Elevate - The Story Pt 21 - Nehemiah - Rise and Build

The main ideas from this information are: - Your identity is in Jesus, not in any race, gender, or social status. - The sermon series is called "The Story" and today's message is about Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. - Nehemiah is appointed by the king to lead the rebuilding of the walls. - The neighboring nations oppose the rebuilding because they feel threatened by the Jews reestablishing their sovereignty. - Building is an innate desire for humans, whether it's building forts as kids or building a life with our families. - Building our families and relationships is important and transforms our identity. Your identity is in Jesus. It's not white, it's not black, it's not Spanish, it's not any other race, it's not male or female, it's not gay, it's not straight, certainly it's not transgender, it's not rich, it's not poor, or successful, or unsuccessful, or white collar, or blue collar. Your identity is firmly in Him and anything that distracts you from that is a ploy of Satan to take you out. Welcome to Elevate from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama with Pastor John DiQuatro. We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message and welcome to Elevate. We are continuing in our sermon series, The Story, and today's message is about Nehemiah, Rise and Build, but I want to read one scripture to you to start this off, Ephesians 6.12, it says, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Now, we're going to get back to this, but know this, that our struggle is not against each other. Our struggle happens in the Spirit and we do have an enemy of our souls. But keep this scripture in your mind. We're going to return back to this a little bit later. But I'm going to give you a little recap of where we are. I'm going to give you a bunch of stuff here, so pay real close attention so you kind of catch where we are. But if you remember, two weeks ago, we talked about how under King Cyrus's decree, the people who were exiled to Babylon, if you remember, they were exiled, they were taken, they were conquered and taken out of their land to go to Babylon and they were there as prisoners. And this happened because they refused to follow the law, to serve God. They kept serving other gods of other nations and God was teaching them a little bit of a lesson. He said, fine, if this is what you want, then you can go dwell in another nation. And they were there for 70 years under exile. But under King Cyrus, the people were permitted to return back from Babylon for the express purpose of rebuilding the temple that was in Jerusalem that had gotten torn down. And so they appointed a man by the name of Zerubbabel to be governor of Judah and to oversee the rebuilding of the temple. However, as they were rebuilding the temple, there was opposition. The neighboring nations were afraid that this would upset the political stability of the area and so they were opposing them. And so they got a little bit, they gave up under all of this opposition and they left the temple only partially built. They had only really completed the foundation. And instead, they focused on building their own homes and settling into their lives. And if you remember this, we talked about how the prophet Haggai, he comes along to tell them about how God feels about all of this and gets them re-motivated once again to start work on rebuilding the temple so that they can restore worship. And then within four years, they finished the temple. Now, fast forward 50 more years. The Israelites are back in Jerusalem, in Judah. They built the temple. They built their homes. And now we're introduced to the priest and the teacher Ezra. If you read in your chapter, you're familiar with Ezra. And Ezra was in Babylon, but he was allowed by the new king of Persia, which is, his name was Artaxerxes. And this is the same king from last week's story with Pastor Amber. We talked about Esther, right? Well, this king allowed them to, allowed Ezra to return back to Judah for the purpose of making sure that God's law was being properly followed and that the people were worshiping properly and that they had their priorities straight, okay? So Ezra was concerned about the state of worship in Jerusalem, and he gets permission to go back. He gets a letter from King Artaxerxes instructing him to take as many Jews from Babylon back to Judah as were willing to go with him. He also gave him gold and silver, and he gave him back the articles from the temple that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken 70 years earlier when they had destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. So Ezra returns to Jerusalem with several thousand more Jewish exiles. There's more of them now coming home. And he finds that although the temple seemed to be in good order, the people were not worshiping the Lord properly, and they were once again following the practices of the neighboring nations, intermarrying with them, and worshiping other gods. Will they ever learn? They just came back from Babylon, and Ezra finds them in this state. The temple was in good order. Hear me. The temple was in good order, but the people themselves were not really worshiping God. They were worshiping foreign gods. But Ezra comes in with a few thousand more Jewish folk, and they come in, and he sets them straight, and he helps them get back on track. So now we've got the temple is in good shape, worship is restored, but there's a problem that Ezra discovers, and that is the walls of the city of Jerusalem all around are completely in disrepair. And a city without walls in those days was just inviting other nations to come in and to pillage them. And so, enter Nehemiah. I'm getting you all caught up to Nehemiah, okay? So Nehemiah comes on the scene 13 years later. Now he is also in Persia, in Babylon, and he is the cupbearer to the king. This is a highly trusted and elevated member of the king's court. And he hears about the state of Jerusalem's walls. And so he asks the king to let him go to Jerusalem to lead the rebuilding of the walls. And so the king allows him to go, granting him safe passage, and then even appoints Nehemiah as the new governor of Jerusalem. So Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem, and he inspects the walls, and he rallies the Jews there to turn toward the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. But there's a problem. Because just like when they rebuilt the temple, the neighboring nations were not happy that Jerusalem was now fortifying themselves. They felt threatened that the Jews were reestablishing their sovereignty as a nation. Let me tell you, the surrounding nations around Israel are still threatened by the sovereignty of the nation of Israel. The same issue... When you read the news and you hear about Palestine and the Gaza Strip, and you hear about where the embassy is and all that kind of stuff, just know it's the same root of the problem that the Jews were in exile and they've tried to come back and reestablish their sovereignty as a nation, and the people around them aren't happy about it. Same problem today as it was thousands of years ago. And so they feel threatened, and of course, now that they know that the king of Persia has sanctioned their return, he's actually funding the rebuilding project, it has them really, really agitated, really, really concerned, and so now they begin to oppose the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. And that's where we are when we pick up in the story of Nehemiah. Now let me just stop for a moment, because we're talking about building walls, right? We're talking about building. Guys in the room, building is something that we just kind of innately get, we understand, it's kind of hardwired into our nature. We get a vision for what it is that we want to build, and we set out to see that vision realized. I remember when we were little, my brothers and I, we would build forts. Sometimes they were just blanket and pillow forts, but we built those things. You know when you get a chair, and you put a blanket over it, and you crawl in there, and you have this much room, but you're in your fort, right? Lots of fun. Other times we'd get adventurous, and we'd find a piece of wood, and we'd nail it to a tree, and we'd try to build some kind of a fort in a tree. It never really turned into much, it was usually just a ladder to get up to the next branch, but that was our fort from the time I was little. Building with Legos was a huge part of my life. Most of you can probably say the same. I remember Legos, you see this amazing thing on the box, and then you set out with all these tiny little pieces to try to rebuild it. And then I became a husband, and a father, and a homeowner, and the building, right? It got a little bit more complicated for me. I've built swing sets and playgrounds for my kids. I converted an attic in my house into a bedroom for my oldest son. Now the tools were getting bigger, and they were better. We had wood, and we had hammers, and we had power tools, and electrical tools, and saws, and screwdrivers, and it just, the building gets more, and more, and more. But out of all the things that I've built in my life, whether it's Legos or in my home, the most important thing that I have ever set out to build, and whether you're a father, or a mother, or a grandparent, you understand this, we set out to build a life with our family. No matter what our family looks like, whether you're a nuclear family, or you are a single mom, or you're a grandparent raising your grandchildren, or you are a guardian for somebody else's children, whatever it is you are seeking to build something. We want to build a peaceful, God-honoring home. We want to build values, and we want to build morals into our children, teaching them to trust God. We build our marriages. We build our relationships. We build our financial life. So we pursue careers, and find ways to earn money in order to continue building the life that God has given us. Every one of us in this room is a builder. We've been given a life, and we are building with that life, and we're trying to do the best that we can. Now for me as a young father, and as a young husband, the building of my family absolutely transformed my identity. Dad's in the room. You'll understand with me. I wanted a strong marriage, so I enrolled us in marriage seminars, and conferences, and small groups about marriage. We read books and articles, and we talked about it, right? We just ate this stuff up. We wanted to have a strong marriage. I remember beginning to build a sense of safety, and protection, and provision into my children. So I worked in accounting, and I taught piano lessons, and I sold mortgages, and I worked for a church, and Pastor Neil and I started a web and graphic design business 15 years ago, all in the name of building a life for my family. And during all that, we took our kids to church, and we read them Bible stories, and we sang them songs, and we talked to them about life, and sex, and relationships, and money, and hard work. We were building. We were building our family. Building a godly family is serious business, but it's not without opposition. For the Jews, they had a building project to build the walls around the city, to build safety and protection, and in doing so, they would safeguard the future of the generations that would follow. But there was a problem for the Jews as they were building the walls of their city. They were opposed. They had enemies. There was someone who did not want them to build well. And believe me, as you build your home, as you build your family, as you build your marriage, there is someone who does not want you to build well. You have an enemy that is trying to keep you from building on the foundation of God's Word. So construction begins under the leadership of Nehemiah. They begin building the walls, and it's not without opposition. And so the first opposition begins with taunting that the Jews have to endure. And that's what we're going to read here in Nehemiah chapter 4, beginning in verse 1. When Sanballat, the chief opposition to the rebuilding, heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates in the army of Samaria, he said, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from these heaps of rubble, burned as they are? Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, what they are building, even a fox climbing up on it, would break down their wall of stones. So now they're just taunting them, right? They're like, you can't do it, no way, it's hopeless. But the taunting doesn't work. The Jews continue rebuilding the walls regardless, and in fact, the building starts to make some really, really good progress. And so, the taunting quickly turns to violence, as the surrounding nations really, really don't want these walls built. Continue in verse 7, it says, But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead, and then the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and stir up trouble against it. Verse 16, From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears and shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand, and they held a weapon in the other. And each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. Even the threats of physical violence against the men that were rebuilding the wall, it didn't stop the work, but it certainly put them in a different posture. It changed their posture. You see, the building had to continue. They had to get these walls rebuilt to provide safety and a future for the generations to follow. But now they had an enemy to fight. And what does the Bible say that they do? It says that they did their work with one hand. They picked up the hammer with one hand, or whatever tool they had to do the work of rebuilding the walls, to safeguard the city for the future, to make sure that what they had set out to do, to build strong walls for the city of Jerusalem, they could get it done. And accomplish the task before them. But it says, in one hand, while they did their work, in their other hand, they carried a weapon. They held a sword in their other hand as they did their work because they knew that they had an enemy. And they knew that if they focused all their attention on just building, that that enemy would come and stop them from the rebuilding. And so to keep their enemies from invading their home and tearing down what they were building, they held a sword in their other hand. Let me tell you something, folks. As we build our lives, as we build our homes, as we build our families, as we build our marriages, we cannot just put a hammer in one hand and just do the work and leave the other hand empty. We can't just focus on what it is that we're trying to build for ourselves, what we're trying to build for our family, the financial future that we're trying to have, the things that we're trying to do. We can't just focus on our jobs. We can't just focus on our money. We can't just focus on our family vacations and on our toys and on our entertainment and to make sure our kids are playing baseball and football and every other sport that you can think of, to make sure that they get good educations. Those things are important, but it's not the only thing that we have to be focusing on, because if we do, our enemy will do everything in his power to tear down what we are building. No, we're not being threatened by a physical enemy like the Jews were. But let's go back to the Scripture that we read at the beginning of this message, because it says, you know, they were facing actual men with swords, right? As they were trying to rebuild the wall, they were facing an enemy that was trying to physically harm them. But our enemy is different. Ephesians 6.12, we'll read it again. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Can I tell you something today, that the way that this world is going and the evil that seems to be prevalent and continues to increase, we like to think that our answer is somehow in the politician that we elect, or somehow our enemy is the politician that the other half of the country elected. But I'll tell you something right now, that behind every evil idea, behind every evil thought, behind every attack that has come against your family to erode the morality of this country, to erode the things that are truly important about what it means to be a father or a husband or whatever it is, there is a spiritual force behind that. I don't know if you ever read the book, The Screwtape Letters. Has anybody read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis? If you have not read it, it's a highly recommended book. It gives us a little bit of insight. It's fiction, but it's C.S. Lewis' idea of how the spirit world seeks to interfere with humanity and to cause them to sin and cause them to stumble. There's actually another book they just made a movie out of that's kind of like an updated Screwtape Letters. It's called A Nefarious Plot. If you haven't read that, I encourage you to pick up A Nefarious Plot because you'll understand a little bit more about how the spirit realm works. But know this, our enemy is spiritual. Our enemy seeks to tear down everything that honors God and that builds his kingdom. And he starts with your family. That is the strength. The family is the strength of our country. The family is the strength of the kingdom of God, is our families. That's why we've got to pick up the sword. And we've got to engage in this battle because if we only focus on building, we're going to get knocked down. So what kind of weapons is the enemy fighting with? Well, the enemy's got some crazy weapons. And we talked about one of them two weeks ago. If you haven't listened to that message, I really encourage you to go back on May 28th. The message is entitled Another in the Fire. And we talked about the weapon of humanism that the enemy fights with. And we're not going to go into that like we did several weeks ago, except for to say this, that humanism says, it's all about me, I'm number one, and I can be like God without God. It glorifies the strength of human physical strength and intellect. But let me tell you what else the enemy is bringing towards your families and bringing towards your homes. He's fighting against your children's sense of what is right and wrong and what is good and evil. That's how the enemy began the fight against us back in the garden. To tempt them to do what was evil, but promising them that they would know the difference between good and evil. The enemy is fighting against our children to really know what is right and wrong and what is good and evil. The enemy is fighting against us to have morality as our compass for godly living. That morality doesn't matter anymore. That's why for the last 50 years that we've had an abortion epidemic in this country and in this world. Why? Because convenience is more important than morality. What I want is more important than what God wants. We've placed ourselves first. And no longer is morality the guardrails that God... That's not what the culture is trying to teach us. That being good, doing good, and living a moral life is important. Your children are being attacked with the idea that this is an old, antiquated book that is not true. And their belief in the Word of God is being attacked. I promise you, it is being attacked. It's being made fun of in the media that they watch, in the entertainment that they see. It is constantly being undermined. Listen, I like to watch scientific documentaries, historical documentaries. And there are so many out there that their sole goal, it's so transparent you can see it, is that their goal is to disprove the Word of God. Your kids, your children, and you are trying to be taught by our culture that you should live for today. That the only thing that you can trust is science. And that is the king. And that you've got to push God out of every aspect of American living. Out of the schools, out of the courthouses. Push it out. Push it off the TV. Get it off the radio. And now, the latest thing is this idea of woke ideology. And your kids, if they're young, they're growing up in a world, and they've known nothing but this particular message that's coming down from our culture. Saying that your identity can be found in anything but Christ. In everything but Christ. That's the foundation of woke ideology. And let me tell you something, there is a war for identity among our children today. Among our teenagers, among our little ones, there is a war for identity. And it's being played out in the areas of race, of gender, of philosophy, of sexual orientation. And let me tell you something, if any one of those things that I just mentioned become your identity, then you're already being taken out by the enemy. The Bible gives us our identity. If we have placed our faith in Christ Jesus, the Bible gives us our identity. Galatians 3, verse 26, So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Listen to me, young people, listen to me. You are God's child. Period. That's where your identity lies. You belong to Him and you are an heir to the promise of God. What's the promise of God? Eternal life for all those who believe. But that's not what this world wants you. That's not what this world wants us to believe. Let me tell you, I'm a Gen Xer, right? And I've grown up with a sense of morality and a foundation of the Word of God as did so many of my peers. And I am shocked at how many people that are my age have fallen for this garbage. And it's coming after you too. Your identity is in Jesus. It's in Christ. It's not white. It's not black. It's not Spanish. It's not any other race. It's not male or female. It's not gay. It's not straight. Certainly it's not transgender. It's not rich. It's not poor or successful or unsuccessful or white collar or blue collar. Listen guys, it's not about the jocks and the nerds. Popular and unpopular, that is not where you find your identity. As a believer in Jesus Christ, your identity is firmly in Him. And anything that distracts you from that, that you take on as an identity, is a ploy of Satan to take you out. I hope you hear me. The war is on. And it's been on for quite some time. The war is on and it's coming against your home, your family, your marriage, your children. It's being waged on the internet and in the classrooms. It's being waged in the news and on TV and in the workplace. But listen folks, we have got to pick up our sword. And we have to engage in this battle. Don't put your head down and spend all your time building your finances, your toys, your hobbies, and not go to war on behalf of your kids and your family. Because I promise you, if you aren't discipling them, somebody else is. If you're not teaching them, somebody else is. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4 tells us this, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. Our weapons are not the world's weapons. We have a different set of weapons. What are our weapons? How do we fight? Let me give you four real quick ways that we can fight. When I say pick up your sword and fight, don't just build your home, don't just build your career, don't just build your finances, or don't just build fun family vacations for your life. When I say pick up your sword and fight against the enemy that is coming against you, this is what I mean. I'm talking about prayer. Prayer is the foundation. It's our number one weapon that we have against the enemy. Prayer, talking to God. Pray for your kids. Pray for your family. Pray with your kids. Pray with your family. Let your kids see what it means to be a man or a woman of prayer. Pray, pray, pray, and don't ever stop praying. Another weapon that we have is the Word of God. You've got to know this Word. You've got to know the truth if you're going to resist what's evil. Otherwise, you don't know the difference. And I'll preach to you 52 times a year, and you'll get small portions of this Word. But I promise you, there's a much bigger Word than I can preach in the course of a year. You've got to study this thing. You've got to know what's in it. You've got to know what it's saying about the issues of our day. You have to know truth so that you can compare it against what's coming down the line, and know what is true and what is evil. But not only knowing the Word, you've got to teach this Word to the next generation. You've got to see what's coming down the line. You've got to see the stuff that is not truth, and you've got to be willing to teach them the Word of God and show them what is true in light of what they're seeing in this culture. If you neglect it, they're not going to know the difference. Prayer, knowing the Word, teaching the Word, and the fourth is having a spiritual awareness, a spiritual sensitivity, and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what is truth and what is a lie, to give you discernment. That's why we have the Holy Spirit within us, to discern what is true and what is a lie. You cannot just take whatever it is that you hear and just say, okay, well that must be truth. No, it's got to line up with the Word of God. And if you're not sure, if you can't seem to find it, ask the Holy Spirit. He'll lead you in His Word. He'll lead you somehow, and He'll show you, and He'll allow you to discern what is true and what is not true. And as you discern what's true and not true, you take that weapon, you're picking up that weapon, and you're showing your children, and you're showing your spouse, and you're showing those in your household, you're showing them what is right, and you're showing them what is true and teaching it to them. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired, and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website, AuthenticLife.tv, for more information about Authentic Life Church, to find out what we have going on, or to make a donation. You can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery, and youth programs, so bring the family. For Pastor John DeQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening, and God bless you.