The War
Notes
Transcript
I dont know if you would guess this about your pastor or not, but in highschool when I would go to sport events I loved trash talking the other team.
And so as I got into college I matured a littler bit where I would not trash talk a whole lot, because it has the ability to get you into trouble,
but I remember there was one game I went to in college and our football team was dominating. (and just to give you some context our football team at Olivet [where I went to college] was terrible).
I mean this may have been one of the only games they won that season,
So I was excited, and not just that but there were some guys behind me trash talking our team,
And normally (college Brendan) would not have done this (because like I said it can get you in some trouble)
But one of the guys was really big, and he was walking down the steps and you could tell he was leaving the game because he was mad about the game.
And in my mind this guy was trash talking the team that had clearly won and not just that but it was on our turf.
And so I do not know where this came from but all of the sudden as he is leaving I yell “Where you going? in a mocking voice.
And I remember this guy turns around and just stars at me dead in the face before realizing I had a ton of students around be so he couldn’t fight back to much.
But you know its amazing how you can become so much braver when you know the turf your on and who surrounds you.
And today what we are looking at the whose turf our lives are on and not just that but we will look at who surrounds us,
Because in life we face people or even thoughts that stop us from carrying out what we have been called too, but when we know whose got who surrounds us it gives us confidence to face those battles.
So we are going to be in Nehemiah 4:1-20 and if you have been with us you know we have been in a series where we have been looking at the book of Nehemiah.
And so far what has happened is Nehemiah has recieved a call from God to rebuild this city called Jeruselum and because of God’s hand being on him God made a way .
And so Nehemiah leaves and arrives to the city of Jeruselum where he faces a little bit of opposition, but in the middle of that oppesition he tells those who oppose they have no claim in what God is doing.
And really today what we are going to see happen is the oppisition Nehemiah faces is going to become a larger issue.
So once again we are in Nehemiah 4:1-20 and will be
starting in just the first 9 verses.
and this first part is a little long, but it really gives us the context of what is happening. It says this:
1 Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. 6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 7 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
So we get to this part of the passage and there are these two guys who we met last week.
One guys name is Sanballat and he was the governor outside the city of Jeruselum, however he was getting money and profiting from a lot of the Jews that lived in the area, so he did not want this city to get rebuilt because he loses money
Then the other guys name is Tobiah, and Tobiah was one of the leaders of the Ammonites which were rivals to the Jews,
So we saw these guys threatening Nehemiah last week, and so when they find out they are still carrying out this plan we are told they are angry.
And so they begin to mock Nehemiah
One says wow look at all the rubbish or trash that this city lies in. How would you ever make anything out of this?
Then the other says even if you could if a fox climbed the wall the entire thing would collapse.
And what ends up happening is really these powerful people are slandering the Jewish people where they are hoping to intimidate them into giving up
But all of this background to tell you this Nehemiah and all the people under him are facing a battle here.
And in our lives we face battles.
Did you know that we believe there is something called spiritual warfare.
Where when you accept Christ, you enter a battle.
And I know what you are thinking, I thought when I accepted Christ I was just getting forgiveness,
but the thing about being a Christian is that when you become one Satan begins a battle to get you away from God.
And can I tell you something about satan he loves cheap shots,
he does not care if he destroys your family life, ruins relationships or even ruins your life, because he wants nothing more than to see you stray from God.
And I want you to look at the Jewish peoples response in verses 10-12 because they start to Cave in. It says:
Nehemiah 4:10–12 (ESV)
10 In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” 11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.”
So basically these people say “They are Right!”
We can’t do this on our own, there is to much rubble and we do not have enough people!
Not only but they are going to end up killing us
And I want you notice something because they gave in to the insults that Satan hurled their way to stop them from building this city, but then they even let their minds add on to more then what the people slandering even said.
And ultimately they decide its time to call it quits.
And so often this is what happens when we face these battles but verse 13 and 14 happens and this story begins to change.
look at verses 13 and 14 because it says:
13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
I am going to work a little backwards here but I love what Nehemiah tells these people getting ready to call it quits in the middle of the battle because at the end of verse 14 he says fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughthers, your wives and your home.
You know to often we do not realize what it means for us to give in to the spiritual war far in our life.
but like we talked about briefly, Sin destroys, so when we allow sin to enter our life, we do not just invite it to seperorate us from God (altough that is the worst part), but we also alow it to destroy our families.
And Nehemiah here is saying what are you guys thinking?
Do you understand the stakes right now?
Do you understand what happens if you give up?
Are you willing to fight for your family? Are you willing to fight for your kids? Are you willing to fight for your marriage?
Or do you just want to say I gave it a try
Because if you let sin in these areas you are allowing death in these areas.
Please before you give up realize who you are fighting for.
But more importantly than that remember who is on your side.
Because there might be some of you here who are saying well yeah I want to fight for my kids or my marriage, or my family, but do you understand what I am against?
Do you understand the trouble my kid is getting into at school?
Do you understand how mean my wife is to me?
But can I tell you something that is so cool we serve a God who is greater then these things holding us back.
(possibly talk abut Paul)
It would almost be like if Bill Gates got hit on the head and ended up getting amnisha.
And he what he was forgetting who he was he recieved a bill in the mail for 30 million dollars for a party he threw
And you can imagine him saying “Oh no my life is ruined, how am I ever going to dig myself out of this whole
But once he remembered who he was he would probably say “wow that is a lot of money, but compared to the amount I bring in its less then a days pay. And then he would hand it to the guy who handles his finances.
But you know our issue is to often we forget whose we are and who we belong to.
If we knew we served a God who made light out of darkness our perspective would change
if we knew we belonged to a God that was able to free the Israelites from slavery in the Old Testament our perspective would change
If we knew we belonged to a God that changed a guys heart who persecuted Christians to being a leader in the church our perspective would change.
We belong to a God who is bigger then the war we face and we may feel hopeless and the truth is we are… if we face it by ourselves.
But can I be honest? That doesn't mean it will be easy. look at these next verses (15-18):
15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17 who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
So they return to working on the wall, because of who they serve, but also who they are fighting for, but if you read what is happening they are not just sitting there in a lounge chair soaking of the Jeruselum sun.
But whats happening is half the people are constructing the wall while the others are ready to fight.
And even those who were building had a sword strapped on them so if someone attacked they could help.
I mean you thought your work conditions were bad?
But what I want you to get is this battle requires grit,
It will be hard, you may even get really frustrated at times where you are wanting to give up.
But look at this last part of the passage because I mentioned
There is a battle taking place
I mentioned whats at stake: Our family, children, marriage and relatioships
I mentioned that our God is the one who fights for us
I mentioned its hard
But this last point is probably the most important part because other then trusting God, this might be one of the biggest things that will help you.
Look at verses 19-20
19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
You know the people recognize when they are separated they were weak so what they did is they carried trumpets and if they were under attack they would blow the trumpet and then everyone would rush to that area to fight the war together.
You know I started this message by telling you we were under attack right?
There is a battle going on all around us.
And if we believe that then it is vital that we are not spread out and alone, but that we are with the people on our side.
Because the truth is we need each other if we want to see God win victories in our life.
You need to be connected to other Christ followers who are ready to fight the battle with us.
You know this is a little bit of a personal subject for me, because in the college I went to there were people who God had called to ministry and some of them were very gifted people even
But for some reason in just the few years they were in ministry they quit, and Ill be honest I do not know the exact reasons,
But for many of them I believe the outcome would have been different if they had the support they needed.
You know being involved in a group with other Christ followers is really important.
Thats why I love small groups or our MOPS groups because you have people to walk through life with.
When the unthinkable happens
When satan attacks your marriage
When you feel just to tiered to go on
You have others around you to push you forward, but more importantly then that you have a God who is there to fight the battle.
Will you pray with me?