Don't Give Up | God's Instrument

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Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. It's all about faithfulness. Faithfulness to what God has called you to do.

That's why every day counts, every lap counts, every moment counts. Do it all for the glory of God. There have been many famous violinists, far fewer famous luthiers, the master craftsman who made the great violins. Among the few is Antonio Stradivari, and there's not a violinist alive who's never heard of a Stradivarius. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out whether we play an instrument, whether we make an instrument, or just listen to instruments. We can all be an instrument in the hand of God, and we'll learn to serve God with the passion of a Stradivari. We are in the book of Nehemiah. Let's turn to Nehemiah chapter 6.

Nehemiah chapter 6. The title of my message is, Don't Give Up. Don't Give Up. Before we dig in, why don't we pray together. Now Father, I know that there are people here today, people that are listening that maybe are discouraged. They are downhearted.

They are overwhelmed. Lord, I pray that they will be encouraged today and that they will realize that they can finish what You have called them to begin. Because You are the author and the finisher of our faith. So we are asking Your blessing now as we open Your Word and look at the book of Nehemiah. We believe all Scripture is given from You. It is breathed from heaven. It is inspired by God. So speak to us through Your inspired Word. We would ask now in Jesus' name. Amen. Well we are looking at the book of Nehemiah in this series that we are calling, The Rebuilt Life. And we are looking at how the people of Israel returned from their captivity in Babylon and built up the walls of Jerusalem that were lying in charred rubble. And it has been done in 52 days.

How did He do it? Simple answer. He kept His eye on the ball. And that brings me to my first point before we read. Point number one. If you are taking notes don't get sidetracked. Stay focused. Again don't get sidetracked.

Stay focused. Nehemiah 6. Verse 1. Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of the enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall, and no gaps remained, though we had not yet set up the doors and the gates. So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono.

But I realized they were plotting to harm me. We will stop there. So the job is almost done but not quite.

The doors have not yet been hung. Point number two. Satan hits hardest at the beginning and the end.

Let me say that again. Satan hits us hardest at the beginning and the end. So there was great opposition when they started to build the wall.

And now there is great opposition when the wall is finished and they are getting ready to hang the doors. And it is true in our life. Often the devil hits us hardest at the beginning and end.

When you first come to Christ oh no you became a Christian. He wants to pull you back down. Remember in the parable of the sower Jesus talked about the sower that threw the seed out and went on the roadside. The birds ate it. It swooped down quickly. Sort of like when you go to McDonald's in an outburger or wherever. And the birds are just waiting. You know they are waiting.

Waiting. And sometimes they will wait for the food to hit the ground. Sometimes they will take it if you look away. This happens.

They get very aggressive these little birds. And that is the idea. Jesus said, these are they that hear the Word of God but Satan comes immediately to snatch away what was in their heart. You remember what it was like when you first became a Christian.

Some of you are new Christians. And you are freaking out. Because you are thinking, why am I getting tempted all the time? Why is all this crazy stuff coming at me? Why are my old friends calling me up wanting to party? Why is this other thing happening? What is going on? The devil is trying to pull you down because you have just started the most amazing journey you will ever be on in life following Christ.

But then fast forward now. You are coming maybe toward the end of your journey. Maybe you are getting a bit older and the devil says, I want to get you now. Because if I get you now I can discredit you for all those years you did good for God's glory. And so you don't want that to happen to you. He hits you at the beginning and the end. He is persistent. Look at verse 4.

Four times they sent the same message and each time I gave the same reply. I am engaged in a great work so I can't come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you? Point number three.

If you are taking notes. Take care of your character and God will take care of your reputation. Take care of your character. Your personal integrity.

And God will take care of your reputation. Now Sanballat challenges the personal motives of Nehemiah. Verse 5.

The fifth time Sanballat's servant came with an open letter in his hand. And this is what it said. There is a rumor among the surrounding nations and Gershon tells me it is true that you and the Jews are planning to rebel and that is why you are building the wall according to the reports. You plan to be their king. He also reports you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim about you, look there is a king in Judah. You can be very sure this report will get back to the king.

So I suggest you come and talk it over with me. Well in there. It is interesting another trick and diversion to get Nehemiah off the wall so they could attack. And this time it is slander. Now here is the interesting thing.

Don't miss this. They were accusing Nehemiah of the very thing they were guilty of. Nehemiah wasn't trying to be the king. He was serving the king to the point Nehemiah had been underwritten in this project by the king. He was a close friend and confidant of the king. And the king even sent a bodyguard to protect him. So he was good with the king but they are saying, oh no you want to be the king.

This is all about you. You are on some kind of an ego trip. They were in effect projecting their sin on Nehemiah. This is exactly what Jesus was talking about when He spoke of the speck and the beam in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7 He says, why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but not consider the beam or the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, oh let me remove the speck from your eye and look there is a plank in your own eye.

Let me update that. How can you get the sawdust out of your brother's eye when you have a telephone pole in your eye? That is what Jesus is saying. Now this is really interesting. Because the word that He uses for speck and for beam or for plank are of the same substance. Meaning that Jesus is saying the reason some people are so adept at finding fault in others is because they are so familiar with it themselves.

The very thing they were accusing Nehemiah of doing they were personally guilty of. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Whenever you reach out to us, whether through email, a letter, or even a text message, we read every word.

Hi Pastor Greg. I want to thank you for everything you do. If it wasn't for your messages I honestly believe my husband and I would no longer be married. It's been difficult as my husband is in the military and we have a special needs child. One night when I was about to leave him he begged me to stay and watch your marriage sermons on YouTube and so I did.

Now when we go to bed we still watch your sermon videos but we don't use them to fall asleep of course. There's a lot I've obviously left out but I hope one day we can talk in person. In March we celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary because of God and you. Thank you and God bless. How encouraging Pastor Greg's teachings in God's word has helped to save this marriage. Do you have a story to share?

If so would you let us know? Tell us your story by calling 1-866-871-1144. Again that's 866-871-1144. Well Pastor Greg is presenting a message from Nehemiah 6 today called Don't Give Up. Let's continue.

Number four. When you come under attack you need to pray. When you come under attack you need to pray. Look at Nehemiah's response. Verse six.

I sent them this reply. Nothing like what you are saying is happening. You are just making it up out of your head. I love that. That's New Living Translation.

That's a good one. Here is an update. This is fake news guys. You are making it up and you know it. I am not going to dignify it even for a moment. I will just say it is not true.

You made it up and I have a work to do. That is why I said if you take care of your character God will take care of your reputation. So he prayed and he says in verse nine, Lord strengthen my hands.

Now the story takes an interesting twist and a creepy character enters our narrative. He appears to be more spiritual but he is just as wicked as the others. His name is Shemaiah and he actually was a priest. Because he was a priest he invited Nehemiah to come visit him. And Nehemiah out of respect did pay him a visit. And it is in verse 10. Later I came to visit Shemaiah son of Deliah and grandson of Methabell for he was confined to his home and he said, let's meet together in the temple of God and bolt the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight.

Wow. This is a very clever strategy. Because this guy is supposedly a man of God. And even a prophet. And he is telling Nehemiah come to the temple and bolt the doors. There are people that are out to kill you.

There are assassins out hunting for you right now. But come here in the temple and you will be safe. When in reality the real trap was if Nehemiah went they would have killed him right there in the temple.

Yeah. Shemaiah was a prophet all right. A false prophet. And Nehemiah was not only hardworking.

He also was very discerning and he understood what this guy was up to. First of all he knew he shouldn't go into the temple. Another way to translate it is Holy of Holies.

Interchangeable word here. So basically Shemaiah is saying come into the Holy of Holies. Nehemiah is saying hey man I am not a priest. I don't belong in the Holy of Holies. That is what the Bible says. So whatever you are selling here I am not buying it because you are not properly representing God. So he would not do it. I love his response. Verse 11. Should someone in my position run from danger?

Should someone in my position enter the temple to save his life? No I won't do it. Loose paraphrase. You want me to cut and run? Forget about it.

Jump in a lake. I am not doing it. Bringing me to my last point. Point number five. We need to finish the work God has called us to do. We need to finish the work God has called us to do.

Verse three. So I sent messengers to them saying I am doing a great work and I cannot come down so why should the work cease? Well I will leave it and go down to you. I am not coming down from the wall. God has called me to build this wall. I am staying on this wall. I am not going down to Ono. I am not going to the temple. I am not going anywhere because I am doing a great work for God.

Listen to this. If you are serving the Lord wherever that might be you are doing a great work for God. The people that helped you find a parking spot today at church are doing a great work for God.

It is true. The ushers that helped you find a seat to sit in today they are doing a great work for God. The people that stand on this platform and lead us in worship they are doing a great work for God. The Sunday school teachers that lovingly and patiently minister to your children while you are down here are doing a great work for God. These people are. That is right.

Worth clapping for. They are not paid to do this. This isn't a job. This is their ministry. They are doing this as unto the Lord serving you. They are doing a great work for God. The security team that watches over us here to keep us safe they are doing a great work for God.

Every one of them. The folks that are in the back room and people accept Christ and they share with them what it means to be a Christian they are doing a great work for God. It is all a great work. I stand on this stage. I am doing a great work for God.

Now let me say something about that. I am not doing a greater work for God than someone else. I am doing my great work for God. You see. So you have got to do your great work for God.

This is not about better, worse, greater, lesser. It is all about faithfulness. Faithfulness. Faithfulness to what God has called you to do. I will be judged according to what the Lord called me to do. You will be judged for the same.

So here is my word of encouragement to you today. Find your place in this church so you can start doing your great work for God. There is a place for you to serve.

It might be now you are clapping. You better go sign up for something here. So I mentioned a few things. Maybe one of those things isn't there you can help on. But we have so many things we do here in this church each and every day for you to serve.

For you to get involved so we can all do our great work for God. But here is the thing you don't know and I don't know. We don't know how long our race is going to go. So I just take each day and I treat it as though it were my last day. You say, well Greg that is good for you. You know you are getting a little older now so you should be thinking about that.

Yeah ok. But I am young. And I have got my whole life in front of me. And this doesn't apply to me. Really?

It doesn't? When is your life going to end? Well a long time from now. How do you know that? You don't know that. You see you don't know where you are in the race. You may think you are at the beginning when in reality you may be toward the end.

You may think that you are toward the middle and actually you are more toward the beginning. You have a lot longer to go. That is why every day counts. Every lap counts. Every moment counts. Do it all for the glory of God.

So make each day count. You know my son Christopher age 33 went to be with the Lord almost ten years ago now. Where he is buried we have a plaque and it says his name. Christopher David Laurie. Son. Brother. Husband.

Father. And then it says in 2 Timothy 2 I fought the good fight. I kept the faith. I finished the course. Who would have ever known that his course would end so soon.

But it did. And now there is that reward for him in heaven and it waits for all of us as we faithfully finish it. But make sure you are ready for that day.

Let me say one last thing about this story and we will close today. And that is that Nehemiah was asked to come down from the wall and he wouldn't do it. But actually God came down from heaven for us 2,000 years ago. He could have looked down from heaven and said, you know what earth. This is your problem.

You sort it out. But God came down from heaven and at the age of 33 he laid his life down and willingly died on the cross. When he was hanging on the cross they said, come down from that cross. If you are really the son of God prove it. The fact is if he came down from that cross he couldn't have saved them. So the reason he stayed on that cross was so he could die for their sins.

Let me personalize it so he could die for your sins. And guess what. You have a lot of sins. A lot. More than you may even realize. And so do I.

We all do. But Christ died for those sins. He paid the price for those sins. And then he rose again from the dead and now he is alive. And he is ready to come into any life.

Any heart. He stands at the door and he knocks. And he says if you will hear his voice and open the door he will come in. Would you like Jesus to come into your life today? Would you like to know that you will go to heaven when you die? You can know this for sure. Not hope it. Not think it.

Know it. He will come and live inside of you. But you must say, Lord I open that door. You know I talked about keeping doors shut. Door to your mind. Door to your mouth. Here is the door you need to open up wide. The door of your life.

Of your heart. And say Jesus I want you here. I want you to be my Lord. I want you to be my God. I want you to be my Savior. I want you to be my friend. I want you to be my counselor. I want you to do the work of my life that you want to do.

I invite you in. And if you will ask him to come in he will. And he will change your life today for time and eternity. So we are going to close in prayer and I am going to give you an opportunity to ask Christ to come into your life. If you haven't done this yet please do this now.

You will not regret it. Let's all bow our heads. Everybody praying. Father thank You for loving us so much that You sent Jesus to this earth to be born in a manger to die on a cross to pay for our sins and to rise again from the dead. Now Lord Jesus we pray that Your Holy Spirit will convict and convince every person here every person wherever they are of their need for You and help them to come to You and believe. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie, pointing out the need to come to the Lord to find forgiveness for our sins and the hope of heaven. And if you'd like to follow through and make a change in your relationship with God today Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. Well Pastor Greg you've just released your new book Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus.

And we're making it available right now through A New Beginning. Let me ask you in researching and writing the book why do you suppose rock stars and for that matter celebrities of all different stripes, why do they seem to self-destruct so often? I think a lot of these folks are damaged goods. So many of them come from broken homes. So many of them come from horrible backgrounds or they come from horrible poverty or something else and they want to be noticed. They want their life to matter. They want their life to have meaning. And I think they're actually searching for fulfillment through fame and fortune. They're thinking if I could one day be famous, if I could one day live in a mansion, if I could one day drive a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari or whatever it is, if I one day had people chanting my name that would bring happiness. And of course that's not true.

And they climb to the top of the mountain and they find out there's nothing there. So I think many of them are really just on a search for the meaning of life but they're born with a talent as a singer, as an actor, as a performer of some kind. And so many of them rocket quickly to the top and that is like the worst thing that can happen when you don't have a support structure to help you deal with all that adulation, fame and success and all that money you make. I mean I know it's a cliche when we read the stories of these folks that just spend money like crazy and they find themselves bankrupt and in trouble. Well they're not prepared for that kind of a life. They just like to sing or they like to perform or they like to do something else.

And then they have this incredible success that can be absolutely, in many cases, devastating to them. But I think a lot of these guys are searching for peace and meaning. Why are they here on this earth?

It's just about this. Don't take the wrong course in life. Don't think that things will fill that void in your life or a career will do it or success will do it or sex will do it or any other thing. What you really want, what you really need is a relationship with Jesus Christ and discover His plan for your life and get to know Him. And then you'll have that happiness and that peace that you've longed for throughout your entire life.

Yeah, that's right. It's such a strong evangelism tool and a fascinating group of many biographies of so many of the names we know well. The subtitle is The Spiritual Biography of Rock and Roll. And we'd like to send you Pastor Greg's new book, Lennon, Dillon, Alice and Jesus. It's our way of saying thank you for your investment in these daily studies. We're completely listener supported. We couldn't be here each day without the generosity of listeners like you.

So thank you for your partnership. And when you send your donation, be sure to ask for Lennon, Dillon, Alice and Jesus. Call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call. 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Pastor Greg, getting back to the way you closed your message today, you spoke of how someone can accept God's offer of eternal life.

That's right. Could you help the person who wants to do that very thing right now? Yes, I'd be delighted to. Listen, as you've listened to this program today, maybe something's been happening inside of your heart where you're sensing, I need to do this personally, but how do I do it and what do I do? Let me help you. It's very simple.

In fact, it's so simple you may be shocked. God, this relationship with him is just a prayer away. The Bible says if you will call upon the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. So I'd like to lead you in a prayer where you do just that. You call on the name of the Lord.

This can be the moment where you change your eternal address literally from hell to heaven. Just pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for me and rose again from the dead. Jesus, I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In your name I pray, amen. I know. It's such a simple, short prayer, but you just called on the name of the Lord.

And you know what? He heard that prayer. And if you meant that prayer in your heart, he answered that prayer. Now let me help you to get started on the right foot in your new life in Jesus Christ. The greatest adventure awaits you, the life of walking with God. I want to send you what we call a New Believers' Growth Pack that includes the New Believers' Bible and a whole lot more. And let me be the first to say to you congratulations and welcome to the family of God.

Yeah, and to get that free New Believers' Growth Pack, just ask for it if you prayed along with Pastor Greg to receive Christ. We'll be glad to send one your way. Call us at 1-800-821-3300. We are here to take your call around the clock.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Well next time as Pastor Greg continues our series in the challenging book of Nehemiah, we'll check up on ourselves and see if it's time for a personal spiritual revival. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make Him known to others or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.