glad that Jesus loves you. If you feel that He don't love you, let me just say, you are either lost, and He does love you and He wants to show you how much He loves you by saving you, or you're in a way, okay? You're saved, but you're in a way, and it just don't feel like it. He does. Okay? Sometimes that love has to be expressed by a little bit of silence. The teacher during the test is silent. Okay? And then you get those times like footprints in the sand. You know, how come there's only one set of footprints? Why'd you abandon me? Well, it's because I'm carrying you. And then you've got that other part there, or the footprints in the sand part too, as I like to think of it. You got one set of footprints and then some drag marks. The drag marks are where he's dragging me along, okay? I don't know if it's caveman style by the hair, but he's having to drag me along. But yes, Jesus does indeed love you, amen. Now, all right, all that's being said and done, let's take those Bibles and run on over here to the book of Nehemiah, chapter number six. I want to deal with this thought here. I hope it'll be a help and an encouragement to you here today. And if it don't encourage you today, well... Save this sermon, download it on your mp3 or whatever, your computer, whatever, and then when you get in a bad way, come back to this message and play it again, okay? I figure that'd be easier than trying to dig through all the stuff there on Facebook to find this video. Eventually we will start reposting there on YouTube as well, but at the same time, the fact of the matter is, I believe this sermon will be a help to you here today. Okay, so Nehemiah chapter 6, we want to read verses 1 through 4. The Bible says, now it came to pass. I'm glad. I'm glad when it comes to pass. So preacher, I don't like the trouble. I don't either. But the fact of the matter is it came to pass, which means it's going to keep on moving past me. It's going to go away eventually, okay? The troubles are not always going to last. It may seem like it. That storm may rage for a year or a decade, but eventually it will cease. Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates, that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono, but they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I'm doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you? Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner." Here in Nehemiah, And we are trying to continue our series here in rebuilding in Nehemiah. We've seen in chapters four and five various ways that the enemy has been on the attack. And then we've got yet again another chapter, another chapter. Oh my soul, we got to do this still. It's continuing. Oh, give me a break. But there's still problems, and you know what? The Christian life is that way. And people have said, you know, Canaanland is a type of heaven. No, Canaanland is not a type of heaven. Let me just gun this rabbit down here real quickly. Canaanland is a type of the saved life. You're going to have battles all the time. I mean, God even declared how He did not get rid of all of the enemies right away for Israel, because they needed to learn to trust and obey Him. Our troubles and trials are there to help us to learn to trust and obey Him. Amen. So, we're going to have yet another round here of problems coming Nehemiah's way. And I've titled the sermon here, Come On! Just Quit Already! Because the fact of the matter is, the longer you last in the battle, the more the enemy's going to be sitting here thinking that. The more the enemy's going to be shouting that at you. Just give up already! Come on, quit already! Haven't you done enough already? Come on, it's time for you to take your ease. Ooh, my soul, that's a good one right there. Thinking about that rich man and that parable Jesus gave. He says, I will tear down my barns, and I will build bigger barns, and I will display everything, and I will say to my soul, soul, that I was much, you know, so on and so forth. All the troubles he'd gone through just to get to the harvest there. And the enemy, instead of throwing him a trap, he threw him a treat. And he gobbled it up, and it turned out the treat was a trap. And the Lord says, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. What happened? He quit. He gave up already. Don't quit. Don't give up. Don't listen to the enemy, our Father in heaven. Before I get going any further, we need to pray. Seek your blessings upon the sermon here. It's already began. unlike anything I had imagined for the sermon. I like it. I like it. We just ask you, Lord, please to help me to do exactly what needs to be done, to say what needs to be said. And yeah, we're asking once again, Father, for your help with getting this live stream straightened out. I really do want to switch over to the camera there instead of the phone. With all the pixelating and saying it's got a slow network and all this stuff, Lord, I don't know what to do. So I'm asking you, Father, please, for your help to get this resolved. But in the meantime, we thank you, Father, for loving us and saving us. We thank you, Father, for the opportunity to gather here today, and we do pray, Lord, for all the people who have been affected by this hurricane that made landfall, the damage that's been done, power's been lost, homes have been destroyed, church buildings been destroyed, property's been destroyed. Lives have been drastically affected, and we're asking you, Father, please, for your help with this. And while it's on my mind, I wanna ask you also, Father, for Miss Bonnie, for healing for her, having the hip that broke as well, and still needing the shoulder surgery, and the elbow is trying to heal up from mid-surgery, and just help her, Father, please. And we pray, Father, for all the churches out there, that they would follow your holy will, for all my brothers who are standing to bring your holy word here today. Help us, Father, please, to do as you'd have for us to do. That's it for now Father, we'll talk to you in a little bit. In the name of Jesus we do pray, Amen and Amen. Alright, so, like we said, we're on the third chapter here. Yet again, more trouble. A lot of the trouble that we end up having come our way is because we're trying to do something for God. Okay, kind of like how I keep having the issues there, getting the live stream done the way that I really would like for it to go. Nothing but problems. Well, you know what? The enemy doesn't like we're trying to do something for God. Okay, always gonna be some issues there. He's gonna put up resistance. Well, Nehemiah has been rebuilding here in Jerusalem. The physical effort has been focused on getting those walls around Jerusalem rebuilt. And not just any old way. They weren't just throwing up stuff there and saying, well, it's an obstacle, so good enough, yay! No, they were rebuilding those walls strong. so that it would get the job done. And the enemy does not like that. The enemy does not like any progress for the Lord whatsoever. And now, the physical enemies that Nehemiah has, Sanbaot, Tobiah, and Geshem, and all the rest of their confederates, they're seeing how the walls are going up, existing holes are being filled in, the gates, the doorways are ready to receive the doors themselves, and things just look like they're going on the up and up, and so they've gotta attack Nehemiah yet again. But they're going to come at him a little differently to this time. And we're pretty much going to deal with the whole chapter here today. But we're going to be as quick about it as we can. So don't panic. Don't worry. We will try to get you out of here within the next 24 hours or so. Amen? All right, but no. Let's look at this next round of attacks that are taking place. First of all, I want you to notice the compromise here in verse number two. It says, That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. So there's more actually to Jerusalem having this wall built up than just the wall being built up. Whether Nehemiah at first realized or not, I don't know. I suspect that he did. Whether the people realized what was going on, they may or may not have. But there was more to it. You see, not only was Jerusalem being rebuilt, but the community was being rebuilt. Their heritage was being rebuilt. We're going to see that here in the coming chapters. Their national pride was being rebuilt. Judah, the southern kingdom, even though it would not become a kingdom again, as a people, it was being rebuilt. And the enemy didn't like this. The enemy liked to destroy Jerusalem because there's nothing there for Israel. Kind of like today, you know, the Arab world says, well, Jerusalem's ours, Jerusalem's ours. No, it's God's, and God gave it to his people, Israel. Y'all can do all the fighting you want about it. Fact of the matter is, it's Israel's. That's why it was such a big deal when President Trump moved our embassy there to Jerusalem and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He's restoring something to Israel. And the enemy doesn't like him. Here in Nehemiah, the enemy did not like it. What they decided to do was that they were going to launch this new compromise plan of theirs against Nehemiah. They were going to try to guilt him. Into coming and working with them. So you're not playing nice with us Nehemiah. Come on, buddy We want to work together. We want to get together You're not gonna let us come into Jerusalem though. So why don't you come on out here to us? It's it's a simple compromise It's not like it's gonna hurt anybody or anything Just come on out here Relax. Tell you what, we're not even going to ask you to come to Samaria, our home base. We'll split the difference. We'll go with Ono. It's not that far away. About 20 miles from Jerusalem to the plains of Ono, and another 20 miles from Ono to Samaria. That's not bad. We can work with that halfway. that it would happen to be dangerous territory right smack there in the middle and there would be highwaymen and bandits and we'll kill you just because we don't like the looks of you or we'll kill you just because we feel like killing you or we'll kill you because you need to be killed. Yeah. And if you happen to have an accident along the way, Nehemiah, you know, it's not on us. We try. We try. The enemy compromises in these ways to make us feel like we'll be secure and going there, but then they drop the ball, and next thing you know, we're the ones being hung out to dry. We don't like that. But there... trying to do here is trying to mess with Nehemiah the best they can. In this compromising of theirs, what it does if Nehemiah goes and compromises and comes out to them, even if nothing happens, he makes that day's trip out there and sees nothing's going on Spends the night so he can turn around and go back the next day, so he's only gone for two days. He's given the enemy and their claims against him credence. Because they now have credence that he was scared enough that he was willing to compromise, they now have clout. They can now go ahead and march right up there to Jerusalem and say, Nehemiah, come on out here boy. You did it two days ago. You did it last week. You did it last month. You came out to us. Come on out here. And you know what? Nehemiah, forget the coming out here. Open up these doors right now, because you know that there's truth in what we say. Let us in. That's the same thing that Eve did there. She compromised with the serpent there in the garden. Serpent, ask a question. you compromise the Word of God. Don't eat. She says we're not allowed to eat or touch. Compromise and it'll open up the door to let the enemy in. We compromise on things too, don't we? Come on, think about it. Think about it. We will compromise in some way, shape, or form. We'll say something we shouldn't say. We know we should not lash out in anger. But just one time, let me set the record straight, just one time, and we do, and all of a sudden, boom, we've compromised everything. Church, there's no need to throw the gauntlet, to go after people who throw the gauntlet down at us. What in the world does that mean? A gauntlet, glove, whatever they're taking, they'll slap you upside the head, I challenge you, or they'll throw it down on the ground, I dare you to do something about it, you know, this, that, and the other. We don't have to respond to everybody. The Bible says, be ye angry and sin not. Soft answer turneth away wrath. But grievous words stirreth up anger. Interesting there. The enemy's gonna do whatever they can to undermine us. And a compromise? That's a pretty good way to get us to get undermined. To undermine ourselves, actually, if you think about it. We compromise, we do something. Well, you know what? I can just go ahead and use this other... I can just go ahead and do this other... I can just go ahead and go with this other... And next thing you know, we've taken not one step, but two steps, and three steps, and six steps, and 10 steps. And until one day we're turning around looking, it's like, where am I? It's all gone. As we compromised, we fell right into the enemy's trap. And we find ourselves right there on the verge where all we have to do is just go ahead and quit already. Because we've compromised so much. But aside from compromising, the enemy will also attack with coercion. Notice with me in verses 5 through 7. Then sent Sanballat, his servant, unto me in like manner the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand, wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashem saith... Just simply another way of saying Gashem. sayeth, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. And thou hast appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Jerusalem, and now shall it be reported to the king, that's Artaxerxes, according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. Number one, this open letter was a complete insult to Nehemiah. Nehemiah is the governor of Judah. You know, Samballot, he was the governor of Samaria. And as such, any correspondence between the two should have been a closed letter. A closed letter would be rolled up there, and the ends would be sealed with this type of gum, not chewing gum, but a gum, a resin, that would be on the sides, and there would be a ribbon there in the middle. tied up a nice little bow, and this would indicate that no one else has read this letter. It would be a closed letter. Nehemiah, he was the cupbearer for the king, Artaxerxes, which means that he was a member of the royal court, so he understood exactly how this process was supposed to go. And he, both ways, as a member of the royal court and as the governor, deserved a closed letter, deserved to be treated properly. Instead, the enemy sends him an open letter, an insult. Because an open letter is sent to lesser or inferior people. Ooh. Nehemiah, you ain't even good enough. It's basically, he writes right here, Nehemiah. It's right there, yeah. Oh, by the way, as an open letter, it means it's not only going to be read in public, instead of private, like it should have been, because it was between one governor to another, but it would be posted in town for anyone who could read to come up and read it for themselves. Wow, a lot of insult going on there. A lot of undermining going on right there. A lot of, hey, Nehemiah, check it out. We're taking and starting a fire, but that same match, we're gonna try to light other little fires at the same time. We're just gonna burn it down. That type of coercion that's taking place right here. This letter is meant for everybody, simply to slander Nehemiah. And how many times people say something about us out in public? Basically, it's an open letter. And they slander us. Yeah. They want us to do something and we're unwilling to do it. Well, now they're going to use coercion. Because now I'm putting it out here in public for all to see. I'm going to air the dirty laundry out here. Whether there's dirty laundry or not, I'm making sure everybody knows about it. It's a terrible, terrible move. Politicians will do it. People will do it. Our pesty enemy will do it against us. In the end, they were counting on Nehemiah being just too afraid of that report actually reaching the king's ears, because if it reached Artaxerxes' ears, Nehemiah might as well be the next feet in the door after that messenger who returned, who brought that letter to Artaxerxes because he was going to be recalled and it was going to be bad. Probably executed for being a traitor. Now, they're making a wild accusation here, don't misunderstand me. The enemy will make accusations against you. People will make accusations against you that will hurt you in front of your neighbors, in front of your family, in front of your co-workers. Because they're trying to get you to do something. What are you going to do about it though? How are you going to stand against it? Now they used a little bit of uh... information here to make it work. Nehemiah, he's from the tribe of Judah. And there was the prophecy that there would be a king from the tribe of Judah. David and his whole line is from the tribe of Judah. Well, hey, let us put two and two together, come up with five and six sixteenths. And Nehemiah, you obviously are trying to make yourself to be a king. Look at that, we've got all the support for our letter that we need. You're trying to do something for God. And the enemy looks at it and says, well, if I look at it this way and I add this here, and it allowed me to twist it and make it this way. Church, we got to stand. Nehemiah resisted these men. He says, it's a lie. And what did he do? He turned around and he asked God to strengthen him. He trusted God to keep that letter from going back there to Artaxerxes. Are we trusting God to take care of the issues? Or are we too busy trying to do things our way and wondering why it's always failing? Because the enemy's trying to coerce us to do things their way. We've got to do better, church. We've got to do better. Verse 10, we see the corrosion taking place. Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delariah, the son of Mehedabiel, who was shut up. Not that he was being quiet, he was, you know, something happened for whatever reason. He's there in his house, he ain't leaving the house. And he said, let us meet together. All right, now right there, that sounds pretty good. He's coming there, and this looks like he was a friend of Nehemiah's. It's all good and good. He says, let us meet together, okay? My buddy here has a plan that'll help me. I like it, I like it. So what does he say? Let us meet together in the house, okay? Whose house, whose house? We can do this. Of God. Whoa! within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple, for they will come to slay thee. Yea, in the night will they come to slay thee." Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm There's always those who lay claim to religion and declare how God said that they were to go and do something that he hadn't done, that he hadn't said. But they'll say it. They'll come up with some grand ideas to get things accomplished. Here, this guy, he's kind of pretending to be a prophet. Turned out he's just a profiteer. Verse 12 talks about this. And I perceive that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced the prophecy against me, for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. So not a prophet, but a profiteer. Hmm. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11 26 When he was talking about these different things he's had to go through in this life He says in journey ins often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of mine own Countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea Watch this last one in perils among false brethren Say they're Christians, but they ain't. They're Christians, but they're so far away from God. They're so corrupted, corroded at this point. This guy here, who was so filled with corrosion, wasn't doing any good. We have to be aware of those quote-unquote Christians They'll always have some advice, and always think that you need to take that advice regardless. And yet, what they've got is not biblically accurate. It's not what God would have. But they've got it! Oh, they've got it in spades! But that ain't right. Be mindful. Be watchful for that church. His plan here was simple. Simple. Just tell Nehemiah, hey, there's going to be a ninja come over the wall. I know this is before they knew about ninjas, but it's going to be this guy who's going to come over the wall. He's going to climb down, and he's going to find your bed, and he's going to slit your throat in the middle of the night. The only way to protect you is you've got to go and hide in the temple. So if he can get into Nehemiah's house, what keeps him from getting inside of the temple, number one? Hello. Number two, there's the whole thing here, that according to Numbers 1, verse 51, and chapter 18, verse 7, it's a capital offense for anybody who was not of the priesthood to enter into the temple. And then even the priest can only go so far. And you get to the holiest of holies, and then only the high priest is allowed to go in there. And he's only allowed to go one time a year into the holiest of holies. Anybody else who entered? Forfeited their lives Now I realize there's the courtyard and a couple of courtyards and all this good stuff there where you could go so far into the temple grounds But he didn't say let us go into the temple grounds. He said let us go into the temple Let's go or we don't belong An enemy wants you to go where you don't belong. I Well, it's okay, you know what, I'm not gonna be drinking in that bar. I'm just gonna go and sit with a friend, make sure that they don't overdo it. You don't belong there. I'm just gonna go down to this beer aisle, and I'm a recovering alcoholic, I've gotta test myself, get myself, you don't belong there! I'm addicted to sex. Let me just... I had this idea. I'm wondering if that's something that's ever been done before. No, no, you don't belong there! Stay away! It's corrosion! It's corruption! What is this? No! Do you belong there? Or do you just want to go there? Stay away from it. Don't corrupt yourself. Don't become one of those quote-unquote Christians. Be a real Christian! Christian means Christ-like. Christ ain't checking out the porn. Christ ain't going over there drinking. Christ ain't going into these places that are going to destroy everything about His testimony. Nehemiah says, you know what, I'm not going to go and hide in that temple. I don't belong there. Neither do you. And you're just trying to set me up. I don't want your corrosion. Verse 14, we see some cat calling going on. Let's look down there, it says, My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear. Sanballat, Tobiah. Nehemiah, come out and play. Hey, Nehemiah. This, that, and the other, Nehemiah. Here's the prophetess, Joah, Noah, Diah. I'm telling you, boy, you need to work with them. You need to stoop down to their level. This is of God. You can win them to the Lord. You know what? There are some things you just need to run away from. I read over there in the book of Genesis when Potiphar's wife, she kept coming on to Joseph, kept coming on to Joseph, and finally one day, no one else is in the house, she catches him by the coat. Hey, it's time for us to get busy. And he says, you know what? I am not gonna walk the Romans road with you. I am not gonna sit down and explain how to get saved with you. I am cutting bait right now. He leaves that coat and he gets him out of there. I don't need your corrosion. I need God. When was the last time we decided we need God instead of the corruption of this world, Church? When was the last time that we ignored the catcalls of this world and says, I want God? Sandbound and Tobiah were doing that to us. No, yeah, no a diet was doing it to him other prophets were coming in the town. Yeah, they'll say it the Lord Nehemiah you're you you you need to do this that or the other Nehemiah God says the wall is good enough as is Nehemiah God says you've done the job going back to there to Shushan and He heard what they had to say and then dismissed it. It's just a bunch of catcalling. The word catcalling means to heckle, to express disapproval, to make a raucous shout to express disapproval. Hey, Nehemiah, you loser! Nehemiah, you can't get the job done. They'd already tried that before. Remember there in chapter number four, if a fox were to go upon the wall there, it would knock it down. Foxes are so nimble and light on their feet. And we're not told exactly what they've said. We're just told that different people were saying it, though. And just because someone who is religious comes along and says something, it does not mean that they are speaking on behalf of God. The Bible does say, try the spirits. They're in 1 John chapter 4. Let's see whether they be of God or not. Religious people can be very corrupt as well. That's what gives true Christians a bad name. Because of everything they've done. You remember there was that one church a few years back, I hope they're still not doing it, they were protesting military funerals because it's God's judgment upon our nation for the Sodom and Gomorrah attitude. No, it's war and you're making the rest of Christianity look bad with your cat-calling on this. It's not good. Verse 17 to 19, we see the contamination taking place. It says, Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah The Nobles of Judah, okay, now these should be the guys here who are working with Nehemiah, who's also a Jew of Judah, okay, sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. Okay, that ain't looking very kosher, I'm just gonna say that. Verse 18, for there were many in Judah sworn unto him, that's unto Tobiah, because he was the son-in-law of Shekiniah, the son of Arah, and his son, Johan, had taken the daughter of Mishulam, the son of Berechiah. Also, they reported his, not his bad deeds, not his wickedness, not even just his deeds, but his good deeds before me. and uttered my words to him. And Tobias sent letters to put me in fear. The very people who should be standing there with Nehemiah. They're hanging him out to dry. The very people who should have his back. Nuh-uh. No. They're causing problems, but they're not just causing problems, they are actively working against Him. Now he lists them, he says, you know, the nobles of Judah. And while he does give a couple of names for people who've married outside of the Hebrew people and married into these Sumerians and Arabs and whatever else they were parts of, he doesn't sit there and say, and Jason and Tom and Harry and Billy and all these guys here specifically. He just says the nobles of Judah. Because he didn't want to sink down to their level, for one thing. The worst part is, one of the guys that is named here, Meshulam, he'd help rebuild the wall. Chapter 3 verse number 4 talks about him helping to build, and yet he stumbled here with this marriage, and allowing his daughter to be taken. and married off to Johan. In other words, even those who are so spiritually strong can find themselves slipping without even realizing it. Sometimes we can cause hurt to those around us without intending to do so. We've got to rise above it. These people, they'd sworn an allegiance to Tobiah. They're business partners with him. They'd lost out on all the interest money that they were making back there in chapter number five. But Tobiah, he's still got some great deals for them, and they're working with him. And all they've got to do is move Nehemiah out of the way. They were convinced that Nehemiah did not deserve the respect of his office, of his position. Woe unto us if we start treating those that God has put in leadership over us the same way. Woe unto them, the leaders, if they've allowed themselves to be the same way. given into that kind of contamination or other types of contamination. But Nehemiah, he understood all this was going on. I think Nehemiah also understood Proverbs 26 verse 20 which says, The only reason there's smoke is because these guys are trying to generate wood against it. They can't keep their mouths shut about things that they don't need to be doing. I've certainly been there. Oh boy, have I been there. What can you do? You can't stop wagging tongues. You pray for them. And you keep your eyes upon God. These people wanted Tobiah allowed into the city. And Nehemiah said, no, that's not a good thing at all. We are not going to do that. They kept coming back to Nehemiah. Look at all these great things that Tobiah is doing. Come on, can't you cut him a break? And Nehemiah says, no, it don't matter how nice the enemy tries to be. I know the enemy is going to set a trap for all of us, not just me. Back to that serpent there in the garden. Everything looked so nice that he presented, but it was still a trap. But the one thing though I see through all of this, while the enemy's wanting Nehemiah to just go ahead and quit, he kept a clear head. Notice back in verse 15. So the wall was finished in the 25th day of the month, Elu, in 52 days. 52 days they rebuilt the wall there in Jerusalem. You don't get a project done as quickly as you do by getting distracted. You keep yourself focused on the task at hand. Nehemiah was focused on serving his God, and what his God had laid upon his heart, the burden of his heart, was the task of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. And they did it! In spite of all this stuff that was going on, in spite of everything that the enemy brought to bear upon Nehemiah, from the outside, from the inside, on the outside again, every word that they could throw out there, every thought they could make, every accusation they could make, every laugh and joke they could make at his expense, he stood tall for the Lord, kept his mind clear, and said, I will serve God. It gets hard, I know it, church. It ain't fun, I know it! Church, been there, done it! Got the t-shirt that still does not fit! But it can be done. Isaiah chapter number 26 verses 3 and 4 says that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee Because he trusteth in thee trust ye in the Lord forever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength I know it's hard keep pushing on I Know it doesn't look like those prayers are being answered keep pushing push pray until something happens Keep that clear head Yeah, your world is falling apart all around you. Point of fact right there. Things aren't going your way. That ain't something you need to happen. Oh, you just got embarrassed. Oh, you got more work you gotta do now. Keep focused on God. Church, I got just a couple of questions here for you in closing. Number one, is the enemy using any of these things on you? Didn't any of them sound familiar, huh? I know a bunch of them did to me. Question number two, are we doing any of these things to someone else? Ouch. Think about it, church. My statement is simply this, don't quit. Let's refocus on building that wall that God wants you to build. Our gracious Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us. And we do pray, Father, for your blessings upon us. I believe this is a sermon you'd have me to bring your people here today. We're asking you, Father, please, to use it to be a help and encouragement to each and every one. People will get the help from you that they need. You can't do it without you. But we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us. So help us, Father, please, to follow Your holy will. In the name of Jesus we do pray, amen, amen. If I can get the page turned, let's sing a verse of near the cross here in closing. Jesus, keep me near the cross.