In the sermon 'Unity in Kingdom Building' by Gary Duff, the speaker draws from Nehemiah chapter 4 to highlight the challenges faced by Nehemiah in rebuilding Jerusalem's walls. Nehemiah faced external opposition from figures like Sanballat and Tobiah, who mocked the Jews and attempted to discourage their efforts. Despite these challenges, Nehemiah encouraged the people by reminding them of God's favor and the support he had from the Persian king. The sermon emphasizes the importance of unity, prayer, and reliance on God's strength in overcoming obstacles. Duff relates this biblical story to contemporary Christian life, urging believers to recognize their role as kingdom builders and to rely on God's promises and power. He uses examples from the Bible, such as the stories of King Jehoshaphat and Gideon, to demonstrate how God provides strength and victory against seemingly insurmountable odds. The sermon concludes with a call to unified prayer and action in the face of adversity, trusting in God's provision and protection.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you would turn with me to God's Inherent Word through Nehemiah chapter 4, we'll be reading verses 1 through 9. The MI chapter 4 verses 1 through 9. But it so happened when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren 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 heaps of rubbish, stones that were burned, that are burned. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said, whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. 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 Do not cover their iniquity and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you for they have provoked you to anger before the builders So we built the wall and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height for the people had a mind to work. Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and 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 Nevertheless, We made our prayer to our God and because of them we set a watch against them day and night. Let's pray Father we are your people and we rightly bow before you and come to your word in humility with a desire to obey you and so we would ask for the filling of your spirit, O Lord, open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things out of your law this morning and that our desire would be to please you and to go out from here and obey the living word of God.

And we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our King and our Lord, amen. Please be seated. Before I begin, I would like to say I'm always thankful to be in Texas with you, with you all. Or you all. I'm sorry, I didn't say it right.

I need to come here more often apparently. And of course I'm here, I'm thankful primarily because I love you. I love you as a group of people that I've come to know. And I'm thankful in a kind of physical, practical way that when I was walking in the building today and the sun shining and the birds are singing and I was thinking of my brothers and sisters back home. Many I think are joining us today because they couldn't get to church.

We had a blizzard yesterday and the snow is who knows how high. The roads are all impassable And so I am thankful to be here in a warm place knowing that I have a day of rest before I go home and try to dig my car out of the parking lot at the airport, which it's, you know, I probably couldn't even see my car. So I'm thankful to be here for a number of reasons. This, what I will be talking about today is about Kingdom building. You are Kingdom builders.

Not sure how much you recognize that fact. But you are. And you're called to be. And You're given grace to be. And I have been studying with the young adult men in our congregation for, I suppose about three years ago, we started a series to understand, to help encourage them because they are our future leaders, these young men.

Again, whether they know that or not. So we were having a discussion on leadership in a variety of ways in a variety of places of scripture and so we decided to study the person of Nehemiah. It was a character study, it was a great study, I don't know how long it took, quite a while. And as a result of that, I will be sharing some things today to us all. And many of those young men and their fathers came to this discussion.

And again, we discussed the character of Nehemiah and what we can learn as leaders from looking at him. This sermon today is mostly about the need for unity in the body of Christ as builders under leadership. Now just a little background here. Jerusalem had been conquered, it had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and then Nehemiah came in 445 BC or so and he of course he found it in ruins, it was completely destroyed, people were disheartened and his task was to rebuild the walls and to repopulate the city. That was a big task.

It would have been a big task for anyone. But Nehemiah came and he was authorized actually by the king of Persia who is Artus Xerxes. He was authorized and given means to do so and encouraged to go back and to do this. So he came back with the third wave of returning Jewish exiles to Jerusalem. They began to rebuild the wall because he was a man of action and he took charge and he led by the grace of God.

And so when Nehemiah arrived again he encountered a city that was in need of renewal. The people were disheartened and this needed a big rebuilding job. And so he faced many enemies. He had external enemies and internal enemies. Primarily we'll be looking at his external ones today.

And he had many challenges in this rebuilding process. If you look with me at verses 1 through 3, our first point is that the enemies will always try to mock the people of God who are actively working in kingdom building. And the verses again just quickly, but so happened, San Blat heard that they were rebuilding the wall. He was furious. He says he is indignant.

Oh, how can they be doing such a thing? And he mocked them, mocked the Jews, mocked the people of God. Not a wise thing to do, by the way. And he spoke before his brethren in the army of Samaria, a small army, and he asked these questions to mock them. Are they going to really be able to do this?

These feeble Jews, What are they doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones that were all tossed down?

And then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was along with him at this point anyway, said, oh, whatever they build, if a fox jumps up on it, You know, that's not great. He's not really showing the thinking that they can redo this at all And even if they can build it, it's gonna be you know, a little Fox will jump up on it and it'll break down So he was certainly mocking the people of God and they were surrounded by angry enemies It wasn't just that they had one enemy, they had a whole group of enemies. Sanballat and his descendants were governors of Samaria, which is north of Judah. Tobiah was the governor of Ammon, which is on the east of Judah. And then we see in verse 7 that the Ashdodites were on the west side of Judah.

And then you have this man and his people, Gesham the Arab, who is on the south. Literally, they were surrounded by people who really didn't want this wall to be rebuilt. Because they knew then the people could be rebuilt too. So in Nehemiah chapter 2, Nehemiah encouraged the people. He knew they needed encouragement.

And so he said this, and he gave a report. He came back, he has the authority from the king, and he came back and he said in verses 18-20 of chapter 2, and I told them, told these discouraged people, of the hand of my God, which had been good upon me. He told them, wow, I have the king's favor. And also the king's words that he had spoken to me. This is again, the king of Persia.

And so they said, as a result of what he shared, let us rise up and build. Then they set their hands to this good work. Great, let's do this. But then it goes on, Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Gesham the Arab heard of it And they laughed at us. They despised us.

And they said, what is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king? Well, no. They're not. In fact, they were obeying the king.

But he's trying to do anything he could to discourage them and stop them and cause fear in the hearts of the people of God. And it goes on, so I answered them. This is Nehemiah. So I answered them and said to them, these people who were laughing at them, mocking them, listen to what he says, the God of heaven himself will prosper us. Therefore, we his servants will arise and build but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem." Was that a bold statement?

I really appreciate Nehemiah's way of glorifying the God of heaven. God of heaven himself will prosper us. So he knew where his prosperity would be coming from. And then he said we his servants will arise and we will build. The man of faith also.

And then he directly and boldly told them that they would have no part in the rebuilt city and its blessings as a man of courage and so the people who returned and began building the wall were surrounded by enemies enemies who are angry at them that they were beginning to restore the walls and then the city of Jerusalem itself after they had some safety. And they could repopulate it then and they could worship freely. Which is really the longing of their hearts. They wanted to worship the Lord freely. And then that would of course strengthen the people of God.

So Sam Blatt heard that the Jews were rebuilding. He was furious, he was indignant and he mocked the Jews. And he spoke to the people of Samaria and the army that he had. He had some small army. And he said, what are these people Jews doing?

Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones? And so the enemies of the work of God, brothers and sisters, will mock us, will mock his people in order to stop what the Lord has called us to do.

You have a job in building here. Not this building, but in building your part of the kingdom, your part of the wall. And they will seek to discourage us So we must be mindful of that and we have to always be aware of this tactic of the enemies of the lord They will always be doing this charles spurgeon said there never was a good work yet, but what there were some to oppose it, and there never will be till the Lord comes. Okay, he's reckoned on it. And there's been more public outcry, at least in my life, against Christians in this country, especially in the media, it seems, and even by some who call themselves believers in other churches.

Those who believe in the application of the law of God, all of the Word of God in all areas of life are often reliant by many who really don't know what we believe and why. So reckon on that I suppose too to some degree. Or because you believe that the earth was created by the Lord God in the space of six days, normal days, in a period of six thousand years or so so you know even Even the people of God are look askance at you sometimes in John 15 The Lord said this to his disciples he's saying it to you if the world hates you you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. You wouldn't have these issues.

You wouldn't have guys like Sam Blatt because you'd just be going along with everyone else. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." And so expect to be mocked at the least for believing that the law of God is to be obeyed. All the law of God is to be obeyed by all people. And that Jesus is Lord, he is the reigning king. Expect to be mocked.

In verses two and three, we see a number of ways that we should expect those who hate the Lord and us, thus, would try to discourage us from the work of the Lord and create fear and doubt. First of all, they're gonna seek to gather others to their side or at least to appear that they have this great number of people. Much more than we do, of course. And that they will overwhelm us someday. In verse 2, Sanblatt said, he spoke before his brethren, all the people of Samaria.

He could gather together in this little army. And so he, you know, he's trying to get them on, you know, a number on his side. But our response should be, brothers and sisters, greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. An illustration of that, I'm going to give you three illustrations. You know these stories, but it's so encouraging to hear these again.

Jehoshaphat, King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. There was a vast army coming against him. I don't think it was numberable. And they were coming at him, a vast army of Moabites and Ammonites, actually the same, basically same enemies that Nehemiah was facing. This is years before that.

And so it says in that passage, and King Jehoshaphat is praying, O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? Similar to the prayer we heard from Nehemiah? And do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations and in your hand is there not power and might? So that no one is able to withstand you? So he is reminding himself and the people of God We have to remember who this mighty God is that we're praying to and relying on and he ended that prayer It's a great if you can go back to it.

It's wonderful and he ended it by saying Oh our God will you not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us nor do we know what to do But our eyes are upon you and I have to tell you brothers. I often pray this simple prayer as I'm facing something. The Lord, I don't even know what to do, but my eyes are upon you. And I suppose elders, pastors aren't supposed to say that kind of thing.

Well, I don't know what to do, but I do know who to go to. Our God is a God in heaven, and he rules over all the kingdoms and all the nations. And he has all might to carry out his will. And he is the judge of all the earth. And when we recognize our own weakness in battle or in building, When we don't know what to do against the apparent many people who are coming against us, and we cry out to the Lord our God, and we look to the Lord, He will provide strength.

He has promised to do so. We must trust in that. And the Lord said to the prophet to the king do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude so they were coming for the battle is not yours but God's tomorrow go down against them and they did and they obeyed in faith in fact they went to the battle singing I'd like to do that well we do that Every Lord's Day, we're singing battle songs. And the Lord brought a great victory, of course. So dear saints, the apparent number of people against us should never stop us from the work that the Lord has given us.

Secondly, the enemies of the Lord would seek to stop us by reminding us that we are feeble. If we take the words of Sam Blatt, the Jews, kind of the way he said it to them, as others now might say to you, to us, what are these feeble Christians at Crown and Covenant Church doing? They aren't a mega church. I know you have the mega church of all mega churches here in Houston but they are in a mega church you know at least in terms of numbers I believe you're mega in other ways but there are too few of them to do anything that might be the modern version well they have no idea of the might of a unified group of even a small people, a small part of the army of God, which you are, of the unified strength of builders of the living God. You are builders of the living God.

And I'm not sure many Christians in this country do either, frankly. Another illustration, you remember Gideon in Judges Chapter 7, the Midianites are coming again, a large number of people. And so Gideon started with 32, 000. Sounds like a pretty good number. And then after, you know, they're separated out by the way they drank water 22, 000 are left and then more were removed and this is what the Lord said to him The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites this Huge army into their hands lest Israel claim glory for itself against me, saying, My own hand has saved me." And so 300 men went to fight against the vastly larger army and they killed 120, 000 people, or the Lord killed 120, 000 people.

So we are feeble, by the way Might as well admit that we are feeble of ourselves But mighty as we pray to the living God and as we build and as we build together and as we battle together in His name. You will be strong as a body, as a people covenanted to practice the one another's. And we were reminded of that this morning. And these people and all members Have assented to that essentially in the membership covenant. In fact, it says under the part I believe in in every member ministry If you don't remember this vow, this is what you vowed to I will obey the commands of Scripture Which call for a covenantal relationship to one another?

Amen, you're coming into together to be part of the battle, whatever that is for you, and to be part of the building process. You will be strong in this covenant by the grace of God. King Hezekiah, king of Judah, this is in another part of scripture, 2 Kings of Judah, faced the Assyrian army now when they surrounded Jerusalem and they were mocked directly by the chief of staff or what do you call that guy sent by the Assyrian king. And this is what Sennacherib told this man to say. And he said it to all the people on the walls.

He was trying to scare them He said who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand That is the Kings that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand. Who are you to think you can stop us? But Hezekiah prayed. And this is a little bit longer, but I'd like to read 2 Kings 19, just a few verses beginning in verse 14. And this is what he said, O Lord God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made heaven and earth. This sounds similar to the previous ones I referred to. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God." It reminded me of David in the Philistines. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations of their lands and have cast their gods into the fire for they were not gods but the work of men's hands wood and stone therefore they destroyed them now therefore our Lord our God I pray save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God you alone He was zealous for the name of the Lord God.

He had zeal that the Lord would be revealed in this. And he was. And he knew the remnant were outmatched again and feeble, according to the world anyway, the world's understanding of feeble and their enemies understanding but not when the Lord of hosts the God of all the kingdoms of the earth the creator of the heavens and of the earth is for them and is with them They are certainly not feeble. Admitting that we are weak, turns out, makes us much stronger, praise the Lord, as we pray, than they can ever comprehend. And the result was 2 Kings 19, and it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185, 000.

And when the people arose early in the morning there were the corpses and so Sennacherib, king of Assyria, basically went home and he was killed. So brothers and sisters, we need to pray to the Lord God when we are mocked for working and building for the Lord in the kingdom as we face those who would seek to discourage us and there will be many to protect us. And you know, they want to stop us from building, but we should pray that the Lord would protect us, that the Lord of heaven and earth would save us and show his might. Well, thirdly, they will question our ability to do the work at all, that we have the means or the resources to do that. Sambalat said, will they fortify themselves?

Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Well, no. I mean, he's just being foolish here. Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish, stones that are burned?

So your adversaries may say of you again crown and covenant Church They may say something like this no way you don't have the means to do to do much really You don't have a big building. You don't have a campus. You don't have a coffee shop in it or anything like that. But Paul said in 1 Corinthians, and again saying this to you, for you see your calling, you're all called here by the way, did you know that? You've all been called out?

You've been called by him. For you see your calling brethren that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that look foolish, to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world, might as well admit it, to put to shame the things which are mighty, or think they're mighty, and the things, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not even, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. He will give his glory to no other. Another promise for you to claim and live by, 2 Corinthians 9 verse 8, God is able to make, I'm saying this to you, God is able to make all grace abound toward you dear saints of crown and covenant church that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work matter what they think you know Philippians 4 19 I'll say it this way our God shall supply all of our needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

We have meditated on riches of the glory we have in Christ. I can't even comprehend that, but that is the standard that you will be given. Philippians 4.13, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Go forward with those promises. And we must go forward together in the work.

And maybe together is the key word this morning. Remembering that the Lord who has given us his exceedingly great and precious promises and we must cling to those by the way we have no strength we must cling to his promises and by praying in faith to the God of the nations remembering who he is in him we have the ability to do the work and by him we have all we will ever need to do the work. If He calls us to something, He provides. Fourthly, these people will seek to make it hard to gather to worship, really. If they can stop our worship, they have really stopped this.

So the question he asked, will they offer sacrifices? He certainly didn't want that. He didn't want the temple rebuilt. He didn't want that. He knew that they would be strong if they started worshiping again in safety.

So our adversaries will seek to stop us somehow, in some way, from worshiping according to the Word of God. For example, there's a number of cases recently where churches that rent buildings, that are usually public buildings like schools, have been pushed out of those. It's happening a fair amount. And you know, Brother Peter prayed this morning about the early rain church. I don't know if you saw the picture.

I think it was Pastor Wang Yi. He, after he was out of prison, he knew, so he went to his church, and actually they're destroying a lot of churches But his wasn't destroyed at this point and he went up and there's a sign across the door Said closed and they like a tape or something and so there's all these you could see in the picture The the guards were back here, So he went up and he ripped it down and he went into his building Man of courage he knew that he has the Lord God on his side Daniel's parent in Daniel chapter 9 is a long prayer. I'm gonna read just one little section. This is related again to offering sacrifice, worshiping together. And he said, now therefore our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications.

And for the Lord's sake, for the sake of the name of the Lord, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that we might worship. He had a longing, a longing to, Daniel had a longing to, to again worship in Jerusalem. But so may you continue to be able to worship here according to the Word of God only as He has commanded in the Word of God as He has dictated for you to worship. Be obedient to that and be blessed in this location as long as you're here or wherever you meet. I will continue to pray that as you do grow and expand that you will find another perfect building.

Fifthly, they will seek to discourage us from having a vision. In other words, having a hope, which is some of what we'll touch on tonight, I believe. So they're basically saying, even if they can build something, it won't last. Tobias said, you know, whatever they build, if a fox goes up, it'll break it down. Those against us, well, I believe always question Maybe the quality of our work, but it's survivability They don't believe that will survive But that wall stood a long time, by the way.

It was destroyed too. But what the Lord builds through us and conquers through us by His grace gives us a future and a hope. And May our children know even more those promises our covenant children now when those who despise us and the Lord realize that we are intent like they were intent on Rebuilding the wall the part of the wall that we are called to build that we are intent on in seeing a reconstruction of a biblical society that the Bible would be the foundation and then we're also intent on restoring the crown rights of King Jesus in all areas of life He is the king of it all. They too will be furious. They'll probably be indignant and we should prepare ourselves and I believe we should prepare our children for this.

They should know these things and be prepared. They will be much stronger And I pray that my sons and my children my grandchildren all of you will be much stronger Much stronger in the generations to come So we should boldly pray and believe the promises of Isaiah 54 I won't quote that but there's a promise there verses 2 and 3 wonderful promise and it basically says enlarge the place of your tent You know your living place enlarge it Put down stronger stakes, you know, increase the size. Do not spare, don't hold back, it says basically. Lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes, for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and you will inherit the nations and people of desolate city." A wonderful promise. Well, here's another one, brothers and sisters.

Let me ask you a question first. Have you been mocked in some way? Maybe by your own family, your own family that doesn't know the Lord or at work Or do you feel more and more mocked by society in general or by the media well rejoice? Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of this is from the Lord Jesus Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of this is from the Lord Jesus blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven So our response to opposition must be to go together to the one who has given us authority to rebuild. All authority in heaven and earth is given to him and then he gave us authority to go and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and to be involved in his kingdom work.

And so we must learn to cry out to the Lord together at his throne to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now in building walls that you are responsible for here at Crown and Covenant and you will define those, God will lead you in that. You're part of the wall. You're part of building the kingdom. You will continue to learn that you must do this together.

As united builders, each of you on the part of the wall. Back then, each family had a part of the wall. You said, this family, you build this wall, this part, this part. And each family did it with with zeal now In verses four and five There is a kind of prayer that we must You already are practicing whether or not you know the name of it. It's called imprecatory or some would say imprecatory prayer.

Verses four and five, here oh our God, for we are despised, turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to land of captivity. Do not cover their iniquity, do not let their sin be blotted out from before you for they have provoked you to anger before the builders so Nehemiah knows that they are despised by the people around them even though he's doing the work which the king of Persia told him to do and the King of Kings authorized them to do. So they are despised and they that that they believe that the wall can be restored and the people of God can be restored and that makes those who think they have had all the control like San Blatt had all the control until that point or a lot of it. That really makes them angry. They're losing their power base.

And it reminded me, I don't know, maybe this isn't a good illustration, but it reminded me of Hillary. I remember the predictions. She's got a 95% chance of winning this election. And that was very interesting. These people will despise anyone who forces them to acknowledge the living God in their lives.

They'll get angry. You don't have to say anything actually, turns out. But you're moving forward and that makes them upset. And God will work through his people. And they get angry if there's progress.

In this prayer in verses 4 and 5, we're reminded to pray and to remember that the enemy seeks to provoke us to fear, to doubt, and even to defensiveness. But they're really provoking the living Almighty God. A very unwise thing to do. It's foolish, utterly foolish. It cannot succeed.

Matthew Henry said this, we should be angry, let me emphasize that, we should be angry at the malice of persecutors not because it is abusive to us But because it is offensive to God So if you look with me verses four and five is a very brief, imprecatory prayer. And there are two others in the book of Nehemiah we won't look at. And so Nehemiah, in verse four, he said, turn their reproach on their own heads. In other words, may they fall into the pit that they have dug for us. May they fall into it.

The principle is you reap what you sow and they're praying basically that the Lord will turn the harm that was meant for the people of God upon themselves upon them and Second part of verse four says give them as plunder to a land of captivity. They knew what that was like. They'd been in captivity. They really knew. I mean it was harsh what their praying would happen to these people.

They were punished for their disobedience. And the enemies of God often, I believe, defeat each other. Humanists, by the way, are self-destructive. They will defeat each other in time. They will do so.

In verse 5, first part of verse 5, it says, do not cover their iniquity. In other words, may their iniquity be found out. Not covered up. May their shame be exposed. I believe that was prayed even this morning may their foolishness be not hidden so may those who murder babies be ashamed and exposed and praise God it was by those videos that came out this great ghastly business they are involved in and then the last part of verse 6 do not let their sin be blotted out from before you and again he's praying that the Lord would bring justice upon them in history.

Yes, in eternity, but now in history. There's a book called Biblical Implications written by a man named Robert Fugate who lives in Omaha. Some of you, I know, have met him and have read this book But he quoted Johannes Voss and he said God is both sovereign and righteous He possesses the unquestionable right to destroy all evil in his universe If it is right for God to plan and affect this destruction, then it is also right for the saints to pray for the same. In the War Psalms of the Prince of Peace, a book I highly recommend, It's by a man named James Adams. Secondary title is Lessons from the Impricatory Psalms.

So war psalms of the Prince of Peace. Wonderful. Cal Bison, a friend of ours, has quoted, and Cal said, prayer is in fact spiritual warfare. You are called to warfare. And he says prayer is in fact spiritual warfare.

One weapon is prayer for, okay, so there's kind of two parts, one weapon is prayer for conversion of spiritual enemies. Yes, should pray for that. Another is prayer for judgment on those who finally refuse to be converted. And then he said this, we handicap the army of God when we refuse to use both of these great weapons that the Lord has given us. May you not be hindered in your use of the war Psalms of the Prince of Peace.

So we're to take up the sword of the Spirit, Ephesians 6, which is the Word of God, and the implicatory Psalms, and sing them. I know you sing them here. We sing Psalm 52 today. And you sing many other scriptures and maybe you're not mindful of it but I would urge you to be mindful of the time when you are singing those psalms, those imprecatory psalms against the enemies of the Living God. Take up that weapon, please.

I will pray that you do so. So this is how we leave vengeance also in the hands of the Lord God by crying out for justice with the Psalms that he's given us to use, leaving the vengeance with him. And we also grow in indignation ourselves at the evil that is brought against the kingdom of God and against our King as we pray in this way. Cornelius Van Til said in this same book, it is at all times a part of the task of the people of God to destroy evil. Once we see this, we do not apologize for the imprecatory Psalms, but glory in them.

As I mentioned, I praise God that you sing those and you rejoice in them. And I praise God and we pray for you at Dominion Covenant Church in your Battles and the things you're doing in the kingdom that you're active in the civil arena in a number of ways You're active against murder of the innocent And I would suggest that as we are mocked and derided personally or as a church when you are that we that you turn quickly to the Lord and pray. Not delay. I mean, turn quickly right away. Look to the Lord Jesus.

And it says, consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you will not grow weary or faint-hearted. Consider him who endured such. That's how we really go forward in the midst of this, remembering that they hated him before they hated us. So we must remember often that the Lord bore mocking and scorn and beating and pain and then indeed the wrath of God, that his people could be free and able to build and able to fight also both Don't be discouraged or grow weary in doing good in obeying his word and being involved in building And we should not hesitate to arm ourselves to be a part of the army of God with every kind of prayer that the Lord allows and that he's given to us in his word. And at Crown and Covenant, your work together for the kingdom may seem small, you know, might seem insignificant to some, but it should never be thought of that way by you.

You should have a vision for the future and work hard now to instill in the next generation and those following this kind of praying in faith and and hard work and they go together and realize that the Lord limited the number of warriors when Gideon was preparing for war so his name and his power would be revealed and You may feel your even your individual part Even you young ones here your individual part in the building and the battling is kind of small, insignificant. And that, you know, your personal ministry is insignificant. But significance, brothers and sisters, is determined by the Lord God. It is what pleases Him, What is in obedience to his will, what he's given you gifts to use and offer to him, and your stewardship of them. That is significant.

Whether it's ever noted by anybody else. And so, we can all be involved. From the youngest to the oldest. Are the youngest still listening? I'm talking to you two.

From the youngest to the oldest. Are the youngest still listening? I'm talking to you two. From the youngest to the oldest. In the battle with the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places.

But it's on our knees really. A lot of the battle is. And we should know that Lord will work mightily through us for His glory. This is the glory of His name. Verse 6 going on.

They had a mind to work. It says, So we built the wall and the entire wall was joined together, you know, all the way around, up to half its height. So the people had a mind to work. They might be thinking, wow, half the wall, you know, it's maybe like up to here, you know This is a big wall. This is a big wall and they did it in a very short time But the people had a heart to work.

This is a huge job. I mean even if you had big tractors and everything this would have been a hard job. But their heart was in it in chapter two again. So they said let us rise up and build after Nehemiah came back and gave these encouraging words. Let's do this thing.

So they set their hands to this good work. It was a huge job. Didn't daunt them. They didn't put it off saying, well, I don't know. I think we need more time to think about this.

They just dove in. Huge job. Said, let's do this. And they began. So why did they have a mind to work is one question.

How did that develop? How did they get that? They hadn't been able to do much really before Nehemiah came. Ezra had come with other of the remnant But they hadn't achieved near what was going to be achieved here. So first of all, I believe they had leaders.

They had Ezra and Nehemiah and men who were serving them, who worked along with them and had authority to teach and to guide the people in their labor. Leaders who helped them have a vision for the work that they were involved in. I mean, they had, it's a little hard. I mean, you're working on this chunk of the wall and that's big enough. I mean, your family's working on this chunk and, you know, maybe you're not thinking of this whole big wall here.

But somebody has to kind of say, well, remember the broader picture. Men of the word, men of faith. And secondly, they were motivated by the survival of their families. So they were mindful of their, of the covenant of the Lord with them and their families and their children for generations to come they're mindful of that and They needed a wall to protect them in Nehemiah 414 a little later on it says do not be afraid of them Nehemiah said remember the Lord great and awesome and fight for your brethren your sons your daughters your wives and your houses okay fight for them fight you're not pacifists And he said may you know may you all defend each other they're all in the wall together they're a trowel in this hand a sword or something in this hand and May you have each other's backs so that you're fighting together against those who seek to take away the ability, for example, to educate our children. And in Nebraska, about every other year, every third year, we have to be really vigilant.

Some legislator always introduces something to make homeschool, if not illegal, really hard to do. More intrusive. We just know it's coming. We just have to be alert to it. You have to be alert to it.

I know you are. And we have to continue to fight against those who murder the innocent, as you are. May the Lord bless you in that. And fight against those who willfully seek to destroy the family. They're all around.

Thirdly, the people had a mind to work because they wanted to be able to worship the Lord. And they knew that unless that wall was built, there was really not safety and they'd keep getting attacked. And they were hungry for the Word of God in other words They were willing to work hard to fight the enemy so they could worship they wanted to worship the Living God as he had commanded and to hear the Word of God. And so they all wanted to do that in safety. In chapter 8 of Nehemiah it says, now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square in front of the Water Gate and so everybody came, even the young ones.

And this is what they said to Ezra. They told Ezra, that's the word it uses in Scripture, they told Ezra, the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. We want to hear the word of God. And they stood up a long time to hear that They longed to hear it and for them It was many years that since they'd heard heard the law declared in red so back to verse 6 It says so we built the wall and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height for the people had a mind to work, had a mind to work together. Half the height to the wall was not a small amount.

Like I mentioned, it was maybe 20 feet. Half the wall was 20 feet high. Now I'm not sure exactly on this, there are different walls that were built, but in any case, it was much more than the little wall you might be thinking of if you go down down south, Engatucki They've you know stones built up. Maybe this high and about that wide We're talking about a different kind of wall here, and they did it in 52 days by the grace and power of God So the circumference of the later walls, I believe was about two and a half miles That's a that's a large area and the average height again would have been maybe 40 feet and the average thickness was 8 feet So the people had a mind to work they had a heart to do a huge task Almost unimaginable in size and so they they armed themselves and they followed the plan of their leaders and they labored together. J.

Sidlow Baxter said this, it's kind of a pithy quote with three W's here, there is no winning without working and warring. This might be a summary for the sermon also. There is no winning without working and warring. Which might be a summary for the sermon also. There is no winning without working and warring.

That's what we're talking about. We're talking about both here today. And I would add together, there is no winning, I know it's not a W, but there is no winning without working and warring together. And that's what I see in all of this passage. May you have brothers and sisters in mind to work together and more and more to pray together which must accompany and undergird your working and your fighting.

Paul said of this kind of mindset in Philippians 1, stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together, some versions say striving side by side exactly as they were doing here for the faith standing side by side for the faith of the gospel and Not in any way terrified by your adversaries, and you're gonna have them Don't be terrified of them. I think they're terrified of you. It says, not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition. Pruse. And they know that internally.

It's proof of their perdition, but to you It's a proof of your salvation and that from God. So the adversaries facing the people of God in Nehemiah's day were actually terrified I believe that the people of the Lord might succeed at this and then they were succeeding and they had a fear and it was proof of their perdition and their ruin and their ultimate destruction. And then Paul continues in Philippians 2, if there is any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy. And there is all of those by the grace of God. Fulfill my joy by being like-minded.

Having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Now this is done as we labor together in humility to do what the Lord has given us to do, not for personal gain, not for some kind of recognition. So to conclude, brothers and sisters, we cannot build unless we strive together, unless we stand and fight together. And then we will not be terrified of our adversaries when they arise to stop us. So our response is not to fear, But it's to go forward in faith and be united in prayer.

And unified in action in the working, in the building, in the fighting. We may have different parts of the wall assigned to us. May not be noticed much for that little part that you're part of. And again, I'm speaking to the young ones. Should all be involved in this.

Should know that for the rest of your life you'll be building and fighting but we serve together and we protect each other prayers and actions of faith should always be together prayer is foundational as I mentioned before the work in the battle and during the work in the battle and during the work in the battle. And then after that, in the victory, we pray again. We praise the Lord for the victory he has given. I'd like to conclude though, looking at verses 7 and 9 quickly, it happened when these people were conspiring against people. It says, When they heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they became angry.

And it says this, all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God and because of them we set a watch and against them day and night So the enemies were angry And now they escalated some things and they went from mockery and ridicule to an actual outright plan to attack the Went forward to physical the stage of physical violence and some of that I guess is happening at this in our country even and more threats. So they saw this progress of the people of God and they were very angry. They didn't expect this. You know when you think about it, think of the personhood amendments that are going forward in a number of states. May the Lord bless that.

And think of the number of abortion mills. I just read something a few weeks ago. The number of abortion mills that have closed. Not enough. May the Lord close them all.

Soon. And close their terrible business. And think of the parents, the number of parents who are educating their children now. In other words, not allowing them to be indoctrinated. In fact, they are helping them develop a biblical worldview.

Praise God, we need an army like that. Now these people, they didn't realize the work that the people of God can do when led by men who are led by God and who teach the whole council of God, people who all work together with one mind? They didn't even have that I mean they kind of had one mind for a little while just because they hated the Jews so much They didn't really have one mind and who are blessed by the Almighty God by their obedience So we see here in the EMI for even those who are enemies themselves of each other usually they united for a time to try to stop the work They kind of conspired to attack kind of reminded me of the political left and political right. I think they're Status so, you know all of them conspired to attack and when we see this happening we can rejoice that they are beginning to know that they are weak and they are not going to do too well and they're fearful. Even if they couldn't kill people as easily now because the wall was half the height anyway They would try to create confusion and fear and they'll keep doing that even if they couldn't do you know?

Succeed as they wanted to so Nehemiah to conclude said nevertheless we made our prayer to our God. In other words, it really doesn't matter what they do, how many people they have, what their plan is, all these threats, you know that they have this little army. It doesn't... Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God. He had the right priority.

So he went to the Lord first in prayer. And they set a watch day and night. They prayed. They also set a watch. They didn't underestimate the enemy, nor should we.

If you haven't read a book, well it's a series of books by William Grinnell I Called the Christian in complete armor. I would suggest you do you should know your enemy a wonderful wonderful series The Christian in complete armor, so they didn't underestimate to make the enemy They didn't cease their work at all. They just kept going, prayed, kept going. And they submitted it all to God. Brothers and sisters, the fear of man brings a snare.

But he who trusts in the Lord is kept safe. Don't fear man So they were vigilant and alert to possible attack they were ready for it and we should be too first Peter 5 Be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Our adversary is subtle and clever, and He'll be involved in that way when he needs to be but he'll be involved directly and offensively if he can be Fusion six tells us to use to put on the whole armor of God In our battle and the last of that list of armor and if you study that lately is a list of the armor Last of that list I would suggest is verse 18 and it says praying and it unites the rest I believe. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. Being watchful to this end.

Vigilant with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. I believe prayer and corporate prayer is the most potent weapon we have in this battle, in our part and in our part of the building of this wall of the kingdom of our part of the kingdom This prayer this kind of prayer unites us in his will and it turns us together to the one whose grace is sufficient. Brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow builders, fellow warriors, let's pray together and then build and battle in the strength of the Lord for his glory for the glory of his name Unified in him and mighty in him. Let's pray No Lord God you said Fear not for I am with you Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you.

Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And we do rejoice this morning as your people called out that you indeed would call us fellow builders and that you would include us in such a glorious task and that you enable us to build in your kingdom what a blessing And to do so for your name's sake. For your glory. And then we can do this together.

We can learn to do this together with fellow members of your family. Well Lord help us to pray in faith. To pray at all times as we build the part of the wall that you've given us to do as a church here in Houston may we pray and build and battle in the strength that you give us and we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our King and the King of the nations. Amen.