Kingdom Re-Build - Nehemiah 6-12 // Nick Serban IV

Message Transcript:

Who's got your Bibles?Yeah.Yeah, get your Bible.We're in Nehemiah.This is the, the final week of our series in the Book of Nehemiah.And here's the thing, if you missed all 4 weeks, that's okay.I'm gonna give you the recap right now.Um, so y- you're not, you're not left behind.But, uh, here's what's so great about Jesus.Here's what's so great about this series.Jesus is building a kingdom, and his church is at the center of it.Amen?In Ephesians 3, chapterOr, I'm sorry, Ephesians 3:10 it says, "His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms."It's through the Church that God wants to build His kingdom, and that's us.We are the Church.And just giving you the, the recap here, Nehemiah was a slave to the King of Persia, and he heard about the people and the city of Jerusalem in ruins.So he prayed and fasted, and then he took action.He traveled almost 1,000 miles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the people.And so through this series, we've seen the heart of Nehemiah, his grit and his commitment in doing work for the kingdom.We saw the focus of Nehemiah and the people that were working with him, and we saw how critics and opposition didn't slow down Nehemiah in this process.So today, we're in Nehemiah 6, and, uh, in thisAs we get into this, we're seeing the walls of Jerusalem getting finished.And then today, uh, we're actually gonna see the results of Nehemiah and his team finishing what they started.They didn't just start the project, but they actually finished it.Come on, somebody.By itself, it's, it's amazing that they finished the job in the short term, but also there's major long-term results from finishing this project, and we're gonna look at that.Uh, if you're taking notes, write this down.Stay focused, stay truthful, stay in prayer.And last week, if you watched, uh, our online only service with the, uh, the ice storm that came through, um, you'll know that we looked at Nehemiah 5.And Nehemiah was settling all these civic disputes and issues.Uh, he had been named the governor of, of Jerusalem, and, uh, just as the work is almost finished, the villains and the, and the critics and these guys that were against him started showing up again and making threats.And we'reThat's what we're gonna look at here in Nehemiah 6.It says, "Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, although up to that time I had not set up the doors to the gates, Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, 'Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirah in the plain of Ono.'" They intended, but they intended to do me harm.Sanballat and, uh, Tobiah, theyAgain, they've already been spreading all these rumors.They've been causing all these issues in the building process and building the Kingdom of God and opposing this great work.Um, but now they, they're sending a notice to him that say, "Hey, let's have a meeting.Now that you're getting close to finishing the job, like, let's meet.Like, let's, let's talk about this."And they, and they wanna do this in the plain of Ono.Everybody say, "Ono."Ono.Ono, we're going to Ono, right?That's supposed to funny.All right, cool.Thank you, thank you, thank you for the laugh.That's great.Ono is an area 30 miles away from the Philistine border, which are enemies.These areThe Philistines are enemies of the, the Israelites.And for Nehemiah to go there, he would have to leave the wall, obviously, right?To get to that place.He had to leave the wall, he had to leave the City of Jerusalem and put his life at risk by going to a place that's bordering his enemies.But it was a trap, right?Insert the Star Wars character, "It's a trap!"Right?They intended to do him harm and get his kingdom, get this kingdom builder to stop building for God and to take him out.A- and, and hear me today, the devil hates that you wanna build your life for God.The devil hates that you wanna raise your family and your kids to serve the Lord.He hates every decision that you make.He hates every action step that you take to becoming more and more like Jesus.He hates it.He opposes it, and he wants to do everything he can to stop you in that pursuit.There are people even who will oppose you in that process as you're building your life for God.And they will oppose how you live for God.And just a funny note here.You should never meet your enemies in a place called Ono.That's just, that's just asking for trouble, right?Ono.Ono.When distractions come to take our focus off our lives for God, recognize that some of the things that we may allow in our homes or on our screens are an opportunity for the enemy to pull us away from God and pull us into danger and pull us into temptation.Sometimes there's bad influences, there's poor decisions, or temptations to move away from a life built with God, and it's important that we recognize that.It's important that we respond like Nehemiah responded here in Nehemiah 6.And it says, "And I sent messengers to them, saying, 'I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.'" Can you say that with me?"I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.""'Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?' And they sent to me 4 times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner," which is awesome.This comment that he makes, it needs to become a regular quote in our lives, right?Ge- get it in your heart."I am doing a great work."work.""And I cannot come down."All right.You don't have to repeat it anymore, all right?You're good.I'm gonna say it a few more times.When you're tempted to quit serving the Lord-You need to say, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."When you're dealing with pressure to compromise your faith or your integrity, you need to start saying, "I'm doing a great work right now.God is working in my life and I cannot stop, I cannot come down in this moment."When you're dealing with resistance in your flesh, in your mind, in your job, or even from your family about your walk with the Lord, our response needs to be, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."You and I need to tell the devil and tell our flesh and let the culture know that we as a church, we as a people, are doing great work and we cannot come down.The distractions often feel worth responding to with leaving your work when there's a, a deeper struggle going on in our lives.Building your life for God is difficult.Somebody say Amen.Amen.It's difficult, and it can cause discomfort.And the process of becoming like Jesus is not easy.There are seasons of our life where the temptation to quit is increased many times because we're afraid of failing.When you read your Bible and you begin to do what it says, it gets harder and harder to follow the Lord.And when God gives you direction in your life or even just like Nehemiah, ha- had your heart so moved that you have to step out into action and we finally get into it, we can start questioning God, saying, "I thought that this would be easier."Right?Yeah."I thought youGod, you called me to this, so why aren't all the doors opening up in the way that I thought they would?"Or, "Why isn't this happening the way that I thought?"Like, we can start to question God when things get hard because s- for whatever reason, maybe it's culture, maybe it's something else, but we expect that a life of God should be easy.Yes.Rather than recognizing that we are able to face the hard with God.Yeah.And that those are 2 things completelyYou can have an easy life apart from God.Yeah.But you can have a great life, a hard life, walking with Jesus.Amen?Amen.Don't know why my screen keeps going off.Again, this is a, this is a big thing, and this is, this hits home for me.Again, we can think about all that would be required of youto actually do the thing that God has called you to do, and we can start talking ourselves out of doing the work or we start to procrastinate and we put the work off to a later time, because it's, it doesn't necessarily feel urgent in the moment.But the longer that you prolong actually stepping up and doing what God's called you to do, you're really just prolonging the feeling of failing.Re- really, prep- procrastination is- isn't like a ADHD, ADD diagnosis.I think, I think myself included, we, we over-diagnose or we, uh, we, we, we over, uhYeah, I guess it's over-diagnose, but we, we, um, over-connect with phrases like, "Oh, I've got ADD," or, "I've got ADHD," or, "I've got this," or, "I've g-" or, "I'm a- I'm just a chronic procrastinator," or whatever it is, and we can just accept these things about ourselves.But really, procrastination is putting off what we know we have to do- Yeah.because we're afraid of failure.Because we're afraid that, "If I don't do this to the, the very best of the ability that I think that I can, then I'm failing."Rather than actually stepping up and doing something, going in the direction that God has called me to go.Yeah.Like, uh, church, we can't be a church that procrastinates on, on the call that God has for us, because then we wake up one day and say, "Oh, I was serving the Lord, I just wasn't doing the things that He told me to do."And then we wonder why our life is a mess.We, we, we need to be adamant about pursuing what God has called us to do and not get down off the wall to mess with all these things to distract us.Yeah.There are so many distractions, there are so many things to satisfy your discomfort in this world and in this life, and yet you can, you can walk in comfort or you can walk in the kingdom.Yeah.Again, we make excuses and think, "Oh, this doesn't feel urgent," and we think this isn't a big deal.But we look at Nehemiah.Nehemiah, he's rebuilding the City of God and the people of God.He's too busy doing something great for God to come down.May- again, we can, we can play this game of like, "Oh, you know, we need to get rid of this language of saying that I'm busy all the time."Uh, have you guys seen a- any of those videos where it's like, "Oh, stop saying you're busy, just d- start to make time, make margin"?Can we be found busy as a church doing the things of God?Can we be found busy improving our, our lives and bearing fruit and continuing to walk hand in hand with the Lord?Like, when was the last time your kids caught you praying?When was the last time your, your, your spouse caught you reading your Bible?When was the last time that somebody in your workplace walked up and you were listening to a, a, a, a Christian podcast or you're, you're listening to the Word of God, listening to worship music?Can we be found, can we get caught being busy growing in the Lord?So here's what they did.Nehemiah, he didn't have time for the, the, the dramatic people, all the drama, trauma, daddy, mama, so they threatened him, and they came at him with lies.In Nehemiah 6:5-7 it says, "In the same way, Sanballat for the 5th time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.In it was written, 'It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel.'" Again, rebelling a- against the king who let him come out and build this wall."'And that is why you are building the wall.And according to these reports, you wish to become their king.And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem that there is a king in Judah.And now the king of Persia will hear of these reports.So now, come and let us take counsel together.'" Again, these, these, these are all blatant lies that he's throwing out there.Since they wouldn't stop the work, now all I can do is lie about you.Right?Listen, when you say yes to doing something for God and living your life for God, remi- be reminded again that the devil hates it.Yeah.The devil hates you.And he is the father of lies, and he will use lies in the mouths of others, he will even use lies in your own mind to get you to stop doing the thing that God has called you to do.Yeah.To stop living your life worthy of the Gospel.He'll even, again, whisper to you all of the times that you have failed.He will whisper to you all of the, the moments where you tried and you gave it your all, but fell flat on your face.And he's gonna accuse you of being prideful- Yeah.being self-centered.Like, "Why do you gotta put these boundaries up between these people?"You know?"Are they really, uh, you know, you think you're so much better, you think you're so much greater?"Right?The, the, there's so many things that begin to come into your mind in those moments, and he will belittle what God has spoken to you for your life and for your family.Church, we have to stay on the wall.Like, don't come down off the wall.Don't stop pursuing the Lord and all that he's called you to.When gossip is thrown your way, it's a distraction deployed by the devil to get you defensive, to distract you from reaching your designed destiny.But I love this, how Nehemiah responds here in Nehemiah 6:8-9."Then I sent to him saying, 'No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.'" I love that."'For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from their work and it will not be done.But now, oh God, strengthen my hands.'" Nehemiah shows us again the power of prayer.I do- I don't know if you remember back in the series, at the very beginning of this call, the first thing that Nehemiah does when he, when he hears about the problems in Jerusalem, what does he do?He drops to his knees, begins to pray and fast, making prayer our first response.Prayer should be our first response here.In Nehemiah 6:14 it says, "Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, oh my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid."This is a prayer.Nehemiah is saying, "God, would you remember these people who have slandered me?"Right."Would you remember these people who have come against me and tried to intimidate me and, and, and put me in a place of fear?"He's, he's putting 'em on blast, but he's putting 'em on blast with God.Right.Right?And again, and again, he could've easily gotten up publicly in front of everybody and said, "Let me dispel all of these lies and all of these rumors!"But it would've required Nehemiah to get off the wall.Yeah.It would've required Nehemiah to stop.And so what he does is he says, "God, you handle it."Right."God, you handle it."He didn't get on social media and call them out without saying their name.I know y'all know what I'm talking about.I've seen people do this.They, they get on social media and, and they write these big paragraphs and they start talking smack about somebody, but they never say the person's name.But all of their friends know exactly who they're talking about, right?Fake news.Fake news.Yeah, whatever.Some of y'all have done it, that's why you're quiet right now.It's okay, I love you.Nehemiah didn't do this.He put them on his prayer list, which is pretty cool.Instead of putting them on the, the blacklist, he put them on the prayer list.And he prayed very clearly, "God, get 'em."Yeah.God, get 'em.Never forget what they've done, and let God handle it.Listen, God can take your honest prayers like that.And we've talked about that these last few weeks.Like there, there are moments where I haveand, and you, you can fight me theologically on this, there are moments where I've prayed, "God would you ruin this person's life, so that they'd come back to You?"Yeah.And it'sand, and I look at Psalms because David prayed this constantly.He's like, "God, my enemies are surrounding me, they're coming against me.Like would, would you destroy my enemies so that they'd come back to You?So They'd begin to serve You again?"And don't worry, I haven't prayed that prayer for anyone here in this church.I love you all.Most of you, I love all of you.Most of you, okay.I love this.God can take your honest prayers and, and when you're dealing with opposition or pressure about your life with God, you need to stay focused.You need to stay focused on living for God and building a life for God, and stay prayerful.Um, I'm gonna get in trouble for this but, you know, it's, it's all good.There's this really fun song, um, called Try Jesus.I don't know if you've heard it before.It's not a Christian song.Um, but it, the, the words go like this, it says"Try Jesus, not me.'Cause I'll throw hands.Try Jesus, don't try me.Because I'll fight."And some of y'all, you know, if, if you've only been saved for a little while, you used to fight people whenever they started fighting you, whenever they started gossiping about you.And, and it, it's, it's a funny song, it's not, uh, theologically deep.I wouldn't go listen to it thinking that we're gonna start singing it on Sunday morning.Um, but some of y'all remember before you got saved, if somebody came withcame at you with threats, like you were gonna throw hands, right?If somebody came at you with gossip, like you were gonna bow out your chest and you were gonna say something.You were gonna get back at them.But, but scripture is so clear here that we would say to God, "God would you handle this?"Yeah.Like, "Try Jesus.Don't try me."Like you can, you can come at me but just remember, just like we, we talked about in worship, look who's standing behind me.Yeah.Right.Let me magnify how big and great my God is, compared to the enemies that are coming against me.Right.Compared to the circumstances that may come our way, compared to the lies that are spoken, even that I hear in my, in my thought patterns and, and the corruption of my heart.You can try Jesus but you can't try me.Because I'm just gonna deflect to my King, and He's gonna handle it for me.Again, this needs to be our prayer.That reminder that I'm doing great work for God.And if you step towards me, if you come at me, if you come at my family, if you come at my spouse, if you come at my church and the, and the people that I'm in community with, just know that Jesus is fighting for me.That's right.Just know that my God is gonna take care of this.That I don't have to lay a hand on you or say any ill thing about you.Pray for Jesus to protect you.Pray for Jesus to defend you.Pray for Jesus to handle those problems.And that God keeps your hands strong in the work that you are doing.Pray that God keeps you focused.Every one of us are gonna face threats, we're gonna face lies from people, but really, it, it, it's between our own ears, it's in our own mind, where we have to fight the fear of failing.We have to fight the fear that we're doing this all on our own when in reality we're not.We're doing this with the Lord.That's right.Remember, I'm doing a great work, I cannot come down.Stay focused and prayerful.Write this down, uh, number 2.Build until you finish.Yes.Nehemiah 6:15 says, "So the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month Elul, in 52 days."It took 52 days- Come on.to rebuild the entire wall of Jerusalem.They rebuilt it all in less than 2 months.It was a, a 2mile perimeter around the city, and they built it all in 52 days.Like, like, this is wild, just in our context, because if you work in, like, construction or real estate, like, y'all know, it takes, like, 3 to 6 months just to get a permit to build something.Right?If I wanted to build a detached garage on my house, like, I gotta go get a permit.It's gonna take me a while to make it happen.But they finished the entire city walls from rubble piles, with, with no big machinery.They didn't have black cats and, and construction equipment.And they had an untrained labor force along with that.And the enemy opposing them, they were having to walk around with a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other, and they were still able to finish this in 52 days.Listen, when you build for God, God will build with you.Amen.And He will move you forward at His pace.Yeah.It's miraculous speed that we get to move at when we are partnered with the Lord.That's why it, it, it's so amazing, like if, if you're having issues with your marriage and you've been struggling for years to, to communicate and all these things, when, when Jesus begins to become the center of your life, all of those issues that took years and years to face can be accomplished and brought back into unity in a matter of days.That's right.In a matter of moments.D- deep issues that you've had with, with family or people connected to you in your workplace, that you may be constantly, like you avoid these people as much as possible, and every time you're around them, you're just like, you know, ready for the trigger warning to start hitting, God can make a way for unity and forgiveness at His pace and His speed, that if we'll just lean on Him and trust Him, it's a miracle that takes place.Yeah.When we're trying to strive and do things in our own strength, it's gonna take a whole lot longer.And I just wanna say this, that in 2026, in this year, we as a church are moving at God's pace.on.Godspeed.Our church is growing, it's changing.We're deepening our discipleship with our, with our small groups.In this, this semester, we're foc- focusing on biblical application.We're seeing God move mountains, uh, with miracles and testimonies of transformation.Like I, I've been hearing stories from, from some of y'all in the church where I, I, you know, I say it from the platform and I, and I mean it when I, when I say these things, when Jesus said to us that we would do greater things than He ever did.And what did Jesus do?He, He raised the dead, He cast out demons, and He healed the sick, right?Well, I've been hearing stories of, of people in our church who have cast out demons in people in their workplace.Yes.There's been miracles that have taken place where people are laying hands on people at, at, at Target and Walmart, and, and, in different conversations.There's Bible studies getting started in different workplaces from people all, all, all across this church.There's testimonies of God moving and we have so many things that we're beginning to move into, and we're doing it with the Lord.Amen?Amen.Again, depression and anxiety is leaving, and God's peace is overwhelming us.There's connections and kingdom networking, open doors, favor, job promotions, uh, businesses that are launching, all moving at God's speed, all moving at God's pace.Do you wanna move at God's speed?Yeah.Then begin to build with Him.Begin to walk with Him.We are living worthy of the Gospel and becoming more like Jesus, and moving at God's pace and speed in this year.And really, because we cannot afford to move slowly.We cannot afford to procrastinate with what God has put on our hearts, the urgency to reach the lost and disciple more followers of Jesus in this city.God is not done with our church, and God has called us to keep building and rebuilding the Church of Jesus Christ at His pace.Again, if, if, if they can build, rebuild the wall in 52 days, imagine what God can do in the next 52 days at our church.Yeah.Comeon.When we begin to build with Him and build our lives around Him.Not only did they finish in 52 days, but it's kind of obvious here, they actually finished what they started.They finished the work.Everyone say, "They finished."They finished.Most people don't finish what they start.And this is gonna feel like a call-out, and this is a call-out to me too, 'cause I d- I've already dropped a couple of my New Year's resolutions.But, uh, 60% of people don't finish the books they start.80% of people don't fulfill their New Year's resolutions.And 32% of college students drop out and don't complete their degrees.Most people struggle to finish what they start.But Nehemiah and his people, that not only did they start building, but they finished building.Yeah.And here's, and this is gonna feel like kind of a dumb statement, but like, it wouldn't have finished if they didn't finish it.Right?Yeah.And the greatest part of finishing is finishing.Like, it- it- it- when you finish something, it's just this feeling of like, "Yes!Come on!"And this is what it's all about.Like, Go- God has called us to finish the race.God has called us to finish strong.One of the- the best things you can do for God is finish this life that you are building for God, finish what you started.Jesus taught this, even in the parable of the foolish builder who doesn't count the cost and determine to finish.I wanna tell you-that what you start for God, you need to finish for God.Amen.If you start following Jesus, don't stop until you're 6 feet under.Yeah.Again, one of the most spiritual things you can do is finish.Finish your promises.Finish building your family to live for God.Finish doing the thing that you say you're gonna do.And finish this life knowing God and living worthy of the Gospel of Jesus.Building your life for God's kingdom.That when you stand before God, you hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."Yeah.It's finishing well.Nehemiah 6:16 says that, "And when all our enemies heard of it," heard of- of the- the finishing of the walls, "all the nations around us were afraid-" So great." and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God."Wow.I love that.God gets all the glory, even from their enemies.Amen.All the credit.Everyone who tries to criticize you are gonna go away when you finish the work, when you- when you say, "I'm not coming down off this wall."Your committed action will speak louder than your words.Let God prove Himself.Let God throw hands and fight for you.Let God put fear in the enemy, that he'll think twice before messing with you.Amen?Number 3, keep building and everyone is blessed.I love- I love this last part of the Book of Nehemiah.It's really exciting.Uh, uh, we're- again, some of you know we're not gonna read through the entire book, but I just wanna hit some of these highlights.But how many of you would say that it's a blessing to bless others?Yeah.How many of you would say it's a blessing to build something so that other people can be blessed?Yeah.This is what happens here in Nehemiah 7."Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hania- Hananiah, the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was more faithful and God-fearing man than many."Notice this.Once the city walls were built, it was time to empower and raise up leaders.Yeah.Come on.Gatekeepers, singers, Levites.A- all these people who were in- in civic leadership.People to actually rule the city and rule this kingdom that was built.And none of these leaders would've had anything to lead unless Nehemiah finished building.Right?There- there would be nothing for them to step into and- and- and begin to- to work on if the work had not been finished.Right.Nehemiah 7:3-4, it says, "And I said to them, 'Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot.And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors, appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some of their guards- some of the- some of their guard posts and some in front of their own homes.'" Listen, we as a church wanna see hundreds and thousands of people come to know Jesus.Right.I- I've- I've shared this statistic before, but just in Franklin, only 40% of the people that live here attend church.Wow.That means there's 60%-of people all across this city and across this county, the numbers are even gr- greater outside of our county, of people that are not following Jesus.But God is calling us to build something, to build His kingdom, so that more and more people will come to know Jesus and live worthy of the Gospel.And, and here's what's so great is, and for the last 20 years here in this, in this, in this location, we've seen leaders, pastors and missionaries grow up and called up to serve the Lord all around the world, and be sent out from this place.And, and, and we've seen this happening, people serving the Lord and making a difference in their church and in this city.And I believe that people are gonna bless the Lord because we build for Him.Nehemiah 7, "The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt."So now Nehemiah wants the citythe walls were done, and then the city was rebuilt.We read the rest of the story, and you actually see the, just the blessing upon blessing that's poured out because of what was built by Nehemiah.You can, you can, you can throw that up there, Eric.In chapter 7, 42,360 exiles returned home.In chapter 7, overall generosity increased.In chapter 8, the focus on scripture increase, and the days and festivals of worship were restored.In chapter 9, revival breaks out among the whole nation.And then in chapter 10, covenants and commitments to God are restored.And then finally in chapter 11 and 12, godly leaders are established.And all these blessings become the result of Nehemiah building for God.The future changed.Future generations were affected, because he said yes to the call of God and began to take action.When we live our whole life for God and finish with Him, future generations will hear of the wonders of God.My kids, my grandkids, and my great-grandkids will be enriched and know God, because I committed to build my life around Him.Come on.Right?Yeah.But I'm, I'm, I'm evidence of this.Like both of my grandparents are pastors.A, aMy, my grandfather, Pops, is, is here today.And even before they became pastors, they chose to make Jesus the center of their households.They raised up my parents, my, my aunts and uncles and, and their grandchildren.My, my dad and my, and my pops, they both baptized me, and now they get to, to witness their great-grandkids getting baptized as well, and serving Jesus.Like I'm telling you, there, there are people that are gonna come after you, not just in your family, but in your workplace who will be enriched and blessed because you chose to build your life for Jesus.Yeah.Yeah.You may think that your life is just a, a small blip 00 on the timeline of, of this world, but your small blip has the ability to be a ripple effect- Yeah.for those around you- Yeah.if you'll choose to follow Him in this way, your coworkers' lives will be changed.We celebrate that God is changing our families, our companies, our city, our church, as we build our lives with Him, and there's a real blessing that comes when we build that life for Him.Yet everything we read at the end of the book was actually an answer to Nehemiah's prayer in chapter 1.I wanna read this again for you.Nehemiah 1:8-9, Nehemiah says, "Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are faithfulun- 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.'" Yeah.Everything that happened to Nehemiah was because God said it all first.Nehemiah prayed it.Remember, he, he was reminding the Lord, "God, remember what you said.Remember your word.Remember you said you will gather them and bring them to a place and make your name dwell with them."And that's exactly what happened, and he's walking in that blessing and walking in the miracle.God did everything that He promised, everything that He promised.And church, I'm here to tell you today, we serve the same God today- Yeah.Amen.who will do everything that He's promised to do when you build your life around Jesus.I wanna invite our worship team.Church, when you build your life around Jesus and live worthy of the Gospel no matter what, let God handle the haters and those who will try to pull you away.God will fulfill the promises that He's made in your life.God will do for you what He did for Nehemiah.We're building the Kingdom of God.We're building our homes.We're building up our families.We're building up our children.We're building up our, our, our friends and our, our, our coworkers.And it's something to re- remember that it's not our kingdom.It's not all on you.And I, I, I even go back to just speaking to the fear of failure.Sometimes we, we prolong the work, because we think that we're all alone in the process.We think that it's, it's just me.But you're not alone today.You're not building by yourself.Don't go off to the land of Ono and get distracted.Oh, no.But keep doing the work that God has called you to do.Stay on the wall.Don't quit.Be faithful-to our king.