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Nehemiah chapter 4 the Bible reads in verse 1 but it came to pass that when Senballat heard that we builded the wall he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. Now remember last Sunday night I preached about Nehemiah and I preached through chapters 1 2 & 3. I'm just gonna give a quick review of what I covered in that sermon. I don't want to re-preach that sermon but I really want to preach about Nehemiah chapter 4. The title of the sermon is The Enemies of Nehemiah. The enemies of Nehemiah. But first let me just bring you up to speed quickly in the story. If you remember in chapter 1 Nehemiah is living in Persia in Shushan the palace and he hears the report about how bad things are going for the Jews and he's very upset about it. He prays to the Lord. He fasts and in chapter 2 he goes to the king and he asks the king if he might be allowed to go back and build the wall of Jerusalem and just miraculously amazingly the king allows him to do it and not only that gives him all the materials he's gonna need to do it sends troops with them to protect him it was just truly amazing how God blesses him because he has this great vision and he truly loves the Lord he loves the people of God and he sets out to do a great work for God. At the end of chapter 2 he gives his vision to the people he shows great leadership he rallies the people and in chapter 3 they're building the wall they're setting up the gates everything's going great and when we get into chapter 4 is where we see the opposition begin to build to what Nehemiah is doing. See Nehemiah is a great man of God he's doing a great work for God and anytime anyone man woman boy or girl attempts to do something for God attempts to serve God in a great way there's definitely gonna be opposition to that. It's not just gonna go forward smoothly and a lot of times in our lives we make plans about how things are gonna go and and what our goals are and what we're gonna do step A step B but what we don't often plan for is all the setbacks and all the attacks and all the enemies and all the adversaries but take it to the bank anytime you do something great for God those things are gonna be there and you'll be better at handling it if you know that going in if you realize that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. In John chapter 16 Jesus said these things have I spoken unto you that you would not be offended and then he goes on to explain that people are gonna be persecuted they're gonna be thrown in jail they're gonna be hated of their own family and then at the end he said these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I've overcome the world so it's always just good to know going in there are going to be adversaries there's going to be tribulation there's going to be opposition to anything you try to do for the Lord whether that's you trying to raise your family for the Lord maybe you're a mother that's about to start homeschooling your kids just get ready for the attacks from family and friends trying to stop you from homeschooling your kids and pulling them out of the public fool system you know let's say you want to join a good soul-winning Church or let's say you move your family to go to a good soul-winning Church or or whatever step you take to serve the Lord you start preaching or soul-winning or let's say you're a young man and you go out and you start a church and you're sent out to to found a church in a new area there are going to be enemies they're going to be adversaries you've got to be ready for that opposition here's a great verse don't turn there but 1st Corinthians 16 9 says for a great door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many adversaries so those two things go hand in hand when the great door is open as in Nehemiah's case where God is just opening all kinds of doors for him and blessing him of course there are many adversaries so that's what we see in Nehemiah chapter 4 look at verse 1 it says but it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall he was Roth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews so when wicked people see you doing something great for God they're gonna get angry that's what Roth means they get mad and this may be hard for us to understand why it would make them mad that we're serving God but it does they get angry they get Roth but instead of just expressing their wrath right away a lot of times they'll take a different approach look what they did they were Roth and what they do mocked the Jews so they'll take the approach of laughing at making fun of or mocking you in the beginning it says in verse 2 and he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said what are these feeble Jews will they fortify themselves will they sacrifice will they make an end to the in a day will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him and he said even that which they build if a fox go up he shall even break down their stone wall uh-huh yeah so they start out by making fun and making a joke out of it and laughing now in their heart they know the work of God's real they know a fox isn't gonna knock over that wall they know it's not a joke but they try to mock it and make fun of it just to discourage people to try to discourage the workers discourage the Jews here discourage anyone who wants to help them or be a part of it so their first response is to laugh at it and make fun of it right but in their heart it's not funny to them in their heart they're Roth they're angry they're burning with indignation verse 4 is Nehemiah's response he prays about it he says hero our God for we are despised and turn their reproach upon their own head and give them for a prey in the land of captivity and cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders now when you look at verses 4 & 5 that might seem a little bit of a harsh response from Nehemiah because he's praying a pretty harsh imprecatory prayer against these guys he's praying a curse upon them and it's pretty harsh what he says and he says things like this throughout the book but I believe it's because in Nehemiah these guys Sanballat and Tobiah and Gisham they're not just your average unsaved people these are wicked people and when people hate the work of God and do everything they can to fight against the work of God they're usually extremely wicked people now the vast majority of unsaved people they you know forgive them father they know not what they do it's only a small minority that is so wicked that they would just actively fight against and attack the work of God and that's what these guys are like in this story Tobiah and Sanballat they're just rotten people just rotten to the core so they want to stop the work of God from going forward so Nehemiah praised such a harsh prayer about them it says in verse 6 so built we the wall and all the wall was joined together under the half thereof for the people had a mind to work but it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashtodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up and that the breaches began to be stopped then they were very rough because they're making fun of it didn't work they laughed at it they joked about it the work went forward nobody batted an eye Nehemiah and all the people kept on going and kept on working so now they're going to take a new approach you know making fun of it didn't work so then it says in verse 8 and conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it so now it's not enough to just talk bad about it make fun of it now they're actually going to get involved in a physical fight here I mean they want to come down and put a stop to the work of God here nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God and said a watch against them day and night because of them so we see here that Nehemiah's response is both to pray about it and also to take the necessary measures to protect themselves so we want to make sure that we always do both of those things when we're under attack see some people they want to rely exclusively on prayer but then just open themselves up and make themselves vulnerable to attack well that's not what the Bible teaches the Bible teaches the horse is prepared against the day of battle but safety is of the Lord so we want to rely on the Lord first and foremost and pray to him that's the main thing but then we also want to take precautions to protect ourselves and to defend ourselves now we don't want to go to the other extreme of just protecting ourselves and defending ourselves without going to the Lord and praying to him and relying on him we see Nehemiah does both here now it's funny you know I'm not a fan of Gandhi Gandhi was a hypocrite a liar a phony he's a Hindu he's burning in hell he taught a lot of lies and false doctrine there's one quote from Gandhi that I like though okay because even a broken clock is right twice per day and it's probably not even original with him but it's just funny how this quote actually goes with this chapter because who's ever heard that quote that says first they ignore you then they laugh at you then they fight you then they hate you then you win or I think I mix those up a little bit they ignore you laugh at you hate you fight you and then you win that's exactly what happens in this chapter so whoever came up with that quote might have gotten it from this chapter but it's so true how people will laugh at you make fun of you and then they'll come fight you but in the end if you're on the Lord's side you're always gonna win we're more than conquerors through him that loved us the Bible says and so the Bible says in verse number 10 and Judah said the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed and there is much rubbish so that we are not able to build the wall and our adversaries said they shall not know neither see till we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease and it came to pass when the Jews which dwelt by them came they said unto us ten times from all places when she shall return unto us they will be upon you now here we see kind of a low point in this chapter because we've got the enemy conspiring to fight against them and to kill them right but then we start getting some grumbling and complaining even from within their own group do you see that you've got people that are the workers and what are they saying oh the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed and there's much rubbish so that we're not able to build the wall so we have whiners and people who are saying that it can't be done we can't build it there's too much then take out the trash oh there's too much rubbish haul it away get rid of it find a way to get it done so Nehemiah as a leader he starts out and God's opening all the doors and everything's going great and it's awesome but then in chapter 4 reality sets in and when reality sets in what have you got you've got people that will spend their entire lives all they want to do is just to fight against him that's their biggest goal in life is just to fight the work of God then the next thing you know even to the point of being willing to commit violence then even from within his own ranks people start getting burned out you know when he first brought up the idea of hey let's build the wall everybody's excited but then the newness wears off the honeymoons over and you start getting people whining about how oh it's too hard we can't get it done so then he's got that that he's dealing with right then next thing you know we got people that are scared and afraid saying the enemy's everywhere you know they're coming at us from all sides they're gonna get us they're gonna be upon you so Nehemiah has got basically three different fires burning here three different problems he's got to deal with the outside enemy the whining grumblers who say it can't be done and then the scaredy cats who are afraid of the enemy so what does he do verse 13 therefore said I in the lower places behind the wall and on the higher places I even set the people after their families with their swords their spears and their bows and I looked and rose up and said into the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people be not ye afraid of them remember the Lord which is great and terrible and fight for your brother and your sons and your daughters your wives and your houses and it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us and God had brought their counsel to not that we returned all of us to the wall everyone unto his work so what's the answer when these type of enemies attack and when people are getting discouraged and down and they're afraid you know what you need is the reminder that God is gonna give us the victory Nehemiah gets up and he gives this great speech saying hey remember the Lord he's great he's terrible and fight fight for your brother five percent look don't just give in because there's an enemy don't just give in because it's hard don't just give in because you're being persecuted no you stand up you remember the Lord he's the great and terrible God he's gonna protect you and then you stand up and you fight you know and and by the way homeschooling mom fight for your sons and your daughters by the way the one who who wants to go out and start a church fight for that city you know fight for soul-winning fight for the right doctrine stand up and fight for your wives and for your daughters and for the sakes of your signs and for the sakes of those who are looking to you you've got to stand up and fight because the Lord is with you and not just fold like a deck of cards but there are so many people today they think that life is just gonna be easy and it's almost like they're shocked when when the opposition comes when the grumbling happens when the complaining happens when the enemies are with that and within they they they they're surprised but the Bible says think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you it's not strange it's the norm it's life now if you want to be a do-nothing for God yeah you can spend the rest of your life be in the cupbearer for the king of Persia but if you're gonna step out of the norm and you're gonna go to Jerusalem and you're gonna do a great work for God and you know they're gonna be problems there's gonna be stress they're gonna be headaches they're gonna be enemies you've got to keep your eyes on Jesus looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and it set down on the right hand of God look he endured we look to him we remember the Lord and that's what gets us through he says in verse number 15 it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us and God had brought their counsel to not that we returned all of us to the wall everyone into his work look if you resist the devil he'll flee from you just standing up and boldly preaching is what God had done Nehemiah got up a preacher said hey the Lord's gonna fight for us fear not we're trusting the Lord but not only are we trusting the Lord the great and terrible God we're also ready to fight we're gonna fight for our families we're gonna fight for the Lord and when they said that the devil flees see the devil thought they're just gonna be a sitting duck Sanballat and Tobiah and and and Gisham they thought they're just gonna come in and just they're just gonna be sitting ducks but when Nehemiah says oh no we're ready for you come at me bro you know then at that point the devil backed off why because of the fact that if you resist the devil he'll flee from you he'll flee from you that's what we see in this passage and then what does it say it says in the end of verse 15 that we were turned all of us to the wall everyone unto his work see real godly Christians real men and women of God and people who love the Lord where their heart really is it's not to just fight for the sake of fighting what we really want to do is we want to build the wall is what we want to do you know what we want to do is win people to Christ what we want to do is baptize them what we want to do is teach them to observe all things that Christ commanded we want to start churches and we want to plant seeds and and win souls to Christ and preach the Word of God and teach doctrine and teach the Bible we would love to dwell in peace and we strive as much as is possible within us to live peaceably with all men because it's about building the wall but when the enemy comes and brings the fight to us we've got to be ready to stand up for what's right and not to just fold like a deck of cards we don't go out looking for the fight you don't see me and my saying hey we're gonna go and we're gonna go attack sand ballot and we're gonna go after Tobiah we're gonna take the fight to them no no when the threats gone what do they do they say okay let's get back to work guys let's get back to the wall you don't just live your life constantly fighting against an enemy that's already been defeated there's a time we need to stand up and fight and and defend yourself and defend the church and defend your family but you know what then move on and focus on the real building and the work because we don't want the enemies to become such a distraction to where all we think about is just fighting the enemy and then we're not building anything you know Nehemiah and his troops here they could have got so caught up in fighting against the adversaries that the wall project would just go on the back burner but he didn't lose sight of what they're there to do we're here to build a wall okay and even as we fight even as we defend ourselves we're gonna continue to build the wall and when the threats gone we're gonna focus all our attention on building that wall because that's why we're here and so we need to do the same thing we need to never lose sight of our main mission as a church is to win people to Christ and to disciple people and train them and bring up our children in the nurture and ammunition of the Lord and to teach Bible doctrine yes fights will happen and and they will happen more and more frequently the more that we do for the Lord but we don't want to just get caught up to where it's just all about the fight to us make sure you're not just only a fighter be sure that you're a builder as well so it says that they went everybody back to his work look at verse 16 it came to pass from that time forth that the half of my servants rod in the work and the other half of them held both the spears and the shields and the bows and the haberjans and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah so now he's setting up guards and taking precautions but the work goes on the wall continues to be built verse 17 they which build it on the wall and they that bear burdens with those that lated everyone with one of his hands rod in the work and with the other hand held a weapon for the builders everyone had his sword girded by his side and so build it and he that sounded the trumpet was by me and I said unto the nobles into the rulers and the rest of the people the work is great and large and we're separated upon the wall one far from another in what place therefore you hear the sound of the trumpet resort ye thither unto us our God shall fight for us so this is a great picture of life you know the building goes on the work is paramount the work is our number one priority but you know what it's always just good to have the sword girded by our side so that we're ready to fight if necessary and that's the way that they lived and they were just ready for that sound of a trumpet that when they hear the sound of a trumpet they rally and they fight and they defend themselves likewise at the same time said I unto the people or I'm sorry look at verse 21 so we labored in the work and half of them held the Spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared likewise at the same time said I unto the people let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem that in the night they may be a guard to us and labor on the day so neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the guard which followed me none of us put off our clothes saving that everyone put them off for washing we took a shower but other than that man we were dressed we were ready to go we were ready to battle we kept working hard we focused on the task at hand but you know what we had a weapon and we had people looking out guard taking turns and we were ready even in our sleep to just jump out of bed and be prepared for the fight and that's the way life is that's reality you know if Nehemiah were only three chapters long and we just read chapters one two three we might just think okay life's a bed of roses all we got to do is pray and trust God and and we just do great works and just it's wonderful and it's like a prosperity gospel TV preacher where everything goes great and here's my private jet and look at all these jewels and everything but that's not the way life really is life's a continual struggle it's a battle it's a fight and the more you do for the Lord the more of a battle it's gonna be so count the cost if you want to just live a life of no struggle then you're just gonna take the path of least resistance and just float like a dead fish down the river but to serve the Lord you got to swim upstream against this world because the whole stream of the world and a lot of your relatives and a lot of your neighbors and a lot of the people around you are all going the wrong way and you have to start swimming the other way and say nope I'm pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus now in chapter 5 we get into a little more of the enemy within in chapter 4 we saw the enemy without and the enemy without was represented by Sanballat and Tobiah what do they do they laugh at and mock the work of God oh your church is meeting in a strip mall you have a real church building oh sorry we don't have bales shaft up on our on our rooftop sorry we don't have a pagan obelisk for you to worship you know what oh you're meeting in a strip mall you know what we're gonna meet in a strip mall until Jesus comes we will meet in a strip mall until doomsday we're just gonna keep getting a bigger strip mall you know eventually we'll just get into like a grocery store empty grocery store empty Walmart or something you know we're gonna stay in a strip mall and I and that's not a joke that's not a joke why because we're not trying to impress anybody we're trying to use our resources wisely for the glory of God and we're gonna do what makes sense financially and we're gonna be a good steward of the resources God gives us we're not just trying to have some impressive palace with a big obelisk on it not impressed with that at all and neither is the Lord but they mock the work of God they make fun of you like oh you're one of these homeschoolers you know oh you know oh what are you gonna start putting your wife and a skirted dress all the time and then you're even though your wife looks totally cool and stylish in her modest dresses they'll say she looks like Little House on the Prairie even though she looks as classy as they wish they looked but then they'll say like oh you know it's Little House on the Prairie people came up to her says a prairie dress that's worn around here look around do you see any prairie dresses I see a bunch of classy stylish you know godly modest ladies well I see in this church it's a lot better than what you see out those doors where people are scantily clad and they they dress in a way that's disrespectful to themselves and to the people around them they think that tights are all they need is that what they call those things are leggings it's so trashy it looks trashy put something on put on a skirt put on a dress cover it up not just these these tights oh yeah wow you look so weird wearing a dress you know what even unsaved people when they want to look classy they often dress the way a fundamental Baptist would dress just when they want just when they want to look good and look classy and when they go to a nice event but isn't that what they do they'll make fun of you you try to serve the Lord start making changes in your life and say hey you know I want to dress a little bit more appropriate a little more modestly a little more respectfully you're gonna get attacked you're getting made fun of you know as a man you you get a short haircut because the Bible says a shame for a man to have long hair in 1st Corinthians 11 so you cut off the long hair and it's like oh what'd you join the military you know what do you do a short haircut you know and obviously you know you know your hair doesn't have to be as short as mine but you know people get have different styles but the Bible says a shame for men to have long hair shouldn't have long hair like a girl you should have a man's haircut but they're always gonna be people who make fun of you laugh at you and that seems to be the first thing that they try is just to kind of poke fun at you laugh at you and mock you but you know what if you're strong in the Lord and the power of his might it's not gonna work so then they're gonna step up the ante and then they're gonna really start fighting you really start threatening you really start hitting you where it hurts really start attacking you and you know what you got to stand up to them because if you resist the devil he'll flee from you so we saw in chapter 4 the external and the external enemy right the enemy without mocking attacking wicked people that are trying to stop the work of God and then in chapter 4 we saw a little bit of the enemy within as well which is the spirit of complaining the spirit that says it can't be done the attitude that says you know oh I'm scared we're gonna get persecuted we're gonna get attacked we're going to jail we're gonna get shot we're gonna you know whatever whatever they're afraid of but then in chapter 5 we see another type of enemy within says in chapter 5 verse 1 and there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brother and the Jews for there were that said we are sons and our daughters are many therefore we take up corn for them that we may eat and live some also there were that said we've mortgaged our lands vineyards and houses that we might buy corn because of the dearth and there were also that said we've borrowed money for the king's tribute and that upon our lands and vineyards for now our flesh is of the flesh of our brethren our children as their children and lo we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already neither is it in our power to redeem them for other men have our lands and vineyards I was very angry when I heard their cry in these words then I consulted with myself and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said unto them the exact usury every one of his brother and I said a great assembly against them and I said unto them we after our ability have redeemed our brother and the Jews which were sold unto the heathen and will you even sell your brethren or shall they be sold unto us then held they their peace and found nothing to answer and I said it is not good that you do are you not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of our heathen or of the heathen our enemies I likewise and my brethren and my servants might exact of them money and corn I pray you let let us leave off this usury restore I pray you to them even this day their lands their vineyards etc now what's going on here when we get into chapter 5 is if Nehemiah is not dealing with enough garbage you know in chapter 4 now we find a new enemy within basically people who are getting involved in the work of the Lord for their own personal and financial gain is not what we see here people here who've come to Jerusalem not because they love the Lord not because they love the work of God not because they want to see the Jews prosper and the wall to go up and the people Lord to be blessed but all they want to do is make a buck so what they end up doing is they show up and they get into their money lending and their scams and they end up taking advantage financially of the people around them in order to make a profit for themselves and so what we see here is that there are people who seem to be on the right team they seem to be on the right side but their motives are wrong their motives are wrong you see Nehemiah's motives are pure why because God has inspired the Bible and as we read Nehemiah chapters 1 through 13 we see that from start to finish Nehemiah's heart is on one thing it's on serving the Lord and serving the people of God and allowing that work to prosper that's all he cares about that's what he wants but there are going to be people who are on the right team for the wrong reasons for their own personal glory for their own personal fame for their own personal financial gain in order to make money in order to take advantage of other people so this is another enemy within here that Nehemiah has to deal with now when it keeps talking about usury a lot of people don't know what that means usury because what he's really mad about is the fact that they're using usury now I love what he says before he confronts these people in verse 7 it says then I consulted with myself you know sometimes you just consult with yourself why because you already know what's right and what's wrong you don't need to ask other people's opinion now sometimes it makes sense to ask for godly counsel and wisdom from other people but you know what when you already know the answer you don't need to go around asking people for advice so that they can rubber stamp your decision or make you feel better about what you're gonna look when you know what's right you just do it doesn't matter what anybody says doesn't matter what anybody thinks you consult with yourself and you say you know what I know that it's wrong for these Jews to be down here they're supposed to be serving the Lord it's supposed to be about the temple it's supposed to be about putting up a wall it's supposed to be about God restoring our nation so that we can serve him in peace and without fear of our enemies but there are people here among us that are not here because they love the Lord and they love their fellow man no no they're here to make money they're here to rip people off they're here to take advantage of their brothers and sisters in Christ in one way or the other he didn't need any advice he didn't need to ask anybody about this he just says no I consulted with myself and I rebuked the nobles I don't care if they're nobility I don't care if they're a big name I don't care how popular they are he said I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and instead of them the exact usury now what is usury usury is loaning someone money and charging them interest that's what usury is now in our modern vernacular the word usury has changed meaning conveniently for those who practice usury see usury today means you're charging an excessive interest rate above twenty nine point nine nine percent so if you're charging thirty percent plus that's a crime that's usury and whatever but that's not what the Bible defines as usury oh no the Bible defines any any amount of interest being charged as usury you say prove it from the Bible okay well it's right here in the passage look down at your Bible there in verse number 11 or at the end of verse 10 he said let us leave off this usury verse 11 restore I pray you to them even this day their lands their vineyards they're all of yards in their houses watch this also the hundredth part of the money and of the corn the wine and the oil that ye exact of them notice the same word look halfway through verse 7 ye exact usury everybody see that phrase Nehemiah 5 7 halfway through ye exact usury see that okay now look at verse number 11 and it says the hundredth part of the money that ye exact of them so what's the usury that they were exacting the hundredth part what percentage is that is that thirty percent forty percent fifty percent no no it's one percent so they're charging one percent interest and Nehemiah is mad he's very angry he gets a whole assembly riled up against him and he stands up to him and says hey you need to stop charging usury you need to stop exacting this user you need to give that money back this is not an honest way to make money loaning money and charging interest you say well it's the baking system it's a scam it's a fraud the whole thing is of the devil it's wicked the love of money is the root of all evil and we are supposed to work to make money work and get paid for the work that we do and if we loan someone money the Bible does allow us to take collateral from them so we can loan someone money and take collateral but we're never to charge interest that means if we loan somebody ten dollars we get ten dollars back we loan somebody a thousand dollars we get a thousand back well why would I do that you just loan of money to help them out and if you don't want to help them out then don't help them out but you don't loan them a thousand so you can get eleven hundred you don't loan them a thousand so you can get a thousand and ten you don't charge usury because it's a sin because it's wrong I did a whole sermon called the sin of usury many years ago and I I taught through all the mentions of usury in the whole Bible our whole banking system is built on this but that doesn't make it right there are many things in the world that we live that are not right and we as Christians should not partake of that if we have a friend or a loved one or a family member who needs to borrow money if we've loaned that person money we can't charge interest and be in good conscience we're supposed to just loan them the money or you know if you can't stand to lose the money they don't even loan it or take collateral but no no usury no interest is to be charged Nehemiah stands up to him he says you know I could do the same thing he says in verse 10 I likewise and my brother my servants we might exact of them money and corn you know I could pull the same garbage that you guys are pulling but I'm not going to because I'm not here for the money saying I'm here to do the work of God and then they said in verse 12 we will restore them and will require nothing of them so will we do as thou sayest then I called the priests and took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise also I shook my lap and said so God shake out every man from his house and from his labor that performeth not this promise even thus be he's shaken out and emptied and all the congregation said amen and praise the Lord and the people did according to this promise you know this is yet another example where people respond to hard preaching you know when a man gets up and makes it clear and says this is right this is wrong this is acceptable this is not here's what the Bible says thus saith the Lord you know what happens people respond to that people get it right it's when that it's when unclear preaching goes forth where they don't know what to do that people don't respond but Nehemiah makes it clear give the money back and stop charging usury and in fact you bet you're gonna make a pledge right now no usury allowed and then he even puts a curse on anyone who would who would do it let God shake you out if you charge a bunch of usury to these people and what do the people do they say amen and they say they then they kept their promise they stuck with it verse 14 moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah from the 20th year even under the 2 and 30th year of our dessert sees the king that is 12 years I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor but the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people and had taken of them bread and wine beside 40 shekels of silver yea even their servants bear rule over the people but so did not I because of the fear of God yea also I continued in the work of the wall neither bought we any land and all my servants were gathered there under the work moreover there were at my table 150 of the Jews and rulers besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep this is not a vegan diet here also fowls were prepared for me and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor because the bondage was heavy upon this people think upon me my God for good according to all that I have done for this people look at verse 1 of chapter 6 now it came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah and Gisham the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I'd builded the wall and that there was no breach left therein though at that time I'd not set up the doors upon the gate so basically the whole wall is done the gates are done the only thing left is just hang the doors on the gates right when they heard that verse 2 Sanballat and Gisham sent unto me saying come let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Oh No but they thought to do me mischief and I sent messengers unto them saying I'm doing a great work so that I cannot come down why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you and they said unto me four times after this sword and I answered them after the same manner then since said ballot is serving unto me in the like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand wherein was written it is reported among the heathen and a gash move saith it that thou and the Jews think to rebel for which call you know all this now look what do we see here the enemies just aren't gonna stop the things practically done I mean all I have to do is just hang the doors on the hinges and the enemy says hey let's get together and meet let's get together and talk and you know what Nehemiah says I don't have time for you they ask him again I don't have time third time sorry don't have time fourth time I don't have time fifth time well let me tell you what gash moo is saying he says that you're doing this and that he's accusing you of this and that and stuff so now anyway you better come and clear this up you know what this is just another of the devil's ploys to distract us from doing the work of God is to just try to get us all caught up and all the drama and all caught up and just arguing with our enemies and just talking to our enemies and going on and on and wasting time and then you know you got to clear your name gash moo says that you're the this and that look if I responded to every accusation it would be a full-time job for me there are people every day there are gash moo and sandbout and tabaya those are their YouTube screen names you know I mean seriously there are people I'm not even kidding there are people who watch on YouTube they're watching right now they watch every single sermon I preach they watch the whole thing and they hate my guts and they just watch it just to come in and just pastor Anderson's this pastor Anderson's that pastor you know just they comment every day like twice a day and I'm just wondering like how can these people have this much time to just make it their whole life to watch every sermon that I preach every clip that is uploaded every video and respond to it and they they they just leave their comments and and then they make their own videos about how bad it is and how bad I am and everything like that you know if I it'd be easy to just get caught up in feeling like I got to fight every battle I have to write every wrong I have to respond to every lie every accusation every attack but you know what you can't get caught up in that you just have to tell these people I don't have time I'm too busy I'm doing a great work as Nehemiah said so I can't come down don't just get your life caught up and feeling like you have to defend every accusation you have to right every wrong you because look some people are just throwing a fit just to get attention you know they feel like Oh Pastor Anderson doesn't have time for me so I'm gonna throw a fit and then he'll have to get together and talk with me I'm not coming down but look it's not just Pastor Anderson okay you and your life it's it's not just Pastor Anderson who can see parallels with Nehemiah in his life you know I guarantee there are parallels in your life as well okay you have a great work to do as well not just me we're all doing a great work so let's say you're a wife slash mother you're a lady in the church right let's call you Nehemiah now all right don't you get caught up where you feel like you have to just get involved in every bit of drama and any anything that's going on any kind of an enemy or any kind of a fight that's going on like you just have to get in the middle of that you know why don't you just have an attitude that says you know what I'm too busy cooking an awesome meal for my husband I'm too busy homeschooling the kids I'm too busy going to church going to Sony I'm too busy with my friends that I get along with that like me and I like them I'm too busy having wholesome good times with the people that are my real friends I'm too busy with the kids I'm too busy with the house I'm too busy serving God I'm too busy reading my Bible I'm too busy solely sorry I can't come down to your level and get involved in all your drama and all your bickering and all your fussing and rumors and junk just stay you know just be like Nehemiah and just say no I'm too busy gash moo I'm too busy gas cow I got stuff to do I don't have time for this junk and you know what we need men and women to grow up it isn't junior high this isn't even high school you're an adult now and you know what it means to be an adult it means that you don't have to always go around proving that you're right because you don't care what people think because this isn't junior high where you got to worry so much about your reputation right you can just live your life and you know what if there are people who are enemies unto you that are talking bad about you spreading rumors about you you know just stay away from those people nuts to them and you know let me just say this right now too you don't have to be friends with people in this church that you don't want to be friends with that's always been my stance for the last 12 years and I will die on that hill like I will I will never budge on that people come to me sometimes and they're like you need to make so-and-so be friends with me I'm like no I'm not going to and I will never budge on that I'm not kidding it sounds funny but it's real people are constantly trying to drag me into this junk you know and I'm I'm just trying to build the wall I just want to build the wall and I got my sword girded and I'm ready to fight against the enemies and to fight against the false doctrine and the devil's and the sodomites and the weirdos and the enemies of our church and and all the bit but you know what I'm mainly focused on building the wall that's my main emphasis and I don't want to get dragged into these social conflicts but literally people will come to me and say like you know well so-and-so won't even have anything to do with me in the church anymore and I just don't think that's right and I'm telling like if they don't want to be your friend pick a new friend and this is a great life lesson folks let me just give you a tip if somebody doesn't want to be your friend you move on and you find someone who does and you know what you will find people who want to be your friend I promise you that and by the way don't whine that you have no friends a man that hath friends must show himself friendly if you don't have friends it's your fault because you're not going out and being a friend if you go out and be a friend and reach out to people you're gonna have friends now some of those people that you reach out to don't want to be your friend and it might not even be that they don't like you it might be they just don't have any room in their life for a new friend right now they're just busy they just don't have time and that's okay you know what you do you gracefully tactfully move on you don't just start hating that person in your heart it's weird you move on you find someone who wants to be your friend now if you go to 25 people and none of them want to be your friend there might be something wrong with you and I guarantee you it's not that those 25 people are all just so mean and also but no I think there might be something wrong with your behavior if nobody wants to be around you okay that's this is the truth now look this should be simple and easy to understand but you know when people hate you when people are your enemies there's no point getting together with them come get together with us in the land of oh no you know oh no buddy that's a oh no don't go there just look learn to avoid people that hate you or that you have a personality conflict with now you don't just you know if they say hi you're just like look I I've had many people where I'm like I've made a decision you know I need to avoid that person whether it's at work whether it's a school whether it's a church whatever I just made a decision you know I should probably avoid such-and-such the person you know I still friendly polite they don't know that I'm avoiding them but I am right just just gracefully tactfully you just grabbed it or other people know if you invite somebody out to eat let me just give you some rules on etiquette okay let's say somebody invites you out to eat at ono's wine barbecue no pun intended if somebody invites you out to eat right and they say you know hey you know you want to go out to lunch that's a great thing to do I'm a strong believer in people at church getting together outside of church and making friends you know I grew up that way my parents always were you know going out to eat after the service and getting together with you know it's great to have a social life based on church and you can make a lot of great friendships at church so you know I think it's great to invite somebody to say hey what are you doing for lunch let's go out to lunch right but here's the thing if that person says oh no thanks I got something in the crock-pot we're good thanks appreciate it you know what then it's like okay no problem and everything's cool right this is what you don't do you don't say okay what about tomorrow night how about the night after that how about that oh Thursday because that person might be busy or they might just be blowing you off and if they're blowing you off you go to the next person and you just live your life now the balls kind of in that person's court right so if that now that you've invited that person out to eat and they turned you down if that person wants to go out to you with you you know what they're gonna do hey we couldn't come that time how about this time you know cuz the balls in their court now you follow me that way you're not becoming a psycho stalker weirdo you wait for them now to return the invite and if they don't you don't sweat it does everybody understand what I just explained you know or if somebody invites you and you're truly busy and have something to do you could either you could just say like no but here's another time when I can do it but but you got to learn to be polite and and take a hint people if somebody gives you a hint like hey no thanks it might not be even they might have nothing against you they're just busy right they're just busy so I'm time it's okay but we look I can't even count and you know it's funny whenever I preach stuff I guess people are like oh he's talking about so-and-so I can't even count how many people I'm talking about right now over the last 12 years this is this is something that goes on you know over and over again over and over again okay you know where people are just like she doesn't want to be friends with me she doesn't say hi to me you know I invited her does this she won't come here look it's wicked and I'll tell you why because our church is trying to do a great work for God we our priority is the work the soul-winning the preaching the teaching of God's Word training people right that's our that's our goal that's our priority and you know what all this drama that can happen what it does is it takes us away from the work because then we end up having to work with one arm tied behind our back because we're using the trowel with one hand then we got to have the the sword in the other hand and then we got to have half the workers you know standing there with a spear just dealing with all this junk right what we want to do is we want to do the work of God and we want you we want you to be a grown-up an adult and learn how to get along with other people and learn to play well with others and learn that to be a nice to people and to be friendly and and to just not cause problems and you know what there are people who've gone to our church for a decade that never caused any problems there are people who've got to our church for years and they never caused any problems and then there are people that are just nothing but trouble just one drama after another just one battle after another just one rumor after another just what it's like look don't be that guy just decide yourself I'm not gonna be a drag on the work of God I'm gonna be an asset I don't want to be a liability and if somebody's rude to me you know what I'm gonna do I'm just gonna brush it off I'm not gonna go get on the phone and get on Facebook and get on the email and go tell everybody about it and turn it and turn into a big blow-up about what happened a week ago or whatever you know what somebody said to you last Sunday or something like that you don't learn to just move on with your life and you know a lot of people they say oh it's Facebook that's the problem you know well you know what before there ever was a Facebook these problems were around well it's a telephone it's a it's the email no no it's the people that are the problem you know you can blame all the technology you want but there are other people who use that technology all the time and they don't get involved in any of this and they stay cool and they're a peacemaker and they're an asset and they're helpful and then there are other people who get on that technology and they use it just to be involved in nothing but drama and and then all the Nehemiah is out there they're just trying to serve God end up wasting a bunch of time and energy and emotion on things that don't matter that just don't matter and so the the lesson we can learn from the book of Nehemiah chapters four through six is we learn that whenever you try to do something great for God there's gonna be a lot of opposition they're gonna be a lot of enemies they're gonna be a lot of adversaries and they're gonna be problems both within and without and the answer is not to just throw up our hands and say you know oh we can't trust anybody they're everywhere idiots are everywhere you know the answer is not to just throw up our hands and quit the answer is to just get focused on the work of God grow up be strong stand your ground do what's right and when the fights over move on and don't get distracted by the same ballots and the device and you know what the longer our church is around the more sand ballots are gonna be because the way it works it's not like we have this enemy today and then tomorrow we have a new enemy and then the third day we have a new enemy it's cumulative it's cumulative so like you make enemies every year you're a pastor every year that the church exists we make new enemies you know I mean we made a lot of new enemies this year you know we won more souls to Christ this year than we ever have but we also made a lot more enemies and I bet you we're gonna make more enemies next year but guess what when we make new enemies in 2018 the 2017 enemies will still be trolling us and the 2016 enemies will still be trolling us and the 2015 enemy so it just it builds up cumulative until there's just a host of enemies you just have to learn to not let it distract you and you know what focus on the people that are good people and get along with them and spend time with them and just don't don't let that don't let the weirdos get you down just stay away from them that's what I do and and a lot of times people come to me and try to tell me about things and and and look if there's some I need to know about that's going on you need to come tell me about it because as a leader sometimes I need to execute judgment and take care of things and take out the trash out the dung gate of the that's another chapter in Nehemiah you know I gotta take out the trash sometimes okay and so I I need it you know when in doubt come to me when in doubt right but there are gonna be times when people come to me with things and I just tell them you know what that's that's not important you know let's just let's just not worry about that and then we just don't worry about it you know and then there there are times when I just turn off my phone and just turn off my computer and I'm just like I don't want to hear about anything right now I'm just gonna go soul winning I'm just going to the Navajo Reservation I'm just going to you know you got to be able to do that in your life and I'm not against email I'm not against the phone I'm not against Facebook I love technology I utilize technology every day but you know what you got to know where the power button is and if you start getting too distracted by that stuff just shut that stuff off and just focus on your family for a while and just just realize that that life goes on without that stuff you know and it's not the technology that's the problem it's you that's the problem guns don't kill people I do all right let's borrow our hands and have a word of prayer dear Lord we thank you so much for the the this chapter Lord and and everything we could learn from Nehemiah Lord help us to be a Nehemiah Lord help us to be like him he stayed focused I mean he had storms brewing all around him and he kept on working and he finished the wall in only 52 days Lord he was fast he was effective he stayed focused and he didn't let all the enemies distract him and get him to meet up with them and hang out with them and waste time Lord help us to also stay focused on that which is right realizing that the enemies will be within and without and just continuing to to work that trowel and build that wall and serve you Lord help us to stay busy for you on the right things and not to get tied up in the wrong things Lord and let's fight when necessary but when the fight's over help us to move on in Jesus name we pray amen