(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Music holed up music music music music music Good morning, everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats. As you find your seats, go ahead and grab a song book. Turn to song number 147. Song number 147, let's all stand together for this first song, if you're able. Song number 147, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, all together on that first verse. What a fellowship, what a jointy fine, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread, what have I to fear? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Amen, wonderful singer. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us this day. This time that we can come to your house, Lord, and to hear the preaching of your word, and to fellowship with our like-minded brethren, and I thank you for every precious soul in this building, Lord. And I ask that you would please just bless this service this morning, Lord. Please bless the singing, that it would be pleasing into your ears. Please fill brother Jonathan with your spirit, that he may come up here and preach your word boldly, Lord, and that we may leave here edified. And I ask that you would be with our pastor as he travels, Lord, that you would keep him safe, and that you would bring him home safely as well. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. You may be seated. Go ahead and turn your songbooks to song number 310. Song number 310 as our second song. Footprints of Jesus, all together nice and strong on that first verse. Sweetly, Lord, have we heard thee calling, come follow me. And we see where thy footprints falling lead us to thee. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus wherever they go. Though they lead o'er the cold, dark mountains seeking his sheep. Or along by Siloam's fountains helping the weak. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus wherever they go. If they lead through the temple, holy, holy, or in homes of the poor and lowly serving the Lord. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus wherever they go. Then at last when on high he sees us our journey done. We will rest where the steps of Jesus end at his throne. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus wherever they go. All right, thank you for being here this morning. If you do not have a bulletin just raise your hands. One of the ushers could get one for you. Christian needs one over there. All right, you see our service times on Sunday morning 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and Thursday Bible study at 7 p.m. As usual, we will be celebrating our birthday breakfast this upcoming Sunday and Judea Sewing. You see our Sewing teams and times. If you do want to learn how to sew in you can see me or pastor and we can place you on one of the teams. Also, you see the list of expecting mothers. Please continue to pray for them. Some important reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure that you are supervising your children in the building. No children should be in the mother baby room alone and without their parents. Also, no men allowed in the mother baby room or in the women's fellowship restroom. Now you see some upcoming events on Friday, September 30th. We will be having our men's prayer night and that's going to take place at brother Hikes house. We are going to be providing burgers. Brother Jose is going to be grilling some burgers so please make sure to be there for that. Also, next Sunday October 2nd is our fall program kickoff and you know just make sure to be a part of that. Invite your friends, your family, your co-workers. Bring somebody that you know and we are going to have a catered-in breakfast so you don't want to miss out on that. Also, on Sunday October 9th we do have our Christmas program practice that begins and if you have any questions regarding that you can see brother Maury. And then on Sunday October 9th we are having our fall family photos and that's going to take place from I believe starting at 9 45. But as that Sunday approaches we'll give you more details about that. Also, some important announcements down there. You see that no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. No loitering in the foyer and fellowship hall during the preaching service and also quiet time. As a reminder it's from 3 p.m to 4 15 p.m throughout the whole building. So the lights you know if you want to take a nap or just get some rest all the lights are going to be off in the building and just please respect that time. Also, please make sure to silence your phones for the preaching of God's word. And that's pretty much it. If you could turn your hymnals to song song number 100. Song number 100 as our third song here, Day by Day. Song number 100. All together nice and strong on that first verse. Day by day and with each passing moment strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my Father's wise be so man. I've no cause for worry or for fear. He whose art is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what he deems best. Lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure. Mingling toil with peace and rest. Every day the Lord himself is near me with a special mercy for each hour. All my cares he feigned would bear and cheer me. He whose name is counselor and power the protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself he laid as thy days thy strength shall be in measure this the pledge to me he made help me then in every tribulation so to trust thy promises oh lord that i lose not faith sweet consolation offered me within thy holy word help me lord when toil and trouble meaning there to take us from a father's hand one by one the days the moments fleeting till i reach the promised land amen wonderful singing at this time the ushers will come forth to collect the offering and you can turn your bibles to second timothy chapter number two so so second timothy chapter two this morning the bible reads thou therefore my son be strong in the graces in christ jesus and the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who should be able to teach others also thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of jesus christ no man that warth entangles himself with the affairs of this life they may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier and if a man also strive for masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully the husbandmen that laborth must be first partaker of the fruits consider what i say and the lord give the understanding in all things remember that jesus christ of the seed of david was raised from the dead according to my gospel wherein i suffer trouble as an evildoer even into bonds but the word of god is not bound therefore i endure all things for the elect's sakes they may also obtain the salvation which is in christ jesus with eternal glory it is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we also shall live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he also will deny us if we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself of these things put them in remembrance charging them before the lord that they strive not about words to no prophet but to the subverting of the hearers study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth but shun profane and vain babblings for they will increase unto more ungodliness and their word will eat as doth a canker of whom is hymenaeus and philetus who concerning the truth have urged saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the faith of some nevertheless the foundation of god standeth sure having this seal the lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the name of christ depart from iniquity but in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor if a man them if a man therefore purge himself from these he should be a vessel into honor sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work flee also youthful lusts but follow righteousness faith charity peace with them that call on the lord out of a pure heart but foolish and unlearning questions avoid knowing that they do gender knowing that they do gender strikes and the servant of the lord must not strive but be gentle into all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if god provincial will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will let's pray dear lord god we just thank you for uh this day for this opportunity to assemble here but preaching of your word uh just ask that you would be with brother jonathan now please just fill them with your holy spirit and strengthen them to preach the whole council of your road with boldness and please also just uh give us ears to hear it and incline our hearts unto you god and do something for amen all right amen look down at your bibles at second timothy chapter two and look at verse number three there says thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of jesus christ no man that worth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier so you want to live the christian life well then you need to know something about what it means to live a godly life we preach that salvation is by grace through faith and that it is not of works and that's true but outside of salvation the christian life is the most work-filled life you could possibly ever live we are commanded to work by our commander and general now god has told us in his word what occupation we are to have we are to be builders we are to build the spiritual houses and the spiritual walls and the spiritual buildings in our lives not for ourselves but also for the people around us but we are not only called to work and we are not only called to build but we are also called to fight which brings me to the name of this morning's sermon we build we fight go to nehemiah chapter one nehemiah chapter one after 70 years of captivity king cyrus of persia tells the israelites to go to jerusalem and rebuild the house of the lord two men named zero babel and jeshua lead the people back and start laying down a foundation for a new temple now a few weeks ago i preached a sermon on laying your foundation how to lay a square foundation and these four principles of that sermon were number one faith alone that's how we get saved number two once we get saved it's an everlasting salvation you can never lose your salvation number three we read the king james version only and number four we must be soul winners and this is how you lay a good foundation otherwise you can't build anything on your foundation right well there were some old folks there watching the israelites rebuild the foundation for the temple and these old folks saw the original temple and its glory before it got destroyed and they started shouting and weeping because they were so so happy that they seen the foundation being relayed that they probably haven't seen and they've probably been praying for for decades and you know and you know what i wish some of these elderly independent fundamental baptists in this country would be more like the elderly in ezra chapter 3 and actually realize what the new ifb is doing we're laying down the foundation that was lost and trying to bring back the way that god intended us baptist people to be now instead these old folks here or these old ifb folks are more like the enemies of god's people in this story the israel the enemies of israel of the israelites came in and slowed down the work and convinced the government to halt construction of the temple and things stayed that way until darius the king of persia comes to power two prophets haggai and zechariah urged the israelites to start building so of course the enemies of israel once again come and complain to the king and demand he check the records to see if cyrus actually gave permission to build king darius finds cyrus's original decree and he lets them start rebuilding in ezra chapter 5 about four years later the temple is complete and then when a new king comes to power king artaxerxes ezra a scribe goes to help the israelites get themselves back on track because like always the children of israel fall once again into sin and their city goes into ruins so then nehemiah comes on the scene a cupbearer to king artaxerxes who allows him to return to jerusalem to help set things in order to rebuild the city and there were some fellows there named sambalot the horonite tobiah the servant the ammonite and geshem the arabian and these three men try to derail the rebuilding project but ultimately thanks to some military readiness nehemiah and his crew successfully build the walls of the city now i wanted to give you all that so you're not completely lost and what i'm gonna be talking about this morning but you might already be lost the main focus of this morning's sermon is the story of nehemiah and more specifically the hardships that he faced while rebuilding the wall you see nehemiah had six events in his life that caused a cupbearer to become a great man of god and a great leader and we're going to quickly cover these six events look at nehemiah chapter 1 verse 3 it says and they said unto me the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach the wall of jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire you see nehemiah through han and i heard of the great affliction of the jews in jerusalem and this greatly troubled nehemiah why because he loves his people look at verse number six nehemiah prayed let thine ear now be attentive in thine eyes open that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant which i pray before thee now day and night for the children of israel thy servants and confess the sins of the children of israel which we have sinned against thee both i and my father's house have sinned nehemiah began to fervently pray and fast and he sought after god confessing their sins and the sins of his people asking god for mercy why because he cared deeply about his people go to chapter number two and look at verse number five nehemiah volunteered it says and i said unto the king if it pleased the king and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight that thou would ascend me unto judah unto the city of my father's sepulchres that i may build it nehemiah volunteered for the work he was willing to go and rebuild the city he was not satisfied being a cupbearer he wanted to go do something great for his god look at verse number nine nehemiah showed up it says then i came to the governors beyond the river and gave them the king's letters now the king had sent captains of the army and the army and the horsemen with me so nehemiah came to the land he showed up and by the way i got a letter from the king right here you said who told you you can do all the work for your god all this work for your god the king did i got his letter right here it says go out and preach the gospel to every creature we got a letter from the king right here so nehemiah showed up look at verse number 13 nehemiah saw it says and i went out by night by the gate of the valley even before the dragon well into the dung port and viewed the walls of jerusalem which were broken down and the gates thereof were consumed with fire so nehemiah went and he looked at the city and he looked at the walls and saw how they were destroyed and this grieved nehemiah he saw that the walls and the city was broken down and consumed with fire look at verse number 17 nehemiah prepared then i said unto them ye see the distress that we are in how jerusalem lieth waste and the gates thereof are burned with fire come let us build up the wall of jerusalem that we be no more a reproach then i told them of the hand of my god which was good upon me as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me and they said let us rise up and build so they strengthen their hand for this good work nehemiah stirred up his heart on that stroll around the city and then he gathered the jews and the rulers and he said hey fellas let's go up and rebuild this city let's go up and build these walls and so they strengthened their hand for this good work he motivated his people but look at verse number 19 but when sambalot the horonite and tibiah the servant the ammonite and geshem the arabian heard it they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said what is this thing you do will you rebel against the king now nehemiah taking a stand didn't make anybody become his enemy it only helped him identify who his enemies were when you start living a righteous clean godly life you will quickly come to realize who your enemies are when you take a stand and say i'm siding with the new ifb i'm siding with pastor bruce mahia i'm siding with the bible the people that are your enemies will make themselves known whenever you got big plans for god there's always going to be opposition i'm going to go over five things this morning that the devil and his crew uses in order to stop christians from doing the work of god opposition number one ridicule go to nehemiah chapter four nehemiah chapter four look at verse one but it came to pass that when sambalot heard that we builded the wall he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the jews and he spake before his brethren in the army of samaria and said what do these feeble jews will they fortify themselves will they sacrifice will they make an end in a day will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned now tibiah 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 these men are out here building the wall putting in hard labor trying to help their people and the three stooges over there on the sidelines are cracking jokes and ridiculing the men of god don't be surprised when the people in your life do the same when you work to rebuild the destruction that you've made in your life the disaster you made in your life the people that are around you will try everything they can in order to stop you from rebuilding they don't want you reading the king james bible i promise you if you take a stand about this book right here somebody's gonna get mad about it they don't want you knocking on the door of a lost sinner and telling them about the free gift of god why would they that ain't gonna bring in any money well it ain't about bringing in money or getting tails in seats it's about preaching the gospel of jesus christ i promise you if you go tell people about the wonderful story of jesus somebody's gonna get mad about it don't i be like to talk a bunch of smack about us and ridicules us and says we have a bad spirit but we're the ones that actually go out there and go soul winning and doing something great for god and working for our lord a bunch of dumb loudmouth idiots that need to keep their mouths shut pastors who have attacked pastor bruce mahia ain't just attacking him they're attacking you i don't know about y'all but i take it personally it's one team one fight if you pick a fight with pastor mahia you're picking one with me and you're picking one brother gio and you're picking one with brother cody and you're picking one with brother marcos and you're picking one with brother john and do i need to keep going what i'm saying is around here it's one team one fight go ahead ridicule us for putting a fire under people's butts and getting people encouraged to go out soul winning go ahead ridicule us for teaching people the commandments of god go ahead ridicule us for using the old king james bible in our pulpits but we're just going to keep on building and we're just gonna keep on fighting they say we're mean well i'd rather hang around a bunch of people fired up about the word of god than be around be around a bunch of lazy backslidden christians that won't take a stand they say we have two highest standards well when the world gets more worldly that don't mean lower your standards that means we need to make a bigger deal about the standards of the bible they say we have a bad spirit no sir you have a bad spirit you have the spirit of saul trying to kill david a man after god's own heart a man trying to do something great for the lord you have a bad spirit folks our god is a man of war they say our spiritual building is weak oh yeah let's see your church get blown up and see how many people show up to their tabernacle the next day ready to go let's see your church get protested and see how many people show up to service that sunday let's see your church members go through the kind of church members or go try go through the kind of persecution that our church members go through and see how many people you have left you see our building is strong we have a foundation of stone not cut out with hands ridicule is an opposition what's another opposition force look at verse number seven in nehemiah chapter four it says but it came to pass that when samballat and tobya 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 and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against jerusalem and to hinder it nevertheless we made our prayer under our god and set up a watch against them day and night because of them who'd be scared if the three stooges try to run up on you yeah me neither so nehemiah had the right response these three men don't stand a chance against god and his people nevertheless just to be safe they prayed about it and they set up a watch for those of you in this room facing opposition for standing on the word of god whether it be from your family your friends your co-workers the answer to your problem is right here just pray about it and stay vigilant in the military when you're out in a war zone everybody can't just go to sleep at the same time there needs to be what's called a watch which is where usually two or more people will stay awake and and make a lookout for trouble i'm in the navy more specifically i'm a cb and what that means is stands for is construction battalion our job is to be able to go into a combat zone and build whatever the military needs in order to win the war and when you're building an area that don't want you there there's always going to be opposition and that's why the cbs motto is we build we fight which is the name of this morning sermon i jokingly said to my friend a while back that nehemiah was like the cb of the bible right he builds he fights you see when you're on fire for god the opposition will try and shut you up they'll do things like shut down your youtube channel ban you from youtube but fear not folks they can shut down our youtube channels and they can kick us off the internet but they can't shut our mouths from telling the story of jesus christ that ain't ever going to stop so go ahead bomb us again ain't gonna make no difference we're going to church they'll do whatever they can to stop the work from that we're doing for the lord and so how do we combat that by two things keep your finger there in nehemiah chapter 4 turn to first peter chapter 5 verse 8 by number one prayer you see prayer is how we combat the enemies of our lord who try and stop the truth from spreading prayer is how we tell god what we need to finish the job prayer is how we stay encouraged throughout the battles prayer is not optional in the fight prayer is the offense prayer is not the neutral or the passive alternative prayer is the offense prayer is the attack and number two vigilance prayer is the offense but setting up a watch is your defense look down at first peter chapter 5 verse 8 it says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour satan lays traps for god's people and we need to be sure that we are aware of that and that we stay sober and vigilant so that we don't get caught in his snares our fight is not carnal our fight is spiritual so when the fight comes to us we must be able to combat that spiritually forces in opposition go back to nehemiah chapter 4 and look at verse number 10 what's another opposition discouragement and distractions it says in 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 at a job people will always try and find any reason they can not to get the job done right now in the military they'll give you like a hammer and 10 refurbished nails and tell you to go build a 40 foot by 20 foot concrete pad and you're gonna figure it out but there's always going to people that come there's always going to be people that come at you with excuses you're trying to help somebody else get better in their christian life you say hey come to church i'll feed you i'll drive you bring anybody you want to bring just show up what do they say they go nah it can be frustrating but you just have to understand that not everybody grows at the same rate that you grew up see i'm a hard charger i get after things i don't overthink things i just get after it and you know when i first started to learn how to go soul winning i was a silent partner for one day i'm not saying i was just some awesome soul winner i'm super smart and intelligent and all that what i'm saying is i saw what to do i went home and i practiced it and then i got out there and i started putting in the work but you got to understand that not everybody's like that you need to know that some people take more time to grow most people in here are hard chargers i mean that's why y'all come to first works baptist church but you know what not every christian can handle persecution like we can not every christian can get their church blown up and show up to the tabernacle the next day ready to go i sometimes would try and get people to come to our church i'd tell them hey you'd really like our church we got bombed i've never had anybody show up after telling them that not a single person you see most folks don't think getting persecuted is as cool as we think it is you know don't get discouraged when other people let you down don't get discouraged when saved people lose their fight and make excuses for why they can't go soul winning or why they can't come to church or why they can't continue working for our lord but you just keep on building and you just keep on fighting you may have had some friends that talked a big game when it came to religion and they may have talked a big game when it came to christianity but when you actually started living a christian life all those sudden those christian friends you had they say you're crazy they start getting defensive they liked you when you were on their level spiritually but now all of a sudden when you stop being a lazy do-nothing christian and actually take a stand on what virgin bible you read and actually take a hard stand on salvation and actually start going out soul winning then those friends that you had ain't really your friends anymore their true identity comes out they don't want you to go above and beyond for god why because they're not willing to do it themselves don't get distracted don't be like these men right here there are so many things out there in our lives that can distract us from getting the important things done oh i can't read my bible today because i gotta watch the game oh i can't go soul winning because i got a party to go to don't get distracted folks don't let satan control your habits pastor mania gave the men that came to the pastoral institute a book called developing the leader within you by john c maxwell and there's an illustration in that book that i really like it's an illustration of the lion tamer right so in circus is there's these lion tamers and someone will walk into a cage filled with lions and they'll get the lions to do what he or she wants them to do and they'll always bring a stool inside of the cage with them and what will happen is when the lion starts getting aggressive they'll grab the stool by the back of it and have the legs facing towards the lion and what happens is is the lion will try and focus on all four legs at the same time causing its attention to get divided and paralyzing it by indecision you see the devil tries to come at you with a thousand things every single day and ultimately what he wants to do is to make you paralyzed one day you're like oh i'm going to learn this and i'm going to do this and i'm not just going to deadlift but i'm going to run and i'm going to swim on top of it and watch this and and beat this game and and whatever and what happens is that ultimately you don't get anything done you just become paralyzed and indecisive because you're trying to do too many things at once and you know don't get distracted by others when they discourage you okay i'm gonna tell a story it's in my notes but i'm gonna tell it when i was in elementary school we were walking down the sidewalk toward the gymnasium okay and there was this guy out there and he said hey kid come here so i walked over there i'm talking about i was like six seven years old and he said hey you want to see some puppies you want to see some puppies and i said yeah i'm seven i want to see puppies and he said okay if you want to see some puppies you got to wait right here for a second and so i waited there he gathered about five other kids and then he told us to go inside the gymnasium and we went inside and then we all sat down on the floor and he walked up to the front he said everybody that was standing out there waiting to see some puppies stand up and so i stood up and a few other people did with me and he said look at these kids if i was someone else you would have never seen these children ever again so he caught me and so who was this guy this guy he was there to teach self-defense to children and to show us how easy it is for us to get caught by predators and so what did he do to catch me he enticed me by the things that little children like puppies right and so these guys in this story here do you really think they don't have the material to get stuff done no they could get it done but what happened is is they get distracted from the snares of the devil somebody's enticing them they'd rather go do something else than actually build something for the lord so don't get distracted or don't get distracted because others discourage you and discouragement is an opposition what's another opposition look at verse number 11 in nehemiah chapter 4 fear is an opposition it says in our adversary said they shall not know neither see till we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease keep your finger there but go to john chapter 8 verse 44 john chapter 8 verse 44 you see fear is the weapon the devil uses to cripple a christian and make him useless fear will stop us from completing the work that god has set before us satan has pushed his narrative through the television through the news through the media and he has made christians crumble from fear of what might happen to them if they go out soul winning what might happen to them if they talk about the bible what might happen to them or they just say or they just scare us every three months telling us the world's gonna end folks turn that junk off turn it off you don't need to watch that stuff it's a distraction to you and it makes you fear and guess who's pushing all this by the way do i even need to say it it's the jews and this is what jesus said to him look down at your bible in john chapter 8 verse 44 ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it why do you believe what they show you on the news i don't understand that there's not a person in this country that would say that the news is truthful but yet every single time the news comes out with some pandemic or something they fall for it every single time how is that possible it's because satan has got you wrapped around his finger he's got you controlled he says scream and freak out and that's exactly what you do unplug from the garbage folks unplugged from the news outlets they are there to do one thing and one thing only and that is to get you distracted from the things of god that's all they're there for i mean they moved the goalpost on us with the sodomites it used to be whether or not they could get married but now it's whether or not they can teach your kid how to be a faggot in elementary school i understand what the bible says that says all homosexuals should be put to death the bible says who is a liar but he that denieth that jesus is the christ he is anti-christ that denieth the father and the son the bible says that anybody that denies that jesus is the christ is a liar and an anti-christ so why so tell me why you're listening to a bunch of jews tell you what's up with the world today folks they lie they lie the bible says the fear of a man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the lord shall be safe we can't be the type of christians that fear everything because that's exactly what the devil wants you to do do not watch the news and the media and you'll be surprised you'll have a much easier time not fearing as soon as you put your trust in christ you will be safe it's that it's that simple you know bible says for god have not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind you say oh i don't get fearful i just get angry well why do you get angry because you're scared about what's going to happen that's why you get angry aka fear go back to nehemiah chapter 4 go back to nehemiah chapter 4 it says wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand there's too many fair rather christians out there who will only take a stand when it's convenient but when the gloves come off when it's time to take a real stand too many people disappear into the woodwork and the work of god suffers because people will not take a stand for god the battle is going to come folks but what we can't do is turn our back on our brothers and sisters in christ god is going to shelter us god is going to protect us folks we build and we fight and it's getting bad out there in the world today folks the best place you can be is right here you don't need a 15 minute feel-good sermon what you need is some fire breathing leather lung screaming independent fundamental baptist preaching to keep you encouraged to finish the work look at verse number 14 in nehemiah chapter 4 it says and i looked and rose up and said unto 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 brethren your sons your daughters your wives and your houses folks remember who you fight for remember why you come to church remember why you read your bible and why you go soul winning and why you're building the spiritual building in the spiritual house in your life you do it for others if you don't want to come to church remember who you're fighting for come to church for your wife or your children if you don't want to read your bible yourself remember who you're fighting for read your bible as an example to your wife or to your children if you don't want to go soul winning remember who you're fighting for you're fighting for that lost sinner on his way to hell and he needs somebody to come tell him about the free gift of god because fear will trap you fear will hinder you fear will cripple you the response to opposition should not be to fear but to use the opportunity to exercise your faith in god and to the leaders in this room you have to encourage those weaker brethren to stay in the fight remind them why we do what we do the faggots can threaten us all they want they can send us death threats all they want but we ain't gonna lose any sleep at night because we know our god will keep us safe and we're not gonna stop building until the lord gathers us together in the clouds with him fear is an opposition go to nehemiah chapter 6 and look at verse number 10 what's another opposition threats threats are in opposition it says afterward i came unto the house of shamaya the son of deliah the son of mahatma who was shut up and he said let us meet together in the house of god within the temple and let us shut up the doors of the temple for they will come to slay thee yay in the night they will come to slay thee and i said should such a man as i flee and who is there that being as i am would go into the temple to save his life i will not go in folks should such a people as us flee if you believe on the lord jesus christ here this morning you are a saved child of god that means you have god's protection over you you have god watching over god putting his vision on you helping you keeping you safe and should such a person as you flee go to james chapter 4 verse 7 james chapter 4 verse 7 james chapter 4 verse 7 says submit yourselves therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you you see fleeing is what the devil does god's people are commanded to stand god's people are commanded to fight let the devil do all the fleeing let baptist people stand for the word of god and continue to build what our forefathers have handed down to us you are david's mighty men you are the one that has chosen to be a soldier and it's about time that baptists quit tucking their tails between their legs and actually get up and proclaim the word of god no matter how many people may threaten us because talk is cheap threats ain't going to stop me from showing up to church threats ain't gonna stop me from building threats ain't gonna stop me from fighting the bible says fear not them which kill which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell should such a people as us flee should such a people as us turn our back on the will of god should such a people as us turn our back on the lord jesus christ should such a people as us give in to the world's demands should such a people as us not finish the race should such a people as us not take a stand no we are god's people and we're going to take a stand i love to run i'm terrible at it but i love it and every time i run there comes a point in the run where my mind starts talking right it says hey we don't need to finish this run you're tired stop walk go back home your legs hurt your feet hurt just stop turn back quit but there's just something inside of me that says should such a man as i quit should such a man as i not finish the race and then i tell my old pathetic weak minded man i have inside of me to shut up because i'm not going to quit we're going to keep running until the run's over with the very definition of a fight is that it revolves involves resistance if you're in a fight that means the person you're trying to harm or the person that's trying to harm you is resisting otherwise it's not even a fight now it doesn't take much to resist when somebody comes at you trying to harm you what do you do you punch them in the face that's resistance you push them that's resistance you run away that's resistance you're resisting what somebody wants to do to you well the bible says if we resist the devil he will flee from us so why are there so many christians getting devoured by him i'll tell you why it's because they're not resisting him at all they're standing there frozen in fear and satan comes up and devours them if you can't fight then run and if you can't run then stand resist my wife a week after she got saved she started wearing skirts and dresses obeying deuteronomy 22 5 which says the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are an abomination to the lord thy god and when she made the decision to do what our lord has clearly instructed us to do in the bible that so many people claim to believe in when she put off the masculine apparel and started wearing a lady's apparel all the demons of hell had something to say about it her co-workers would ridicule her mock her laugh at her threaten her her own family members would go up to my wife's mother and say hey we're worried about olivia something's wrong with her something something ain't going something something's happening i always think it's so funny whenever you try to live life for god now all of a sudden everybody's got a problem with it your family members will turn on you and for what for trying to live a clean godly righteous life but you know what jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword and should such a people as us flee threats ain't going to stop us turn to second corinthians chapter four and look at verse number eight second corinthians chapter four look at verse eight it says we are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed so what's the outcome in construction sometimes when you start a project you start working on it and things just ain't going very well you don't have the right equipment things just keep happening to slow down the process and and you end up thinking to yourself how in the world are we gonna finish this how is this gonna get done but when you just keep on working and you just keep on building and you just keep on fighting everything just falls into place a couple months ago i was on ftx which stands for field training exercise right and there was this long concrete pad about 600 foot long about 100 foot wide and it was supposed to be simulating an air-filled runway right and our job was to wait until the runway got bombed and then we'd run out there in a hurry and go and fix it and eod would go out there and they'd put c4 and other kinds of explosives out there and blow it up and the way it would work is that every time they blew it up they'd blow it up three times it would get progressively worse right and the first time they bombed the runway i ran to the top of the hill i grabbed my binoculars and i looked down my binoculars and i looked at the damage and i was like hey i don't know how we're gonna be able to build this i don't know how we're gonna be able to fix this that's a lot of damage and you know we would talk to the people that were bombing the runway and they say hey the next time we get bombed it's gonna be twice as many as this but you know what we ran down there we got the job done we took care of it but then the second time they bombed us once again i ran to the top of the hill i grabbed my binos i looked down them binos and i was thinking wow we barely did the first one i don't know if we're gonna be able to do this one this is twice as many as that but you know what we went down there started getting the hang of it and lo and behold we got the job done but then they said hey the next time they bomb us next time we're gonna bomb y'all they said it's gonna be three times as many as that one and but finally the third time came once again grabbed my binos went to the top of the hill looked down the binos and i was like i know we did the first one and i know we did the second one but i don't think we're gonna be able to do this one this is three times as many as the second one but you know what happened we ended up breaking the record for the fastest time ever repairing that runway on ftx because when you just keep on building and you just keep on fighting god will see that it gets done you just do your part and god's gonna do his go to first corinthians chapter 15 verse 54 first corinthians chapter number 15 verse 54 it says so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to god which giveth us the victory through our lord jesus therefore my beloved brethren be he steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord making the decision to live your life for god is not only the best decision you could ever make but also brings with it a lot of hardships and you know god did not promise an easy life on this earth as christians we are called to suffer and we are called to work and we are called to fight and none of those things are easy and none of those things are fun but god has something amazing prepared for those who are willing to give everything they have to christ and you know i personally made the decision in my life that i'm just gonna live my life for christ and you ought to make the same decision life is but a vapor you can spend your life doing nothing for god and satisfying your own lust and desires or you can spend your life working for the lord and building for the lord and fighting for the lord and for others i can't wait till i'm 70 years old and i can look back and say i get it i made it i finished the race 10 000 men tried to slave me but i never stopped trusted in my god i finished the work and when you take a stand like we take there's always going to be opposition and when the opposition inevitably comes continue to stand for what is right and in the end when it's all said and done we will have the victory through christ jesus okay let's bow our head for a word of prayer dear heavenly father lord just help us to get through the battles and help us to build in our lives lord god we trust in you lord god help us and give us the courage lord god to know that the work is going to get done even if it doesn't look like it's going to get done lord god just please be with us today lord god and be with us and keep us safe on our way home lord we just thank you for all that you do in jesus name we pray amen please turn your song books of song number 44 song number 44 as our last song will work till jesus comes song number 44 all together nice and strong on that first verse oh land of rest for the eyesight when will the moment come when i shall lay my armor by and well in peace at home will work till jesus comes will work till jesus comes will work till jesus comes and well be gathered home to jesus christ i fled for rest he bade me cease to roam and lean for soccer on his breast till he conduct me home will work till jesus comes will work till jesus comes will work till jesus comes and will be gathered home i sought at once my savior's side no more my steps shall roll with him i'll brave deaths chilling tight and reach my heavenly home will work till jesus comes will work till jesus comes will work till jesus comes and will be gathered home amen wonderful singing you are dismissed we've got a baptism we'll sing one more verse of another song go ahead and turn to song number 41 sweet by and by song number 41 sweet by and by on that first verse there's a land that is fairer than day there's a land that is fairer than day and by faith we can see it afar for the father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling place there in the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore in the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore amen wonderful scene terra pumping public confession of faith i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and the holy ghost bearing the likeness of his death raised to walk in newness of life all right congratulations i was praying we'll be dismissed heavenly father lord thank you for this day thank you for johnson's uh great sermon help us to continue to build and fight lord and help us to apply all that we heard this morning help us to uh fight for those that uh watch us constantly lord for our wives for our children lord for those that just we have influence over lord i pray that you bless the the remaining of the day bless the soul winning lord and please bring back pastor safely in jesus christ's name we pray amen