Building God's Wall Part 2 September 27 th, 2015 Pastor Jon Cobler

Transcription

1 The City of Seattle endeavored to undertake an incredible project that began about two years ago. And they employed a drill a drill affectionately known as Bertha to drill a hole under the city 60 feet deep. The drill is 60 feet wide. It's going to go 9,000 feet. And the result of the tunnel that this drill would make would make all of Seattle safer and more beautiful. It would bring prosperity and peace to this community. Even the best of plans. When we pick up the story in Nehemiah, there are some similarities to the story. There is this idea of a wall that we're going to that's a wall. And in times past, a wall around a city represented some of the same things that this tunnel has promised to represent, or that it represents to our cities. If they could have a secure and stable wall, then they would have a place for economic prosperity and stability. When they gathered crops, the surrounding tribes couldn't come in and steal them away, so that wall represented that economic stability. They would have a place to have an army, so it represented military security. They would have all of these things that all of us really want in our lives. And we pick up the story in Nehemiah when the wall is in disrepair, and because the wall is in disrepair, the nation's identity is in shambles. And what we're going to see today is that all of us can get to those kinds of places in our own lives where God begins to do something good, but because of external forces, because of enemy invaders, we end up with the rubble of something that God meant to be great. And where do you go from there? If you have your Bibles I want you to open them to Nehemiah chapter 4, and we're going to read the first 14 verse. You'll see verse number 1 and verse number 14 will be on the screen, but follow along in your Bibles in between. Beginning in verse 1 of chapter 4, the Bible says this. Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. Sanballat was a tribal leader from nearby Palestine, and when he heard that the nation that had once been the most powerful and dominant in the region was coming back to try and reestablish its influence, he was intimidated it would throw off his way of life in that area. And so he sought to stop it. Verse number 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? 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! Mwa-ha-ha-ha. That's not in the text, but I picture it in my mind. "Hear, O our God, for we are" now Nehemiah begins to pray, verse 4 "Hear, O our God, 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. 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." So we built the wall. Everybody say built the wall. Response: Built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 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 Page 1 of 11

2 breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. Everybody say cause confusion. Response: Cause confusion. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. 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. And our enemies said, They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work. Verse 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. In other words, "Give up." 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. 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" everybody say fight. Response: Fight. "For your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. See, the enemy had a plan to disrupt and put an end to the good work that God had begun. But Nehemiah gives us a picture of a godly, faith-filled, Spirit-led leader, who said in the face of incredible opposition, "No matter how great those who oppose God are, our God is greater, and we will not stop until the work is complete, in Jesus' name." Amen? Response: Amen. Father, I pray that as we have read Your Word, may we now hear Your heart, and may we take hold of Your purpose and Your mission for our lives, through Jesus Christ. And may it transform us to be like Him, and may we stand on the side of Nehemiah and those who have gone before, to say, "No matter how big the adversity may seem, remember the Lord, for He is great and awesome." We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen? Response: Amen. Amen. There are three things that I want you to see that act as a typical pattern of disruption whenever the enemy wants to stop the good thing that God is doing. I want to go through these quickly, because we'll spend the majority of our time looking at how God equips people for victory. But how many of you know that understanding the tactics of the enemy is an important way to understand the battle that we are in today, and when and how to fight in a way that leads to victory? And the three things that always happen listen, they always happen when God begins to do something good in our lives. You can write these down. The first is questioning. One of the most powerful tactics of the enemy is that when God begins to do something good, the enemy will always cause you to question, or attempt to cause you to question, if God really meant what He really said. And he'll put it in terms of your inability. In Nehemiah 4:2, we see that Sanballat made this statement: What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that? Basically, what the enemy will attempt to do is say, "Maybe you think this is what God said to be true, but just look in the mirror and understand that no matter what you thought God said, it ain't really true." The second Page 2 of 11

3 thing that we see is the enemy seeks to cause confusion. When the enemy can't stop the work of God, he will seek to confuse the work of God. Verse 8 tells us that they plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. Listen, if the enemy can't convince you to stop the work, he'll attempt to confuse you so you spend all of your energy just trying to figure out where you're actually supposed to be, and rather than stopping, you'll be wasting your energy. And lastly, what can happen is that doubt begins to arise internally. First the enemy says, "No, did God really mean that?" And then confusion sets in. "Are you really doing what you're supposed to be doing?" And then as weariness settles, you begin to doubt yourself, you begin to doubt God, and you begin to wonder is it really even worth the effort? And anybody who has sought to restore their marriage knows exactly what I'm talking about. And anybody who's sought to recover from a traumatic incident that seemed to short-circuit the plan and the future and the hope that you thought was present for your life. And anybody who's had a child that we thought everything was good with, and then you get the doctor's report, and you begin to question and wonder is anything that God said true? That's always the enemy tactic, and it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. And because you are men and women who, if you would so choose to respond to God, would be invited to be a part of God doing something significant in your generation, that God wants to do something of building strength in your own life, and He wants to do something building strength through your life for the world around you to be able to see the goodness of Jesus Christ, and the power of the gospel. Just like Nehemiah encountered adversaries that sought to halt the progress, the enemy will seek to halt the progress in your life. And thankfully, we'll see through this story, and through the lens of what God has said to us in the rest of the Bible, that no matter how great that enemy may appear to be in the short term, in the immediate, that God says, "I will equip you and empower you for victory." And God will never, ever call you to something or invite you into something that He does not already have a plan and a purpose and a way to fulfill in and through your life, in Jesus' name. The first thing that we see you can write this down is that the way that God empowers and equips us for victory first is through prayer. Prayer is the foundation for victory. Just in case you didn't hear me over here, prayer is the foundation for victory. Response: Amen. One of the things that we see all throughout Nehemiah's story is that whenever opportunity or challenge hits Nehemiah, his first response is to pray. Do you notice that? Go ahead, go back and read it this week, and you'll find over and over again, whether it's opportunity, whether it's something that makes him sad, or something that makes him afraid, Nehemiah's first response is always to pray. In verse 4, after the taunts of Sanballat, Nehemiah says 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. One of the things that I think we see God doing around the nation and around the world is recapturing His church's heart and passion for prayer. And I don't know if it's because of the way that we see so much and many troubling things happening in the world that in some cases, I think that in people's minds maybe Page 3 of 11

4 in your minds that when we see the atrocities happening in the Middle East, and some of the challenges that we face right here in our own neighborhoods and countries, we look and we say, "Well, what else can we do but pray?" And we direct our attention. And however God would get our attention to refocus our lives and our time to make it a priority to pray, I would say that what God wants to lead us into is not to say, "What else can we do but pray?" as a last resort, that God would teach us to pray as a first resort. Because a life of prayer is not just a life of somebody saying, "Well, I have to just kind of repeat or recite something that somebody else invented 100 years ago." But a life of prayer is a life that learns to trust the presence and the promise of God. And as we begin to trust the presence and the promise of God, and realize that God does not only want to speak to you from afar, but He wants to speak to you up close. And when we begin to realize that God is more interested in the events and the activities of not just your trials and your tribulations, but your good days as well, and we begin to allow prayer to be something that becomes a part of who we are, not just a last resort, I believe that our responses, our faith, our attitude, our direction see, this is what I believe. That you, if you give God space, He will speak to you. And while you need to come to church, and you need to study your Bible, and you need to be in life group with people challenging you and encouraging you, there is no greater Comforter, there is no greater Teacher, there is no greater Friend than Jesus when He shows up face to face, and says, "I'm going to teach you how to live." And when you make space, that's exactly what He will do. Listen to what the apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:6. He says in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Go back one slide do not be anxious about anything, but in what? Response: Everything. Somebody tell me what everything means. I mean I'm thinking everything must mean why don't we do that? I don't know the answer. I know a lot of the reasons. We're too busy. We've prayed prayers that haven't been answered, and we've lost hope. But I'll tell you what, church, it doesn't really matter to me where you start, but if you would just start, I think God would do incredible things. In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. I want to show you the story of somebody who exemplifies for us what God can do when we turn our life to Him. Whether or not you have degrees, or have lots of years of experience under your belt, Diana's story is a story of somebody who oriented their life to hear from God and do what He said, and the result is a profound testimony that will encourage your heart. Enjoy this. [Video playing] Diana: I was 18 when I got married, and was divorced when I was 20. And it's really kind of a sad part in my life, because I he was into drugs and alcohol, and I never was until then. He ended up choosing that life over me and wanted to divorce, and it broke my heart. So much so that I really was in grief. I really grieved for probably six months. I was allowing my emotions to rule and reign, you know? Even though I was grieving it consumed my life. I said to myself one time, "There has to be more to life than this," you know, 'cause it seemed like everywhere you go, that's what people's focus was, and their Page 4 of 11

5 drive, was living for the weekend. Living to 'cause I wasn't hanging around at churches or anybody to even know any better. I came here with 13 cents and three suitcases. I had no desire to go to college. None of my family had, so it wasn't a big deal to do that, and so I ended up reading one of the programs or something, and someone said, "Oh, you should go." And that's where I met my husband. It was in the line for registration. And we have Olivia we had Olivia after we were married a couple years, and it was then that I realized that I wanted her to know God. She was three, and I thought, "Well, you know, I need to go church shopping." Caption: Diana and her family came to Living Water in Diana: So for like the first two years, I mean I cried at almost every service. By just being the sermons, I mean the services, and hearing the Word, the truth; it was doing things inside of me, and there was healing going on. I think when I really, when my eye was opened was when I started doing Discipleship. It was like this revelation about it. Caption: Empower the Gospel empowers you with a new way of thinking. Diana: Because they were talking that yes, He has given us a new spirit and a new heart, and we are a new creation, but our soul needs to be transformed, and our body needs to be trained. "Oh, well I need to renew my mind. I need to train my body because I have this new spirit, and to walk in that." And I had read His Word several times. I read His Word, I prayed to Him, I know all about our God. I could probably preach about our God. But did I really know Him, or did I just know stuff about Him? And I began a journey then, and it's been the last few years. It was them that I went to 'cause all this time I was participating in Bible studies. Caption: Equip God has all the tools you need to be equipped for your faith journey. Diana: And one of them in particular, it was on Battlefield of the Mind. It was a very powerful time for me, 'cause it really helped me to get control of the negativity. It really is more just being aware of it and seeing it that you can do something, 'cause there is no change without acknowledgement. Really, it's Him. It's an overflow. It's when you feel an overflow. It makes me able to really see people differently, you know? When I serve at the prison, it's loving those women and caring about them. Caption: Release God has a mission and wants you to be released into His great adventure. Diana: Or praying for somebody, or you know, coaching somebody at the table. My desire now is to say, "Oh my gosh, let me help you. Look what I learned. Look what I've done. Look how God has helped me. Let's go help someone else." I'm a part of this community, and it's because I chose to make a decision to become part of that community that I've been able to grow. [Video ends, applause] Pastor Jon: That's what God does. He takes a life that's broken down in rubbles and then when they turn their life to Jesus, He empowers and equips us. Not only to become strong, but also He uses us to bring strength to others. Isn't that good? It's so good. Diana and Gary, love you two so much. Thank you. [Applause] Yeah. The second thing that we see is that discernment guards against confusion. If you're taking notes, write that down. Page 5 of 11

6 Discernment guards against confusion. One of the tactics of the enemy was to confuse what Nehemiah was doing. And they plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and cause confusion in it. And look at the response. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. Now, why is this so important? See, because what the enemy was attempting to do when they realized that they had lost the element of surprise was that what they would do in order to slow down the progress was even if they didn't have a strong enough army to defeat them, if they could just convince the builders that the enemy was coming from this direction, everybody would stop their work and prepare to fight. And then the enemy could go back over the hill, and then they'd wait until the next day, and everybody would go back to work, and they'd go to the other side. And then they'd just come up over the hill, and everybody would stop their work and get together. And that confusion, trying to understand is this a legitimate threat, would prevent them from progress. And so often that's where we end up. We just are trying to figure out, okay, if God said this, in light of these circumstances, what am I supposed to do? And what Nehemiah did was to set a guard, and everybody knows that a guard is not enough firepower to stop the adversary. The job of the guard is to discern if there is a legitimate threat, or just a smokescreen coming their way. And that's what discernment does in the life of a Christian. Discernment helps us to understand what are legitimate threats, and what are just distractions that we need to ignore. Now, there's an example of this that I think you might relate to. When I was in Southern California going to Bible college, we lived outside of Los Angeles in East L.A. And one of the joys of living down there was that I got to surf. I got to surf a lot. And so I would go surfing, and we would typically go out with a group. One of the young men that I would surf with, his name was Manny. And Manny had this I don't know thing. Manny, if you're watching today, I love you; I do. Thanks for providing an illustration for me today. And when you're surfing, you paddle out and you get past all the waves, and you find the spot called the line-up, which is where you can catch a wave and not get tossed over by a wave. And so we would paddle out and we would sit there. And Manny, without fail without fail within ten minutes of everybody getting out and kind of parking in the line-up, Manny would do one of these: "Ohh. Something bumped my leg, guys. It was huge. I think it was a shark." And for some reason, the sharks only were interested in bumping Manny's leg. The comfort that that brought is, you know, if there was a shark, we didn't have to outrun it. We just had to outrun Manny, since but the temptation was to always kind of be afraid, because of Manny's diagnosis of the situation. Manny was not a good guard. And I've watched too many people, and because there's not a grounding in the Word of God, and because there's not a stable community of Christ-followers around them, they say, "Oh, well God has told me to do this." And they launch into it wholeheartedly, with excitement and abandon. And then two weeks later, you say, "Well, how's that going?" They say, "Oh well, you know," and they'll give you the reason. "Well, this happened," or "This happened." And when you walk with Jesus long enough, you know that when God calls you to something, it doesn't mean that it's going to be easy. And when God says, "I'm going to do a new thing in your relationship, in your Page 6 of 11

7 marriage, in your family, with your own sense of identity," listen, make no mistake that when God begins to do something good in your life, the enemy will attempt to confuse it. And that's why the Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 says this. Discipline yourselves and keep alert, because like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. And therefore we need to learn to be disciplined and alert, and we'll talk about how to do that. But listen to me please. Discipline requires discipline. Now, can I talk to you for just a minute, just as your pastor? Is that okay? If not, now's a good time to leave. Because I'm not going to throw any stones, and I'm not going to take any cheap shots, but you need to hear me. Discipleship is what one writer calls "obedience in the same direction over a long period of time." And what happens today when the extent of your discipleship are simply the programs and experiences that feel good and conveniently fit your schedule, and we wonder why there is no obedience in the same direction for any amount of time. Now, no cheap shots. I love you. I'm for you. But I believe that we are living in a world where there are more opportunities and challenge than possibly ever before. And there are traps and snares that if your heart and your mind are not discerning for what is truth and what is error we're watching generation and generation of young men and young women dive into things that are so self-destructive because they lack discernment and understanding of what the cost of such things will be. But they learned it from their parents. Now, that does not mean that if you have kids that have made bad decisions that it's your fault. That is not what I'm saying. But I'm saying generationally, there's something that we need to take responsibility for, and recognize that if you want to be a part of building something strong that will live beyond you if you want to be a part of building that wall in a community where people can see the life and the hope of Jesus, and find healing and restoration, listen to me, please. It will not happen in 60 minutes on a Sunday once a week. Although I'm really fond of that. But nobody else will take responsibility for your spiritual formation but you. And I think Living Water is a great church, and I think there are great things that are happening. But one of the things that we will do is we will provide opportunities. And if those opportunities are not taken advantage of, then they don't make a difference in your life. And so many times, it's our spiritual formation that is the lowest priority on the list. It's, "Well, let me check the schedule, and as long as nothing else is going on, then I will." What if we were to say, "My spiritual formation, learning to be disciplined and be alert," moved to the top of our list? And that doesn't mean that you have to fill your schedule with Bible studies, but it does mean that there needs to be a concerted effort to say, "How do I take responsibility to be a disciple? To walk with Jesus, to learn and understand the Word of God, and then to even allow my life to be a blessing to others?" That's what I'm talking about. Okay, so are we good? Response: Yes. No cheap shots? Response: Nope. Page 7 of 11

8 It's because I love you, and because I believe God wants you to be a part of something so much greater, and I want you to see the value of making the investment. Amen? Response: Amen. Here's the third thing that we see, is the Word and the Spirit. Number two, discernment guards against confusion. Number three, the Word and the Spirit equip the believer for victory. The Word and the Spirit equip the believer for victory. Notice in Nehemiah 4:13. In the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords everybody say swords. Response: Swords. Their spears, and their bows. What Nehemiah did, because he understood that there was an active threat, is that he not only put shovels into the hands of the builders, he put swords into the hands of the builders. Now, while you and I aren't maybe some of us but most of us aren't going to go out to build a wall, literally. But there's something about that sword and that shovel that we need to take note of, because it's representative of something critically important for you and I to possess, so that we don't get thrown off when the enemy comes prowling outside your house. In Ephesians 6:10-11, this is what the Bible says. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might everybody say His might. Response: His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Here's the point. The Bible tells us that we are to stand and be strong in the strength of His might. Whose might? Response: His might. Whose might? Response: His might. Whose might is stronger, my might or God's might? Response: God's. I'm thinking God's. And what's incredible is that the Bible invites us see, so often we get so intimidated by our circumstances, because we're standing in our might, not His might. I talked to a young man yesterday. God said, "Go to a particular place and be a part of a particular thing." He went to a particular place, and he's a part of a particular thing, and yesterday he called me and he said, "I was on my way to the particular thing, and four kids came out of nowhere, and they stole my computer, and they punched me in the face, and they fired at me with a gun." He said, "What should I do?" I said, "Well" knowing the answer "what does your mom want you to do?" He said, "You know, strangely, my mom's not worried." And I said, "Now, tell me what God is saying to you." And he said, "Well, what do you mean?" I said, "Here's the deal. Everything about this situation wants to make you feel powerless, weak, and run home scared. And I'm not just talking about the four bullies that Page 8 of 11

9 picked on you; I'm talking about the forces of hell that want to stop you from following through with what you believe God told you to do. Now you need to tell me, what's God saying to you?" And what this young man needed to settle now listen, there's more to this story, and I'm not just sending him back into the firing zone do you understand me? But what he needed to remember is that any time you or I set out to walk in obedience to what God has said to do, there will be obstacles, and there will be adversaries. But when you stand in the power of His might, that literally means that God is operating on your behalf. And if God is for you, who can be against you? And we need to stop just saying, "Well, that's theoretical," and say, "No. The actual God, who actually created the universe, is on my side, so I will not weigh my success on whether or not my circumstances are favorable. I will weigh my success on do I have a word, and am I walking in obedience to what God has said? Because if God is for me, then who could be against me?" You may know this, that yesterday marked the third year of the imprisonment of a man named Saeed Abedini. And this man was a he was born in Iran in 1980, and in his teen years he was raised as a Shi'a Muslim. And in his teens he was radicalized and recruited to become a suicide bomber. Before he had the opportunity to carry out that task, when he turned 20 years old, he had an encounter with Jesus, and gave his life to Christ. From that moment forward, his life forever changed, and he began to tell others about what God had done in him. And from that, a whole network of underground house churches sprouted to this day; probably more than 100, with several thousand people involved. Subsequent to that, he left Iran, and married his wife today, who has dual citizenship between Iran and America. He went back to Iran several years ago to help with the government-run orphanages, because of his heart for the children there. And while he was there, he was arrested by the government for crimes against the state, for defecting from, being apostate from, the Islam faith. He is currently three years into an eight-year sentence, although the Iranian government has said many times that that release date should not be anticipated. And along the way, they have beat him and tortured him to attempt to get confessions for that which he has not even been part of. Yesterday marked the third anniversary of that, and this is what we heard from his wife. Last week, he was again moved into another prison cell and questioned, and tased repeatedly. But the problem that the government there is having with this prisoner is that whatever cell they put him in, the prisoners around him begin to come to Christ. And the Iranian government knows and has said publicly that the greatest threat to Iran is the Christian faith. And so because this man, wherever cell they put him in, he begins to lead people to Christ, recently they decided to move him to the most treacherous prison in all of Iran, where the worst of the worst go. And they told him, "Go ahead and share your faith, because they'll kill you." And Saeed chose he kept his mouth shut for the first couple days. And what began to happen around him is those treacherous criminals began to have dreams and visions and come to Christ. [Applause] Now, here's the point. Here's the point. This man started you are empowered and equipped with the gospel through the Word and the Spirit. Listen to me. This man has nothing else but the Word and the Spirit. And what the government there is coming to understand is that this man, who at once thought that the Page 9 of 11

10 greatest impact he could have for his faith was to set himself on fire, to blow himself up, in some public square, has come to realize that there is a force greater than an explosive vest. And it's the power of the gospel unto salvation, and it cannot be stopped no matter what prison cell you put him in. That's the power of the gospel, and it is not reserved only to foreign spaces. It is for your workplace, and your neighborhood, and your community, and your family. And there is nothing impossible when you have the Word and the Spirit on your side. You are victorious in Jesus' name. [Applause, swings sword] Take that. And here's the last thing I want to leave you with this. The last thing is we see that the victory belongs to us look at your neighbor and say us. Response: Us. Not me. Not me. Nehemiah 4:18 says Each of the builders had a sword strapped to his side while they built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, "The word is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. Verse 20. "In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us." Here's the point I'll leave you with today. As we seek to not only be built by Jesus, with prayer as our foundation, discernment as our God, the Word and the Spirit as our strength, we must not forget that this is not about me, it's about us. And when Nehemiah recognized the reality that they were spread out all over, he said, "Listen to me. Our strength is not in our individuality; it is in our unity. So if and when the enemy attacks and you hear the sound of the trumpet, you come together. Because although we may be divided in this, when the enemy attacks, we stand united, and he will not overcome." And what we must remember, what we must remember, is that God is not done working in me until He's done working in us. And although we live in the most individualistic culture in the world today, more focused on individual rights and privacy than anyplace else, the Bible speaks to something that is counter-cultural to say that it's not just about you; it's about us. And just like no matter how many places on that wall were made strong, it only would take one to give the enemy access to everybody's back yard. You and I need to just allow God to remind us of those people in our lives that are on the fray, that are meant to be in the center of what God is doing. But He uses you and me. Listen, most of you will never be able to remember the top five sermons that changed your life. Doggone it. But you know what you'll remember? You'll remember the top five people that changed your life. And the next time you put your head on the pillow, the next time you come to church, the next time you go to life group, don't forget that God's not only put them there for you, but He's put you there for them. And if you walk out these doors, and God begins to bring to your remembrance people, neighbors that are just wandering away, that are just drifted off, man, let God capture your heart, and say, "No. I will not let us be divided, because as long as God is working in me, He's working through me. And those people matter to God, so they matter to me." Amen? Amen. Ben? I want to leave you with this today. You can close your Bibles and put your notebooks away. In 2 Corinthians 2:14 I want to read from the Scripture. And I don't know what it is that would bring you here today. Could be a lot of reasons. And I Page 10 of 11

11 see it every week when we fill up this room over and over again, that some of us come in just walking on a cloud; just living on the mountaintop. And others come in just barely with the strength and the stamina to make it to a seat. But see, God wanted to make the wall around Jerusalem strong, so that His people could be the blessing to the world that He'd made them to be. Jesus said this. He said, "I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail." And the church that Jesus is building is not just about a building. It's about a community. It's a community that's both an army and a hospital. It's a place for soldiers, and it's a place for the wounded. It's a place for commanders, and a place for widows. It's a place for fathers, and a place for orphans. It's a place for families, and a place for strangers. That's what the church is. Because the church is greater than anything that divides us. The church has one hero, and His name is Jesus, and His love was big enough for all of us. But He's building His church through broken vessels just like you and me. And somehow, when we come together with Jesus in the center, committed to build that wall, to build our lives on the truth, to walk in discernment, to be disciplined and on alert. To hold onto the Word and the Spirit. To believe that we are led from victory today. To embrace the counter-cultural realities of the gospel. To learn to be disciples, that somehow, God takes the willingness of those people and says, "I will do something. If you thought the ark was profound, if you thought the wall around Jerusalem was strong, if you think a rainbow is beautiful, let Me show you the church, 'cause it puts all of those to shame." That's what we're invited to be a part of. And in every generation, there's a role to play. In every generation, there's a part to build. In every generation, there's something that God wants to do through you that will outlive you, and that He wants to do in you that will come out of you. And I don't know I don't know if you're on that mountaintop today. The problem with the mountaintop is you can get really comfortable there. The problem with the mountain top is you can enjoy the view, and enjoy the climate, and just decide, "I'm going to hang out on the mountaintop," and just, "I'm glad I'm not down there in the valley." See, God says, "When you're on the mountaintop, rest and be renewed. And then get down to the valley and bring somebody with you." When you're down in the valley, it can feel like, "I'm all alone, and there's no hope. I didn't think this was what it was all about. I don't see hope for my situation. I don't see a future for me." But when we find ourselves in the valley, God says, "Listen, valleys were never a place" listen to me, please. "Valleys were never a place you were meant to buy real estate." So stop acting like this is your final address. It's not. It's a way point. So just get up and take the next stop, and trust His promise, because you will not spend your final days there, in Jesus' name. You're going through it. But no matter where we are, we need Jesus. I know that. We need Him desperately. We need to come back to that place of prayer. We need to learn to walk in discernment. We need to grow in our understanding of the Word and the Spirit. And we need to remember it's about us, not just me. And if we'll do that, just one step at a time, you have no idea what God will do; but it'll be good. I'm on board for that. How about you? Will you bow your heads, close your eyes? Let's pray together. Page 11 of 11