Kingdom Re-Build - Nehemiah 1 // Nick Serban IV

Message Transcript:

How many of you know we serve King Jesus, and he is a builder?Yeah.And I'm so thankful that Jesus is a builder and he's not a demolitionist.He's not a deconstructor.Can somebody say amen to that?Amen.Jesus said, "I will build my church."He didn't say, "I'm gonna deconstruct my church."God is building his church.Jesus is building our family.He's building us up.He's building you up in Christ, because God is a builder.And there's a lot of ways that we can become more like Jesus in 2026.That's, that's really our theme for this year, and, and I'll talk more about it in the coming weeks, that this will be the year that we become more like Jesus.But there's ways that we can do this.We can pray like Jesus prayed.We can fast like Jesus fasted.We can believe for miracles and trust God like Jesus did.And we can share the heart and passion of Jesus to build his church.Jesus isn't about tearing others down and gossiping and taking from the church or destroying and hurting his church.The church is the bride of Christ.Yeah.It's his bride.Like, if you came over to my house and you said, "Pastor Nick, I love you, but I hate your wife," I'm sorry, but we can't be friends anymore.And we've got too many peopleI'm, I'm not, I'm not gonna rant on this too long, but we've got too many people that just wanna tear down the Church- Amen.and talk about how evil it is, how bad it is, all this different stuff, while they're quietly alone, you know, having a church service in it, by themselves, you know, in their living room.'Cause that's the Church, just you by yourself.I wanna be part of changing the Church, not just talking about everything that's wrong with it.We're all broken, and we all need Jesus.I've got, I've got a long rant here.I'm gonna have to hit it real hard.Here we go.This isn't a cruise ship catered to everyone's desires.Can, can we say that?This is not a cruise ship.This is the Church.And when you're part of the Church, that means you're getting to work, to build His kingdom.Yeah.Come on.Not working for me.We're working for Him.Come on.He's my boss.I hope He's your boss.Yes.So we're starting this, this series.Um, and as we look in this year, my, my prayer is that we would all rise a little bit higher, a whole lot higher, I hope, as we attend faithfully, pray desperately, serve regularly, and give generously, and invite people unapologetically.I think in years past, and, andMy dad's not here so I can say this.He used to be the pastor here.But there were times where I didn't want to invite people to church because something weird might happen at church.Right?We've been that church before.We're not that church now.Because when God shows up, He can do whatever He wants.That's right.Right I don't care if it's weird.It's awesome when God shows up.Sorry, I was, I was crying up on the front row, so I'm still trying to, like, get myself in order here.But, again, if you have your Bible, we're in Nehemiah Chapter 1.We'reAgain, we're only gonna be in the first few chapters of it, because there's something powerful about beginnings.But there's also something really powerful about the middle.Maybe you feel like you're in the middle of your story or in the middle of your season.Nehemiah is in the middle of the timeline from Abraham to Jesus.From, from Abraham to King David, it's 14 generations.And then from David to the Babylonian exile, which is where we find Nehemiah, it's 14 generations.And then when the temple is, is reestablished, and Jerusalem is reestablished, and, and, and the people are coming back from Babylon, from that time to the coming of Jesus, it's 14 generations.You catch on quick.Nehemiah is in the middle of a prophetic word that's actually coming to pass.Again, you may find yourself in that place where God has spoken to you.There are promises that He's given to you, dreams that you're believing for and that you're building towards.And maybe you're in the middle of waiting for God to come through.If that's you, can you say, "I'm in the middle"?I'm in the middle.You can say it loud."I'm in the middle."I'm saying it right now."I'm in the middle."Yeah.Come on.It was prophesied that the people of God would be scattered if they didn't obey God.This is prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel.And then they will rebuild and be reestablished in the land of Israel in Jerusalem.In Zechariah 1:14Uh, the scripture's not on the screen here, but this is the paraphrase.He tells a prophetic word from the Lord, that He's zealous for Jerusalem and His people, and God is building a house in Jerusalem, a place of worship, a place of prayer, a place of provision, and God calls it My House.This is God's House.Amen.This is not our house.This is God's House.And when the people were scattered, when God's people were torn apart, they were without walls, they were without protection, and they were without shepherds, God said in Zechariah 1:20, "There are 4 crafts- craftsmen and builders that are coming, the builders of God's City, the builders of God's House, and the builders of God's people."These builders are the ones who will set things right in Jerusalem and in Israel.Builders put chaotic things back into order.When my life is hard and chaotic, I don't need more chaotic people in my life.Somebody say amen.Amen.Like, I, I need a plan.I need somebody with a blueprint.I need a builder.I need, I need somebody who has an anointing on their life, who can come in and look at my life and situation and help me put things back together and build order in the chaos.And that is the purpose of the Church.That's why we're building God's Church, because a well-built church will bring order to the chaos in the city that it dwells in.This church is meant to bring order to the chaos of Franklin, Tennessee.So then God sends these 4 builders.But, but prior to all that there's actually 4 different enemies.There's the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes, and the Persians who stole and confused and conquered God's people in Israel.And so this whole exile has, has taken place and all of the, the Jewish people have been taken and enslaved.And then God sends these 4 builders.The first one is Zerubbabel.Say Zerubbabel.Zerubbabel.That's a fun one to say.Number 2, Ezra.Ezra.Say Ezra.Ezra.Number 3 is Mordecai and Esther.Say Mordecai and Esther.Mordecai and Esther.They're, they're kind of a team there.And then number 4 is the one that we're gonna be talking about, is Nehemiah.Everyone say Nehemiah.Nehemiah.Nehemiah is a slave in the court of Artaxerxes, who was the king of Persia.And he's a cupbearer to the king.Th- this is actually a really important job.He would, he would eat and drink the food before the king would eat it to make sure that it wasn't poisoned.It's kind of a fun job.It's also a really high stakes job because you have one bad day and you're done, right?But Nehemiah is a builder.He just doesn't know it yet.And we, and we learn that as, as, we, we learn that he has his heart to build when we get right into the beginning of Nehemiah, chapter 1.And, and my first point today is there is bad news in the world.Nehemiah 1:1-3."The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah.Now it happened in the month of Chisleu in the 20th year, as I was in Susa, the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah."Judah, just for, for context, is Israel.The, the tribes of, the 12 tribes of Israel actually split and so there's 2 tribes in Judah and then there's 10 tribes in the north that we call Israel.It's still Israel.Jerusalem is in Judah.Just so you know."And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.They said to me, 'The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire.'" This is, this is not good news.Right?It, it sounds a lot like cable news, if, if you watch cable news at all.We were, we were spending time in Bristol, Tennessee for Christmas, and I don't know if they're watching today.Praise God if they are, if they're notBut, uh, we were hanging out with Britney's grandparents, and, uh, I don't know what it is, and I, and I, and I love it, hate it, whatever.Every time I come into their house, the TV is on and they are watching Hallmark.And, and, and again, they love it.They love the drama, they love the romance, they love the unrealistic impossible storylines.Um, and it's great.But again, I don't know what's worse.Like, watching Hallmark or just watching the news all the time.Like, 'cause so many people, we consume the news.We're, like, living with the news cycle."Did you hear about this?Did you hear about that?"Like, there's political news, there's social news, there's global news, celebrity news.Like, I don't care that George Clooney moved to France.Like, I don't care.Right?Some people care.It's fine.Whatever.Again, I, but I've realized something with, with how we consume content and how we consume the news.Bad news is way more intriguing than good news.Right?Yes.Like, like, I got the chair out just for this because this just makes me feel like, would you spill the tea please?Tell me all the details.Like, I'm sipping and waiting, like.I, I think sometimes, like, we, we love to get in groups of people or with somebody and hear about all the dirty details of what took place.That's called gossip, by the way.Okay?But, we love to get all the, the nuances and all the stuff and, and, and with that, we then end up taking sides.Like, bad news makes us wanna take a side.Like, we hear about stuff that happens and then we go, "How do I feel about this?"You know, "Am I on the Republican side or I'm on the Democrat side?"You know."Am I, am I on, am I following CNN or am I following Fox News?"You know, like, what, where, where am I falling in line today?We feel like we need to pick a side when it comes to bad news.Or we feel like we have to have an opinion.Like, nobody cares about our opinion but we feel like we need to share it with the world.Bad news, again, may be terrible, but I've also noticed, too, that when we hear bad news, we often don't really do anything about it.We just go, "That's a bummer."Right?But Nehemiah hears about the destruction of Jerusalem.He's really far away to all of this, but he hears that the city walls are torn down, the temple is destroyed, the people are scattered.And so just imagine for a second that your church, you find out one morning that this church burned down.Yeah.Or the hometown, Franklin, Tennessee, the hometown of your family, your culture is in ruins.That, that some army from somewhere, you know, parachuted out of nowhere and just blew this place off the map.Your extended family, your, your close relatives have been ravaged by war and displaced by enemies.This was terrible news for Nehemiah.Yeah.His homeland in peril, and he is enslaved to the King of Persia over, over a thousand miles away- from Jerusalem.Just, just so that you get the math here, like, it would be like walking from Nashville to Miami, Florida.That's how far away Nehemiah is from Jerusalem.If you walked for 14 hours a day, it would take you over 25 days to get there.Wow.Walking.There were no cars back then.Again, Nehemiah, he wasn't in close proximity to Jerusalem, but his heart was broken by what was happening and it moved him.It still moved him, even though he wasn't close to what was taking place.And listen, church, I, I don't wanna go too killjoy into the beginning of this new year, but there's a lot of bad stuff happening in our world.Yeah.There are Christians by the hundreds being martyred in Nigeria.It's on video.Yep.Yeah.You can go and watch it.There's multiple wars in our world with tens of thousands of people dying.Yeah.Families and businesses are still recovering from inflation in America.Communities are without clean drinking water in many places around the world and are actually drinking pathogens that could kill them.Yeah.Yeah.Marriages are falling apart.Human trafficking is on the rise.There's a fentanyl crisis growing.AI is taking over.There's fatherless homes, abortion, and thoughtless murder.Yeah.And we can hear all this stuff and, and maybe you already hear a lot of this stuff on your phone.And we can just become numb to it.Right?Yeah.Like, you can hear all this stuff and be like, "What am I gonna do about it?"Or, "That's not my problem.I've got my own problems."Right?"I've got my own stuff going on.I don't need to be worried about all this 0 all this other stuff happening around the world."And again, we, we feel so numb to it and we can even step away going, "I'm not really sure how I should feel about this because I'm already overwhelmed in my emotions or in my, in my physical body with all of the other things that I've got going on around me."Anyone else feel this way?That, that there's just, there's k-If you're looking for chaos, you can find it really quick.If you want some drama, let me point you in a million directions and you can find it.But here's the thing.If we're going to build God's kingdom, we have to know that the kingdom of hell is still taking ground.Yeah.Even right here in Franklin.I, I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with the mayor of Franklin a few weeks ago.I, I got to pray with him and, and I just wanted to hear his heart.Whether you like him or hate him or whatever, he's, he's a great guy.He's awesome.Loved getting to meet with him and pray with him.But I said, you know, "What are some things that you feel like need to shift within our city?Like, you're the, you're the leader here.Like, you tell me.You know, you're the king in this place and I'm, I'm just a priest here."And he shared 3 things.And I, and I want us to even take these things and, and pray about 'em, because I think it's really important that we fill the needs of our city.But the first thing he said was, "There's deep loneliness and depression in a lot of our senior living facilities and a lot of our people that are retiring here in this area."Like, there's tons of people that are coming to Franklin to retire, but they're lonely and they're depressed.Yeah.And many of 'em are taking a lot of medication in order to, to fight that off.Then there's major, even measurable amounts of apathy and rising suicide rates in teenagers and young adults in their 20s here in Franklin.Yeah.It's a major issue.And there's a huge need right now for a drug and convict transitional housing facility to help lower the repeated incarcerations that are taking place.Because people come out of jail and they end up hanging out with the same people that got 'em into the jail in the first place.Right?Yeah.Huge needs, right?But here's the thing.Like, we can hear this, and many times we can feel really good about theorizing about what we should do.Y'all ever get, like, the rush when you're planning something?Like, "Oh, we could do this and we could do that," and all theseLike, it feels so good to get excited about a plan of what could happen or, "Let's put together a blueprint," or, "Here's a checklist."Like, my wife loves to put together checklists, and that's just the thing.I feel like she gets more excited making the checklist than actually executing the checklist.Fair?Yeah.Fair.Got it.Cool.But that's the same thing with us.'cause it's hard to actually execute the plan.It's hard to see it in action.And many times we stop because it would actually require vulnerability and action on our parts.But we are building the Church.So how do we respond to needs like this?How do we respond to the needs of this world?Number 2 today: God's people should be moved with passion, compassion, and humility.Here's what Nehemiah did.Here's how he responded: "As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept, mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven."He wept, he mourned, he fasted, and he prayed for days.We need to understand Nehemiah's first reaction wasn't to make a plan.It was to get on his knees and begin to pray.He wept because the problem was too great for him to face on his own.You may be facing something right now, and let me just tell you, it is too great for you to take on your own.We need God.We need the Holy Spirit.We need His presence with us, and the, the fastest way to get in the presence of God is to drop to our knees and begin to cry out to Him.Again, he didn't get angry or vengeful.He didn't share his opinions.He sat and wept for days.And this is the, the hard-hitting question for us today as a church: When is the last time that the pain of this world broke your heart?When's the last time that you wept for the lost, or you mourned the death of innocent people, or you cried out to God for a great need that wasn't for you, but it was for someone else?Listen, if nothing moves your heart towards God, and you're not overcome with a desire for God, your spirit may be numb.Your soul and your emotions may be overwhelmed and your flesh over-stimulated.I mean, I've been there.There's been seasons of my life where I feel so far from God and it's not because God has left me.It's because I've stepped away from Him.Yeah.And I've been so focused on what I'm feeling in my soul, in my emotions, or in my body, that I'm too over-stimulated and overwhelmed to even hear His voice.If you drift to lukewarmness in your faith more often than burning for God, I need to tell you there's intentional action required.Our spirit is weak, our soul is drowning, and we're controlled by our selfish nature and flesh.And Nehemiah shows us that those who build the Kingdom of God are motivated with compassion and they burn for God.That's why Nehemiah's first response was to pray, and that should be our first response- Yeah.with everything that we're facing."Something changed in my job, my boss was being weird, I need to pray.I don't understand why my wife is angry at me, I need to pray.God, I, uh, things are shifting with my finances and I got this bill and that bill, I need to pray.God, things are going really great, I hope they don't screw up and now I'm worried and anxious, I need to pray.And here's what's so cool, like, it didn't say that Nehemiah just prayed, it said that he prayed and fasted.I think that as, as the Church, we haven't fasted as much as we should.We haven't denied our flesh like we should.And maybe I'm talking to the wrong church.You guys fast all the time and you're so holy, right?Yeah.Thank you, Rita.But here's the thing, the Bible says, explicitly, that we are to pray and fast.And fasting is defined as, in Hebrew and in Greek, abstaining from food.Yes.Why?Because we deny our flesh.It's really interesting, and, and many of you will notice this if you're fasting, you know, 3 meals a day, all, all your food, you know, for a certain number of days, your days will feel much longer.Yeah.Because you're not making food, thinking about what you're going to eat or eating.Or cleaning up the mess that you made when you were eating.Exactly.Again, the purpose of fasting is to seek guidance, revelation, to repent.To grow in spiritual strength and even find divine intervention.And, and I know, I know that this is just me and 'cause I hang out with pastors all the time, and they want to argue over this, but I'm not arguing.This was an expected, this was an expected practice in the Bible.Yeah.Jesus didn't say, "If you pray."He said, "When you pray."He didn't say, "If you fast."He said, "When you fast."Yeah.Jesus assumed that His followers would fast and He actually encouraged them to not do it like the Pharisees, who looked really nasty all the time, trying to show everybody how holy they were.He said, "Do it in secret."He said it in Matthew 6, that, "When you pray and when you fast, don't do it like the Pharisees."Biblical fasting is a spiritual discipline of self-denial to intensify one's relationship with God.And this is what Nehemiah was doing in, in this moment.He realized, like, "I can't do this on my own.I need the Lord.I need the strength that comes from the one who has all the power to strengthen me."Prayer and fasting, it's, it's not a method for us to manipulate God to get a word.Prayer and fasting makes and molds you into a weapon.Right.Can I, can Ilet me say that again.It makes and molds you into a weapon.What for?For the Kingdom of God.Yeah, man.You become the weapon in His hand 'cause now you're sharp.Come on.'Cause I've been, I've been denying my flesh, I've been putting my emotions in check.And I'm saying, "God, would you strengthen my spirit?Would you begin to make me and mold me into the man of God you created me to be?"And things begin to shift because now I'm, I'm no longer trying to satisfy my flesh and my feelings.Theagain, I'm, I'm only wanting the Lord.I'm only desiring Him.We're starting again this 21-day fast, and instead of satisfying our flesh with food, we need to hunger for God.It makes our physical body weaker and it makes our spirit stronger.Fasting brings us closer to the King and further from our flesh.And before we do anything for God to build His Church and build His Kingdom, we need to let Him build us.Amen.And this is how we, we do it.When the disciples couldn't cast a demon out of a boy, and Jesus freed him easily, Jesus said, "This kind can only come out through prayer andfasting."Is the spirit in you stronger than the spirit that you're facing today?I think God has allowed some giants in our lives and allowed them to remain in our lives for us to strengthen ourselves in the Lord and take them out ourselves.I just, we just watched the David movie.It's pretty awesome.You should go watch it.But it's such a, such a great feeling as, as a man of God to be able to say, "I conquered this giant.""I, I overcame this because of the strength that God has given me."Right.And, and again, I'm not gonna throw shade at this, I appreciate the, the Daniel Fast, the vegetable Daniel Fast, and that's great.The problem is, and you gotta, you gotta search, search God, talk to Him about this, I just know too many Christians who fill up on potatoes and carrots-and french fries 'cause it's on the Daniel Fast.And then they never hunger for God.Like, you're not supposed to be full of food, you're supposed to be full of the spirit.Yeah.So, you can do the Daniel Fast but make sure you're actually praying.Make sure you're actually spending time with the Lord.And, and here's, here's my challenge.I, I got it up, I'm gonna put it up on the screen behind me.My challenge for us for the next 21 daysSome of y'all, you're not gonna drink water only for 21 days, and I, and I get that.But I would ask you for the next 3 days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or today, Monday, Tuesday, whatever, eat no food, and just drink water.3 days.And pray 3 times a day.Pray at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.It's so practical and so powerful.And then for the next 18 days, just eat one meal or 2 meals a day, and fast whatever your largest meal is.And watch what God'll do.ItI believe it'll radically shift your life.Pray and listen to God.Let His voice get louder than your stomach.And I promise you, you will feel spiritual strength begin to grow in you.You will gain clarity in Christ.You will even heal and reset your body.ThereWe, we live in a, a, a scientific day and age where the science is, is all there that fasting even has the ability to heal cancer and chronic disease.I remember my dad telling meHe, he talked to, to some cancer doctor.I'm sure there's a fancy name for cancer doctors.Um, oncologists is out of this.Thank you.Doctors.Um, sat with an oncologist, and he said, "If I ever got cancer, the first thing I would do is fast."The doctor said that.He didn't say, "Get on chemo."He said, "I'm gonna fast."I believe that if we would discipline our flesh, that there would be radical healing that takes place.ThereAnd, and the fun part too is you're gonna lose a little bit of weight, and that's okay.That's man.All right?And you're gonna grow in self-control.There's way more pros to fasting than cons.The biggest con is you're gonna be hungry.Again, our first response in life should be prayer and fasting.Pray and fast, deny yourself, and pursue the heart of God.Look at what, look at what Nehemiah began to pray."And I said, 'Oh Lord, God of Heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant, that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, your servants."' It's so cool.He's, he's not praying for himself.He's praying for his brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.Nehemiah calls on the God who keeps His promises and maintains faithful love for us.Remember, we need to remember as a church that our God is awesome and powerful.Amen.He loves us, and He loves when we seek His face and His power.That's why I started crying when Hannah goes all spontaneous leading worship and says, "Show me your face."We're like, "Yes, God!I wanna see your face!I wanna experience your presence!"But so many times, I can't because I've got all this other stuff that I'm worried about.I got all this other stuff in my, in my body that I'm feeling physically, emotionally, and I can feel so distant.But all he says is, "Well, draw near to me, and I'll draw near to you."If we would just take that step towards Him.Nehemiah, he asks that God would be attentive to his prayers.It's such an interesting thing for him to pray that his eyes would be open and that God's ears would be listening to his prayers.He asks this, and I, and I think it's, it's, it's clear to me because many times as a church, we, we believe the lie from the enemy that God, for some reason, doesn't hear us.And I feel like Nehemiah, even in this moment, is like, "God, would you please listen?Because you're all-powerful."He's doing this with so much humility in this moment.We need to recognize that God is always attentive to us, and He loves it when we pray.But this is an honest and humble prayer from Nehemiah, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, "Which we have sinned against You.Even I and my father's house have sinned.Nehemiah, he, he didn't take a self-righteous stance in this moment against the, the people of Israel.He took a humble and vulnerable posture.He could have easily said, like we said before, "This isn't my problem, God."Like, "I- it's, it's them, it's not me.Maybe they deserve it, God, for disobeying."And I think too many believers are, are actually like the rest of the Israelites who were in Persia and Babylon.Just a quick history lesson again.The Babylonians, they conquered Israel.They took close to a million people as slaves.And when the first group of people were allowed to return to Jerusalem, it was only around 40,000 that actually went back."You can all go!"Only 40,000 went.This tells us that most of the people of God were either not moved with compassion for the need or they were more comfortable being enslaved.They were more comfortable living in the consequences of generational sin than creating and rebuilding the kingdom.That's heavy.But you can't walk in the promise of the new if fear and pride holds you back in the old.You can't be free in Christ when you're comfortable in disobedience.Nehemiah teaches us that, that people who are kingdom builders are humble.And we come to God asking for His mercy and forgiveness.When you feel what God feels, when you know that, that people are living in the results of their bad decisions or maybe the, the bad choices of other people, you'll start to pray differently.When you start to see that there is consequences, you'll start to pray a whole lot differently.The greatest thing that our world needs right now is not some new leader, is not some new big plan.It's Jesus.It's the forgiveness of our sins, the power of God to change us, and salvation that only comes through faith and forgiveness in Christ.But I just, I love the way that Nehemiah prays.He's, he's saying, "Father, would you forgive us?"He doesn't say, "Just forgive me."He says, "Would you forgive them too?Would you forgive all of us?Because we have sinned against you.All of us acted corruptly as a people and we haven't kept these commandments.God would you forgive us?Not just me."Again, some of us are in the middle of our promise coming to pass.And my prayer for you today is that you wouldn't settle for comfort, that you wouldn't settle just complaining and, and living in complacency.In order for us to move forward, there has to be a step, there has to be action.We take these, these steps of faith.And again, I'm, I'm here to tell you today that if you will humble yourself before God, if you will repent, if I will repent, he will fulfill the promises that he has laid out before you, greater than you could ask or imagine.Why?Because God is a promise maker.God is a promise keeper.He doesn't just make the promises, he follows through on them.Yes.That is the God that we serve.Look, look at this in Nehemiah 1:8-9.He says, "Remember"Nehemiah is saying this to God.He's saying, "God, remember the word that you commanded.Remember the thing that you said.Remember the promise that you spoke to your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are faithful, unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name dwell there.'" This is so good.Because Nehemiah reminds God.He doesn't need a reminder.But it's interesting.Nehemiah, he's not just reminding God, he's reminding himself of the promise that God spoke.He's reminding himself that, "God, you said that this was gonna happen, that we were gonna be scattered."But there's a really big but in that promise.B-U-T.But in that promise.He said, "But if we'll begin to follow you, Lord, if we'll turn from these ways, you will restore Jerusalem.You will restore your people and make your name dwell in the house that we gather."I love this, because he's putting a demand on the word that God made.When was the last time that you put a demand on the promise that God spoke to you?"God, do you remember what you said?"that, that night that I was in my prayer closet?God, do you remember what you said in your word?Do you re- uh, listen, I'm standing on business today.I'm standing on the word of God today and what you said, God, so what I'm facing right now, it is nothing in comparison to the promise that you have.Keep your promise, God.Again, He's a promise maker and a promise keeper, and His word is full of promises.If God said it, you can believe it.Amen.If God said it, it's the truth."Greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world."That's a promise.My God is my defender.He's my protector.My God shall supply all of my needs.Why?Because He's Jehovah-Jireh.Amen.The God who provides.Nehemiah, he was, uh, he had a builder's heart and reminds God of what He said.And God said, "I will gather them, I will bring them to the place I've chosen, and I will make my name dwell there."God's word, again, is full of promises.And, and this isThank you so much.This is so important for us, even as we get into this new year, to read the word of God every single day.And if you haven't started a, a Bible reading plan, I challenge you to do so, because it's hard to stand on a promise that you don't even know.Right.Right?Yes.It's ha- it's hard to believe for something that you don't even know is true.That's right.Like, no offense to myself, but if you just believe everything that comes out of my mouth, and don't go to the word of GodCan I s- I can say that, right?Yeah.Read the Bible!His word is true!Like, I'm only covering maybe 10 to 20% of the word of God preaching 50 weeks a year.Yeah.There's so much more that God wants to speak to you, and you gotta open up the book to find it.So start a Bible reading plan.Read about the promises.Trust the word of God.See the promises that He's making, and then begin to stand on it and say, "God, keep it."'Cause He wants to do it.So what are you believing for in 2026?What promises has God made for you?Who are you standing in the gap for in believing God to bring a breakthrough for?We are kingdom builders.We're building for King Jesus.And I don't know about you, but I'm, I'm building on His promises.And I wanna build on His word, His kingdom come into my house, His kingdom come into my marriage, let His kingdom come into my children, my job, and that His kingdom would come in this church.Nehemiah 1:10, "They are all, they are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand."God is looking for people who have a heart for people.Amen.This is what motivates Nehemiah.When the walls are down, there's bad news in Jerusalem and the people are scattered, he prays, he's moved, and he fasts.Why?Because they belong to God.These people belong to God and God wants to redeem them with His great power and His strong hand.And God is still motivated for the same reason today.God still wants to redeem this fallen and broken world.And so we build the kingdom.That's what we're called to do, is to build the kingdom and, and to rebuild the places where the enemy has taken ground.Right.We build churches, we give to missions, we serve others because God is still changing the world by His great power.Do you believe that today, church?Amen.Final thoughts.Blaine, you, where's Blaine?You can come, brother.Number 4, change your confessions to match God's heart.This is so good, and, and, and I want us to really set our hearts on this as I read this.It says, "Oh, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name and give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."Again, Nehemiah, it, it's the story of a kingdom builder who gets to, to build something great for God.We're gonna talk about it in these coming weeks.He goes from cupbearer to carpenter.He was met with opposition.His life was threatened.He traveled over 1,000 miles, uh, to get to Jerusalem.And here's what's great.Spoiler alert.He was wildly successful, even facing all of these obstacles.And I want you to realize this.People who build the kingdom, kingdom builders, they do something.There's action with what God puts before them.They see beyond their present circumstances and they figure out how to get it done with God.But it all started, again, with a man of prayer who was fasting, mourning, and repenting.And he had the right confessions.He made these confessions, I don't know if you can see it even in the text here in Nehemiah.He made confessions revealing what he was believing God for.He began to confess these things.He began to pray these things.And I, and I, and I want us to even confess these things together as a church today.He confessed and he said, "God hears me when I pray."There's been times in my life where I've, I've prayed prayers to myself and then I just laugh at myself.I'm like, "God's not listening to this.Really?This is the dumbest prayer I've ever prayed in my life."But when we begin to confess in this way, again, we're speaking to the overstimulated body.We're speaking to the overwhelmed soul and emotions.My spirit is giving voice and power to these, these words and saying, "God hears me when I pray.God, let my body and my soul know right now that I serve the living God.And He hears me when I pray."And here's what's, it, it's such a subtle shift, but he, he goes on and he said, "God hears us when we pray.God doesn't just hear me, He hears Curtis.God doesn't just hear me, He hears Keith.He hears all of us."And, and so when we come together to begin to pray from Monday to Friday this week, it's from 6:30 to 7:30, when we come to pray, God hears us.God hears us.And there's so much power.The Bible says that when 2 or 3 are gathered together, there He is.Yeah.When we begin to come together and pray in unity, it's almost like, you know, you turn the faucet halfway and then all these people come together and they're just like, "Let's just hit them both on."And God just begins to pour out His spirit in, in powerful ways.I can't explain it other than that's just how He does it.There's power in confessing and knowing that God hears us when we pray.And then he says this.He says, he confesses, "We are the Lord's servants."I'm not doing this on my own.I don't have to come up with all the ideas.I am serving God.He is my source.He is the one who, who gives me strength.He is the one who gives me wisdom and direction.And I lean on Him because I'm serving Him.I'm His servant.I am bound to Him.And all throughout scripture, this, this even definition of a servant is, is really a beautiful thing because a good master takes care of his servants, better than most family members are taken care of.Then he confesses, "We fear and reverence the name of the Lord."I never want us to be a church that just comes in and worships all nonchalantly, but that we would be a church when we step into His presence and we draw near to God that we begin to approach Him with a holy fear and reverence.What is, what is holy fear?Holy fear is, in short, being afraid of doing anything without God.Does that mean you've, you're afraid of God?No, I'm afraid of doing anything without Him.I'm afraid of, of taking a step without looking to my master first.Say, "God, is this, is this the right step?Is this the right way?"Then there's moments and there's seasons where He goes, "Just take the step, son.I need you to step out in faith.I need you to move.Go."And I take that step and He's with me every step of the way.It may feel like I'm stepping out alone, but because of the, the holy fear and reverence, He comes with me and He steps with me.And it, it shifts the way we worship.It shifts the way we even follow God that we would not take a step without Him.In these last 2, this feels like prosperity gospel to say, but I really love it because it's in the Word of God.But when we begin to pray things like this and we say, "God will give me great success."Yeah.What a confession to make.