All right, hey guys, welcome across all of our campuses this morning, man. We're excited to be able to open up God's word. We're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 4, which is, man, we're just kind of moving right through with this rebuild series. As you guys are finding Nehemiah chapter 4, I want to celebrate this. Guys, you know, we are a church planning church.
Highest mission that we're on in terms of just putting words to it and giving us something to pray for and rally towards is we want to see 500 missionaries sent out from Mercy Hill. I'm not talking about on a trip for two weeks. This is two years or more. They're gone, okay? 500 missionaries by 2032, and that includes international and our domestic church plants.
And right now, this is really awesome, guys. Declaration Church, who you know we introduced, they're going to be going to Bowies Creek, North Carolina next year. They have 15 adults and 15 kids already signed up for their launch team. All right.
So they are going. Awesome. And man, you may be interested in that. They do have one more launch team meeting coming up that is a part of a partner church of ours.
So, if you're interested in that, you can find out more on the church planning part of our website. I also want to tell you, Greenhouse Church, you know, we talked about this. They launched in Greensboro, you know, really, really, really incredible. And then we've celebrated, they had 100-something, 70-something at their launch, 170-something. But this is cool.
They just took 11 people through their first version of their weekender called Rooted, and they just had one baptism.
So it's awesome. They're off and running.
So, yeah, across our whole church, man, we can praise God for what's going on there. All right.
Nehemiah chapter 4 is where we're going to be today. And what we've been talking about in this series is how God can restore and rebuild what looks irreparably broken. It looks like it couldn't be put back together. And yet, our God is one who can put it back together. But here's what we're going to talk about today: that putting together what Satan wants to keep pulled apart.
It does not happen without a fight. The enemy is not going to lay down as we are seeing God move through his church and see restorations of marriages, foster care, adoption. We're going to see churches being planted in devastated communities. We're going to see people sent to the mission field where there has been nothing but darkness. Like these things being rebuilt for God's glory is not going to happen without there being a fight.
Now, I know it's, you know, this time of year, and obviously, I didn't plan this. You know, we plan these sermons months in advance, but. When thinking about this, but it is funny. We're going to talk about spiritual war today, and like this is kind of the spooky season, you know, in our culture, right? And so it's, you know, Halloween and all that.
And, you know, I'm not, man, Halloween, there's funny Halloween. There's really weird, godless Halloween, it seems like. And some of you guys, I don't know. I'm not going to judge you if you're into that, but I drive by these houses and I'm like, man, I don't know, but that is really weird. Like, they got a full graveyard with zombies coming out of it in their front yard.
You know, maybe that's you. I don't know. Here's what I want to tell you today. The enemies we face is way more terrifying. The enemy that wants to come and take down the families and individuals that make up a church like Mercy Hill.
is more terrifying because Satan is real. His demons are real, they have real power, and they are really numbered. There is a certain amount of them that are working spiritually in this world. They sow lies, deceit, frustration, physical affliction, among other things. And when we take up the mission, there is a war that follows.
You gotta understand, there's only a war because God's people are on mission. And we're on a mission. To see God through us put back together things that look like they could never be put back together, but Satan's not gonna take that lying down.
Now, I don't want you to misunderstand. It's like, well, I know we say, well, it's like a spiritual battle, but isn't the war already won in Christ? Yes. But that doesn't mean the enemy's gonna stop right now. You know, one of the best illustrations I've ever heard of this is: I want you to think about this, all right?
The War of 1812. Ended. with and the biggest battle that it ended with was the Battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson fought in the Battle of New Orleans against the British with regulars, but also with militia and pirates and freed slaves and Indians, and it was just this kind of. Man, every, you know, Hajj Paj, and they're fighting, and they won the Battle of New Orleans, all right?
So 2,000 people died in the Battle of New Orleans, January 8th, 1815. 2,000 people died. Almost all of them were British, but you don't have to start your USA chant right this second, okay?
So, but here's the thing: this is the crazy thing about the Battle of New Orleans. The Battle of New Orleans, january eighth, eighteen fifteen. The War of 1812 actually ended on December 24th, 1814. The Treaty of Ghent was signed a full two weeks before the Battle of New Orleans even took place. But the Battle of New Orleans, the people that were there, they didn't know that yet.
That happened in England. They're trying to race to get news back so that these guys will stop fighting. And yet, the battle rages in New Orleans and people died. And I feel like it's a good illustration for us. Y'all, Jesus Christ on the cross has won the war.
But that doesn't mean that the battle doesn't rage. Right here, right now. And if you think for a second. That we are going to be a people that live our lives for a mission. There Train our kids to go and try to reach their college campus.
to send people to the nations. to restore families through foster care and to Build families through adoption. Man, to be the type of church who sends people to the nations. Who gives their money to see the mission go forward? If we think for a second we're gonna be that type of church on one hand and not invite a spiritual fight on the other, then we are sadly mistaken.
And so, what we got to do today is dive in and talk about a really good story that prepares us spiritually for the backlash of doing our assignment. We see that in Nehemiah chapter 4. Here's what I want to show you today: the mission. The war and what it means to be ready. All right, so let's start with the mission.
Here we go. Verse 15. When the enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, We all, this is the mission, we all return to the wall, each to his work. For that day on, half of my servants worked on construction. and half held the spears, shields, Blows and coats of mail.
And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah who were building the wall.
Now here's what I want to talk to you for just a minute about mission, mission, war, and what it means to be ready. The thing about the mission is, you got to understand that it invites war. There is only a war because there is a mission. Let me transport you all the way back into Nehemiah's day and just try to get you to understand the context of this. When Nehemiah led the people to begin to rebuild the wall, it created literally a war, okay?
In terms of, well, it almost created a war. It was people that were in that region that didn't want the nation of Israel to come back to any type of power because they had the power. They began to, the enemy began to heap lies. Try to frustrate their plans. We see this if you read through chapter 4.
Man, try to sow discouragement and fear and even, yes, begin to threaten them with violence and prepare for violence. But that was the price in Nehemiah 4 for God's people stepping into their assignment in God's mission.
Now, remember, I've already talked about this some, but just so you get your mind on, you know, you're heading straight about it. The assignment of God's people in terms of rebuilding the wall and rebuilding Jerusalem, it was very in line with God's salvific history, we call it, okay? That when you look back all the way to Genesis, you understand that God's people were always supposed to hold a place in the world where the world could look in and see something that was true about the God of the universe, where they could be drawn in. And one day God promised Abraham, right, if you remember, I will send through you and through this nation, Israel, I will send a blessing for the entire world. And that was, as we understand it, to be a Messiah that could come and take away our sin and give us entrance back into his family once again.
But when we get to Nehemiah chapter 4 and we get to about 2,500 years ago, okay, the people were nowhere near fulfilling their mission. In fact, God had given them everything, and yet they turned their back and worshipped other gods. And so, what happened? Exile happened. It it's very similar to what happened to us in terms of just humanity.
I mean, you think about Adam and Eve in the garden. They're there, man, they're enjoying everything that God has given them. They choose against God, they're exiled from the garden.
Well, God's people were exiled from their land. And now Nehemiah has come to try to rebuild and restore. And let the people fulfill their assignment to continue the salvific line where the Messiah would come. And this is where we find ourselves, right here in the middle of them rebuilding this wall. And as they step into their assignment, guess what happens?
They invite the attacks of the enemy, and it is no different in your life. It is no different in your life. Around the world, physical and spiritual attacks. Here, sometimes physical, but certainly spiritual attacks.
Now that's the war that is brought by the mission, but let's continue to talk about the mission. Here's what I want to say today. God gives each of us an assignment for his mission. They were building the wall. You and I have an opportunity to, by God's grace, Build disciples.
We have an opportunity by God's grace. To see him build his church. That's what Jesus said he was going to do. He says, I will build my church, but he says, I will do it upon the confession of saints like Peter who have said, You are the Messiah. We get a chance to be used by God to build the church of God.
Man, we're not well listen, you and I are not out there trying to build the wall. We are trying to build up the church, and we each have an assignment. to do in terms of that task. You know, we talk about this a lot at Mercy Hill. I say, man, Jesus did not die to create spectators.
You guys have heard me say that. You're gonna continue to hear me say it, okay? But here's the thing: you and I both have, if you're a believer, we all have spiritual giftings that God has given us. That match up with Ephesians 2.10 works that he has called us to do. and prepared for us before the foundation of the world.
Here's what I want you to see. We have a mission, right? To be used by God to build a church. But you and I. have individual callings and destinies and purposes.
that are in line with our gifting so that we might do what they were doing. complete our assignment. Man, jump into the mission in our schools, in our workplaces. And I want you to hear this today, guys. This is very important for us to understand.
This old school model of, like, hey, we come and sort of support the staff of the pastor as he's doing ministry. I mean, that was never the model. The church was never supposed to be an audience. It's an army. To see God's mission go forward.
And I want you to think about this. My pastor used to say it like this: He used to say, Hey guys, whenever you enter the ministry, you leave the ministry. He was being a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but here's what he was trying to say: the ministry happens where you guys are. The ministry is in your families. The ministry is in your workplaces.
It's where your kids are in dorm rooms on college campuses. It's in your neighborhoods. That's where the mission is. Go read the book of Acts. How many of the miracles in the book of Acts happen inside the four walls of a church?
Very few. The miracles are as you take the Spirit of God with you and fulfill your individual calling and become salt and light in the world and be the aroma of Christ in every nook and cranny of society that He has put, from the teachers to the nurses to the stay-at-home moms to starting businesses to our first responders, people in government, wherever it is that you are a Christ follower, you are bringing.
something of your assignment and the mission to that place. Yeah, you you think about it like this, Ephesians 4.11. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers. I put myself. to equip the saints.
You. all of our campuses. For the work of the ministry for building up the body of Christ. You know, the church. I think sometimes the church thinks it's a little bit of a people with a gifted pastor.
Oh no, the church is a gifted people. It's you. It's a gifted people, not a people with a gifted pastor. All right? It should be like this, okay?
I want you to think about a football game. It's a Sunday, so think about yesterday, college football, all around the nation, right? Many churches, sadly, Resemble like a college football team where you got 22 guys on the field. that are in desperate need of rest. And they are surrounded by 22,000 people that if we're honest.
Are in desperate need of exercise.
Okay, so it's like, you know, it's like you have the exact opposite.
Now, look, the church sometimes feels like that. It's like you got 20,000 people, you know, 22,000 people cheering on the 11 that are on the field. What if that was flipped in the way that it's supposed to be? Because Ephesians 4:11 is a little bit like this. Oh no, we take a few people sort of off the field, if you want to put it like that.
And they become the equippers. It's not 22,000 cheering on the 22, it's the 22 cheering on and equipping the 22,000. To go out into their workplaces and in their neighborhoods. And what do you think happens when the mission of God goes forth in that way? When we go forth sharing Christ with the world?
This sermon, listen, it is about spiritual war, but you got to answer this question, okay? I really want you to wrestle with this. Are you engaged in the mission? in such a way that it is bringing about spiritual war. And if we're not.
Then, what does that mean, and what does it tell you? I'm not gonna sugarcoat this for you, okay? Because I don't think that's love. All right, I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
Some of you are on the fence today, man. We've got people like this at every one of our campuses, I guarantee it. Probably hundreds and hundreds across all of our campuses in church. All right.
And you start thinking about our church plants, I mean, thousands, probably, okay? And it's this type of person, man. God is drawing you. You're coming around, you're hearing the word, something's lighting up in you, you're being drawn, but you're not quite sure if you're totally ready to commit. I want you to understand, I'm not gonna sugarcoat this for you.
When you commit your life to Christ. and you get serious about the mission. The I mean, the Bible even calls him the God of this world, little G God. Satan himself and his demons. They will come after you.
There will be spiritual battle. Lies, frustrations, deceits, even physical afflictions, these things will come after you, and you have to make the decision. Whether or not you think it's worth it. To be redeemed. Reconciled to God, given a purpose in this life, and an eternity that is sure, you're going to have to figure this out.
Is it worth it for me to live in the calling for which I was created, even if it means war? Or is it better to just kind of let it go? And then, listen, some of you might decide today, I don't want that life. I don't want this struggle. Go read the New Testament.
It's a struggle.
Okay? I mean, you think about, and you might say, I don't want that struggle. It's not worth it to me. And that's okay. You have that decision.
But you need to wrestle with the fact that probably means you're not a Christian.
Okay, it probably means that you're just like, hey, I've chosen the world. And I mean, I hate that, I don't want that for you, but it's pretty clear. All right, so are you living the life that is inviting the spiritual warfare? And are we going to mark our lives with the readiness that we need? All right, first is the mission, all right?
But the mission invites the war. Look what it says: Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
Now, I want you to get the picture of what's going on. This is a beautiful picture, it's a galvanizing picture. It's a picture that our kids need. They have a picture of Christianity from the culture that is weak and milquetoast. And what we need to give them is this picture.
That as a believer, you are called to really two callings here, okay? Number one, I have the tools of kingdom building in my hand. And the other, because I know what that mission is going to invite, which is spiritual war, the other, I hold a sword. This is the picture here. Earlier in chapter four, you can go back and read it.
The enemies of God's people were threatening, beguiling, jeering, even mobilizing for violence. And what you don't have. It's Nehemiah as their leader that decides to lay down. Abandon the work. Hey, this is not worth it.
No, no, no. What you have is A man Who leads the people to say, hey, we have to be ready to meet the challenge of the day. You know, we have a lot of awesome first responders at our church. We have a lot of awesome firefighters. And here's what I think about them: I think about this in my ministry sometimes.
It's like, If I was a firefighter, I know many of them, they are like this. If I was a firefighter. I would know that I was capable of running whatever, 30 flights of stairs in a burning building and having the strength to do that and carry all this stuff. And I would condition my body because of what was going to be asked of me, right? Like I've got it I've got a I've got to be ready here To meet what is asked of me when that time comes.
And you guys do it, you do an incredible job of it, right? I think it's a little bit that way for. Us to think about What is going to be asked of us? The war is going to be at such a height and such a level. That we're going to need to keep kingdom building tools in one hand.
and our spiritual weapons in the other.
so that we can fight off the enemy while we're building the kingdom. If that makes sense. This picture is so good. Charles Spurgeon, who pastored Metropolitan Tabernacle for 37 years, I think it was. And it was a mega church before it was ever a megachurch.
And man, just worldwide ministry. And many of you guys have maybe read some of his stuff, or you've been influenced by people who have certainly cast, he was a prince of preachers, okay? Certainly cast a shadow even now in the seminary world and the baptistic kind of traditions and stuff like that. And He put out a magazine for 30 years. That was pastoral.
It was talking about ministry. It had articles, all that kind of stuff. And the name of the article, the name of the magazine, was The Sword and the Trowel. Kingdom building. And also Spiritual defenses and understanding that there is a war.
The picture here is this: the people that were carrying the tools literally would carry the tools in one hand and carry a sword in the other. The people that were building. would have a sword strapped to their side while they're building with both hands. And then you'd have somebody there with a trumpet that could call, if there was an enemy breach, if somebody came in, they could call and rally people.
Now, again, I want to go back to the intro and just say this very quickly. I understand that the war is over. I don't want you to go out without the confidence to do mission inviting warfare in a way that makes you wonder: is dark or light going to win? It's not a yin and yang kind of thing.
Okay, it's not like, well, we're worried about if God wins this, or it's not that. But what we do have to understand is that, much like the Battle of New Orleans, there is a battle that rages, even though the war is there. And I think. It is to our advantage. That we do not get surprised when we engage in the mission and spiritual warfare shows up.
I think it's to our advantage if we know that Satan wants to mobilize his war machine, if the storm of his demonic forces. is going to come to our shores. It feels to me like it would be pretty smart to expect it. And to not be caught off guard by it, right? It is funny to me.
Have you ever been caught off guard by something that you just absolutely should not have been? You know, you should have known. This is so funny in our house right now. You might not think this is funny. I think it's funny, and I'm also trying to figure out how we can ever solve it.
Okay, I don't really know. My wife Like She she just is jumpy. And, like, it'll happen where I just walk, I mean, I'm home, we're both home, and I happen to walk into a room, and she didn't expect me to come, and it turns into the biggest jump scare you've ever seen. You might as well think I'm Freddy Krueger or something, okay? I mean, like, I'm just, I just, just walk, you know, just walking in, and, you know, she's in there folded clothes or whatever, and sees me and just, ah, I mean, she, you know, stuff's going flying and everything else.
Now it's infected my daughter. She's the same way. I mean, I'm just walking out taking the trash. She pulls up. Ah, I'm like, finally, I've told him, I'm like, I live here.
Okay? You're going to. You're gonna have to. I live here. I, you know, I have to.
I mean, they need to put one of those little collars on me with a belt, like you do for a cat.
So they'll quit killing birds, you know, so people can hit me. I just, you know, jingle everywhere I go. But it's funny when I talk to Anna because I'm like, babe, why does it take you off guard? I know that's funny, but listen, we should not be taken off guard by something that is pretty clear and straightforward. And we can't be taken off guard.
That the spiritual battle comes to us.
Now, this is the thing I'm gonna do, all right? If you wanna jot this stuff down, I'm about to throw a lot of scripture at you guys over the next few minutes. That's fine if you wanna jot it down. Every Monday on our blog, if you go to our church website, if you go to my website, You'll be able to see. We do a recap of the sermon.
So that helps you with community groups and stuff like that. Like if you want to just, man, get a refresher, and it'll have all this scripture on there, all right? But if you wanna jot it down, you can, or just listen to this stuff. Let me give you four, and this is not exhaustive. I mean, I don't have time exhaustive.
Let me give you four ways. that when you engage in mission Satan will come after you in terms of spiritual war. All right? The first one is this. He will lie to you.
He is a liar. John 8:44, when he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. This man, and exactly how it works and how he influences us, it's very hard. It's a spiritual thing. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians that he can even blind the person who is not, spiritually blind, a person who is not a believer.
There is some kind of way. That the demonic influences are able to come into our life, and suddenly we begin to believe things that are not true. We start to believe things like, well, You know, I committed this sin again. Finally, this is the last time, and God's grace is going to run out on me. We begin to believe things that aren't true that discourage us and make us not want to engage in a mission.
You know? Maybe, maybe, hey, it could be somebody that you're close with that just is saying something that is just not true, but it begins to get into you. Words kind of become the fabric of our makeup. They get knitted to our soul in a way. They're very, very powerful.
The Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue, right? I remember this is, you know, sometimes it's friendly fire. People may not even mean it that much. I remember. When we were going to when we decided to plant a church Mercy Hill Um, you know, years before, it was probably 2010 or something, we were deciding we were doing it.
And I went down to try to meet with some guys that I know in Florida to think about getting support. And it's very much like you're a startup, you know, you're trying to get people to help you and get going and all that. And I went and talked to this associational missionary, they call them, and this network. And, you know, they kind of help with local churches and all that. And I sat down and I said, hey, man.
And I was younger, you know, 25, 26 years old. I said, hey, we've decided we're going to plant a church. And he looked back at me and I don't know if he was trying to be funny or if he was. I don't know, serious, whatever. But he said, I'll never forget this.
He said, man, you gotta be dumb or crazy to try to plant a church. I think he was kind of trying to be funny. But those words sorta got into me. I know I'm not dumb. I'm a little bit crazy sometimes, okay?
But. But I just I just thought like, man, I don't. That's a lie, man. Like that's a lie And how many of us might now might even be buying into that? Where you're thinking like, man, I can't do that.
That's dumb or crazy. You know, like I can't go all in on God's mission.
Some of you right now need to plant churches out of Mercy Hill. You have the background, you have the calling, but in your mind, you're like, man, I gotta be dumb or crazy to think about actually going and doing something like that. Man, going from the, and I tell you all the time, you go from the business world to the ministry world. It's sort of a trade-off, okay? You go to the business world, the ministry world, you make half the money.
But you get double the stress.
Okay, so it's sort of You know, it kind of balances a little bit.
So, you know, some of you guys are thinking about doing that, and you're like, all right. But that's dumb or crazy. No, that's a lie from the enemy, and that's what he wants to do. Second thing he wants to do is accuse. Revelation 12, 10.
Now the salvation and power And the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before God. Accusation. before God, but also gets into us. Who are you to lead a community group?
Look at what you've done and you're gonna go be on a mission trip. You can't even get this together or that together. I know what you did. I see the sin in your life. And no, you're going to be the one that's going to try to start a Bible study at your work.
You're going to be the one that's going to do a city project. You're gonna do that this summer. I know what you were doing last summer. You understand? It's an accusation.
It's spiritual war. Satan also afflicts physically. I know this is, you know, you're like, well, this is stuff. Yes. Yes.
There are supernatural things that Satan will do that manifest physically in this world. I have seen them with my own eyes, okay? And there's no telling how many of us may have been afflicted at times in our life where we are so kind of modern that we think everything is physical when it could have a spiritual root. And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, who Satan bound for 18 years, Be loosed from this bond. on the Sabbath day.
I would encourage you, church, when you're praying for your kids, you're praying for illness, you're praying for people that are in your community group. Man, I understand that there are many things, and we'll never know, there are many things that just have a brokenness of the world problem to them. The body is broken because the world is broken. There are other times in life where Satan is gaining a foothold by physically afflicting. You know, believers, think about the story of Job, for example.
We need to pray for the physical and the spiritual. And he can blind the minds. Look what it says: he blinds minds to prevent people from seeing the gospel. 2 Corinthians 4:4. In their case, the God of this world was blinded.
Has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. God of this world, little g God. Talking about Satan here to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. These are a few, four things that Satan can do of many. I just want you to understand today.
That seeing them coming is an advantage for us. 2 Corinthians says it like this, so that you would not be outwitted. By Satan. We've got to, think about it, think about Ephesians 6. Think about the spiritual armor.
We need truth and righteousness and grace and the spirit. We need these things. Why? Because we know what his tactics are, and we're not gonna be outwitted. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.
In any war. Knowing the tactics of the enemy is a huge advantage. And so I call you to do this. Put on the whole armor of God, Ephesians 6, that you might be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. If I wanted to sum up this idea, remember, we're going mission, war, and then what do we need to do to prepare, all right?
If I want to sum up this idea of war, I would just ask one question. Or I would say it like this. If you're gonna pick up the trowel. You'd better pick up the sword. If you're gonna pick up kingdom work.
Then you better pick up the sword and build a life that will withstand the storm. And don't be trying to build the bridges and the dams once the storm is already on the shore. Satan will mobilize his war machine against you. Against our church. Are we building a life through the flywheel?
Gather groups, give go. Through our inner life, reading, prayer. Through relationships, are we building that life?
Well, that's what we want to talk about next. All right, let's talk about ways that we can ready ourselves. And I said to the nobles, and to the officials, and to the rest of the people: the work is great. and widely spread. And we are separated on the wall.
far from one another.
So the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet. Rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.
Okay, first thing is: don't fight alone.
So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. And I said to the people, okay, so the second thing is: don't turn loose of your spiritual weapons, all right? And the third thing is: let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem. Let's all get together. that they may be a guard for us by night.
and may labor by day. Then he says this. Neither I nor my brothers or servants or men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes. Each kept his weapon at his right hand. The third thing is going to be to stay vigilant.
Listen, here's the big application for this week, and then I'll break it down in those three ways. Ready yourself for the spiritual battle. Ready yourself for the spiritual battle. If you're not interested in the battle, if you're not interested in the mission, then maybe you don't have to worry about the battle. But for those of you who who have decided to engage in the mission.
and make your local church Mercy Hill. Make your local church one who has a bold mission statement of making disciples and multiplying churches. Let me tell you this, okay? And this is awesome. All right, we can celebrate this.
This year, 2025, Mercy Hill was named the 25th fastest growing church in the nation. All right.
We can praise God for that. That's a great thing. That means many of you are coming in. All right.
And I praise God for it. It's awesome. We want to see thousands more people accept Christ. We gather Thursday night to pray heaven down just to pray for revival. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people need to get saved in this country.
We pray that it'll happen, and churches everywhere will be growing. But, Here's what I'm going to tell you. You're going to engage your ministry. In a church that's blowing and going, and God is moving in like this, what do you think Satan's going to do?
Now, what do you think? You think he's going to take that lion down? There's no way he's going to take it lying down. I feel this very personally. Many of our staff feel it.
There's a target on some of us. I understand it. Our elders, we get that. We chose this life. We've stepped into it.
Are we all stepping into it? Are you stepping into it? Are you willing to take that on? And to say, you know what? That's exactly the life that I'm stepping into, a life of mission.
Tool in one hand, sword in the other. And let's go. If you are, then I'm going to call you to this. We need to be ready. All right, we need to be ready.
And there's three quick lessons I see for readiness here. Number one: rally together, not individually. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us, there, our God will fight for us. I want you to understand: Satan is going to try to attack the weakest part of the wall. And wherever the weakest part of the wall is, That's where we need to rally with the reinforcements.
What am I saying? Are you in a community group? Because that's where we blow the trumpet, y'all. Are you in a group? Because that's where we blow the trumpet.
Man, we come together, we know each other, we let people into our lives, we push into other people's lives, we pray together, we have a group, you know, we got group texts together. That this is so important in our lives. And I pray that you will be in a group. And I'm not trying to be dogmatic if it's not a Mercy Hill group. I'm just saying: do you have people in your life?
Man, this is the reality. When they blow the trumpet, you know to rally. That's the first thing we need to think about if we're gonna be ready for the war. The second thing is this: keep your spiritual armor handy.
So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. Ephesians 6 tells us, as clear as a bell, These are your weapons. Go read it. Ephesians chapter 6. We need to put on the spiritual armor of God.
And don't neglect these things and keep them handy in our life. And thirdly and finally, it says this. Stay vigilant. Don't get distracted.
So neither I nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes. Each kept his weapon at his right hand. We're not distracted. We understand the stakes. We know that we signed up for a life that is bigger than just promotions and possessions and straight A's and soccer, and it's a bigger life.
And so because we have signed up for that, we are going to stay ready. And listen. When we don't stay ready. When we refuse. To rally to the trumpet, when we refuse to keep our spiritual weapons handy, when we dull our senses and do not stay vigilant.
That's when. Satan, who is like a roaring lion, 1 Peter 5:8 says, is going to come and pick us off. You know, the Bible. Gives us this image of Satan like a roaring lion. You know why?
Because there ain't nothing scarier than a roaring lion. I mean a lion is a king of the jungle king of the jungle for a reason. Lions are so bad.
Okay, there is a group of lions right now in Nambia. And they have moved to the coast because there's no more food on the Sahara where they're at. They have moved to the coast and adapted over the last 30 years. 80%. of their diet now these lions comes out of the ocean.
I mean they're just feasting on seals Baby seals, which Has got to be the biggest conundrum for an environmentalist ever, okay? Do you save the seals or do you starve the lions? All right.
Anyway. And listen, this is the thing I want you to know. There's a reason that the Bible points to the lion. Because here's why. The lion is smart enough.
Man, it's If you got a person. Who is like, hey, man, I'm going to rally to the trumpet. I'm staying vigilant. I've got the weapons in my hand. I'm not saying that the lion is not going to come attack you.
But I am saying he's not going to devour you. Because that's what he's seeking to do. And the one that he devours is going to be the one that rejects readiness. And just says, hey, you know what? Man, I'm living life on my own.
I don't believe the spiritual war is real. I'm dull in my senses with everything you can get your hands on. I'm not vigilant about this at all. That's the one that he wants to devour.
So I would call you to readiness: the mission, the war, and what it means to be ready.
Now, This is the question that we all have before us. Are we ready to engage? Are we ready to engage in the mission even though it means bringing the spiritual fight? And I would tell you today, man, I think we have great reason. I think we have great reason to engage in the mission, even if it invites spiritual war.
And I want you to think about it with me for just a second. You know, we look back and we get a lot of inspiration from Nehemiah. Like you and I, I said, we're called to be used by God to build the church, and He was called to. to be used by God to build the wall. And I look back on that and I'm like, man, if God used them to build the wall, which he did.
That's pretty incredible. And if God could do that, what could He do in our life? And that's a good motivation. But we have a better motivation because. of what we have seen through a greater Nehemiah.
See, Nehemiah couldn't see it. But 500 years after Nehemiah walked on the face of this earth, there came a greater and truer Nehemiah who came not to build the wall, but to build the church, who came not to fix the wall so that the enemies would stay out, but to fix the hearts of the enemies that were within. See, Nehemiah, all he could do was try to keep the enemy out. But we all know this. Man, in our sin...
The enemy is really inside the camp as well. And you and I, because of our sin, we have been scattered. We have been exiled, if you want to put it like that. We have been. pushed out.
We are not part of the family of God and we deserve. Nothing but hell to come. I mean, that's what it means. The wages of sin is death. But Jesus Christ.
He came and laid down. His life. You want to talk about mission-inviting war. Jesus came on a mission for you, and the spiritual war was the cross. That's what he took for you.
But in his resurrection, he offers us the newness of life. You and I understand mission and we understand spiritual war because it is our Savior who engaged in both to bring us into his kingdom. And now we have the idea. Yes, it's a great motivation. Man, seeing God work through Nehemiah is like, dude, that's awesome.
I wanna be a leader like that. I wanna have courage like that. That's great. The greater motivation is to understand: man, this balance of mission and war, Jesus truly came. with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other.
And that's how he brought us in. And now you and I have the opportunity to go out and to do the same. And so I want to call you to that. Y'all, war is scary, but it's worth it to live in the assignment that He has given us. And for many of us, we need to realize that is what we are engaging in.
Some of you are thinking, man, I just come to Mercy Hill, I just park cars, you know, I just hold a door. I just lead a group. I just work in the kids. I'm just gonna take a little mission trip next year. I'm just sitting on the profit of this, sitting on the board of this nonprofit.
I'm just, you know, I'm just gonna go on a church plant. I'm just giving my 10% first fruit. I'm just doing this. I'm just doing that. No, you are engaging in the assignment that God has given you.
And we don't lust after somebody else's assignment. Like God gave you an assignment. That assignment is worthy and it's man, it's part of your calling and your destiny. And I'm not saying this is not God's not gonna grow it. Of course, He's gonna grow it through the course of your life, but will we engage in the assignment that God has given us?
even though it brings about the spiritual battle. You know, as we close, we're going to go into a time of communion. And I think it's just an awesome time for us today to hold the elements in our hand. and to reaffirm This is what it took to bring me into the family. And I have an opportunity now to declare.
You know what? I love being in this family, and I'm going to engage in the mission even though it brings the spiritual war. All right, let's pray. Father. We are so grateful to you today, and we pray that you'll move our hearts across all of our campuses.
Right now, move our hearts. when it comes to this communion. Help us to remember what you have done to bring us in. And God, I pray that we would be people who go out of here convinced that the mission is worth the war that it brings. In Christ's name, amen.
