 If we can open our Bibles to Nehemiah chapter four and while you guys are turning to your Bibles, there's a couple of announcements I'd like to make. Pastor David is currently in Philadelphia. He's at a CCA leaders meeting and so I'm here. Keep him in prayer as he'll be home this week. We will have a guest speaker, Brennan Beeler, on Sunday. You know Brennan, he brings the word of God and it's always exciting what he has to share with us and so I want to invite you guys to come out and join us this Sunday and Brennan will be with us and we'll bring an exciting word and again, please keep Pastor David in prayer as he's in Philadelphia with the CCA leaders in meetings. So this Nehemiah chapter four, what I want to do is look at verses one through six and want to welcome those who are joining us online this evening. You know my desire this evening is to bring encouragement where it seems lately that discouragement has been so widespread to bring a message of hope in Jesus, especially some of us who may be going through a difficult time. You know this discouragement that we may be facing this evening can come in a lot of different forms. It can come in the form of finances. It can come in the form of our health. It can come in the form of relationships. It can come in many different forms and the enemy likes to use this tactic which is an old tactic that we'll see here to bring discouragement from us that we're able to keep our eyes off God's work and off Jesus Christ himself. You know one of the key factors when we go through different things is that the enemy wants to come and he wants to lure your eyes off Jesus Christ because once he does so we're sitting targets. And this evening some of us in here may be facing something difficult. I don't know about you guys but have you faced anything like this lately? Facing difficult times may be facing fear, discouragement, confusion, not knowing what to do. I think sometimes we do a good job of hiding it because we're Christians and we're not supposed to show one another that we're going through it but we do. And how do we respond to such difficult times? How do we work through these things? Well, I'm glad you asked because in chapter four we see that the people that are doing a work from the Lord are now going to be discouraged for their work. And anytime that we begin to do a work for the Lord be aware the enemy's coming. How do we respond to such times when we are faced with difficulties? Well in this passage we're going to look at we'll find some practical application that will help us get through these times. Again at Nehemiah chapter four I want to read verses one through three and then we'll get into our study. But it so happened when Sandelot heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren in the army of Samaria said what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they even complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heap of rubbish stones that are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was behind him and said beside him and said whatever they build even if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall. What great encouragement right? Have you ever been discouraged especially when you are trying to live or do a work for the Lord? See the work of God anytime it begins anytime you start saying Lord I'm going to live for you. Oh Lord I am dedicating my life to you. There's an enemy that's going to come and try and stop that work. He's trying to bring discouragement, fear, disappointment, confusion, resentment, bitterness to bring us to a place where we will take our eyes off Christ and whenever we take our eyes off Christ the work will stop. Have any of you ever experienced something like this? I have. Discouragement we get every day. Fear. Difficulties. You know a background just to give us an understanding of where we're at right now which will bring into context the passage that we're looking at. You know in chapter one it references Nehemiah's son of Hakala. Nehemiah's dad or parents were Jewish and because of the exile he was now a cut bearer for the king Artaxerxes who was king of Persia. But in chapter one we see that Nehemiah gets word that the condition of his people which the Bible tells us are in reproach and great distress and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down with gates that were burned with fire. And when he heard these news he sat down and wept and mourned for many days. And then we see in chapter one that Nehemiah goes into this very beautiful prayer seeking the Lord for what he's going to do. The result of him sitting down and weeping and mourning for many days and seeking the Lord. The Lord put it in his heart to do a work in this area. And then chapter two we see that Nehemiah has then described as the cut bearer for king Artaxerxes king of Persia. And he's given permission to go to Jerusalem and to see what is going on. And even the king of Persia said, anything you need I will bring, I will give you all the supplies you need. When will you be back? He takes his burden before the king and the king gives him permission to go and rebuild. And then Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem and he begins to examine the destruction of all the walls and the gates. You know I started thinking about this. You know a city that has no walls or gates that have been destroyed is a city that's in ruins. Enemies would come and they would look for weak spots in the gates and they would find the cracks in the walls and they would exploit that and they would go and they would rip off anything valuable in that city. This is why it bothered Nehemiah so much because the gates were burned down and the walls were destroyed. And because of that anything that was valuable can now not be protected because the enemy will come in and plunder everything valuable in that city. Same thing with our hearts, friends. When the gates of our hearts are left unchecked and the walls that are used to protect the things of our heart unchecked, the enemy will come and penetrate at its weakest point and come and rip everything off valuable in our hearts. He will rip off our lives and he comes by discouragement, he comes by fear, he comes by ridicule, by confusion and he will come and examine the heart of your gates and the walls surrounding around it. Are we taking care of the gates that surround our hearts? Are we taking care of the walls that surround and protect our hearts from the things that will infiltrate it? Because if we do not take care of that, the enemy will come and expose it and exploit it and rip everything off from within us. I've been there. I'm thinking, I'm just going to live for myself. I'm going to live the vidaloka, right? But my heart and my anything that was left in my heart was ripped off and he will rip everything off, everything that is valuable in our hearts. And then we see in chapter 2 again that Nehemiah is then able to speak to the leaders that are, or the elders that are there already in Jerusalem. And these are the people that are described in chapter 1 that are in distress and in reproach. And in chapter 2, verses 17 to 18, he says, Then I said to them, you see the distress that we are in and how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach. And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me and also the king's word that he had spoken to me. And so they all said, let us rise up and build. Then they set their hands to do this good work. Nehemiah was able to bring encouragement to them. He was able to bring unity to them and say, we do no longer need to be in reproach or in distress. Let's get up and do something about it. And that's the same encouragement that the Holy Spirit brings to us. When we have been knocked down, we have been kicked, we've been in distress, we've been in reproach, and the Holy Spirit says, come on, let's get this. Let's rebuild. And you know, when we response to the Holy Spirit, sometimes we get this, yeah, let's go, let's go, let's go until the next attack comes, right? Like just kidding. Didn't mean to do that. But these people are now encouraged. These were the people that were in distress and in reproach. And Nehemiah was able to come to them and give them vision and say, we can do this through the power of God. You know, friends, whenever we are going through, we know that through the power of the Holy Spirit that we're able to get through anything we may be going through this evening. Can I get an amen? We can get through it. And then in chapter three, what's so cool about chapter three, you know, you guys were probably going to be here for the next three hours. Are we cool? Chapter three is amazing because now we see the unity and the encouragement that Nehemiah gave these people, the Jews that are in Jerusalem with surrounded walls that are broken down and gates that are burned with fire. They begin to do what seemed impossible to them before. They begin to put their hands to the plow. And now we see the work of repairing the gates and the repairing the walls are being rebuilt. But more than the work itself, we see the unity of the people. This is what the amazing thing is because they were in distress and in reproach. They were shamed. And now they are working for the kingdom. We know that there's an amazing thing about the unity of God's people that work for His kingdom. Isn't there? When we have the women's ministry doing things together and the men's ministry and the children's ministry and all the different ministries that we have here, when we're in unison and working in unity, there's an amazing thing that happens. But in chapters four to six, we see at least nine different tactics that the enemy will use to try to stop the work from going on. All the different tactics that we have faced, nothing is new. But how do we respond to these? First the enemy, he came in and under the guise of sand ballad in Tobiah, I'll get into them a little bit later. But he brought ridicule. And then he brought plots of war. And then he brought discouragement and fear and selfishness. And then when the attacks on the people began to fail, the enemy then began to attack their leader Nehemiah, which they tried to bring compromise and slander and threats and intrigue. But we know that none of these devices work because Nehemiah was steadfast in the Lord. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 2, 11, 4, we are not ignorant of his devices. If you start building for the kingdom or you want to start living a life that is pleasing to the Lord, soon you will be battling. So prepare. But what's interesting when we look at the first four words of, I like transitions. If you guys were in our men's study on Tuesday morning, I like to pay attention to a little bit of the transitions because it sets the tone. Look at the transition that is used here between the unity and chapter three of everybody coming and doing the work to chapter four. But so it happened. We see a transition from the unity coming and the work going and all these people getting involved. It's interesting in chapter three, it tells us when you read it, it says, sons of so and so came and rebuilt the wall or repaired the great gate. There's even one guy here who brought his daughters. There was a perfumer, a locksmith, our silversmith. The priests were getting involved. They were all getting involved in unity. And then we get this amazing and interesting transition. But it so happened. Right when things were starting to go smoothly, right when we see the work of unity, we see the work of togetherness. We see the work of leadership and building then comes, but it so happened. You know, when things are going well in our lives, get ready for trouble because the enemy doesn't want to see the work of the Lord move forward. And as long as the people in Jerusalem were content with the sad situation they were in, the enemy left them alone. But as soon as they begin to do the work of the Lord, as soon as we begin to serve the Lord, as soon as we begin to give our lives to the Lord and bring glories to his name, the enemy becomes active. You guys ever experienced that? But we know that our opposition is only evidence that God is blessing, but it's also an opportunity for us to grow. And a lot of times when we go through difficult situations, we're like, Lord, where are you? Lord, what are you doing? You know, James chapter one verses two through five tells us counter all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience and let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Oftentimes we're going through the difficult times and we're like, Lord, do I really need that much patience, Lord, that you need to try to produce this in me, that I need to go through this? I'm cool. I don't need that much patience. But the Lord allows us to go through it anyways. Second Timothy chapter two verses three and four says you must endure as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, hardship. No one engaged in warfare and tangles himself with the affair of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. Satan wanted to use these schemes and wanted to use these devices as weapons to destroy the work of God, but God used them as a tool to build his people up. I mean, I don't know. Can we relate to this? I mean, we see things that things may be going well at work or we see that things are going well in our marriages. I'm not going to look at my wife. Things are going well with our children, our finances and things are cruising along and then the enemy comes right at us and knocks us right over like, Lord, what is going on? What are you doing, Lord? But yet the Lord uses these difficult situations to shape us and to mold us and to use us in a greater way. I love what Pastor David says when he in regarding about being broken, deeply broken, deeply used. And a lot of times we may not understand this side of heaven of what is going on in our lives or why we're dealing with an illness or why we're dealing with this and that and you fill in the blank. We may never understand, but we can always bank on God's promises that he's using it for his glory. And on this side of heaven, we may never see why, but when we stand before him, we will have his mind and we will be revealed and we'd say, Lord, thank you for that. But so it happened in verse one when Sanbellet heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant and he mocked the Jews. Sanbellet and Tobiah, Tobiah will be introduced here in verse three, but they're enemies of the Jews. They're first mentioned in chapter two, verse 10. Sanbellet was a Horonite and Tobiah was an Ammonite and these were the two groups that God had driven out from the Promised Land. They were deeply disturbed when they're first introduced in chapter two, verse 10, when they heard that a man was going to go to Jerusalem and begin the project. Now that the work began, the Bible tells us here that they became furious and very indignant. They were outraged and because of that, the tactic that the enemy will use against us when he is upset with you, he will begin to mock and ridicule you. It said here at the end of verse one, and mocked the Jews. I don't know if you've ever been mocked. I mean, I remember as a kid being mocked, being made fun of, they would say, Georgie, poor Georgie, put them in pie, kissed the girls and made them cry. I mean, as kids, we get these little songs that would mock and I would go home and cry, right? But we look back at those kind of mockings we're thinking, that's nothing compared with the Lord, what the enemy gives us today. And the mocking that's taking place here is interesting because, you know, when we are under difficult times, because we all know that when we're being mocked, it right away will bring discouragement. I don't know if you guys have been mocked lately, but right away we're thinking, oh, I don't know, maybe I'm not cut out for this. And we become discouraged, but you know what's interesting about that? You notice that we work differently under faith versus under discouragement? You notice that we pray differently when our faith is strong versus when we're under discouragement. We read and hear the word differently when our faith is strong versus being under discouragement. It's no wonder that Satan works hard to keep us from faith and to keep us discouraged because we see here that the Jews are being mocked. The nature of their discouraging attack is evident. The word mock that's being used here, it's an interesting word because it means to ridicule or to demean or to take them to demean them so much that it's going to bring about great discouragement and belittlement. It's interesting to point out the word mocked here is very similar to the one that the New Testament uses in Matthew chapter 7 verse 29 when it says, when they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a read in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying, hail king of the Jews. And again, I'm not sure if you've ever been mocked, it's not a good feeling. Oftentimes when we are mocked, we want to quit. We're discouraged. We're fearful and these are tactics and schemes of the enemy even up to this day. Discouragement. How many times have we been discouraged today alone? You know, some discouragement is measured in degrees. I'm just a little discouraged that the Dodgers lost. I'm really discouraged because my daughter's sick. I'm really discouraged because I have cancer. I'm really discouraged because I just lost my mom. I'm really discouraged because anytime I try to do something for the Lord, it feels like I can't get anywhere. I'm really discouraged because I can't shake this addiction. I'm really discouraged because my heart is broken and the enemy will use that to want us to quit. Look what it says in verse two. And the enemy spoke before his brethren. This is talking about sand ballot and the army of Samaria and said, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish? Stones that are burned. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and said, whatever they build, even if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. Notice that sand ballot right away gets involved to attack those who are working on the walls and gates. You got to remember, if you're able to picture this in your mind, you would know that this work that was going on, that they weren't very far from each other. They were in distance where they're able to hear each other speak. And now we see that they're working and sand ballot now comes and brings this army to intimidate and discourage. And he begins to attack those who are working on the wall. We're told here again that he spoke in the presence of Tobiah, another influential man, and the armies that were from Samaria. Sand ballot had come down from Samaria and brought his, he brought his army to surround them and intimidate them. You guys ever face an intimidating situation, daunting, scary? The enemy works the same way against us. He will try to use intimidation to bring discouragement, to bring fear so that we take our eyes off Jesus Christ. And then when fear comes, we give up. And it can be one thing after another and it seems like sometimes it just doesn't stop. You guys have been there, right? It's just one after another, after another, after another. And it's like being at the beach and when you are being knocked down by one wave, you try to get up and you're knocked down by another wave, you try to get up and you're knocked down by another and you're like, one's are going to stop. The attacks that the enemy does is relentless because he wants so much for you to take your eyes off Jesus Christ because if you are immobile and on your own, you're a sitting duck. We're sitting ducks. But I love what Isaiah 59-19 says. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will rise up a standard against him. I love that verse. You know, recently my wife and I, and I won't get into the details, went through a series of very difficult times that not a lot of people know about. Think I mentioned it to Tim and to Marco and to Louie and to Justin. It was a very trying time. It was one of those things where I'm crying out to the Lord like, I can't go on. I can't do this. I was literally in tears before the Lord said, there is no way I'm done. I just want to throw in the towel and my wife was encouraging me. She made me enchiladas. That was encouraging. But I don't know if you guys have gone through situations where you're saying, I can't do this any longer. I'm done. It's just one thing after another. And you know, it can be many things. It can be relational. As I mentioned, it can be financial. It can be health. It can be sickness. It can be a number of different things. But the enemy is trying to distract you. Church family, we have to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ. There is no other way. But look at the series of questions that Sandballot begins to mock the Jews with. I mean, I was looking at that and I was thinking, wow, it even makes me want to quit. Look at the series of questions that it begins with. He first says, and remember, the people are working and they're probably tired and they're discouraged and they're intimidated. Sandballot has brought his entire army and they're standing there and they're like, look at these guys, right? And these guys are like, these guys aren't builders. Read chapter three. They're perfumers and they're goldsmith and they're daughters and they're priests. These guys aren't. They don't have their general contractor's license. They're ordinary people just like us that I wouldn't know how to build and they're building and they're probably thinking, what am I doing out here? And Sandballot begins to say these things out loud. Listen to what he says here. His first question and verse two, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish stones that are burned? You know, when Sandballot says, will they fortify themselves? I can imagine that there was a burst of laughter that kind of went out between all of them, between Sandballot Tobiah and the entire army that is there. How can a group of feeble, weak and miserable Jews hope to build a wall strong enough to protect the city from an army? Look, the army's right here and we're going to attack you at any time and you think your wall is going to keep us from coming in and attacking you? In other words, what are these weak Jews doing? Have you heard the enemy whisper in your ear the same thing? What are you doing? You're too weak. You can't do this. You're a loser. You're just the same old person that used to... Who do you think you are? You'll never change. You think you can do that? We hear those whispers, don't we? Every single day we can hear those whispers. But you know what the amazing answer that Paul gives us? Second Corinthians 517. Anybody know that one? If anyone's in Christ, he's a new what? A new creation. Old things have passed away. That means the old John is gone. Behold, all things become new. Then he asked, will they sacrifice? What he's implying is that it's going to take more than prayer and worship to rebuild the city. It's going to take way more than your God to get the city built. He asked, will it be finished in a day? Suggest that they didn't know what they were doing and they didn't know how difficult the task was and how soon they would call quits? And then the final question that Tobiah or that sand ballad brings to them is that at the end of verse 2, will they revive the stones from the heap of rubbish? Stones that are burned. Remember, these stones have been burnt down. They didn't have a supply of stones coming in. They had to work with what they had in addition to what our deserts sent to them. But they didn't have a lot of stones to work with. So a lot of times they had to use the rubbish that was there. They had to find the ones that were strong enough and good enough for them to reuse and to place. And you know, I was thinking about that in my life. Sometimes when I'm in a place where Lord, you can't use me, Lord, and I'm starting to listen to the lies of the enemy, that I've allowed the rubbish and the stones of my heart that have been broken down. Sometimes I'm comfortable with leaving them like that. Oh, you know, my grandparents had it like that. So that explains why I'm this way. Or you know, the stones had been broken down for a hundred years and why rebuild them? Sand ballad knew that if he was able to discourage them with the material that they were using, he would bring great discouragement to them to keep their eyes off Jesus Christ. The enemy will still do the same thing with us today. You don't need a change. You were born that way. Oh no, you don't have to give that up. You deserve that. And the very things that have destroyed our hearts are the very things that we don't want to move out. The broken down walls. These are the gates that were consumed with fire. And then we see Tobiah chime in. He says in verse three, now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said, whatever they build even if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. You don't need an army to break this down. What you need is just a fox to go on up. And that's how feeble and how unorganized and how weak this wall will be. Just allow a fox to go on it and it will be all over. You know, it's interesting that when the enemy comes at us with lies like this, there's some truth that are, there's some truth to it. You know, from a human perspective, when you look at this situation, they're hearing the constant blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and they're not going to do this. Well, they fortify themselves. What do they think they're doing? And you're hearing this constant, constant, constant, constant, and tiring words we can easily become discouraged. And what happens is from a human point of view, from the outside looking in from just a human perspective, we can see that would be so discouraging. I'd say, what am I doing here doing this? But when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we know this. We can come and bring our petitions, our hurts, our pain, our fear, our confusion to him, and we can lay him at his feet and say, Lord, this is yours. I think a lot of times that we do a very good job of saying, no, Lord, I want to hang on to it because it's the only thing I know and it's so comfortable, Lord. I can't give it up. But Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28, come into me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What is it this evening that has brought great discouragement to your life? What is it this evening that has maybe brought some confusion, some fear, some ridicule in your life laid at the feet of Jesus? He says, take upon my yoke, for my yoke is light and it's easy. As builders that, you know, yes, the Jews were weak and feeble. And of course they wouldn't complete it in a day. And yes, they didn't have the best materials to work with. And again, a lying discouraging attack will often have some truth connected to it. But it will always neglect the great truth if we allow it, that God was with them and he has promised to see them through. I think a lot of times church family that when we have these attacks that come our way, yes, there may be some truth that we hang on to or there may be some truth with it. But isn't there a greater truth as greater as he who is in me than he who is in the world? That Jesus promises us. I love this passage in Isaiah chapter 43. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flames scorch you. For I'm the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Since you are precious in my sight, you have been honored and I have loved you. Therefore, I will give men for you and people for your life. Fear not, I am with you. Isn't that a great passage? To always remember that when we are going through it, even though we do feel alone, that Jesus is always with us. And the enemy knows that discouragement is such a powerful weapon because it is somewhat the opposite of faith, where faith believes God and loves his promises, discouragement looks and believes the worst, and tends to forget about who God is and what he has promised to do with us. The point in these questions that Sandballad is mocking and these Jews with is to imply it to the people that their situation is hopeless. And that's what the enemy wants to do with you. He wants to tell you these lies and whisper in your ear because he wants you to think that your situation is hopeless. But our trust and hope is the one who gives us hope, which is in Jesus Christ. And we don't have to walk around defeated. We don't have to walk around in fear and discouragement. And again, none of these people were likely expert wall builders. So the comments that Sandballad was making to these Jews were probably effective. But as Nehemiah already had said, their success wasn't dependent on their own abilities. Our success is dependent on Jesus Christ. The point in God's economy wasn't to build the world's strongest wall. It was to build his people, to do his work and to do his will, to build unity. I love this verse Psalm 133.1. It says, Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. They don't need to worry about Sandballad or the army. God was on their side. Second Chronicles chapter 20 verse 15 says, Do not be afraid nor dismay because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours. It is God's. But how did Nehemiah respond to this ridicule? Check out verse four, Hero God, for we are despised. Turn their reproach on their own heads and give them as plunder to a land of captivity. Do not cover their iniquity and do not let their sin be blotted out before you, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders. I'm looking here, you guys. I mean, I don't see anywhere here where it said they went on Facebook to, I mean, I'm looking that they went on Facebook for answers. I also don't see here that they went to Dr. Phil or Oprah or they formed a committee or they wanted to speak with Whoopi on the view. I don't see that here. He went to God. Nehemiah went to God first. And you know, he responded to this discouragement with prayer. Nehemiah didn't allow himself to get detoured from this work by the enemy by taking time to debate them. He didn't take time to form a committee. He didn't take time to set up a group of friends to see what their responses would be. He went directly to the Lord. And you know what's interesting is sometimes prayer is our last resort when it should be our very first. He prayed and asked God to fight the enemy for him. I think a lot of times when we go through difficult times, we use prayer as our last resort. We kind of use it as a ditch effort to like, okay, Lord, I've tried everything else. Now I'm going to turn to you. And what's sad about this is that a lot of times we have nominal Christians that are Christians by name only that will use Jesus as a genie. Lord, I need you for this. So I'm going to rub you and then when I'm done with what I want, I'm going to put you back up on the shelf until I need you again. Almost like a vitamin that we want to take. Your Lord, I'm going to take my vitamin of you this morning and it's going to help me get through this. But when I'm done, I'm just going to put you on the shelf. And Jesus is always on the periphery. And it's no wonder that when we are under discouragement or attacks and distress that we fall. See, prayer is to be our first resort. Jesus is the one that we're to go to first, not last. But I like what Nehemiah does here. He begins to pray. Now this is the third prayer that we find the third time that we find Nehemiah praying up to this point in chapter one versus four to 11. He prays in chapter two, verse four, he prays and here we see him praying. And this will not be the last time. What does this tell us about the importance of prayer? See, I think a lot of times that we find ourselves in dry places because we don't take the time to pray. We're susceptible to all kinds of open attacks when we don't pray. You guys ever use bug repellent? Sometimes we don't use it until we're eaten by the ants, the mosquitoes, the fleas, right? And then we put it on. And a lot of times we use prayer as that repellent. We don't, we wait until we're being bitten by bugs and then then we start putting it on and saying, okay, now help me, but we're still itching and scratching and a lot of times we resort to prayer the same way. When prayer needs to be our first and foremost responsibility. And I think that there are times where we don't spend enough time in prayer. I'm convicted of this. No longer is God is good. God is great. Let us thank you for our food. Work for me anymore. I mean, I have to step my prayer life up, but a lot of times we get caught up in these ritualistic prayers and and they don't mean anything. When all Jesus wants to hear us say to him is Lord, help me. But I love Nehemiah's prayer here. It's called an imprecatory prayer. There's Psalms that talk about imprecatory Psalms. These are Psalms that say, Lord, call your judgment on them. Break their teeth in their mouth. Oh God, according to Psalm 58 verse six, I mean, wouldn't that be cool to say, Lord, break their teeth, strike them dead. Psalm 69 verse 25 says, let their dwelling place be desolate. Let no one live in their tents. And so he's praying, saying, Lord, fight this battle for us. He says here, oh God, for we are despised, turn the reproach that is on our heads and give them to them as plunder to a land of captivity. Lord, what they're doing to us, give it back to them. Do not cover their iniquity. He's saying, don't cover up what they're doing. Don't let their son be blotted out, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders. You know what this tells me? They have provoked you to anger, that this is God's work. And when they're ridiculing and mocking and bringing discouragement to these people, they're actually doing it to the Lord. And when Nehemiah says, here, oh God, for we are despised, he's asking for God's mercy and attention to address this. And then he says, turn the reproach on their own heads, give it back to them. He asked Nehemiah that asked God to battle their enemies for them. And I think a lot of times where we can get stuck, you guys, is that we try to fight our own battles. And a lot of times that doesn't work. Matter of fact, it doesn't work any time. We're to allow Jesus to fight our own battles. He depended on God to fight the battle. And God gave him a work to do, and he would not be distracted from it. Nehemiah recognized that this was God's cause and not his own. And what can we learn from this? We can learn that the Lord is more capable in handling the situations than we are. That we don't need to worry if our work is truly of the Lord, then nothing will prevail against it. And as a result, the wall, the result of Nehemiah's prayer, the wall construction continued. Liquid it says in verse six. So the wall, excuse me, so we built the wall and the entire wall was joined up together, half its height, where the people had a mind to work. The result after the attack in Nehemiah's prayer, the work continues with greater and greater strength. The work was half-finished. It was an exciting, but it was still a dangerous time because much had been done, but yet there was still so much more to do. I could imagine that fatigued had set in and they were tired, but their strength was in the Lord. If you are fatigued spiritually this evening and you're tired spiritually, just know that your strength comes from the Lord. God answered their prayer by giving them all a mind to work. You know when it says here that they gave them a mind to work, you know that having a mind to work is literally a gift from God and no significant job will ever be accomplished until the people come together and have a mind to work. And this is how exactly how Satan wants to destroy us with his attacks, the mind to work. This is why Paul instructs us to put on the helmet of what? Because the battle is here. And when the enemy can distract our minds, when he wants us to let it make us feel defeated or passive or self-focused or discouraged, our mind to work has ceased. The best thing to do is pray and commit the whole thing to the Lord and then get back to work. What has God called you to do? Well John, I'm not a good speaker. Join the club. Well John, I'm still learning the Bible and I really don't know. Join the club. Well you know, I have a hard time. You know, I'm shy. Join the club. Get back to work. I always share this with the men. Saint Francis de Assisi says something profound. He says preach the gospel at all times and sometimes use words. Your life is a work for the Lord. Your life is a result of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Your life is what we are called to do for living for Jesus Christ because the world is watching us. And anything that keeps us from doing what God has called us to do will only help the enemy. See, defending against the attack of the enemy is not the victory. Rather, getting back on the work, getting back to the work is where true victory lies. When we are under spiritual attack, it's easy to feel that just enduring the storm is the victory, but it's not. The attack often comes to prevent your progress and work to the Lord. The victory comes when we endure the attack and continue the progress and the work for the name of Jesus Christ. That's where the victory comes in. And I love what Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7 says, be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The only way that we're able to be victorious is when we're in Jesus Christ. Nothing else, it's about Jesus. And this side of heaven, we will always, always, always be in a battle. But the battle has been already won because Jesus conquered death, sin and evil. And this is why we celebrate. And this is why we celebrate Easter Sunday, the resurrection because He conquered all of this. And someday soon, and I'm saying really, really soon, we will be with Jesus. No more battles, no more worries, no more discouragement, no more tears, only complete joy. I mean, I don't know if you guys can't wait for that. I can't wait for that. Amen. And then we're going to hear the words that Pastor David reminds us all the time that is found in Matthew. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Let us continue to put on the armor of God and continue to put our hope and faith in Jesus Christ to continue to do His work. Let's finish strong. I was going to say men, all of us, let's finish strong these last days, friends, because the day is coming soon. Remember what Zechariah chapter 4 verse 6 tells us. So he answered and said to me, this is the word of the Lord to the ribble, not by might nor by my power, but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts. Recently, Pastor David was telling me, and again, I shared this with the men, Pastor David was just telling me that a friend of his had been called to exterminate a moose. The wildlife team wasn't able to do it, so this man was called to go and to dispose of this moose. So he goes into the forest and he's looking for this moose and he sees it. And he sees the magnificence of the strength and the antlers that were so big and the strong and the strength that this moose represented. And as he approached it, he noticed that the moose was not responding. The moose was no longer able to do anything, it would just stand there. And as this gentleman got closer and closer to it, the moose didn't respond to him. Beautiful creature. He then realized that the vision was clouded, realized that he was demented in a lot of ways. And this gentleman felt so bad because he's saying this beautiful magnificent creature with beautiful antlers and strength and magnificence is useless. What had happened is that there was a fly out there that lays larvae in the ears and what it does is that the larvae comes and begins to eat away at the brain. So much that they could no longer do anything. And so he pulled out his rifle and he shot the moose and he wept because he realized that discouragement, fear, confusion, sin, all play like that little larvae that will eat at our minds and our hearts. And we are these magnificent temples of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ who have been left to nothing. We must stand against the schemes and the wiles of the enemy, put on our armor until the day Jesus Christ calls us home, continue to put our armor on because if we allow these things to infiltrate our hearts, we will be just like that moose. And Jesus called us to be more than conquerors. He called us into battle calling us good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Let us continue to fight and to move forward because one day soon friends, we will hear well done by good and faithful servant. Amen. Let's pray. Why don't we all stand and pray? Oh, let's pray first. Not, Micah, don't stand up yet. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And against, we see, Lord, against the attacks of the enemy, how we're to be mindful and to be alert, to be sober, be vigilant. And Lord, as we live in a world of discouragement today, it's difficult sometimes to keep our heads up, Lord, but we trust and hope in you. And we're thankful, Lord, that you see us through the storms and that a lot of times our prayer is, Lord, just help me. Lord, give us the strength. Be our shield, our buckler, our armor. And if you're here this evening and you've gone through a difficult time this week and you need prayer, raise your hand. I'd like to pray for you. We may be going through a situation where we're thinking, I can't get through this. Lord, I need you. I've been tired of listening to the lies. I see these hands coming up. Lord, you see these hands. You see them raised, Lord. We ask Jesus that you would touch them and encourage them to know that anything we go through is of you. And so, Lord, we ask that your hand would be upon them. You may put your hands down. And Lord, we just thank you that you've given us victory through the death and resurrection of you. And so, Lord, we'll cling on to that old rugged cross. We cling on to you, Lord Jesus, because we are victorious. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.