Rebuilding the Ruins of Your Life | Better Together

Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries recommend the bestselling book Cold Case Christianity from former detective J. Warner Wallace. That's a book we're offering this month to our listeners, Cold Case Christianity, written by detective J. Warner Wallace. A homicide detective investigates the claims of the gospel. So get your own copy of Cold Case Christianity. It's our offer for this month for your gift of any size.

Request yours for a limited time at harvest.org. Teamwork. We all have a role to play. We need to find our place in the work that God is doing.

None of us is as capable as all of us. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the value of working together in the body of Christ. Someone once said, coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Thinking together is unity. Working together is success. Everyone's got to do their part. Never try to move a couch all by yourself. Oh boy, suddenly it's jammed in the doorway, you're wedged in with it, and it feels like you're stuck in a sitcom.

But if a few friends help out, no one has to lose their sanity. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie takes us to a great biblical example of teamwork. Nehemiah wants to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem, but he faces serious challenges. Pastor Greg picks up at Nehemiah chapter 2, verse 11. This is the day, the day when life begins. The city of Jerusalem was lying in rubble and ruins.

The once proud walls that surrounded the city were now just charred, and weeds were growing over them. And so Nehemiah has the plan. Okay, I prayed for four months, now it's time to do something. And we see it all coming together. So now he's arrived in Jerusalem. He's heard about how bad it is.

Now he's going to check it out for himself. So I arrived in Jerusalem. Three days later, I slipped out during the night, taking only a few others with me. I had not told anyone about the plans God had put on my heart for Jerusalem.

We took no pack animals with us, except the donkey I was riding. I went through the dark, I went through the valley gate, past the jackal's wall, over to the dungate that viewed the broken walls and burned gates. We'll stop there so he's checking things out. The word used here for view, when he says I viewed it, means to closely examine it.

It's a medical term used for a surgeon, giving an intense examination of a wound. He's doing his homework, he's plotting his course, putting together the idea of how he's going to resolve this. And I love how the story continues on, because if this was a fairy tale, it would have just stopped. He got permission to go back to Jerusalem, everything's great, but now we see conflict, end of the story, reminding us the Bible's not a fairy tale, it's a true story. And God puts all of it in there for our instruction, bringing me to point number one. When we're doing the will of God, we will face opposition. When we're doing the will of God, we will face opposition. Verse 19, Nehemiah 2.

When Sanballat, you can underline that name, Tobiah, underline that too, and Geshem the Arab, I'd underline that as well, heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously, saying, what are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king? And the conflict only escalated from there. Listen to this, whenever God's people say, let's rise and build, the devil's going to say, let's rise and oppose. I think sometimes we think when we're in the will of God, it's going to be blue skies, green lights, and singing birds. You know, when I have all the time in the world, all the lights are green.

When I'm late for something, every light is going red. But you know, we think it's going to be easy, but the reality is, and sometimes it is, sometimes things just cruise along nicely, but so often there's conflict. Sometimes conflict or opposition from unexpected sources, but that's what happens when there's a divine opportunity, there's going to be opposition. I should expect it.

Not only should I expect it, I should count on it in many ways, but there's no success without risk, and there's no success without opposition, because Satan hates what God loves. Now, who are these guys? Three of them are named. We have Sanballat, we have Tobiah, and we have Geshem. So Sanballat was a leader of Samaria, and he was threatened by the presence of Nehemiah, the return of the Jews. He didn't want these Jewish people rebuilding their walls, so it threatened his livelihood, it threatened his authority. And it's interesting because he's leading the Samaritans, and that conflict continued until the day of Jesus. Remember when Jesus met with the Samaritan woman at the well, and she was surprised and said, why are you talking to me?

Don't you know that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans? So that conflict continued on. So here we have Sanballat, the primary opponent, and then we also have Tobiah, a leader of the Ammonites, and Geshem, an Arabian leader. So three enemies were facing Nehemiah, and we have three enemies too. They're the world, the flesh, and the devil. So the world, with its enticements, is the external enemy. The flesh, with its vulnerabilities and appetites, is the internal enemy.

And the devil, with the world and the flesh, is our infernal enemy. Now I love how Nehemiah responded to this. They come, they ask him these questions, what are you doing? He doesn't even respond to them.

He doesn't give them the time of day. So when the devil comes to you with his temptations, here's what the Bible says you should do. Have extended conversations with the devil, find out what he's offering, and then say no.

Right? Have you read that verse? It's not in the Bible. Here's what the Bible says. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Resist him.

Don't take his free offer, don't try his free sample, and don't take a test drive of anything he offers. You ever been to a Krispy Kreme donut? How many of you have been to Krispy Kreme? All the overweight people, interesting. I'm kidding.

Not really. Well, I've been there many times. And sometimes they give you a free sample. You notice that here, you want a free donut? Who's going to say no to a free donut?

Especially one that was just made. Why do they do that? Because they love us. I don't know, maybe they do. But they know if you eat one, you're going to want two, and if you eat two, you're going to want three, and you're going to order a dozen, and on it goes. I know this from personal experience. So that's the devil.

Here's free sample. Just try this thought on Versace. You would never do this, being the great man or woman of God that you are, but just try it out for a test drive. Take a trip to Fantasy Island. If you laughed, you're old. That was an old TV show. Remember Fantasy Island? The plane, the plane. Never mind.

Really dated references that are lost on most of you, which is probably good. No, don't give him the time of day. You can't stop an impure thought, an ungodly thought, an evil thought from knocking on the door of your imagination, but you don't have to invite it in for tea. It's been said you can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop him from building a nest in your hair, and in my case, that bird better bring his own materials, because there's nothing here to work with at all, but the idea is I can't stop the impure thought. I can't stop the evil thought. I can't stop the temptation, but I can resist it.

It'll come. I say, no, not going to go there. So Sambalat and Tobiah and Gershom come. Hey, we want to talk to you.

We don't like this. Nehemiah's like, yeah, whatever. I'm going to just keep doing this work God's called me to do.

Go to Nehemiah 3. And then Eliashib, the high priest, and the other priest started to rebuild up the sheep gate and dedicated it and set up its doors, building the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred, where they dedicated, and the Tower of Hanani. Now he just goes on and lists a bunch of names, a bunch of names and locations of people and where they were building their walls.

So it was sort of like the closing credits at the end of the movie. They're not familiar names. We think, why are they even in there? Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and they're in there, so we'll see how these people heroically obeyed God and did their part. Everyone did their part, bringing me to point number two. We need to find our place in the work that God is doing.

The phrase next to him and after him is mentioned 28 times in this chapter. Everybody had something to do. And these are just regular people. They're not construction people.

They're just folks helping out, doing their part. There's priests and goldsmiths, perfumers, merchants, young people, old people, men, women, everyone was working. And that reminds us, the church is not only a family, it's also an army, and we all have a role to play.

Ephesians 4 16 says the whole body fits together perfectly, and each part does its own special work and helps the other parts grow so the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Nehemiah was a really organized guy. I love organized people. Maybe it's because I'm not that organized. But I like people that have schedules and notes and here's what we're going to do, then we're going to do that. And that's who Nehemiah was. He was a detailed guy.

It's a two and a half mile wall divided into 41 segments. Everyone's going to do their part. BC Forbes, the founder of Forbes magazine, once said, you spell success as follows. T-E-A-M-W-O-R-K. Teamwork. Someone once said, coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Thinking together is unity. Working together is success. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's a joy to hear when these studies have truly impacted lives, even through difficult times.

Listen to these comments from one of our listeners. Pastor Greg, I've been an alcoholic for 45 years. Three days ago, I heard your radio program and I prayed the center of prayer. I'm in rehab now and would love to get a copy of the New Believers Bible and other printed material on how to grow as a Christian. Now that I'm a new creation in Christ, I want to begin studying God's word. Thank you and God bless you. We're happy to send this man our New Believers Bible and other resources to help him grow in his faith. If you have a story to share, why not contact Pastor Greg? Send an email to Greg at Harvest dot org.

That's Greg at Harvest dot o-r-g. Well, we're learning the importance of teamwork today by way of Pastor Greg's message called Rebuilding the Ruins of Your Life. Every one worked. Nehemiah 3.5 says, next to them the Tekawites made repairs and their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of the Lord. Now here's the problem.

The nobles. Well, we can't, you know, get our fingernails dirty. We don't need to do that. Everybody needs to work and we've done this many times. We've had work days at our church.

I remember when we were building our building in Riverside. We had a work day and I am not good at anything to do with home repair or construction. If I'm walking around the house with a hammer, my wife is alarmed. Like, what are you going to do?

Whatever I try to fix gets worse. I'm not kidding. So one day we were cleaning up the church in Riverside and I was trimming a hedge. And so it was plugged into the wall and trimming the hedge. And I just went a little too hard and got right to the cord.

So it was like. So I looked to the right. I looked to the left. I set it down and I walked away. I didn't tell anyone what I'd done. I was embarrassed, humiliated. What kind of a man am I?

They might ask me to turn my man card in. And so 30 years later some guy says to me, you know we had that work day at the church. You were trimming a hedge. I'm like, yeah. I saw what happened. You're still a Christian?

Amazing. Sorry I let you down. But the thing is everybody needs to participate. Everybody needs to do their part. But these guys didn't want to work.

And it comes down to this. And there's two kinds of people that come to church. Participators and spectators. Or another way to put it, workers or shirkers. Participators want to engage.

Spectators want to just watch. And that's what's happening here at the wall. Some people didn't want to work. But everybody needed to do their job.

Because there's so much to get done. So the question is are you a wall builder or a wall breaker? Are you a faith maker or a faith breaker? The problem with faith breakers is they want to discourage faith makers.

Nehemiah 2 19. When Sambalah, Tobiah, and Geshim the Arab heard our plan. They scoffed contemptuously. What are you doing? People will oppose you. You get serious about your Christian life.

I'm going to go to church every Sunday and I'm going to join a small group. And they say, come on man. Lighten up a little bit. You were more fun when you weren't doing all that stuff.

You don't need to be so committed. But they don't understand the joy of serving. And that's what these people were like. Now there's one other person I find really interesting.

There's a direct contrast of the so-called nobles. There's this guy named Baruch. Probably never heard his name before. Baruch.

Check him out. Nehemiah 3 20. Then there was Baruch the son of Zabal who zealously repaired another section from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliash of the high priest.

I love how this is put in there and we're talking about it thousands of years later. Yeah there was this Baruch guy that zealously did his job. There's this one guy that worked harder than anybody else.

And so he's commended in the pages of Nehemiah for us to pay attention to today. Are you a Baruch so to speak? Are you one of the nobles? Do you serve? Or do you want to simply be served? Are you a servant?

Or are you a slacker? The walls of Jerusalem needed to be rebuilt. The wall of our life needs to be rebuilt. We all have a part to play.

Let me tell you a secret. You want to see your experience so-called of church get richer and deeper and more fulfilling. Start getting involved personally. And start building your part of the wall. And then as we all work together we see great things accomplished and we see God glorified as a result. So you pray about the role that you could play. So let's close now and pull the camera back for a moment.

Look at the bigger picture. This is a story of a man named Nehemiah that saw a need and did something about it. A man named Nehemiah that came to the city of Jerusalem and wept over it. And after his weeping came working. And after his despair came determination. And who else do we know that wept over Jerusalem? Well it was Jesus who looked over Jerusalem and said, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I would have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks.

But you would not listen. It broke his heart. And then Jesus died on a Roman cross outside of the walls of Jerusalem. He died on that cross for the sin of the world. He died on that cross for your sin and for mine. Because there was no other way to connect us to a holy God that we have all offended through our sin. But God loved us so much He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to pay that price on the cross for us. And if we'll turn from our sin and believe in Him He will forgive us.

And we can enter into a relationship with God. Maybe you come here today with troubles in your life and I'm just glad you're here. I know sometimes we need a wake up call and it gets us to pay attention. But as far as I'm concerned anything that moves you toward God is something that God can allow and use for His glory. And maybe you come here because you have a problem. You come here today because your life is a mess.

You come here today because you have this addiction or you have this challenge or whatever it is. You've come to the right place and you've come to the true and living God who loves you and will forgive you if you'll turn from your sin and put your faith in Him. So what I would like to do is close with a prayer. And it's a prayer that you could pray if you want Jesus to come into your life. A prayer that you could pray if you want your life to go from ruin to revival, from rubble to restoration. It's a prayer where you'll be asking Jesus Christ to come into your life to be your friend, your Savior, your Lord, your God. He's just a prayer away because He wasn't just crucified. He rose again from the dead three days later and He's alive and He's here with us right now standing at the door of your life and He is knocking.

And He's saying if you'll hear His voice and open the door, He'll come in. If you've not opened the door to your life yet to Christ, do it right now as we pray. Let's all pray. Father, thank You for Your word to us. Thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sin. Lord Jesus, thank You for coming and now we pray that any person who has joined us or is listening, wherever they may be, if they don't have this relationship with You yet, let this be the moment they believe and draw near to You and call on You. Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying, if you want Christ to come into your life, if you want your sin forgiven, if you want to go to heaven when you die, I want you to pray this prayer after me.

Right where you are, just pray. You could pray it out loud if you like, but just pray these words after me. Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I know that You're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow You from this moment forward.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. We'd like to send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's perfect for someone who's new to the faith. It has hundreds of helps, including Cornerstones, a series of short articles on the basics of the Christian faith. And we'll send it without charge. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write, A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. And then let us take a moment to thank you for praying for this ministry and for supporting it through your generous donation.

It's an investment in kingdom business. Isn't that right, Pastor Greg? Yeah, it's really true, Dave. And I believe it's so important because, you know, the Gospel saves lives. It saves eternal lives because when a person believes in Jesus, according to Scripture, they pass from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. And then, of course, that changes the course of their future.

That impacts their children and their children's children. The Gospel changes everything, and thousands and thousands of people respond every single year. Thanks to the Lord. Also, thanks to you for your investment in this ministry, enabling us to reach people wherever they are. So, if this is something you care about, I encourage you to make a financial investment in A New Beginning and Harvest Ministries.

Yeah, that's right. And we really do appreciate your support. Thanks for partnering with us today.

It can make a real difference, not just for today or this week, but for eternity. So get in touch with your support today by calling 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, a call to perseverance when we face tough challenges. Don't miss the message called Never Give Up. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.