to come together in order to get the wall to stop being built. They set their differences aside, they put together a coalition, surrounded the city, and here it says to the north you've got Sanbalat and the Samaritans, to the east you've got Tobiah and the Ammonites, and then to the south you've got Gashem and the Arabs, and to the west you've got the Ashtarites, in other words, this formidable union completely encircled them from every side. They are now surrounded. Why? Because the enemy wants to incite fear. The enemy knows that if he can get us to give in to fear, what happens? It can paralyze you, it can cripple you. We're supposed to live by faith, not by fear. God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. And we walk by faith, not by sight, and we overcome by our faith and our testimony. Perfect love casts out fear. The Lord said to Joshua, he's reading through Joshua recently in my devotions, over and over be strong and of good courage. Don't be dismayed, be strong and of good courage. You only say that to people who aren't courageous, who are fearful. The Lord had to remind Joshua several times, Joshua, you've got to be courageous, you've got to stand, you've got to keep going forward, and the enemy would love for us to be paralyzed by fear. If fear and intimidation don't work, the next strategy was to create confusion. But certainly in ministry, you can't allow fear to rule you, and they come in different ways. Oh man, you know what's going to happen? You know what I heard, Pastor? So-and-so is leaving. Oh no way, why? And oh, you better go, oh, you just get, you can get paralyzed. You become fearful. And then if fear and intimidation don't work, the next strategy is to create confusion. Oh, the enemy loves to create confusion. And we know that it's the enemy, because the Bible tells us very clearly in 1 Corinthians 14-33 that our God is not the author of confusion, but of peace of all the churches of the saints. So where confusion is, just know the enemy's behind it. Are you confused? Are you unclear? The only way I've found to combat confusion is with the truth of God's Word, because the truth of God's Word, it's the sword of the Spirit, it's living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit of the joints and marrow. Listen, it's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The Word of God, it just cuts straight, cuts straight through the confusion, cuts straight through all of the things that you can't really see. And what does God's Word say? Well, that's open to interpretation. It really depends on how you look at it. And I read this, wait a second. What does it say? And so we go to the Word of God. I'm not confused about this, because I have clarity, because I find it in the Scriptures. God's Word cuts through confusion and always brings clarity. That's why I think it's imperative that every pastor, every leader, not just be a teacher of the Word, but be a student of the Word themselves. When you go to study the Word of God in the morning, in your devotional time, don't go there for sermons for somebody else. Man, I can't wait to hit the people up with this. This is going to be great. Especially that one guy. I'm going to really, you know, what's God want to say to me? Too many pastors end up exchanging their devotional time of just loving Jesus and knowing Jesus and growing in the knowledge of His Word for sermon prep. Listen, that's a dangerous road, because you won't have anything to give out if you're not receiving. I don't go to the Bible and read it primarily for sermons. I go because I realize I can't live without God's Word. I can live without many things in this life, but I cannot live without God's Word, because the Bible says man can't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And if you're trying to do ministry without a devotional life, what can you give that you haven't received? Ministry is always an overflow of a relationship with Jesus Christ. When we got into this, when God called us into this, even before He called us into the ministry, we were just, we just wanted to know Him, to be found in Him, to have our identity in Him. That was enough, and then came this thing called ministry, and it's easy to start to think that that's who we are. But who I am is who I am in Christ. That's where my identity is to be found. And so the enemy comes and tries to create confusion, and he'll use all kinds of different tactics. He'll use people. He'll use trials. He'll use sickness. He'll use whatever. Even the things that God intends, you know, the enemy intends to use for evil. God will always use it for good, but the enemy's always behind confusion. And if you're sitting here today and you're saying, man, I'm just not sure about this situation that's happening in our church, I don't really know and I'm really confused and what is happening? Listen, those are marks of how the enemy loves to create confusion. So again, how does Nehemi respond to intimidation? How does he respond when they seek to create confusion? It tells us here in verse 9, nevertheless, or in spite of the attack, we made our prayer to our God, and because of them, we set a watch against them day and night. Now in anticipation of an attack, the first thing that Nehemi does again is he prays. This is consistent throughout his life. He prays. You can do more than pray after you've prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you've prayed. That's where it's got to start. Prayer's not a last resort. Well, I've tried this and I tried that and, man, what else can we do? Did you guys pray? Oh, man, good one. Yeah, we should pray about this. That should be the starting point. Not an afterthought. Always turn to prayer. Immediately take it to the Lord. That's the place to begin. And so he prays, he turns to God. That's the proper spiritual response. And Nehemiah, by going to prayer, he's also modeling for the laborers. We turn to God. This is who we turn to. Because all these people that are working alongside of him, building on the wall, they're watching his example. All the people that are working alongside of you, all the people that come and sit in your congregation and listen to you teach, and they watch how we live. And what they want to see is if are we men of prayer? Do we turn to God in prayer? What's the prayer life like in the congregation? Do you have times where you pray together? Do you have prayer meetings? Well, we used to pray, have prayer meetings, but nobody came. And there's like three people. And we just decided, what's the use? Well, the Bible says we're two or three or gathered together in his name. He's there. It's got to start somewhere. And a consistent time of teaching the people to pray and modeling prayer for them. The Lord said, my house is to be called a house of prayer. We got to get back to that, to prayer. If we're going to move forward, if we're going to expect God to move in the church, we can't do it without prayer. I love how Elijah, the Bible says, was a man of like passions, just like us. And yet he prayed. And God sent fire when he prayed. And God sent rain when he prayed. But do you remember when Elijah was on the top of Mount Carmel and it hadn't rained for three and a half years? And he got down on his knees and he started praying. And he said to his servant, do you see anything? No. Again, do you see anything looking on the horizon? No. Again, no. Again, no. Seven times. Finally, the servant comes back. Yeah. See like a cloud out there? It's like the size of a man's fist. Elijah says, that's it. You've got to get down. It's about, it's about to pour. That's the kind of faith we need to have. Doesn't quit. It keeps praying. Men ought always to pray and what? Not lose heart. Why do you suppose the Bible says that? Because men lose heart when they pray. So the exhortation is keep on praying. Keep on interceding. What if we're right on the brink of seeing the cloud? I think we are. I think we are. I think it would do us well at some point in this conference to pray together. Even to get on our knees together and cry out to God. For an outpouring of his spirit. Not only did he pray, but then he does something very practical. He set a watch. He sets a watch. He puts people on the lookout. Now, there's some who might frown on that practicality. I mean, you're praying, man. You don't need a look. You're fine. But within Christian life and ministry, it's essential to watch and pray, to be sober, to be vigilant because our adversary, the devil, goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And so we pray about those areas that are subject to attack, but we also guard those areas that are subject to attack. By the way, it's worth noting that the attack they said would come as you continue to go through the book of Nehemiah, it never happened. It never happened. How many things do we worry about that never really happen? How much sleep does the pastor lose in a given week over what might happen? But never does. I don't like to confess, but I tell you what, I've lost some sleep over things that never happened. And then I think to myself, why are you worried? I'm reminded of the words of Jesus. Oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? Have you not seen the consistency of my hand upon your life from the very beginning to the present time? Don't you know that my past faithfulness demands your present trust in me? God has been faithful. He will continue to be faithful. Why are you doubting? Why are you worried? Do you think God's vacated the throne? If he hasn't, then let's not live as though he has. Oh man, I don't know what's going to happen. It's all, wait a second. God is still God. He's still in control. So they set a watch. They're looking out. Nehemiah prayed about the attacks. He continued to stay on task and he keeps on building the wall over now. Now the warfare comes from a different source. Up to this point, all external, all on the outside. And usually when it's on the outside, although it might be difficult to deal with, it's a little bit easier than this next attack that happens because now it happens on the inside. It hits within the ranks of the builders. And sometimes the attacks that are closest to us, man, those are the most difficult to fight through because you're not expecting it or you weren't prepared for it. No one is ready to be blindsided. That's why they call it blindsided. Sucker punch. You're not looking for it. Having dealt with the mocking within the ministry and the intimidation and even working through and praying through the confusion. Nehemiah, listen, has to now face discouragement from within. It says in verse 10, then Judah said, the strength of the laborers is failing. And there's so much rubbish. We're not able to build the wall. And our adversary said, don't either know or see anything till we come into their midst, kill them and cause the work to cease. So it was when the Jews who dwelt near them came that they told us 10 times from whatever place you turn, they will be upon us. Nehemiah now faces an attack from an unexpected source, the tribe of Judah. Judah was the strongest among the tribes. They were the last tribe that you would ever expect to call it quits. Many looked up to Judah. Judah's like this, this beacon for all the other tribes from the tribe of Judah would eventually come the Messiah. I mean, you could understand if the Techoites said something like this, Bible tells us in chapter three, verse five, they didn't put their shoulders to the work. You got people like that. Man, pastor, you really should do this. How about you do it? Oh, my shoulders. You know, they just don't want to do it. And you already got stuff on your shoulders. But now it's like, okay, let me try to, you know, those are Techoites. But here, Judah, it seems unthinkable. This is such a critical moment because listen, they're at the halfway point. They're at the halfway point and to stop at the halfway point, you wouldn't complete the wall. And it's very easy to do. Well, you know, it's halfway built. I mean, it's halfway. That's more than the not being halfway. And you can get content in that spot. But they had to keep going. And the interesting thing is if Judah goes down, that means all the smaller tribes, they're going to go down too. They were looking at Judah like this is the, how could this happen to Judah? This seems unreasonable. You know, we're not alone in this. Nehemiah wasn't alone in this. There are other examples in scripture of God's servants getting the rug pulled out from under them. We're not Moses working alongside his own brother, Aaron. So he goes up on a mountain to get the Ten Commandments. And Aaron decides to start in artistic work. You know, guys, bring me your gold. I'm going to just do a little. And he fashions a calf. All right, everybody dance. Like everybody just starts dancing around this calf. Moses is up there just in the glory. And the Lord says, get down. You're people. My people, he runs down the hill. Joshua says, I think there's war in the camp. Moses said, nah, nah, that's not war. And he sees the people dancing around the calf, takes the Ten Commandments, breaks some, grinds it into powder, makes the people drink it, turns to his brother and says, what? What, what happened? Moses is crazy. I put this gold in and his calf came out. You know, the people, I mean, just how could you, you're my brother. What are you doing, Aaron? And then you got the sons of Korah accusing Moses of being a prince. They're discontent in their position. They don't like the fact that, that Moses is doing this. We want to do that. Moses says, all right, everybody, back away from the tents of Korah. And they say, well, we're going to find out who's of the Lord and who isn't. If the earth opens up and swallows you guys, we'll know that the Lord, you know, and sure enough, what, what a crazy thing that would have been to see. Just the earth just, the sons of Korah. And then all the people turn on Moses, you kill the people of the Lord. That's a tough day in ministry for anybody. Nobody can forget the agenda of Absalom, long hair, you know, kind of like Ryan Rees, just long hair, you know. Don't be envious of your brother, you know. But anyways, you know, Absalom's got this long flowing hair and he's just kissing babies and telling people, if I were king, oh man, I would do things. Oh, you need to, and what happens? He turns on his dad and he gets hung up in a tree, all that long hair and he gets thrust through his spears. End of Absalom's story. What about the treachery of Judas, betrayed our savior with a kiss? What about John Mark, deserting Paul and Barnabas at a critical moment? You ever had anybody desert you right when you really needed them? Yeah, I'm done. I've been, what do you mean you're done? I just feel like the Lord's, you know, I feel like the Lord is leading me to, you know, and oh, you're going to invoke the Lord on this one. Okay, God bless you. What about Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world? You ever poured into somebody's life, discipled somebody? And it seemed like they were just just solid, only to watch them just go right back. You know what that's like. That's painful. That hurts. It's easy to get tired in the work. They said, listen, the labors are growing weary here at Nehemiah. There's too much rubbish. Nebuchadnezzar had completely destroyed the walls on that third time he came in. I mean, he just leveled everything. There wasn't one stone left upon another. This created such a great challenge to the builders. They had to actually get down to the foundation to be able to properly build. But in order to get down to the foundation, they had to get rid of all the debris. I mean, just getting to a place where they could actually build was so tiresome that Judas says we're, we're spent, man. We're tired. We just can't do it anymore. The deteriorated stones had to be completely excavated and removed in order to properly build. But the wreckage overwhelmed the people. They were so discouraged by it. And as Christians, as leaders in ministry, this is a critical stage for us as well. The Lord can begin to work in an area of our lives and we start the ministry. We're so excited. We've got this momentum and we see things being accomplished. And then, then we start getting into deeper issues of ministry. And then things seem to be overwhelming. And then, then the enemy comes in with confusion and doubts and discouragement. And pretty soon you think, you know what, Walmart's looking awesome right now. I think I could totally, I just love to push carts and greet people, which is okay. But you get to this place where the enemy would love for us to just be hopeless and never think what we could be able to build. And if that doesn't work, then the enemy comes in and threatens. The enemy, it says 10 times, 10 times. Kept on saying, this is going to happen. You wait. Listen, 10 times. And what I'm saying to you folks is it doesn't let up. If we think it's some moment, it's just, it's going to stop. It's going to let up. It doesn't. It just comes in waves. How do you navigate through challenges of discouragement like that? Well, look at verse 13. It says in verse 13, therefore I position men behind the lower parts of the wall at the openings. And I set the people according to their families with their swords and their spears and their bows. And I looked and arose and I said to the nobles, to the leaders and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. What does Nehemiah do? You know what, guys? Let's pack it up. It's halfway built. Forget it. Let's just call it a day. No, no. He doesn't do that. You can't do that. You can't stop building the wall. I can't stop building the wall. We can't stop doing what God's called us to do as a family of churches, regardless of what anybody says. We got to keep doing what God's called us to do until he comes again. So what does Nehemiah do? First of all, he positions people in weaker areas. There were weak spots. And so he takes, I love this, he takes men and he puts them, this is your spot. Stay right here and build right here. This is a weak area. So I'm going to put you in this spot. Positions people helps them find their place. And then I love this, he equips them with weapons to fight. He positions them, but then he also equips them. And then he encourages them with exhortation. I love the exhortation. He says, remember the Lord your God. Listen, if you're discouraged today, this is the word that we need. Let's remember the Lord our God. I'll tell you when we are discouraged, when we're at our lowest point, when we're in that dark moment that no one can talk us out of, you know what it's an indication of many times, not only that we're under attack, but at some point in this process, I've forgotten who God is. I need to remember the Lord my God. Do you remember the Lord? What was the result of Nehemiah's decision? The Bible tells us in verse 15, it happened. When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had brought their plot to nothing, it all returned to the wall, everyone to his work, it says. And it says that it was from that time on that half my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, wore armor, and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah, and those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked and construction, and with the other they held a weapon. It says that God, look at this friends, God brought the plans of the enemy, I might want to underline this word, to nothing, to nothing. Who did it? God did. God brought it to nothing. They called upon the Lord, the Lord responded, and the enemy found out that their plans were nothing. And then Nehemiah, along with the laborers, continued in the construction process, and now things have really changed. Because now, in the level of building and the level of attack, what he does is every man has a sword in one hand and he has a trowel in the other hand. And so when it's time to build their building, when it's time to fight, they're fighting, but they're prepared for either. Ministry is battling, and it is building, isn't it? It's both. We need both. We need to be prepared to fight. We need to be clothed in the armor of God so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil. We can't be ignorant of his devices. And then it says in verse 18, every one of the builders had a sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. And then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, the work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us there, our God will fight for us so we labored in the work. When you're in the heat of the battle, when confusion comes in, when the enemy comes in like a flood, when people are trying to divide your fellowship, or they're leaving your fellowship and taking their show down the road, or they're maligning you personally or attacking your family, what do you do? You pray, you keep building. You remember the Lord. Today we as churches and a family of churches were separated by different states, different continents, and the work in a sense that we're doing on the wall, it is extensive. It's all over the globe what God's doing and what we get to be a part of. We're on different parts of the wall and the enemy, listen, you guys know this, he would love to divide and create confusion. But I believe this is what I believe. I believe that this gathering here this week is like me and Maya blowing the trumpet. I feel like we are rallying together, not around a cause, but around Christ. Do you sense that? Do you sense the bond of peace, the unity among the brethren? I just felt like there's just such, I feel like I'm at home, honestly. I just feel like I'm home. Do you sense that guys? Do you feel that? I hope. And so we continue to build and we continue to battle and we have to remember that we're already victorious. Listen, I don't know what's going on at your fellowship. I don't know what you're enduring at the moment, but I know that God's faithful and I know that you're not alone. And I would if it's okay. I ended a little bit early for a reason. I want to get Rob to come back out if he would. Rob, if you're back there. And I just want to take the next 15 minutes. Is that okay? 15 minutes? I think we're still in time. And here's what I want to do. I want to ask the guys who were up here last night in a minute to come back up. And I'll tell you why. I remember the very first pastor's conference I ever went to. And I was attending this conference at Costa Mesa. We were all there together and they called all these guys up to pray. And I was green, man. I was fresh into the work. We had a church of four. Myself, my wife, and another couple. The four of us. And I was discouraged, man. And I remember they brought all these guys up. They said, hey, listen, if you're discouraged here today, come on up here. These guys are going to pray over you. I was like, man, I need to go pray. I need prayer. I need a word from the Lord. And I remember all these guys up there. And at that moment, no offense, guys. But I was like, man, I got to get to John Corson. Ho, ho. I just wanted to, like, I want him to, I thought, surely he's going to have some word, you know, for the Lord. And I tried, and the line for John and the line for Ron, the line, these guys, it was just, it was all these lines. But then there was one guy there and they kind of direct, come over here, Pastor Chico Holiday. I was like, oh, that was my flesh. I told you I'm green. And I went, stood before Pastor Chico, and he prayed the sweetest prayer over me, anointed. He knew it was amazing. I mean, I felt like here I was just totally depleted. And when he prayed over me, I just felt revived. And I felt like, all right, I'm ready. Is that okay, Pastor Raul? Do we have time for that? Okay. Where's Rob? Is he back there? Okay, he's coming. If the guys could come up. And so what I'm going to ask, like I said, just, just 15 minutes, maybe, if it's okay, Pastor Raul. Okay. Where's the other guys? Okay. Damian, maybe? Damian, can you come up? Pastor Joe, come on up here. It would be great to have you guys up here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Come on up. Rob, are you here? Getting him? Sorry, guys, that was a full audible. Omaha, you know, I just called. Sorry, I just felt like these guys want him up here. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Lewis, that'd be great. Well, let's pray. And then, like I said, just 10 minutes. It's like, you guys, you guys with me on this? Some of you make maybe any prayer. Father, we come before you in Jesus' name. And Lord, I'm just so thankful for what you're doing here in this conference. And Lord, I'm just so grateful that you would use people like us. And Lord, the work is extensive. We're all spread out over the wall. And Father, we need you to use us. And Lord, we just want to humble ourselves before you. And I just pray that if there are those that need prayer today, God, perhaps they are weary in the work. I just pray, Lord, that you just speak through these guys. They pray for them as we just worship the Lord. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. So as Gia leads us in worship, if you guys, let's just take 10 minutes and then we'll just close it out. All right. Just get up and come and pray for you guys and be down down here. All right. Thanks. Can I bless you? Is that dismiss waiter? This time we have harvest coming out to show a video and then we're going to dismiss. Thanks you guys for hanging in and so good to get a pray together. Just love you guys so much. And now what a blessing. So, we're going to have the harvest team come on out and we'll go from there. Sorry, you guys can be seated. Sorry. I always found it easy to tune life out in order to try and keep the sanity in. The constant fighting at home kept me isolated. I took that isolation with me everywhere. At school, I'd search out people to sit with, but I'd still find myself alone. I began then to feel trapped, trapped in loneliness at home and school. I began to ask is this all I was meant to live for to be lonely? I began to feel anger, rage and hate. My mom tried to fix me with counseling. I felt hopeless. There was an internal gnawing. I sensed I needed to pray, but didn't know how. I had no knowledge of God or a higher power and I reached a point when I couldn't take it anymore. If this is what life is, I don't want to do it. It's too hard and I wanted to end my life. One day, I was invited to an event called Har-