Brick by Brick // Responding to Opposition // Nehemiah 4 // Pastor Josh Evans

I'm going to give you a little bit of background in case because the background to this book is so important for you to understand what the state of the of the Jewish people were as we find the book of Nehemiah.

So if you remember we talked about this a few weeks ago that a new empire kind of came onto the scene and Persia being that empire they came in and they captured Babylon. Now before that Babylon had come in and they had captured the nation of Israel. They took Jerusalem when they did that and they took the city of Jerusalem which is a very important city and that's where everything that in the book of Nehemiah is happening. The city of Jerusalem was the place where God's presence would dwell. That's where Solomon's temple was so that's where the presence of God dwelt and so when Babylon came in and they captured the Jewish people they completely destroyed its capital city of Jerusalem and so they tore down Solomon's temple they burned down the walls around the city the gate they burned it all down and they took some of the brightest and best that the Jewish people had to offer and they carted them off to off to Babylon. Now we would know that story because that's when Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego you know those names that's when they were carted off to Babylon. Well many years later an empire Persia came in they captured Babylon and when they captured Babylon the king of Persia all the Jews that had been captured and were living in Babylon the king of Persia said hey we don't need these Jewish people anymore so you are free to go. So they said you are you can stay here with us or you can or you can leave. So many of the Jewish people they returned back to their homeland in Jerusalem where everything had been completely destroyed. Well Nehemiah ended up staying there in Persia and he began to work for the Persian king he became his cup bearer and so he had kind of worked himself up to where now he's the king's cup bearer so everything that went to the king would come through Nehemiah first before it got to the king and so he was super high up there in Persia and it wasn't long that his brother Nehemiah's brother who had left and went back to Jerusalem his brother and some of his friends they show up and they visit Nehemiah there in Persia and Nehemiah asked him he said he asked his brother he said what's the state of my people how's Jerusalem doing right it's like when you get together for a family reunion right you're asking how your people's doing you're you're going through the list that kind of thing so he's like how are my people doing and his brother began to tell him he used these words that the Jewish people were in great affliction and reproach in other words that they were completely devastated they were completely broken and they were completely just in in pain and utterly discouraged you say why was that we find in chapter number one that the city of Jerusalem was just rubble laying around in other words if you remember when Babylon had come in and burnt it's uh the wall around the city just burned it to the ground and completely destroyed Solomon's temple what happened is it was never rebuilt back so in other words all these Jewish people they go back to their homeland and it is just rubble and ash from the from the fire and all this it's just laying around and nothing had been rebuilt back now if you remember that was the place where God's presence dwelt that's where the presence of God was so more importantly than this just being a physical thing that they saw it was a spiritual thing because the presence of God was not with them therein in Jerusalem and they wanted the presence of God so this was a spiritual pain as well as a a physical pain well when Nehemiah who's in Persia when he heard that the Jewish people were still in pain and that the city hadn't been rebuilt all these years that they've been released there from Persia he was broken the brokenness of Jerusalem literally broke his heart in two so much to the point where he wept he fasted and he prayed for about four or five months before he did anything with the news that he had just received so he was praying and fasting for these months and then after about four or five months he went to the king of Persia he finally uh felt that it was time that God would lead him to do something with it by the way church that's good application for us we're about to embark on this massive project in front of us and here's the deal i hope that you have been on your knees praying you see prayer is always before planning and before acting we have to be on our knees doing that first before we do anything with the information that we have or the vision that God is calling us us to so Nehemiah in chapter number two he goes to the king of Persia and he asked him he says hey can i get some time off can i go and help my people rebuild this city now if you think about it if you're a boss and people work for you can you imagine that somebody coming to you hey i need to go help you know rebuild something how long you're going to be gone i have no idea i'm just going to be gone for a long time to try to help do this and this is a pagan king the king of Persia was not a believer he was not you know a jew he didn't have a relationship with God or anything like that he was a pagan king but here's what i'll tell you is that God can use anybody to accomplish his will so he the pagan king he told Nehemiah he said sure you can leave and in fact on top of that he gave him letters that he would need as he's kind of crossing from city to city to get back to Jerusalem so that everybody could it would just give him safe passage to get there and then on top of that he gave him a lot of supplies so that he could start rebuilding the wall here it is a pagan king actually helping the work of God move move forward so Nehemiah leaves he goes back to Jerusalem chapter number three of Nehemiah is all about the different people when he gets back he starts to elect a lot of leaders he starts to mention and assign different responsibilities and things like that and so chapter number three you can read it in your own time it's a lot of different names for you to go through because it mentions all the different names of the people that were doing certain parts of the job in rebuilding the walls around the city of Jerusalem well as we come into chapter number four which is where we're going to be today is we see that opposition begins to revolt around Nehemiah and the work that God has called him to and here's what you see and this is just application for us kind of what by way of introduction anytime you say yes to the vision that God has called you to it always invites opposition from the enemy have you experienced that before anytime that you say yes to anything God is calling you to it always invites opposition from from the enemy from the devil himself and and here's why it's because the enemy does not like for you to be used by God the enemy does not like they hate God and so they want to stand in the way of anything that God is calling you to do so anytime you say yes to something that God has called you to here's my thing expect some opposition that is going to stand in the way expect it now if you're like me you kind of sometimes think man I'm saying yes to God why in the world isn't everything supposed to be easy isn't everything supposed to be a bed of roses because I'm saying yes to something he has called us to I wish it was that simple but here's what I'm going to tell you is that there's always opposition from the enemy that comes in when you say yes to God and it forces you to rely on him to fight the battle for you well here in chapter well here in chapter number four Nehemiah he faces some conflict and he faces some opposition now his opposition might look a little bit different than than your opposition but but he still has opposition standing in the way one pastor said if you don't want opposition don't say anything don't write anything and definitely don't do anything because anything that you do for God there's going to be opposition from the enemy now I want to bring this to modern day for just a moment because the opposition he faces looks might maybe look a little different than than the opposition that you face you say what opposition stands in the way of God trying to work through us as a church through you here on this this earth a couple of ways one thing that I think is church conflict that's one way that the enemy uses he uses conflict within the church to disrupt what God is wanting to do many of you have probably probably seen that I know I've experienced that the church that I grew up in it experienced a a split is what we would call it where people aren't getting along so everybody leaves or half the people leave and go here and that kind of thing half the people stay and here's what I've learned we all know that about different churches here in town and things like that here's what I'll tell you is most of the time when things like that happen it's very rarely that it's a theological thing that they're fighting over most of the time it's preferential it's it's things that they just disagreed on and here's what I'll tell you the enemy wants to disrupt things within these walls so that what God wants to do outside of these walls will be hindered you see he always wants to try to create things here so that it will stop his work in our community so the enemy will use church conflict he uses other things like obstacles or distractions or possibly trials I don't know but a lot of times think of it this way is God calls you to do something and all these voices kind of show up in your head from the enemy like you're not good enough for that there's no way you can be used to do that there's no way that you can ever be called to do whatever it is that God is calling you to do and all these voices start to come there's all these insecurities you see the enemy is always going to throw things like that in front of you or obstacles things like mountains and big things in front of you where now your eyes begin to look on the size of the mountain and not the size of of the god of the mountain you see these are attacks that the enemy puts in front of you when God calls you to do something another one is this is government right like and listen I'm not trying to get political I never do that in here but here's what I'll tell you is sometimes the government the enemy wants to use the government to stop what God is wanting to do through the through the local church that's why you see things like you know closing churches and stuff like that why does that happen and I don't want to judge everybody that feels a certain way about that here's why it's because we are in a spiritual battle and the enemy is working over time to try and disrupt what is happening in churches and that's the point so what I'm trying to tell you is this is that when you say yes to doing something for God opposition is always going to rear its head against what the church is trying to do and what God is trying to do within the church well here in chapter number four Nehemiah faces opposition and and he faces uh some opposition from a couple of guys named Sambalot and Tobiah Sambalot and Tobiah and uh and here's what I'll tell you these uh two guys are mentioned first in chapter number two in verse number 10 when the scripture says that they were displeased and angry that Nehemiah showed up in Jerusalem so they were not happy they were sad that Nehemiah came and here's why is because the enemy never wants God's vision to go forward and so when Nehemiah came being sent from the one true God they clearly are like man we got to do anything it takes to stop the work that Nehemiah is being called to do and so Sambalot and Tobiah they start to get people around them and they start to get all these other people to try to go against them literally they had enemies set up in the east and the west and the north and the south and they put all of them together and they're trying to stop the work that Nehemiah is trying to do now here's the lesson and then we're going to jump into our text this is what Nehemiah had to learn is this is that the one who has called him is greater than anyone or anything that is against him you see Nehemiah what you're going to see here in chapter number four he's going to recognize and realize that the one God who has called him and given him the vision is greater and stronger and mightier and higher than any opposition from the enemy in front of him and church let me tell you this this applies to you and it applies to me whatever God has called you to do let me tell you this is that he is greater than any obstacle that stands in your way do you believe that can you say amen this morning listen any obstacle that is in front of you it pales in comparison to how great he is and what Nehemiah learns here is that he is greater than anyone Samballat and Tobiah or anything that is against us and so let's look at opposition here today first i want you to see this the nature of our opposition the nature of our opposition what does opposition even look like and what happened here in the story of Nehemiah let's look at verses one through three of Nehemiah chapter number four but it came to pass that when Samballat heard that we built the wall he was wrath in other words he was angry and he took great indignation the word indignation in Hebrew literally means he was outraged he was angry you know his blood was pumping it was boiling up he was so mad because of the work that was getting done now i want you to understand this because this is super important he wasn't mad necessarily at Nehemiah even though you're going to see that here's the ultimate force that was at play here is he was mad that the work of God was going forward and that's what ticked him off that's what made him outraged is because Nehemiah was working on behalf of the one true God and what Samballat knew is that when the work of God is going forward then the enemies of God do not stand a chance that's what Samballat knew and so he was saying that man we don't stand a chance against the one true God of Israel so therefore because of that we need to do whatever it takes to stop Nehemiah from doing what God is calling him to do so he was angry and outraged and so he began to mock the Jews look at verse number two and he spake before his brethren so they had kind of gathered there and Nehemiah they're working on the wall they're building the wall they're kind of all doing their thing exactly what God has told him to do and he had the army of Samaria and they begin to say this what do these feeble Jews in other words what are these feeble these weak Jews think they're they're doing will they fortify themselves are they in other words are they really going to restore this wall that is nothing but rubbish will they sacrifice will they finish this in a day will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned so I want you to picture this for a moment so here they are and they're kind of I picture them they're doing the work they're working on the wall they're doing exactly what God has called them to do and they're working you know with the the equipment and the tools that they have and they're all over the place and picture this that all these different people Samballat and Tobiah we're going to see in verse number three that he was there as well Tobiah is there and and the armies of Samaria they're all there below them just around them and they are just ridiculing and mocking everything that they do can you imagine that like they're just laughing at them they're making jokes about them in fact verse number three it says this now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him let me tell you this by him is very important because Tobiah was with Samballat and and the leaders of Samaria by him here's what I'll tell you about critics they always run with other critics every single time critics are always going to find other critics and they're going to try to critique everything and mock everything that God is trying to do so Tobiah he said this even that which they build if a fox go up he shall even break down their stone wall in other words they're mocking them they're laughing so Tobiah speaks up and he says hey look at this wall look at what the Jews are doing can you believe it I bet if a small little fox kind of runs up on that wall it's going to come tumbling and crashing down because they don't have a clue what they are doing so they're mocking them and laughing and different things different things like that here's the nature of our opposition of what Nehemiah experienced first I'll tell you this our opposition will mock your character here in Nehemiah they're up there and and you see that they attacked his motive they attacked his ability they attacked his strength they attacked all this stuff and so I'll tell you this anytime you say yes to doing something for God you run the risk that sometimes the opposition from the enemy will attack you and your your character but number two the second thing we see that was mocked was this was their work their work you see that with Tobiah mocking the nature of their their work and that's going to happen from sometimes like the enemy is going to come into your mind and and he's going to use people around you to mock what God is trying to do through you to mock what God wants to do through you and and in you and we see that the ridicule sometimes increases as the guy as the work of God goes forward like you see that in the book in chapter number two I mentioned this earlier verse number 10 we find that Samballat and Tobiah they were saddened or grieved that Nehemiah came when verse number 19 of chapter two they laughed Nehemiah to scorn and it says that they began to hate him well here in chapter four one through three they were angry and they mocked the Jews and then in verse number 11 we're not going to take the time to look at it but in verse number 11 of chapter 4 they threatened to kill Nehemiah so it started out with hey we're sad that Nehemiah is here in Jerusalem to where now here in chapter 4 they wanted to kill Nehemiah here's the point opposition will increase as the work of God continues to go forward here's what I mean is that as the work of God is going forward and opposition is fighting and the enemy is fighting to try to stop everything if you keep the foot on the gas and keep pressing forward to what God has called you to or what God has called us as a church to here's what I'll tell you when the enemy realizes that their schemes and their attacks aren't working most of the time the enemy is going to raise the level of ridicule he's going to raise the level of opposition and that's why you see in chapter two they're sad that Nehemiah showed up but when they learned that man he's come here on a mission from God and nothing that they're doing stopping him now they're going to conspire in chapter four to kill him you see opposition increases as the work of God continues to go go forward the second thing I want you to see is this is our response so if opposition is in front of us and we know it's coming right anytime we say yes to what God is leading us to we know that opposition is on its way it's coming the enemy is going to try different things to stop the work of God what do we do well we find here in verse number four what we should do look at what happens as they're mocking here's what he says in verse four here oh our God for we are despised and turn their reproach upon their head and give them for a prey in the land of captivity listen here's what I want you to understand here what happens and I'm picturing put yourself out there okay Nehemiah he's working right he's been working on the wall perhaps he's taking a break here I don't know but he's been working he's up there on the wall and every day that him and all the Jews show up to work there's all these people Sam Ballot and Tobiah and they're all there with all the different critics that they had kind of gathered and they all are mocking and ridiculing and embarrassing him and you know what he does he goes to God in prayer you see what we can learn from Nehemiah is when opposition stands in the way the most important defense you have is prayer the most important strategy is not a battle strategy you know what it is it's a prayer strategy it's to get on your knees before God you see that's the most important thing for you anytime you face an enemy anytime you face a a opposition in front of you let me tell you this the most important thing that you can do is be on your knees before God well that's what we see from from Nehemiah he begins to pray you see he and you say what does he pray for look at this what he prays for he says now I'm picturing Tobiah he's up there on the wall you got Tobiah you got Sam Ballot you got these guys here he says this God turn there verse four turn their reproach upon their own head listen to this give them for a pray in the land of captivity cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be bought it out from before thee Nehemiah was no joke right you got opposition in front of you I'm not going to tell you how to pray but maybe you should be praying this way I don't know he is intense he's saying that hey I don't even want their sins or their iniquities to be blotted out from before thee oh God now that's super important why because look at the last part of verse number five for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders here's the point we must when when opposition comes our way the first response is this take it to God in prayer every single time anytime the enemy stands in your way anytime there's a mountain that is in front of what God is calling you to do anytime there is any type of opposition that you face and by the way church we have faced opposition as a church haven't we like there have been times that you know we purchased this property I'm thinking back in like 2008 and and we're like it's 2024 right and it's like we have had so much opposition and things in front of us and closed doors and obstacles and mountains that the enemy continues to throw in our direction and you say what is our number one response what should we do more than anything else when that happens get on our knees and pray you know perhaps I don't know why some of these doors have closed and some of these mountains have come but perhaps God was trying to get us in a better place with him before he wanted us to do anything perhaps God wanted to do something in you before he does something in front of you and perhaps that's what he wants us to do church let me tell you this that when we stake take a step and we are and we are going listen I hope that you are praying about this I hope that our church is filled with with people on their knees that are praying that aren't just excited about a building but that are excited about souls that are going to be saved within the building you see we got to be on our knees praying for God to lead us that's what Nehemiah did he's facing this opposition he's facing mockery he's facing ridicule he's facing all of these obstacles in front of him you know what he's like hey the best defense we have because if God is in it then who in the world could stand against us if God is for us and God has called us who in the world stands against us because the enemy when God is in it the enemy pales in comparison to how big and how great and how mighty he is and Nehemiah recognized that so Nehemiah he takes it to God in prayer but number two the second response we must do or understand when opposition and from the enemy comes our way is this we got to trust in the character of God we got to trust in the character of God look at verse number 14 and I encourage you by the way read chapter four we're not going to read every single verse just for the sake of time read chapter four it's so good and so we're kind of skipping through this but verse number 14 says this and I looked and rose up and I said unto the nobles and to the rulers into the rest of the people be not ye afraid of them now he said that because let's just be real they're human beings sometimes we think these people are like the super christians right they're the super spiritual like they didn't ever get fearful they just said you know they're the ones that are charging hell with like a water pistol or something right they're the guys that have no fear and things like that and sometimes we read these bible stories and we think that way these are human beings no different than any of us okay no different than any of us and here these guys are in Nehemiah remember he's the governor there and so he is like leading this whole charge and so he has you know all these jewish people who are following him and they're looking to him for leadership they're looking to him for guidance and now they've led he's led them to this point to where now there's this whole army threatening to kill them and mocking their work and laughing at them and different things and here Nehemiah is he's praying with them and then he challenges them don't fear what a crazy thing because of course for any human being ridicule and mockery it's fearful right for any of us we would be scared if they started threatening our lives which we see here in chapter four we'd be scared that is a worthy reason to be a little fearful but why in the world could he challenge them to not fear it's found in the next three words remember the lord remember the lord here's the point when you get a glimpse of who god is fear starts to go away when you understand who god is and you get a fresh glimpse or understanding of him and you get your eyes on him here's what you find fear begins to diminish because when you look at him at how high he is the fact that like we sing about he's above dominions he's above powers he's above all of these things any earthly kingdom any earthly king he stands above them on nobody's on his level when you get a glimpse and understanding of that the only way fear and all of your insecurities have to go is further and further down you see fear goes away when you see who god really is and so what Nehemiah is saying is this in his book he's saying this that when opposition gets in your way when obstacles from the enemy are thrown your direction trust in the character of god remember him remember the lord verse 14 remember the lord which is great and terrible now the word terrible is not what we would think of when we think of the english language here's what that word literally means it's all it's like he's saying this like i'm picturing you know you got they're on the wall they're working or whatever or they're taking a break and sambala and tibiah and the rest of them they're just kind of mocking them i'm picturing nehemiah saying hey guys listen let's pray they pray and then he's saying hey here's what i want you to do don't fear yeah i know sambala i heard what he said you hear what tibiah said yeah about the fox thing and stuff hey don't worry about don't fear and they're like nehemiah what in the world hey don't fear here's why remember god you remember who's calling us you remember who led us this far you remember the one behind the vision that he has given us for the city of jerusalem you remember who is for us he is great and he is awesome he is higher than anything else hey remember him and when you remember him fear is diminished fear goes away and so we must trust in the character of god let me tell you this whatever god's calling you to do remember this he is faithful remember this he is the almighty one yes he is all-powerful yes he is sovereign he is awesome he is great and when you see him as those things and you trust in the character of god and who he is fear is cast out here's my challenge to you get your eyes on the eyes off of the obstacle and get your eyes on him too many of us we can't see what god wants to do because our eyes can't get off the obstacle in front of us you can't see the vision that he is calling you to because your eyes are so fixed upon the obstacle or the mountain or the opposition that the enemy has put in your direction we must trust in the character of god we must take it to God in prayer and by the way i didn't mention this earlier this prayer that you find him praying in chapter number four it's like the ninth prayer that we have recorded in the book of nehemiah it wasn't something that he just said one prayer and boom it happened this was a pattern of his life every time he faced any opposition or every time he faced any calling from god he got on his knees and prayed recognizing that if he tries to fight for him he's just going to get in the way of god so why not just fight or by putting himself in the presence of god and on his knees before god and letting god fight the battle for him so we must trust in the character of god take it to god in prayer number three it's also found in verse number 14 we gotta fight for the future of your family so so he's he's there with you know all of the people that he has appointed their names are in chapter number three and and he's working with all of them you got the critics and ballot to buy a gesham the rest of them they're all there and the leaders of samaria they're all ridiculing mocking laughing them to scorn so nehemiah prays he's challenging them to remember the lord and who god is and then he goes on and says this verse number 14 and fight for your brethren your sons and your daughters your wives and your your houses listen let me just say this is that the calls that god had called him to was just and it was right because of god calling them into a relationship and to you know rebuild the the city of jerusalem but he reminds them of the future of their families so in other words what he's saying is this is is he's like hey guys listen i know you can hear the critics i know you can hear the mockery i know you can hear the ridicule but let's let's spend some time in prayer first and then when they get done with their prayer he's like hey i know they're still shouting i know that fox comment i get it i hear it you know but here's the thing remember who god is and then they said and don't forget if we don't do what god is calling us to do what in the world is going to happen to your kids and to your grandkids and your great-grandkids your great-grandkids the point is is he's saying this that their decision to say yes to god now impacts all the people that's going to come after them and that's true of your life too your decision to say yes to whatever god is calling you to do it impacts your kids it impacts your great-grandchildren and your grandkids and all that it's going to impact generations before our decision to say yes to what god wants us to do as a church it'll impact generations well after me and so the point is is sometimes we don't understand what hangs in the balance today of our decision to make today we don't understand what hangs in the balance down the road but sometimes we need to make a decision today and one of the reasons can be for what's going to happen to those that come after us to the kids that are going to be raised here to the grandkids that are going to be raised here and that's the point and so nehemiah is saying hey listen fight fight for your brethren your sons your daughters your wives your houses fight for them fight for the future of our families and here's the thing nehemiah all of his enemies here's the point they were all trying to take away the vision that god has caught them to they hated god and so they didn't want god's name to be known and so they they would throw all of these different things in the way and to try to take away the spiritual things that god wanted to do in jerusalem all of their religious freedom they wanted to take it away why because they knew that when god's people is in tune with who god is and they are in relationship with him that they don't stand a chance when god is for them and that's the point that's what they they feared and so i i ask you this like if we don't act if we don't do anything what in the world will you know our kids what's going to happen like if we don't take a step of faith if we don't say yes to whatever god is calling us to and it's not just about you know us as a church it's about you as a dad or you as a mom or you as a grandparent if you don't say yes to whatever god is leading you to do let me tell you this it will affect the generations after you because you can look at tons of things and decisions that your parents made years ago that impacted me like my dad like i'm grateful uh that my dad was saved at an early age and same as my mom and their decision to say yes to god and their decision to raise us in church which was a conversation i'm sure they had their decision and all this kind of stuff that they did guess what i'm reaping the benefit of decisions that they made because i was able to be surrounded by the gospel as a child the point is is this is that that is exactly why it's important for us to say yes to god now because we don't know what hangs in the balance down down the road and then look at verse number 15 says and it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us and god had brought their council to not that we returned all of us to the wall every one unto his work here's what i want you to know they the enemies they were frustrated angry trying to kill nehemiah why because god's will was going forward the enemy hates that the enemy wants to throw anything in your direction to stand in between you saying yes to god so you say what's the application very simple it's this stay in the fight it's this this stay in the fight you could say it this way stay on top of the wall like nehemiah he doesn't have time to come down like no no he's not going to stop if god before him who in the world i don't care if it's sam ballot i don't care if it's tibiah i don't care if it's gesham i don't care if it's the leaders of samaria i don't care who's mocking me if god before me who in the world could stand against me and the point is is we as followers of jesus we have to stay engaged in the fight we have to stay engaged in what god is wanting to do i don't think he's done with us i don't think he's done i think we could still see a revival i think we can but if we just stand back and just allow everything to happen and we're not on our knees and we're not trusting in who god is listen god wants to do something special in your life he wants to do something special in our church but it's going to take us staying in the calls because the calls is worthy let me tell you this for us the cause is not about a building it's never been about a building like if you've made it about a building you've missed the point it's not about that you know what it is it's about kids and families being changed by the glorious good news of the gospel of jesus christ that is the reason god is leading us forward that's the reason it's not about a building it's about the gospel and us saying yes to the gospel so that we can reach more people with the gospel and that's what we're saying yes to it's not about that so listen we have to stay in the fight because the cause is worthy and he is worthy would you bow your heads with me invite becky to come she's gonna play for us listen we're not gonna belabor this but listen let's all stand at this time nobody's looking around if you're new to our church this is what we call an invitation or a response time with with everything that we just heard and we're not gonna be able to get to the point where we just heard it's like hey what do we do with this what do we do with this perhaps you're in here today and you're you heard this listen here's what i want to challenge you to do we did this in the early church in the early service and here's what i would love to do you know if if union grove is your church home and and this is where you call you know your family or whatever listen i would love for us to just get on our knees for just a little bit of a story to god remembering who he is because i'll tell you this church we are about to take a massive step in the right direction towards god and here's what i'll tell you enemy hey the enemy hates what god is calling us to hates it and so we learn from this story that if the enemy can't stop us the only thing that's going to happen is opposition is going to increase opposition could get greater we recognize that it shouldn't surprise us we're ready for it and pray to and when you're prayed up and god is on your side it doesn't take a whole lot to defeat the enemy and that's what we are inviting him to do to be a part of it listen if this is your church home here's what i'd love to do is is i'd love to invite you to the altar and and join me at the altar and let's pray so that we can pray and get our hearts fixed upon who god is as we take this step i'm going to pray and as i pray you can join me down front father god i pray that you would bless in this response time we need to be a church family that is on our knees praying not about a building but because of but about you and the gospel going forward god that's the calls that is what we are called to do god i pray that we'd be a church on our knees like nehemiah praying understanding that this is not us this is you that is calling us this is you that is leading us blessing this invitation time as we pray together as a church