Kingdom Re-Build - Nehemiah 3-4 // Nick Serban IV

Message Transcript:

Uh, we are in, uh, week 3 of our, of our series, Kingdom Rebuild.And, uh, I just wanna say, I am so thankful that Jesus is a builder.He's not a destroyer, he's not deconstructor.And, uh, and of all the professions that Jesus could've had, he was a carpenter, just like Joseph, right?He was a builder.Jesus said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not stand against it."Right?God is building his church and Jesus is building your family, he's building your life, he's building us up to be men and women of God following him.God is a builder.Amen?Uh, and, and, and now I don't wanna soapbox it too long but I'm, I'm, I'm tired of hearing people, especially on social media, tear down the church.This is, this is not what Jesus would do.Like, take the wristband, the WWJD wristband off, that's not what he would do.He's not here to divide and, and, and deconstruct.He, he's called us to build something great for him.He's called us to build his church.And so my challenge to all of us is that we would pray like Jesus prayed, that we would fast like Jesus fasted and do miracles and trust God like Jesus did.And, uh, Jesus said that we would do greater things than even he did and what did he do?He healed the sick, he cast out demons, and he raised the dead.Amen?Yeah.And, uh, and in this new year I've been talking to, to several of you.I really feel strongly that we need more practical teaching on these things.On being active and moving in the Holy Spirit and equip people how to pray for healing, equip us how to deliver someone from a demon, and how to start moving and walking in prophetic ministry.I think a couple of years ago, we, we did this amazing series of, of weeks called Thrive Nights and I'd love to bring that back in this new year because God, God is speaking to his people.Yeah.And he's calling us to be prophetic.He has words of knowledge and words of wisdom that he wants to speak through us to people that are far from him.Like, itJesus used miracles, signs, and wonders to bring people to himself, to bring people closer to him.And so shouldn't we be doing the same thing?Like, aren't you tired of, like, fighting someone intellectually into the kingdom?Right?Let's, let's move in power.Like, IWe want, we want people to encounter the heart and passion of Jesus in his people.Yes.In us.So let's be kingdom builders.Amen?All right, the story of Nehemiah.I'm just gonna give you a quick recap of where we've already touched in Nehemiah 1 and 2.It's an ama- story of an amazing builder on a mission to rebuild the city of Jerusalem for God.He was a slave to King Artaxerxes of Persia and he was a- about a thousand miles away from Jerusalem at that time.And, uh, he hears about what's taking place and, and begins to, to pray.His first response is to pray and to fast, and then he begins to realize that he was positioned perfectly to someone of power and resource.He was positioned near this king and, and then he, he gets a moment where the king turns to him and says, "What's wrong?I can see something's off."And it's this perfect moment of favor from God and favor with the king that he begins to appeal to the king and then he lets him go.NotAnd doesn't just let him go, he gives him a passport, stamping him all the way so that he's untouched as he's going through the wilderness to get to Jerusalem and gives him papers to get timber and wood from the king's resource stockpile.I mean, this is just, like, crazy amount of favor that's taking place in this.And he gets to go back and build the walls of Jerusalem and rebuild the scattered people.I just wanna show youI don't know if you can, if you can see it really quick, this map.This is, this is where he rebuilds and ifand when we look at Nehemiah Chapter 3, which we're gonna, we're gonna look at it, we're not gonna read all of it, you actually see all of these different gates and towers and walls named out by name that he was able to rebuild.Like, it's this massive, massive undertaking to see this take place and it's incredible work.I'm just, I'm kinda taking it all in right now.This is awesome.But it, it's so much that he was able to do and able to accomplish in such a short amount of time as well.And this is what I love about when, when God burdens our heart for something, he makes a way to expedite it even more, right?When, when God begins to burden your heart, maybe, and maybe it's taking a, a little bit longer than you had hoped for, but it's so much quicker than it should've happened because of the power of God in it, because of his, of his favor.I love that.But as we, as we get into this, I wanna challenge us all.We're actually gonna read chapter 4 before we look at chapter 3.I hope that's okay.There, there's purpose to it.I wanna challenge all of us and ask us as a church, are we building and making progress in the kingdom of God?Not justNot collectively but individually.Are, are, are, are you making progress in building the kingdom of God?Are you building for him right now?My first point, if you're taking notes today is, opposition leads us to prayer.Opposition leads us to prayer.If you remember fromif you were here last week, we, we kind of mentioned a couple of these guys, um, in Nehemiah 4It says, "Now when Sanballat heard that they were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged- enraged.And he jeered at the Jews.And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, 'What are theyWhat, 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, it will break down the stone wall.'" These are obviously petty remarks, and complaints, and accusations.But here's the thing, like loud liars get heard, right?Like the squeaky wheel always gets the grease, right?Opposition isn't always honest but it's most likely always the loudest, right?When- when- when people get critical, when people come against you, it- it- it's so much louder than the voice that you're holding onto.When people are emotionally charged, they can seem like they're right.And- and not to be political but it's- it's always interesting to me that the people that I found that are so in the wrong are usually the loudest, right?Sanballat and Tobias were emotional, loud, critical, and they were cutting.They were just taking shots at- at- at the Jewish people.They were taunting Nehemiah and the builders, that they were being selfish, hasty, doing bad work, building walls weak enough for a fox to break down.I mean, that's- that's quite the- the imagery there.And they- they said a lot of things, and it was offensive.I mean, if- if somebody came into your workplace one day and started making remarks about your work like this, like I don't know about you but I might bow my chest up a little bit and start flexing.You know?Like let's go, like d- if you're gonna keep talking that- to me like this, we're gonna throw hands, right?But really, the beauty of this and- and what it shows us is who cares?Who cares?Critics should not consume our thoughts and attention.Amen?Th- if God has spoken to you, we cannot allow these other voices to become louder than His, and to- to dictate what we're doing or to make us question what God has called us to do.I wanna show you how Nehemiah responds to this opposition in Nehemiah 4:4.It says here, "Oh 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.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."It's kind of awesome.What a prayer.Listen, there is opposition.There's going to be opposition.There's already opposition when you live for God and build for God.You're gonna feel it.You're gonna hear it.You're gonna sense it.And sometimes it's right in here.It's your own voice.It's- it's your past speaking to you and telling you, "This is notThis is not it.This is not right," or, "This doesn't feel right, so therefore it must not be God."There's gonna be opposition when you're raising your kids to serve God.There's gonna be opposition maybe in your own flesh when God calls you to give and tithe or help others that are in need sacrificially, where you take that jacket off and you give it to someone else and now you're cold.There's gonna be opposition, voices online, or again voices in your head, telling you it's not worth it or that it's not necessary to live a life for God in this way.Or maybe you'll, you'll hear things or feel like, "No, you shouldn't be associated with this movement."Or, "You shouldn't be associated with this person or that person."Or, "Is that really the kind of Christian, a follower of God that you want to be?Why live so radically or sanctified when all of your friends at other churches aren't living that way?"Again, people will say crazy, ridiculous things about you.Usually not to you.You know, you, you know that saying like, "Oh, your ears are burning.Somebody must be talking about you."My ears are burning all the time, soYou guys are all talking about me.It's great.Don't let the critics drive you crazy.Let the critics drive you to prayer.Oh, yeah.This is, this is what Nehemiah did.He said, "Here, O our God."He's praying in this moment, this prayer, and it's like, like, "God, would you just turn this taunt back on them?"Like, "Can we just throw the Uno reverse card down right now and just, like, switch thisLike, all of the stuff that they're saying," like, "can you just, like, dump it all on them right now, God?"Like that was his prayer in that moment.He's like, "I'm not gonna listen to this.God, would you just send it back their way?Because this is not what I wanna hear."Again, I could tell you many stories about critics of this church, about critics online or critics in town, that I've, I've had conversation with, with, with people when I tell 'em that I'm a part of Full Life Church, they're like, "Oh, that church."You know, and it's like, "Oh, what does that church mean?"You know?Is that"What, what, what, what are you, what are you, what are you saying?"And it's interesting because Franklin and, and Nashville, when we moved here 20 years ago, I remember I got, I got accused of, of handling snakes.Yeah.In, in my, in my elementary class.I'm serious.Like, they were just like, this isLike, I'm at a Pentecostal church.I'm at an Assemblies of God church, and they were just like, "Oh, when do you bring the snakes out?"And, I'm like, "That is not what we do."Well, you know, the previous pastor might have done that, but, you know, yeah.He's over there.Again, Franklin and Nashville is predominantly Baptist and Church of Christ, which is not, is not bad.Nothing wrong with that.But many times, many of those churches and movements tend to oppose the move of the Holy Spirit in this day.Yeah.Not all of 'em, but they, many of 'em say, "Well, the miracles are done."Right.You know?That it's just like it, it died with the apostles, right?Like the, the, the Holy Spirit doesn't move in this way anymore, right?Yes.Come on, church.Yeah.I've had people in their anonymous online commentsI love the anonymous ones where they do the weird name that's not really their name.Cowards.Yeah.I had somebody put this on our, our YouTube.It was so great.I was talking about like, uh, God had spoken to me.I was, I was prophesying here in this church and he got on the comment and he said, "God doesn't speak to you.You're not special."I was like, "Oh.I guess, yeah, you're no- I'm not special.But God does speak to me."That's good.And then, then he put something about, "You're insane."He used a lot of F words.It was great.It was a great comment, really grateful.Don't look for it.I deleted it.Okay Again, I think it's insane to follow dead religion- Come on.Amen.and believe the Holy Spirit isn't still active in this day.Let'sSorry, but like, we ain't gonna be a dead church.Like, I can't read my Bible without the Holy Spirit.Yeah.I can't.It's just aNo, it'sNo offense to God.It's a dead book without the Holy Spirit.Yeah.It's just a bunch of words, but he brings it to life for us, and challenges my heart and calls me higher, and speaks to me in deep ways.Like, I can't pray without the Holy Spirit.I can't.It's like I, it'sIf, if, if, if me and the Holy Spirit aren't having a good day, like, we gotta get that right before I start praying.Yeah.Because I'm, I'm missing out on that connection that I have with the Lord.That's right.He came so that we would have power.The Holy Spirit is still active and moving here today, but again, the critics will say otherwise.Other churches, other movements, and again, I'm not trying to turn us into a cult where we're better and we're whatever.Like, I want us to be in unity with the churches in this area.Like I, I, I've talked to Baptist pastors in this area who believe in the same thing we believe, but there's a fear that's holding them back from teaching it in their churches.Can we start to pray against that fear?As a, as a church?Can we, can we begin to see God move?Because revival is, is, is coming to Franklin.Yes.right.And it's not gonna look like anything we've seen in, in, in Brownsville or Azusa Street or any of those places.It, God is gonna do something unique and powerful here.That's right.Are we praying for that?Like, come, come to the 24 hours of prayer and pray with us for this city and what we're doing.Again, let the opposition drive you to prayer and keep moving forward.God is doing something in you and with you.Don't stop because of what somebody else says.Critics can criticize, but we will follow the Lord and we will build.Amen.Amen.This is so cool.So again, he just, he just finishes this prayer, Nehemiah 4:4, 4-5, and then verse 6, it says, "So we built the wall."It's like, doesn't matter what they said, so we built it.We did the thing, and all the wall was joined together to half its height for the people that had a mind to work.The people that had a mind to work.I love that phrase.We are building for God's kingdom.Like, don't turn back.God is with us.We have to have a mind to build.His kingdom come, His will be done.Let the critics criticize.Let's pray for the critics.Yeah.Let, let, we can, we can, you know, we can play the reverse Uno card like Nehemiah did, but, but really, my heart, I wanna pray for those that criticize what God is doing in our lives.I wanna pray that they come to a point where they get to experience what I'm experiencing.Yeah.Talk about praying for your enemies.Yeah.Like, like, I, IThis is a whole nother thing.Have you ever prayed that God would ruin someone else's life so that they would come to Jesus?Yeah.ThatSorry, that's been my prayer.Not for any of y'all, but for other people.There's b- there's been moments when I've prayed, "God, this person is driving me insane.They've, they've, they've hurt me deeply.And God, I want to love them, but Lord, would You ruin their life so that they could come back to You?" "Would You, would You cause them to drop to their knees and begin to call You Lord and Savior?"That, that's, that's my, my heart, 'cause they need grace.They need the forgiveness of Jesus.But again, I love this phrase: If you have a mind to work.If you have a mind to work for God- Yes.here in this church, join, join a Go Team.Ser- serve in ministry, serve in kids' ministry, serve in our hospitality and our, and our worship team.We need, we need more people on our worship team, although I love when we, we play our tracks and do all this stuff because we're, we've got an amazing team.But like, we don't always have a bass player.We don't always have the guitar players.W- we don't always have the, the, a drummer.And so we need more people.Like, and if you're only like halfway decent, that's okay.We're all really good and we can train you, like, right?We can make you good.We can just turn you down and turn the track up.Like, just stand up here.Come on.Or just turn your mic off, you know?It's whatever.It's all right.We only did that to Hannah the first Sunday that she led here.That, that was, that was it.But then we heard her, and praise God.Let's go.Yeah.Join and, and lead a small group.We're, we're launching our small groups here in February, and this last year was, wasor last semester was incredible.We had, we had aWe had all men, all women, but like, there were so many of us, we really need to split up into smaller groups because this discipleship happens when we're shoulder to shoulder.Right.Iron sharpening iron.This is how we grow together, and when, when we have, when we got childcare and we got all that stuff to take care of, and we need some more people to step up to lead some groups.I would loveAnd if, if you feel God's stirring you to do that, let's go.Like, I'd love to see that happen and, and, and walk with you in that way.Um, again, go and prophesy and pray for people in the grocery store.If you have a mind to work, start treasure hunting.I think that's what the kids call it this, these days, where you, you go around and just like pray that God leads you to people.And, and start praying for the sick.Start praying for those in need.Like, like heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead.Let's build the kingdom.Yeah.Right?Pray and intercede for God to move in our city, in our church.If, if you have a mind to work, if you have a mind to build for the kingdom, like start praying that we can get a new buildingwith enough parking spaces for all of our people, right?Let- like, start praying that God gives us a building with a kids' center that's bigger than our sanctuary.Yes.Right?Because we're trying to raise up this next generation, right?Yeah.And so we need more classrooms.We need more space to disciple kids and do Junior Bible Quiz, which Junior Bible Quiz was, was yesterday, and it was amazing.And if you have kids that wanna be, uh, quizzers, we'd love to see that happen.Um, it was a great day.Again, if God burdens your heart to do something for the kingdom, like, do it.Don't wait until you have a title or a position or, or whatever it might be.Just step out and do it.Like, be proactive in this way.Like, come and talk to me.Like, I, as, as prophetic as, as, as I am, I can't read your mind.And so if God speaks to you about, about something to step into, like that doesn't mean he's spoken to me too- Right.where I can go like, "Oh, yes.You're in."Like, "You're the guy," and it's like, "Oh, that was the confirmation I've been waiting for for the last 5 years."No.Don't wait 5 years.Do it now.Yeah.Step in.Let's go.Number 2.Y'all, I'm having so much fun today.This is such a good, such a good day.Number 2, we build for God, and God fights for us.Again, God's calling us to build something great in our lives, in this church for His kingdom.And He's gonna be with us long as we do it.In Nehemiah 4:7-9, it says, "But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites"I didn't practice reading that one." Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry, and they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night."So this isThere's a lot of things happening here, which is, is really cool.Again, theThese guys are getting ticked off that you're actually doing the work and that it's actually getting done.And again, you're gonna, you're gonna tick some people off when you start walking in this way and doing what God's called you to do.Th- there's gonna be offense.There's gonna be people critical of it.And, and you might get some people radical enough to do something about it and come against you, a- a- and again, go beyond criticism and begin to cause confusion.They heard from the Lord.They heard this was happening, and they began to pray, and I just, I just love this because they prayed and they set a guard.Yeah.This is important.Like, like take notes on this.Like, Nehemiah had a spiritual reaction, which was to pray, but he also had a practical reaction.Spiritual and practical.Again, theThese guys are becoming real problems.And even after praying to God, they didn't stop the disruption.There was prayer in response to the criticism, but they still moved forward in, in their plan to cause disruption and confusion.Nehemiah, he prays and then has a practical response to set a guard.They prayed for protection, for God to protect them, but they also put out a security detail.When you build your life with Jesus, it's gonna be spiritual and it's gonna be practical.Write that down.It's gonna be spiritual and it's gonna be practical.Yes.Like, you should pray in worship.But you should also attend church, right?There's a practicality to that.Like I know, I know you're all like deep theologians and, and you probably know way more about Jesus than I do, but like, we come to church for the community.We come to church for the protection in numbers, that Go- And, and God has created it this way because it's practical.Like, you should read your Bible every day.But then you should also be in a small group.Yes.You should also be with, with brothers and sisters that are discipling you and, and helping you grow.Like, don't, don't just read solo.Like, read with other people, and, and grow with other people in this way.When you're center your, your family on the things of God, you should be prayerful and you should be Biblical in how you do this.Like, follow the Word of God and what it says.But, but with that too, like you also gotta keep the ungodly influences outta your house, coming through on your phone and on your TV.That's just practical, right?It's, it's like, "God, would You, would You just protect us from all the darkness?"And then you're, you're watching, you know, basically like, likeOh, gosh, you justThere's so much smut now on Netflix.It's like hard to watch anything without something nasty coming up, right?But then that stuff comes into your home, and then you don't realize that you're actually creating connection to your children, whether they're seeing it or not.Yes.There's spiritual entities that are connected to these things.And so it's important that we practically guard our homes, right?Yeah.It's not being legalistic.It's being practical.When you commit to a life of sobriety, you should pray and trust God for healing, and then stop buying alcohol.That's, that's practical, right?If that's whatIf that's what God is calling you to do, then, then step into these practical areas.Like, when you build your life for God, read your Bible and do what it says.Now, that's called 0 That's called obedience.That's not really practical, but that's just obedience, right?And we, we need to walk in this way.Like I, I, I've talked to so many people that they, they've memorized the Word of God, but they don't do anything that it says to do.Amen.In church, we pray for God to protect us, and we have a security team.Praise God.Amen.And they're packing, all right?Whoo!Not just Bibles.One of my, one of my pro-gun buddies, he says this all the time.He's like, "God protects me, yes.But He also gave me discernment and a brain."Yeah.I'm not, I'm not trying to get you to start carrying a gun, but like-There, there is truth behind this.God fights for us and He can use you to defend your family in a tactical situation.Yeah.Right?Like we pray for God to protect our nation.And we also thank God, and we pray for those that are empowered to protect our nation.The men and women who lay their lives down every single day in our military.It's a godly assignment to serve our nation.God heals my body when I pray and when we lay hands on the sick, but He also called and raised up doctors.This is the last thing I'm going to say on this.And good food.Like w- like, doctors, you know, will perform surgery on your body, but like, your blood and, and the coagulation, all the stuff that, that's a work of God that takes place, right?God's still working.God can guide the hands of a surgeon, right?Like I've talked to so many doctors.We, we have some in our church.Like they've seen more miracles than most of us have.Where somebody prayed and they come back in, they're like, "I don't know.You were going to die, but now you're not."That's a miracle.Even Luke, in the Bible, who wrote the, the Gospel of Luke, he was a doctor.And he recorded the miracles of Jesus.God gives us spiritual power and practical power.Nehemiah 4:14, it says, "And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, 'Do not be afraid of them.Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.'" We keep inviting people to our church to encounter Jesus.We keep building our homes and our families around His word, around worshiping Him.All of this to remind us exactly what Nehemiah is doing to remind the people.Like we serve an awesome God.Amen.We serve an amazing God.Keep your focus on Him.Don't worry about everyone that's coming around, who's critical and trying to cause division or break things up, or make you feel like you're not doing things in the way that, that God has called you to.To make you doubt.Yes, sir.Don't, don't, don't worry about what they're saying.Remember that God is good and He's faithful.Yes, sir.Remember that God is with you.That, that your heart is connected to Him.Look out for one another.Know that God is doing something great in your lives.Don't forget the work that He's doing in your heart and life.Nehemiah 4:15-17, "When our enemies heard that it was known to us that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction and half held the spears, shields, bows and coats of mail, and the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah who were building on the wall."I love this, in, in verse 20 it says, "Our God will fight for us."Again, God is with you.God is for you, and He will fight for you.Amen.And there's practical ways that we can go about doing the work that God has called us to do.Again, we've got security.We've got people in different areas in ministry here in this church and out in the community.There's a strategy to it, again, empowered by the Holy Spirit.So we started in chapter 4, but I want to, I want to go back now to, to chapter 3.'Cause it's really powerful.Wh- when, when you read it, it kind of feels like you're going through the Book of Numbers because it's just this list of all of these names of all these different people.I don't, I'm not, I don't have the scripture up here, you've got to go look it, look it up.But it has all of these names of all of these people and it's the behind the scenes, it's, it's entire families and groups of people that are getting involved in the work with Nehemiah.That are building the walls back up and it starts listing them all off.It's- it's- it's leaders and families, sons and daughters who were willing to get their hands dirty.And- and when I look at this list, it reminds me of, like, almost like the credits in a movie.And so my- my- my third point this morning is God is taking notes.The final credits.Like I lo- I love movies.Um, I love- I love making movies and videos.It's one of the things that I- I really enjoy getting to do and that I've had the unique opportunity t- to do for- for years.And, um, a few years ago I had the privilege of getting to shoot, uh, a series of documentaries.Um, it was- it was a Christian documentary series.It was really cool and I was one of the camera operators and we had multiple teams all around the country filming for this documentary.It was really cool.I actually never saw the movie, um, but I saw the parts that I shot and it was great.Um, the stuff I did was good.But, uh, no, the movies were great and, uh, I got a text from somebodyAgain, this was- this was years ago.I got a text from somebody saying that they saw my name in the end credits of- of this movie at the theater.And I was like, "Man, that's wild."That had to have been like 4 minutes in that you sat there and read all the names of all the people.I don't know anybody else that does that.Th- like, I know if you're watching, like, a Marvel movie, you wanna wait till the end because there might be, like, an Easter egg.Like something that comes up.But, like, there was no Easter egg in this movie.And- and this- this- this person just waited for- for at least, you know, 5, 10 minutes, you know, before they saw my name.And, uh, the movie credits are- are the list of all the people who helped make the movie, right?You've got your actors, you've got your directors, producers, camera operators, colorists, editors.They even have, like- like sections for the people that made the food for the people on set.The stunt people, like, all- all these different positions, right?Nehemiah 3 is the end credits for who built and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.The families, the high priests, the worship leaders, fathers rebuilding with their sons and daughters.They fixed every part of the wall, they worked on every gate in the city.They all worked hard together to build.And if you- if you read through this list, it's an impressive list.It's kind of like when I- when I look at our list of all the names of people in our church that serve.The list of all the names of people that attend our church, that call Full Life their home.Like, I pray over this list.I pray over your names.And it's- it's amazing to see how many people are a part of what God is doing here.It's an impressive list.I wanna invite the worship team back up.If you look in your Bible and go to Nehemiah 3 and look at verse 5.Again, it starts naming off all these l- names, verses 1 through 4, and then after that there's this one line that just, like, has shook me And it says, Nehemiah 3:5.It says, "But their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.""But their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord."Agai- it- it's- it's interesting because chapter 3, it's this long list of names of all the people that were- that were building.But then there's like this half verse dedicated to show us that not everyone in Jerusalem was on board.That not everybody there was a part of the building process, not everyone was willing to- to work.It said, again, their nobles would not stoop down.Stoop.Such a lowly word, so demeaning that they wouldn't humble themselves from their noble position to build what God had called the people to build.They wouldn't stoop down to serve the Lord.The same Lord, the same God who sent Nehemiah to build.And if God were writing the end credits of this church, if God were putting together a chapter of all of the names of the people involved in building God's kingdom in our city, in our homes, in our schools, in our companies, in this church.If God were to have a chapter written about his kingdom was- was built here in Franklin, Tennessee, would your name be on the list?Would your name be on the list?How would it be on the list?Because, again, the builders were on the list, the critics also get a mention, and then this half verse for the nobles who would not stoop to serve the Lord, they also get mentioned because God is taking notes Right.God is taking notes on who is a- a part of building his kingdom.And, and, and I- you, you can, you can take this word and you can r- even, even the way I'm delivering right now, my heart just breaks that anyone would feel like this is meant to condemn or bring guilt upon anyone.That's not the heart of it 'cause there's been seasons in my life where I've been the critic.There's been seasons of my life where I've been the noble.And I wouldn't stoop to that level.No, I'm called to the platform.No, I'm called to this position.No, no, no, I have to have this title if I'm gonna do this.There's been seasons in many of our lives when we've been so fixated on building the Kingdom of God and it's been beautiful, it's been powerful, but then for whatever reason, we start to criticize a little bit.We start to criticize how somebody else is building.We start to criticize how, how, how this church is doing this and, and that church is doing that.Or, or, "This family, man.I, I don't know what they'reDo they even give?Do they even tithe?Like, they're always doing this, they're always doing"Like, we start to play these games and compare.And our name gets listed with a little asterisk next to it.Would your name be listed as a builder who prays and builds and resists opposition?The critic who complains, who causes confusion and doesn't really help the situation?Or would you be like the noble, for whatever reasonI don't know theI, I don't always know the reason, other than pride.Whatever the reason, chose to sit out during this project, during this building of the wall.Again, all 3 of these, they made it onto the list, because God's taking notes.And the critics and the nobles, they all benefited from the work of the builders.They, they all got to live safely behind the walls, protected.They benefited from what God was, was doing even though they weren't a part of doing it with the Lord.Again, it's not condemnation.It's not a call-out.It's an invitation for us to be all in as Kingdom builders.To pray like your faith can move mountains.Amen.To trust God like He's your only hope.To parent like you're raising up giant-slayers.To lead people to Christ like you're building an army.To disciple brothers and sisters, no matter how messy it gets.To use the, the spiritual gifts and resources God has given you to grow the Kingdom.And, and the reason that I, that I had my, mythis caveat before we received communion is 'cause I want us to pray.I want us to repent.Like, 'cause I, I'm repenting today, because there's been moments in my life where I've been the noble and I haven't asked the Lord for forgiveness because I wouldn't stoop to that level and my pride wouldn't let me.I've criticized the church.I've caused confusion.I've caused division.I can look back on those seasons in my life and I need to repent, because I want to be all in and I don't want those voices to come back ever again.I don't want that pride to start welling up within me to make me think that I'm noble.It's time to repent and turn away from living for noble, our noble selves.It's time to repent and, and shut down the voices, the critical lies that we've been believing about ourselves or been believing about others.It's time to, to shut those things down and build.Spiritual and practical.God is calling you right now.And, and, and m- and many of us in this room, I would say all of us in this room, God is calling you to a place that you have not yet imagined.And it's not gonna look like you thought it was going to be.It's going to be better because our God is better.He has the best for us.But we have to take a step.We have to start building.We have to pick up a hammer and pick up a sword and say, "Let's go.Put me in."Here's my call out here.Some of you guys are prophetic in this room, but you don't prophesy to the body.Some of you have been blessed financially and you don't give to the church and you don't give to those that are in need.Some of you have the gift of intercession, but you don't intercede for anyone or anything other than yourself.All of us have been given gifts and talents by Godbut for some of us, they've atrophied because they haven't been used, because we're waiting on someone to notice us instead of jumping in and choosing to be proactive.Like, I don'tAs a pastor, I, I don't have time, I don't have time to, to run with people that just wanna play games, that, that need to be noticed, that need to be coddled.Like, I'll walk with you, I'll disciple you, but I'm trying to get you to solid food as quickly as possible.Get off the milk.All of us are called to preach the gospel.Jesus called all of us to preach the gospel.You don't need a platform to do it.He called us all to make disciples who make disciples, but not all of us are willing to humble ourselves and build others up.