chapter 4, Nehemiah chapter 4, beginning at verse 16. Nehemiah chapter 4, beginning at verse 16. Let's get there. As the good Lord has to say for us tonight, it says, And it came to pass at the time forth that the half of my servants were off in the work And in the order, half of them held both the spears, the shield, and the bows, and the argogens, and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which built on the wall, and they that had bare burdens, were those that laid it everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work. and with the other hand held the weapon, held the weapon, I'm sorry. For the builders, every one at his sword, gird by his side, and so built, and he had sounded the trumpet as was by me. And that is, I'm sorry, and I said unto the nobles and to the rulers and the rest of the people, the work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. And what place, therefore, ye hear the sound of trumpet, resort ye thither unto us. Our God shall fight for us. So we labor in the work, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared. Likewise, at the same time, set eye unto the people. Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night there might be a guard to us, and labor on the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the man of the guard which follow me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that everyone put them off for washing." Let's pray heavily. Father, thank you, Lord, for this passage of scripture. It reminds us, Lord, to always be alert to the enemy. And also, Lord, always be busy doing the work of the Lord. Lord, it can be hard at times. It can be difficult, but not impossible. Nehemiah and those people did it, and so can we, Lord. So help us, Lord, always to be on guard, to be aware of the devices of the enemy trying to destroy us. And Lord, help us also to always be busy doing the work of the Lord together. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Alright, so tonight we come to this passage of scripture, Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 16 all the way to verse 23. I titled this, Work and Fight. Well, that's the life of the Christian, isn't it? We are to work for the Lord and at the same time we are to fight three enemies constantly. So where are those enemies? The soul, I mean the soul, I'm sorry, oh goodness, Satan, right? The flesh and the world. I didn't put it the way we usually do it but I came up with the answer. But it's true, I mean the world is not for God, it's against God. you see the way the world is i mean talking about not the planet talking about the this world the way is all put up or the governments and all this the pressure they put against us and they all try to press you into their mold to think like they do to live like they do to speak like they speak so we have this enemy we're constantly on battle with him so we have the devil uh we know what the devil is capable of the devil the devil comes for what to kill to destroy, that's what the devil is, and the devil uses people to destroy us, to kill us, to steal from us, so the way the Lord described. Then we have our own flesh, the old men in us that refuses to go to sleep. This old man, so to speak, yes, I'd sleep. This old man is always put his neck up and this old man always trying to come out and, you know, turn your head upside down. That's the old man in us, our old nature. sinful wicked so old nature that we have so we work i mean we work for the lord we serve the lord uh sometimes through great difficulties because the enemy doesn't uh doesn't uh ask for peace is always on on the on war and if we don't be careful He comes along in one of those, if not the three at the same time, but they're always ready to battle you. Can you imagine you in the ring with boxing gloves? Now imagine for a second, over here with me. Imagine for a second, you in a boxing ring with gloves on, ready to box. And let's say you're going to box Satan. And you say, all right, I think I can give him a couple couple of punches body body punches and maybe you know good one knock him out and then he comes in the ring day it comes the world so you know now you are putting yourself on guard because you're not fighting Satan anymore you're fighting the world too so you got two enemies in the ring against you so I like okay I'm gonna get against the ropes right here because I gotta put myself on guard against those two guys you know the best way to fight an enemy when there's more than one you you put you back against something so they don't come behind you. Well, and then before you know it, you try to see what you're going to do with two, and the other, the third one comes under your flesh. So you got three enemies with three sets of hands, with boxing gloves on, fighting you at the same time. How do you survive that? We need the Lord, don't we? need the Lord every day because that's the enemies that we face every day. I think the tree would be silly maybe my example is silly but it's it's so very real if we put it that way imagine you in a boxing ring with three of your enemies at the same time fighting you sometimes we fight one sometimes we fight all three of them at the same time it can get it can get overwhelming so why I'm saying this because tonight we come to work and fight so what does it mean if i use the expression a soldier of the cross generally speaking it would refer to a christian and particularly a christian who is committed and faithfully following the lord jesus christ now a soldier is a soldier 24 hours a day 365 366 days a year right a soldier is a soldier A soldier is one that is always committed for a cause. So consequently, he is separated from his normal environment so that he will not entangle himself in the affairs of everyday life because he's a soldier. so entangling himself transfers a passive form right here which means to weave with the world so he is a soldier of the cross he is a soldier he's committed to something so if i'm a soldier of the cross then jesus is my captain correct he's my captain i am under his orders how i'm going to defeat the enemy a soldier of the cross i'm ready for war god gave us the description of our weapon weaponry right you go to what ephesians i believe and give us the way we should dress up every day the way we should put our whole uniform on why because the battle doesn't cease okay so um Let's look here in this passage. It is not that a soldier should have no contact with all of his former friends or surroundings, but that he is not to become caught up with the same way of living like they do. Like if you're in the military, you know where is the military. John, you know where the military is, right? way of living the military totally different than a person that is not in the military but sometimes a soldier comes from the military and comes visit friends and family but still even though he mingles with them he's not to be like them because his mind is set on something else he's been trained for war so if you are soldiers of the cross we should think that way even though we mingle with the world we're not to be like them okay so so in the next six verses of nehemiah chapter four the enemy had torment right here the people of god nehemiah respond to the torment i mean so to speak like it verbally abused so to speak with prayers and concentrated work so nehemiah responded to this to these taunts so to speak he did this mockery with prayer and concentrated work so the enemy got more physical and actually plotted to assault against the people of God in verse 7 to verse 15 so Nehemiah encouraged the people to keep their minds on God and fight a good fight like good soldiers so Nehemiah didn't say oh let's go home and because we can get somebody can get injured here because if they get physical with us Nehemiah said we're going to continue our work and we're going to get our weapons here So there's people who are ready for fight, and they continue to work. Isn't that what we do as Christians? We put our armor on, we fight a good fight of faith, and at the same time, we serve the Lord. That's what they're doing here. So they're building the walls, and at the same time, they're all ready for war. It's better than stay there and let the enemy do what they wanted to do with you. So the enemy, before the enemy get there and say, let's go attack them, the enemy is already thinking, they're prepared and they're waiting you know when satan knows that you're prepared satan doesn't really you know if you see that comes to attack you and you're prepared for it the bible says he's like a roaring lion he just goes around and watch and waits for those who are unaware but those who are prepared he just walks away Those who are prepared for war, he walks away. He's not going to win that. But those who are not prepared, not unaware, distracted, Those are the ones you get attacked. You see, you see in, in even in animal life, if you like to watch those types of video, I enjoy those videos. But you see that when the lions are in the, in, in between the grass or those tall grasses where they stay, they patiently waiting and wait and wait. And they look for one distracted one or one that gets away from the herd or a baby one. And that's the one they attack. because the one that one is not on guard or that one is too fragile to take care of himself or is a baby one and is not that's it and then like they look at them they say lunch or supper that's how they go about it so so indeed let me go back here a little bit so verse 15 tells us the lord brought the counsel of the enemy to nothing And so the enemy retreated and the threat of war is over. But let us never forget that just because this battle is over, doesn't mean that there will be no temptation to quit. Indeed, many people quit not when the war is on its hottest spot, but when the war is over. So many times we Christians, we have that great fight of fate. We win the battle and we put our weapons down. and that's when we get attacked so nehemiah said we're not going to do this for an example in first king chapter 19 verse 1 to 3 it is interesting that elijah did not flee or cower before all the prophets of baal right he turned the canaanite religion into a no no profit organization so to speak he killed them all but once the war was over and Elijah was so fatigued and exasperated and tired by all that what he went through and we did he fled from one woman because and he listen she was not even there she just threatened him and it was enough for this guy to get so depressed and so afraid that he ran for his life why because he put the weapons down he put the weapons down imagine he had stopped 450 prophets of Baal but now in the presence of one he flees he was more he was more uh uh uh fell into temptation after the war than then during the war during the way he was strong he was prepared he was in battle when the war stopped it took one statement why because he was not prepared now that that God now that God had turned the counsel of the enemy to nothing there is there is a mighty temptation to quit let me remind you that a soldier never quits right John a soldier never quits once a soldier always a soldier I heard this thing from somebody in my my wife's family says once a marine always a marine well let's say once a soldier always a soldier once a Christian always a Christian right we are the soldiers of the cross we always going to be the soldiers of the cross so once a christian always a christian even though victory has been won even though the right that right that prevailed there is a temptation now to feel overwhelmed by the hassle hustle of all of it let me tell you this get this i submit to you that that you cannot let the fight that you have just won and zap your energy from continuing the work of the lord we got to continue one because the enemy doesn't stop so let us look together tonight at at this chapter right here nehemiah chapter 16 about uh work and fight if you like the outline it goes the outline all right number one every sword needs a trowel so god had uh brought the counsel of the enemy to nothing But does that mean that is all over? No way. There's something to be done from this time forward. Notice that Nehemiah did. He took half of the workers and placed them in work, and he took the other half of the servants and placed them in a war. But each man, whether he was primarily in the work or primarily in the war, helped to implement right here. With one hand, he worked on the wall, and with the other hand, he held a weapon. What a great thing. Letter A. We see the soldier's mind. Look at verse 16. And it came to pass at the time forth that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shield, and the bows, and the harbor guns, I guess. And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which burned build on the wall that they that bear burdens and with those that laid everyone with one of his hands raw in the work and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, everyone, one had a sword gird by the side, and so built, and he that sounded the trumpet was by me. So no soldier goes to war unprepared for battle. I never heard of a soldier that goes to the front lines without his weapons. That's suicide, isn't it? When we go to war, you prepare yourself. I mean, you ever see a boxer go to a boxing match without his gloves? No, because it's part of his weaponry, right? Same thing with the soldier. What about us Christians? Why we go to war unprepared? Why many of us go to war, we face the day, and we forget we have three enemies? You know what happened many times? We leave the weapons at home. You see, nehemiah knew that the threats that they were at received from the enemy were real uh so nehemiah knew that the enemy at could strike at any time any given moment and he was not a man just to stay there like as a duck or easy target nehemiah teaches us that we are to stand behind wicked again i'm sorry standing up against wickedness against those who want war against god not only him but all god's children should do the same We should stood up. We should stand up for what is right. We should stand up against wickedness. We should stand up for those things because somebody got to stand up, right? What about God's people? One hand held a sword and the other hand held a trowel right here. They were building with swords fastened to their sides. They were ready to fight if necessary. Swords are necessary to fight. So if the enemy would attack, they were ready for war. But if the enemy did not attack, they were working. Isn't that what we should do as Christians? Isn't that what we should do as a church? You know what? If the enemy comes, we are ready for it. But if the enemy doesn't come, we work for the Lord. All right, let it be under that first point. The soldier's weapon. We see this in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13. So what is the soldier's weapon? What is the Christian weapon? God then left us unarmed. Look what it says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13. You can go there if you want and your Bible says, Wherefore take unto you the whole arm of God that you may be able to, look what it says, withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. stand therefore having your loins girl with with the truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet sod with the preparation of the of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith where we're with you shall be able to quench all the fears the theory darts of of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. That's a description of our weaponry right there. God says you take them with you every day. It is suicide for any soldiers to go to war without his weapons. Every soldier that goes to the front line goes ready for battle. He carries all his weapons with him. The name of the game is what? Survival, right? If you don't kill, you will be killed. The name of the game is to stand the fight and to come out victorious. Now, just because you and I are Christians doesn't mean that we have to live the Christian life like we are defeated. Listen, may we put this in mind. We live in a side of victory, not in the side of defeat. Why I say this? Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus rose from the dead, our God lives, we serve a living God. We don't live the Christian life, oh, poor me, I'm a Christian. We should never feel that way or think that way. What do you mean this poor me, I'm a Christian? Oh, glorious, I'm a Christian. Amen, I'm a Christian. Praise the Lord, I'm a Christian. Praise God, I'm a child of the King. That's the way it should be, because we live in the sight of victory, not in the sight of defeat. Satan is the one who got defeat, and he will get defeat again. okay so we live in the sight of victory not in the sight of defeat our savior lives and we are the soldiers of the cross we follow orders we are on a mission for jesus jesus is lord jesus is king jesus is our redeemer jesus is our commanding chief we are the soldiers of the cross So we are not to live like we are defeated, we are like victorious. So here in Ephesians chapter 6, the Lord gave us our weapons. Take it, use it. The Bible monitor shows that we need to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Bible says it's like a two-edged sword. Use it and you see how it cuts the heart of man. Now what man needs, listen, folks, let me put it this way. People think that, oh, the Republicans win and now everything is going to be good. Please. Okay. You know what? The world needs Jesus. Okay. If we think that Washington is going to solve all of our problems, we are on the wrong stick. You know why? Because let me put it this way. It don't matter who's in Washington, DC. I still have to go to work every day and pay my bills. They're not going to pay it for me. I understand some things can be done good, but if we put our hopes in all that, listen, may we remember Jesus. He is the one. So the word of God can cut and divide the heart in places where the literal sword cannot. And there's going to be times in the work of God when the enemy rises his ugly head. Well look what it says in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12. You see this sword can cut in places that a material sword cannot. It goes, it pierces the heart and it pierces the mind. It makes people think about God. Use it. Use it. In the service of the King, we have to apply the Word of God, the Sword of God to that situation. But once the Sword has been applied, there is a need to pick up the trowel, the shovel and build the wall again. May we never forget, as we fight for the Lord, is always work to do for the Lord some Christians forgot this there is always work to do for the Lord it's not by mistake that we have a bunch of ministries written in paper there in our closet door so when people say pastor is anything I can do pastor is any ministries I can do oh go to the closet and read a bunch of them in there pick one Because there's always work for the Lord. There's always something we can do for God. You know, yeah, we have to fight the good fight of faith, but when the enemy is not attacking, there's work to be done. All right, so just like Elijah, The act of applying the sword leaves them sad and despondent, and they walk away. But God had work for Elijah to do. He had to train and ordain Hazael and Jehu and Elijah. Now that it was done, applying the sword to the prophets of Baal, he could not just walk away. He had to pick up the shovel. And Elijah forgot that. and one word of a woman, he walked away. He got all tremble and told that she was going to kill him. The God of Elijah in the day before is the same God in the day after. Same thing for all of us. Notice that Nehemiah said to the nobles, the rulers and the rest of the people, in verse 19 he said, the work is great and large and we are separated upon the wall. the one from another so and let me put it this way sometimes when the sword is applied the people of God become become fragmented so to speak in isolation and in and mean away from the work but the work is too great and too large we have to stay together you follow that listen the work of the Lord why you think God instituted local churches it's not by mistake it's by design because like oh I can serve the Lord by myself yes you can but it's something about the local church and when God puts people together from the different I mean different cultures different language different colors of skin and he puts them together for one purpose why because the work of the Lord is so great so tremendous so big by itself is overwhelming so he puts us together to do it together So it's not by myself, the local, some people, I say this because some people have a problem with local churches. They say, Oh, you know what? I don't want to, I don't want to be a member of a local church. I don't believe in organized religion. It's not about organizing. We do what the local call us to do. Look at the book of Acts. You can see how it went. And they were added to the church and they were added to the church. It was not a separated Christian. It was added people to the church. So the church began to grow. So the sword has to be followed with the shovel. You can't apply the sword and then just walk away. There is a wall to be built, a breach to be repaired. Pick up the shovel and build what is damaged. There is always something to do in the house of the Lord. Always something to do. Always. Okay, let's go to point number two. Every attempt needs some faith. Look at verse 20, and he placed it for you. He heard, I mean, hear the trump, the sound of the trumpet resort. He did unto us, our God shall fight for us. Sometimes you and I can actually look at victories as defeats. Once the enemy has been defeated and the sin has been purged, rather than seeing God as having advocated a problem, we look at things differently. And we say, why does bad stuff always happens to us? We will never be able to go forward. There's always trouble. We never get out of it. You see, we just had victory, but instead of celebrating victory, we began to think about the worst. Oh, what about this? We forget what God already done for us. See, if we rely on the victories of the Lord, we move forward with a positive attitude, now a negative attitude. you follow that when we if we look at the victory say oh god is so good look what god have done for us look what he did instead of we saying oh we can't do this or we can't do that we're being pessimists that's what happens a lot of times there's always a way the tendency to do this or that that is very dangerous when we do this that is very dangerous when we begin to look at everything from a pessimistic viewpoint let's keep in mind that our god is not a pessimistic god neither should his children be pessimistic let me put it this way yeah you might want to write this down negative thinking brings negative results you follow that negative thinking brings negative results pessimistic people will never never see the good that come from others or or really what God can do they're too pessimistic you know like oh it's going to rain today I can't do that but they don't they don't think this way oh the sun might come out it's going to rain today that's it and they stay in that mindset no listen negative thinking brings negative result, fate requires positive thinking, fate requires positive trust, fate believes hopes moves and fate trust is always in the positive not a negative if you don't have faith enough you won't move and said oh you know you don't move you know why because you're being negative about faith causes us to move even though when even when we don't understand so um pessimism doesn't trust but criticizes sees the worst in everything now nehemiah was not a pessimistic person We can see this from this book that he was not a pessimistic person, he was a man of prayer, he was a man that had great faith in God, he was a man who believed that God could do what he could not do. Once the sword has been applied there is a great need for faith. not just being pessimistic so see this situation proved that that there would always be trouble but that God would always fight for them even says in the verse he says he says our God will shall fight for us that's positive thinking why he said this okay all right don't take me with me for a second all right okay so these people are on the wall they're trying to build something for good right they're trying to build the city walls they try to build something good and the enemy is threatened to attack them physically what they do their weapon in one hand shovel in the other and they're going at it but in the same time they said if they attack he said god will fight for us that's fate That's not being pessimistic. Oh, if these people attack us, what's going to be the walls. Some of the people might die in the battle. What's going to happen when I'm in, I'm not going to be able to finish the wall. That's pessimism. That's been saying all for me, knowing this saying like, regardless, if we fight physically, regardless of the enemy attack or not, you know what, if the attack, God will fight for us. That's faith. That's being positive. Okay. so these incidents however are the reasons to submit uh to submit to the lord so so you cannot who was i i i just lost my my place right okay oh goodness okay so the fact that god enabled them to take a stand and purge the satanic assault proved that god was in their corner god was watching what was going on the world being what it is the devil being what it is and the flesh being what it is there is always uh there will always be things that that seek to and do the work of god but you know what we need to stay committed be positive that god can work things through us and in us you know what we do good if we christians be positive people not negative people be positive about it okay number three point number three every day needs effort every look what it says so we labor in the work as verse 21 and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared likewise and at the same time said I am to the people that everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem that that in the night there may be be a guard to us and labor on the day so Nehemiah pap talk right here did some good in verse 21 says their labor in the work their work from sunup to sundown these men were committed to get the job done regardless of the mockery and the threats of the enemy what a principle for us christians to learn right here if we listen to the naysayers If we listen to the mockers, if we listen to the traps of the enemy, if we listen to the people that hate church, hate God's people, hate what you're doing, you know, the work of the Lord will not move forward. Pastor, why are we going on visitation? Nobody listens anymore. That's negative thinking. Pastor, why are you putting this on Facebook? People don't read anymore. That's negative thinking. positive thinking is you never know you you're reaching you never know what heart and seed will be planted and we just keep doing for the for the work of the Lord okay so the principle right here If we listen to the naysayers, if we listen to the mockers, if we listen to the threats of the enemy, nothing will get done. The work of the Lord will now move forward. But like Nehemiah, we should learn the principle that we will continue to work for the Lord, moving the gospel forward, and in the same time being alert and prepared for battle as we do it. Listen, we should not be naive Christians to the point to think, ah, nothing bad is going to happen to me. We live in an evil world. We need to be prepared, right? Why you lock your doors at night in your home? Why you lock your car doors? I don't know pastor, it's just a habit of mine. No, even if it's a habit of yours right now, it started somewhere, you lock it up because you're afraid somebody will intrude on my command and rob you dry or steal your car. also but they can steal a car either way yeah but but it's the last it's the last last effort if the door is already open then push the door in or try to smash the glass of your car to go in so we see why we lock it because we prepare ourselves because an enemy can show up and rob you dry should we do that in the christian life we should not be naive would be prepared for battle because the enemy is real okay so so the walls of jerusalem was just a shell and so the people did not want to leave those walls on guard smart so they even slap in in jerusalem and as so and as uh i'm sorry and so as soon as daylight appeared they went back to work so these people people that travel to to jerusalem to help them work there instead of going home they stay there they stay there overnight and when the day come they get up again and continue to work they didn't travel and went back they stay there then they know they saw the needs listen i'm not going to throw anybody under the bus and i refuse to do that and sometimes you might come across that way but i it's not my intention but as a pastor it goes like this why in the local church we have 10 of the people do the work of 100 I leave you with this thought. Why 10% do the work of 100%? Based on what I'm talking about here right now. Now, here's the point. When they turn away to fight the battle, they had turned their attention away from building the wall. that the battle was over they had to get back to the wall and because time had been spent in the battle time it was even more now more precious to build a wall so every walking hour had to be spent trying to get the job done every day needed to be full concentrated effort so notice what Jesus said in actually in John chapter 9 verse 4 the night comet when man when no man can work you see why did Jesus say this Jesus John 14 tells us that it was the Sabbath and Jesus knew that that many Jews would not would would think is inappropriate to work on uh uh to do the work of God on the Sabbath day so there are and there are many people today you have used uh procedural issues to talk themselves right out of the work of God that's why is a lot of spectators and a few soldiers is a listen When it comes to the battle, it's like, it goes like this. A lot of times the work of the Lord goes like this. You know, when a team goes in, let's say is, in a soccer team is 12 people, a goalie and 11 people. So imagine you get your team in a field to play and you only have five. And you're playing against 12 from the other side. Where's the other ones? They're in the stands watching. They don't feel like playing. Does it feel like this sometimes, a Christian? You in the battle, getting muddy, getting ripped off, scratches all over you, you're tired of being there, try to defend, try to defend, try to hold it, and the other one's in the stands going, good job, good job. They need to get the battle too, because the battle is the Lord's, right? You see, but ladies and gentlemen, if the night is coming fast and there are only a few hours of day left, should we be working? Shouldn't we be working? Every day needs effort. Every day that God gives us, it is work for the Lord we need to do. Number four, every group needs an example. Look what it says in verse 23. So neither I, nor my brother, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard, I'm sorry of the God which follow me none of us put off our clothes saying that everyone put them off for washing So these guys were so committed. They didn't take their clothes off. They just kept on going unless they needed to wash their clothes Wow, you're talking about commitment imagine if that if the local church people with this kind of thing about just two or three I'm talking about the church as a whole and have the team because right there it was everybody was committed for service right everybody was it was not like people I don't do it no everybody was everybody want the job done we imagine if in the local church if every Christian was like that with that type of commitment we fight and we work we fight and we work and we keep going on because there is a lot to do if we don't fight we go to work if we if the fight comes on we go to fight when we finish we go back to work again You see every group needs an example. Nehemiah the preacher did not take off his work clothes. And because he didn't take off his work clothes except to wash them, then the rest of the people follow him, follow his example. In other words, Nehemiah did not encourage them to work and then did do nothing. Nehemiah followed by example. What a leader! A leader is to follow by example. not like you guys do this do this do this and and you do nothing no you're working too nehemiah was one of those guys and every group needs uh needs an example like that every place needs an example like that people need to see the example of hard-working people same thing in the local church no one is too high and mighty they cannot do the work of the lord listen when it comes to my own humble opinion when it comes to the work of the Lord in local church I don't think we should be looking at status who's more who's rich you as a company who has business you have a job who doesn't have a job who who's who was a homeless who's not homeless and based on that that's how we give work to people that shouldn't be like that everybody should be willing to do the work of the Lord regardless of what's given to them I don't like you know I said I'll share this one time here when we were having a and i say this before here and never forget because they bother me to this day when i think about it imagine we were having a church activity and it was a lot of people there because it was a big church we have all kinds of garbage cans all over the place and they were getting full and it was the orders you have a group of men here and as the garbage fills in fills out Tie the bag and take it to the dumpster outside and put a new bag in there. That was it. That was the job. Don't do all of them. Get some men. So at least one man have one garbage can. So the pastor didn't want one person to be doing all the garbage cans. He wanted everybody to enjoy. So listen, if you see that garbage can, that's your responsibility. Just tie it up, put a new one, and take it in the dumpster. And it was a bunch of them. everybody said yes everybody was fine with it until this particular person and when I got to them he looks at me and the other person next to me you know who I am and I'm looking like yeah I know who you are I even know your name oh you know who I am I just don't do garbage sir I mean your flesh wants to say something you know your flesh really wants to put them in a right place but graciously you know you try to be spiritual you know you die to self right there you shut your mouth zip it up and you go thank you brother that's okay and then you go to another one you know and it's a sad thing because to me this is my humble opinion like I said in the house of the Lord it shouldn't be status we're the servants of the Lord Listen, I don't like an altar with five, six stairs. I don't like that because I want you, everybody to know I'm a servant as much as you are. So I can be here and I can be here. I'm just a servant of the Lord. I don't like when people say this is Tony Barbosa's church. It's not my church. I'm just happened to be the pastor here, but I'm just a servant. I'm serving the Lord. That's what I do. That's what I do. You can sit me down tomorrow. I'll be fine with it. If the Lord says to me tomorrow, you sit down in the pew, I don't want you to preach anymore. You think I'll put the tail between my legs and say, oh, pull me? No, I would not. I will rejoice right there in the chair too. You know why? Because I'm a servant of the Lord. It's not about me, it's about Him. Whatever, Lord, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. I want to be in the center of God's will. And that's what He wants me to do, that's what I'll do. So every group needs an example. so everything we do in the local churches for the glory of the lord should be not for the glory of man if people do things for their own glory to be known of man then they're wrong so it don't matter how much you have or how much you did or how much you do if it's for your own glory means nothing It don't matter what language you speak or what language you don't speak. It don't matter what color of skin you have. It really don't matter. Because in the house of the Lord shouldn't be no status. We're all the same. We're servants of the Lord. so nehemiah shows us here that a leader should be where the leader should be lead by example nehemiah was one of those leaders that led by example he was one of those who just give it was not i'm sorry it was not just one of those you those people who give orders and sat down and let people do the work. He was working himself. So Nehemiah was a person of positive attitude. He was a person with a positive mind. He was a man of action. He was a man, Nehemiah was a man that would get things done. He was a man of faith. He was a man of prayer. Nehemiah was a man who trusted God and believed in God. was a man that believed that everyone should be involved in the work of the Lord. I believe that too. Listen in a work of the Lord I believe there shouldn't be spectators. It should be doers not spectators because seems like today in Christianity we have more spectators than doers. That's a sad thing isn't it? The world is dying, going to hell. People are dying and we have spectators watching people dying. It don't do anything. Why? Oh, I don't want to bother. Oh, I am afraid. I mean, you can hear the excuses go on and on and on. Man, listen, it's easy to excuse and do the thing, but listen, it involves work and sweat and, you know, and effort. Listen, we can move the work of the Lord for the glory of the Lord as much as we want to, but together we can do much greater than alone. If we're not together, then we're not going to move very much forward. Let me put it this way. Looking in a worldly perspective, why do you think that companies run out of business? I was in the business world for a minute. I ran my own business. I mean, you know, okay. Why do you think companies run out of business? Literally close their doors. Why do you think that happened? Competition kills them, right? That's one fact. But why competition kills them? Because they forgot to compete. See, if competition comes along and you compete, you're going to put a good fight but if the people of that organization is now united together it won't last a fight listen so much one christian can do by himself but corporately together they work in that wall, they finish that wall very quick, very fast, you know, because they had an example of a leader and they did not give up or give in, they just kept on going. See, get this, nothing gets people involved in the work of the Lord more than workers. My sermon cannot do nearly as much to enlist people in a task force as my example and your example. You know, it's not just talk is cheap and I can talk cheap all day and all night long right here. But in order for me to preach a sermon like this, I have to say, I have to be an example to you as well. I hope I'm an example to you. I hope I am. Yes, I do work many hours. Yes, I'm not a full-time pastor. I wish I could be. It's a burden of my heart. And I'm not afraid of expressing that. That's just a desire that is in my heart. But not the Lord's will, not the Lord's will. I'm not losing sleep over or complaining about it or cry about it. But is that a desire? Yes, of course, it's a desire. But what I was going to say, but I serve the Lord with all every ounce of energy that I have. Not because to show people that I can do, it's because I love Jesus. I love Jesus with all my heart. And I hope you folks can see that. I'm not a Nehemiah, far from that. I'm just Tony Barbosa, servant of the Lord, that's who I am. Okay? So, let me conclude with this tonight. Are you willing to pick up the shovel Do you have faith that God will want us to build something? Listen, I can have all the dreams and ideas and plans, but if we're not together, we won't build anything. We need to be together, the same mind, same goal, and move forward together. Together, each one of us with a shovel in our hands, we can build a strong wall for the Lord. We can build a strong church for the Lord, but we have to be together. Pick up the shovel and all of us together do the work of the Lord. I'm talking about in prayer, I'm talking about in the financial aspect, I'm talking about in our physical way of doing it. I know some people say, Pastor, but I wish I could do, but I can't do because I'm ill. Yeah, you can do it. You can pick up the shovel. It's a pastime. You're kidding me. No, no, I actually am very honest with you. How can I pick up a shovel if I'm ill, if I'm sick? I can't do that. I'm too old for that. You can pick up the shovel. Go to your closet and pray for your church. You can do that. Pray fervently. for unity of minds, and for the workers, the ones that are doing the physical work. Pray for them. They don't lose courage. They don't fall by the wayside. They stay like the people right here in Nehemiah's day, right on the wall, working. Weapon on one side, when the war was over, shovel on the other. You see? So, Are you willing to spend the hours we have left doing something? Are you willing to be that example that other people can follow? Today is ours. We live it. And love is strong, let's give it. A song can help, let us sing. A peace is dear, let us bring it. The past is gone, don't ruin. Our work is here, let us do it. The world is wrong, let us make it right. If evil comes, let us fight it. The road is rough, let us clear it. The future vast, don't fear it. If fate is asleep, let us awake it. Today is free, let us take it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for this passage tonight. What a good study tonight on work and fight in the same time. Lord, we are the soldiers of the cross. Lord, I know you will fight our battles, but help us to be faithful to you each and every day. Help us to be positive, not to be pessimistic people, but to be positive, Lord, in your work, serving you each and every day. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.