Transcript

Sermon Transcript: Forward Progress

3/10/2024 Jeff Schwarzentraub 41 min read

Pastor Jeff:

Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for who you are. And Lord, we're thankful this morning that we had the privilege of gathering and honoring your name and worshiping you and telling you that you are so worthy and how dependent we are upon you. It's been great to pray to you as a body and be refreshed by that. And Lord, we as a people are so encouraged by you because we believe that every time you're living an active word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. And so our prayer this morning is speak Lord, for we are ready to hear what you have to tell us. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, speak directly to your heart, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you.

Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen? Have you ever asked the question, why am I not further along than I'm at? Have you ever wondered why as a church we believe in the promises of God and we pray the promises of God and we believe the promises of God, and yet it seems sometimes as if we're praying the same promises and we're believing God for the same things and yet we're not really moving forward? I became a Christian in the summer of 1989 and I've been at prayer meetings since about that time and in every prayer meeting I've been at since about that time, almost everyone, people have been praying for what we call revival. Lord, we believe you're going to bring revival. Your word says that you can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to your glorious power, that's work within us in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We believe revival's coming, but we keep believing for it, but we haven't really seen it. And isn't it true? There's promises of God that we prayed. Isn't it true that the word of God that we believe is inerrant and authoritative and true, that God tells us things that sometimes we wonder in the back of our mind, if this is really true and you're really all powerful and we're really doing the things you want, then how come we're not seeing the results that seem to be and should be accompanying those things? I mean, if you're a thoughtful Christian, you should be asking yourself that question. You should be wondering why do I read this in the gospels and why do I read this in the book of Acts?

But my experience is I'm not seeing that lived out in my life. How is it that we can make forward progress? How is it that we can move the needle? As we've been studying in the book of Nehemiah, that God is the one who wants to build greatness in and through us and God is the one who gives us vision for what he wants to accomplish through his living an active word. And then God shows us how we get started and yet so many Christians stop right there. Yeah, I hear God. I know God. I've gotten started, but I'm not really progressing. I don't seem to be growing. I don't see our church doing what I hear our pastor talking about it could be doing. What's the problem? If you've ever asked that question or you want to know, I believe God has a word for you today.

I believe God wants to teach us how we can make forward progress in the kingdom. I believe God wants us to know that it's not really a secret that God really wants to do what he says he wants to do, but sometimes we get in the way of what God wants done. And so if you want to know how you as an individual can make progress or how we as a church can make progress, I encourage you this morning to open your Bible up to Nehemiah chapter 3. Nehemiah chapter 3. We're going to be reading through the entire text of Nehemiah chapter 3, talking about how forward progress can happen. How is it that we can move forward? Now, for those of you that have been reading ahead, it was probably a little shocking to you because as you read this, it sounds like a pre-punch list for a general contractor, names and assignments.

What in the world is he going to preach? How's he going to do that? That was the very prayer I was praying earlier this week. But here's what I believe. I believe that every part of God's word was penned by the Holy Spirit and has application for us today if we're really willing to take a look. I'm actually this morning going to highlight nine truths from this section. You heard me right? Nine, you will not remember all nine. I will not remember all nine. What I'm asking you to do is allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you about the one that you needed to hear this morning so that you could take forward progress by taking your next step of faith. Amen? This is not a teaching to remember truths. This is a applicational teaching so that you can do what God is asking you to do.

And this morning we want to take a look at forward progress. We want to move the needle forward. If the church is really to build the body to advance the kingdom, how is it we can do that? How is it we can go beyond just getting started and then praying the same prayers for the next five decades? How can we begin to see some traction and trajectory and growth in what the Lord wants? So let's begin this morning forward progress happens when you do these things. Listen to the word of the Lord in chapter 3 verse 1, it says, "Then Elisha, the high priest arose with his brothers, the priests and built the sheep gate and they consecrated it and, they hung its doors. They consecrated the wall to the Tower of the hundred and the Tower of the Hananel." So what do we see here?

We see that forward progress happens when you start reestablishing the priority of worship, that forward progress happens when you start reestablishing the priority of worship. What did the spiritual leaders do? What was the gate we read about first? What are they doing? They build the sheep gate. Why? Because that is the place where all the sacrificial animals entered that were needed for the worship of God. That the sacrificial praise of the true and living God was essential to seeing God get his work done. If you want to forward progress in your life, you have to center your life on the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Worship can involve singing, but worship is not singing. Worship is not just attending church. Worship is not just reading the Bible. Worship is not just praying. Worship is not just tithing. Worship is not just serving. Here's what worship is. Worship is giving your full allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father loved the world so much that he sent his only-begotten son Jesus Christ to die on a cross to be buried and to be raised from the dead. God loved us so much, he sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.

And when we repent of our sin and we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we are a new creation. Old things have passed away behold, all things have been made new. And guess what the Bible calls that, new birth, getting started. It's not the end. It's not the end game, it's just the beginning. And as you come to Christ, then what does God want you to do? He wants you to come alive in Christ and be filled by his spirit and to be part of a life-giving church and to serve greatly and to prioritize your worship. So everywhere you go and everything you're doing and all the things you're thinking about and all the things you're talking about is am I honoring the Lord Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ first and foremost in my life?

And the reason we have to ask that question is because if we don't understand what worship is, then we'll say things like this, "I'm really not a good singer." And some of you are right. "Or I really don't understand the Bible because I'm new at this." And that's okay because when you start, nobody really does. "Or I really don't know how to pray very well yet because I've just gotten started at this and I'm uncomfortable praying out loud." That's where everybody starts.

But worship goes beyond that and worship says, "What I want to do, Lord is center my life on you. I'm not looking for techniques or habits. I want to fall more in love with you and I want to know you and I want to spend time with you and I want to abide in you and I want you to speak to me and I want to know you, and I want to grow in you and I want to be different because of my allegiance to you. And everywhere I go and in all the decisions I make, I'm making them for you. I'm doing what I believe you want to do because I believe, Lord, at the end of my life, I'm going to stand before you and give an accounting for my life."

And too often Christians stop at new birth. Well, I believe Jesus died and he rose. And isn't he lucky to have me? No, no, no, no, you're lucky to have him. You're favored and blessed to have him. You were dead and he made you alive in Christ. He filled you with his spirit, not so you could sit like a bump on a pickle, but so that you would walk in the works that he prepared beforehand, that you would walk in them. He created you for that. Amen? And it all starts with the priority of reorienting your life around allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. So the nation here is making sure that as they're building this out, the very first gate they're going to talk about is the sheep gate because the very first thing they want to demonstrate or the spirit wants us to know through His word, is that the allegiance and worship of the one true God is important for God turning the heart of any nation back to him.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Start with reestablishing the priority of worship in your life. Brave Church, let's start with establishing and reestablishing the priority of worship in our life. Attending church on a weekend for 90 minutes, you're not going to get a gold star in heaven, especially if you know what goes on in some of the Third World countries where people wake up at 2:00 in the morning and have to take buses and taxis and motorcycles and walk and do all those things just to arrive at the church after six hours of travel to get there so that they can hear the word of God preached in their own language.

Trust me, I know about the time change. I know that's why some of you are in this service today. Sometimes it's difficult for us, I get it. But can we prioritize the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, not just on Sundays but on every day in our life that we're waking up to give our allegiance to the Lord that before we roll out of bed, we say, Lord, this is the day that you have made. I'll rejoice and be glad in it. I'm your servant. You're my king. What do you have to unfold today? I want to see what you have for me. That's what it means to reestablish the priority of worship. And it starts with us in our hearts and it starts in the church and then God can use it to bleed out. Number two is forward progress happens when you champion anonymity before men, but accountability before God.

Forward progress happens when you champion anonymity before men, but accountability before God. Listen to this next section, next to him, the men of Jericho built. Remember the men of Jericho? Do you think they know something about a wall? About a thousand years earlier they saw God bring one down. And isn't it interesting that generations later, some of those from that very nation that saw that wall come down are now helping God to build the wall that he wanted built? It means your family can change, generations can change if you partner with the Lord. The men of Jericho built next to them, Zaccur, the son of Imri built, now the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate and they laid its beams and hung its doors with bolts and bars. And next to them, Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz made repairs.

And next to him, Meshullam, the son of Berekiah, the son Meshezabel, made repairs. And next to him, Zadok, the son of Baana also made repairs. Now listen to this verse 5. Moreover, next to him, the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not support the work of their masters. Now, why am I going to read all these names? I mean 32 verses of names of which I couldn't pronounce hardly any of them at the beginning of the week. I've listened to the audio Bible of this so many times and I still don't get it right. In the first service, I felt like I needed an interpreter because I was speaking in tongues. But why?

Because if we champion anonymity, here's what we're saying. God knew the name of every single person that helped build the wall, the ones that lived 2,500 years ago. The names that we can't pronounce, the names that we really don't care about. I mean, I look at this list and this is like a list of baby names that you would never choose, but God chooses and God knows. And I get excited with my last name that when I hear my name called I'm going to know its God because he's the only one that knows how to pronounce it properly.

God cares. But champion anonymity before men. But what else? Accountability before God. See, we live in a day and age where we care about what other people think about us and we want them to know how special we are. And we want them to know how gifted we are and how good we are and how educated we are and how financial we are and how astute we are and all these different things. I want you to know about me. Case in point, have you ever seen a family picture for a Christmas card? See if it's good before you send it out. Who's the first person you look at? It's you.

Because why? Because our pride says I need to make sure this looks good for other people. But when you champion anonymity and you don't care what other people think about you, and you don't care what they look at you, but what you champion is the fact that I'm totally accountable to God for everything I do. And guess what? He sees it. So as he mentions all these names, even the Tekoites, Amos, the prophet was from Tekoa. These were his people, his generation coming down and he champions them. And the Tekoites were building the wall except for who? The nobles. You know why? Because they said, "This work is beneath us." Yeah, this work's beneath, you can't count on us. And guess what they were saying, "You don't realize how valuable I am. I'm not going to serve in that capacity." And who took notice? God did.

"I can tell whether you're doing double duty." God says, "And I can see if you're AWOL. And the only one that really matters is my eyes, because I'm watching everything you do." Right? Can you champion anonymity? Because sometimes, and some of the reasons we don't want to serve in the church is because we want other people to know how special we are and what we can actually do and how good we are rather than just do the very thing God wants you to do. What's the wall that's broken today in our culture? It's the church. So Jesus is building the church. He's just asking you to step into it. And by the way, he ordained your seasons and he ordained the length of your life and he ordained right where you're going to be. So how are you going to serve him? And by the way, this is not a forced thing like, "You better serve because I'm your pastor."

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying if you truly know all that the Lord has done for you, how could you say no to the one who hung naked on a cross to ensure the fact that you would not suffer hell and that you would spend eternity with him? How could you not give to him? And oh, by the way, if you really want to grow in your faith, serve. Serve right? That's what he was saying. Can you be a champion of anonymity? Can you sign up and be part of a ministry even if nobody knows who you are and nobody recognizes the work that you do, knowing that your father in heaven is watching every little bit of it and says, I see you and I'm proud of you? He knows, he sees your participation and he judges the quality of your work. See friends, I want to let you know the church is not about you.

The church is about the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you want to know who he loves and what he loves, he loves his church, he loves you, he set you apart and he appointed you to serve his church. That's what you were created for and it has the greatest return on investment. So start with reestablishing the priority of worship. Champion anonymity, but accountability before God. And then number three, how about this? Don't allow your unique abilities or ability to hinder your present participation. I mean, this goes with what we just talked about, but notice this in verses 6-8. It says, Joiada, the son of Paseah and Meshullam, the son of Besodeiah repaired the old gate. They laid its beams and hung its doors with bolts and bars, next to them, Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah also made repairs for the official seat of the governor of the province beyond the river.

Now listen to this. Next to him, Uzziel, the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths made repairs and next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers made repairs and they restored Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. Now again, we read all these different names, but what do we read that's here? Now we're reading about goldsmiths and perfumers and what could the goldsmiths and perfumers said? They could have said, "Hey, once you build the wall, I'm a goldsmith. Once you rebuild it, I'll have some cool things that I can put on it if you pay me well." What could the perfumers have said? "Hey, we can help out too, especially at that Fish Gate and the dung gate, the refuse gate. We'll use our perfume if you pay us well and then the gate will smell nice." You know what they weren't saying? They weren't saying, "We're so unique in our ability that we can't do the basic thing."

Sometimes not only people come into church and they're unwilling to be anonymous and just serve because God's looking for anonymous saints. They come in with their unique ability and they say things like this in their heart. You don't know how gifted and talented I am. You don't know what I do Monday through Saturday. You don't know what you're getting in me. And if you only knew you'd tap me on the shoulder and until you do, I'm not going to serve. You know what the Lord calls that? Pride. Pride. You know what he'd say to you when it comes to the church, if you're not serving? If the church is really synonymous with this wall? Pick a brick. Pick up a brick and put it where it needs to go. "Yeah, but I'm better than that." Than just pick up a brick because if you're faithful with little, you'll be faithful with much.

But if you're not faithful with little, you won't be faithful with much. The lie of the enemy is always like this. "Well, I don't tithe right now, but we're in a season where our business is growing and once we have more, we'll tithe." No, you won't because tithing is a spiritual discipline. "Hey, we don't have time right now. Because our kids are younger. Our kids are in high school, but once they grow up, we'll have more time, then we'll serve more." No, you won't. "Hey, right now I don't have time to really maximize my gifting and give my best to the Lord, but someday I will when my job gets down and then I'll have more." No, you won't. If you're not going to prioritize God now and you're not going to prioritize his church now and you're not going to be faithful now, you will not be faithful later.

I promise you. Some people say, "Well Pastor Jeff, if I won the lottery, I'd give it to Brave." Great. I wouldn't play. You're not going to win. But here's my answer. No you wouldn't. No you wouldn't, because if your heart is not giving now percentage-wise, it won't give any more then, it just won't. The lie of the enemy is tomorrow, give more, tomorrow, serve more, tomorrow help more. Jesus' answer is this is the day the Lord is made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it, serve presently. Yes, you have a unique ability. Yes, I have unique ability and if you're faithful with the little things, God will let you be faithful with much. See, some people come into church and they're like, "You don't recognize how special I am. And pastor, once you make an announcement from the pulpit and once you send me people and once you give me resources, and once you do all this for me, I will help the church."

That is not a calling. That is selfishness. Selfishness. How about just come in and say, "Where's the Lord taking this church and what's he doing with this church and is there some sort of brick I can pick up and just help?" I mean, here's what I want to tell you. Nothing gets done here by itself. Our carpets don't get vacuumed by themselves. Our toilets don't get cleaned by themselves. Our rooms don't get set up by themselves. Our teachers, your students aren't taught by themselves. I mean it takes the body of Christ to do all the work we're doing. Our cars don't just park themselves. We need to direct it or it'd be chaos. So some of you experienced that this morning. I mean, how can you serve? There's no service that's beneath you, and if you think that there is, then you don't know your Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. The God man who left heaven, the God man who's all-knowing and all-powerful, that humbled himself, fulfilled the law, became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross for what?

For even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He served to death while everybody's scattered. He said, "Well, that's the model. That's what I have for you." And why would you do any less? Because I'm telling you, the greatest joy that you'll ever experience is serving Jesus Christ to the full in your life. It's how you understand the things of God. It's how you understand the ways of God. It's how you grow in the certainty of God is when you see the word come alive because you're involved with Christ doing the work. And if you're faithful with little, he'll let you be faithful with much. And by the way, there's not only a return on investment in this life, but there's a return on investment in life to come.

There are rewards and royal responsibilities for how well you serve the king on this side of heaven. It's a fact. Well, I'm saved and everybody's saved and we're all the same when we get to heaven. Yeah, it's not what I read in my Bible. You can be saved to the full, but there are rewards and there's different levels of responsibility based upon how well you stewarded the gifts that God gave you while you had them. And God won't waste anything you have. "Well, God gifted me to do this, so I'm just going to hold out." Don't be a holdout. That's for NFL, major league players and hockey league people. They have what's called holdouts. You know what a holdout is? A holdout is when you're so talented at your position that you're going to step back and say, "Until this organization recognizes that I deserve more money, and until this organization recognizes that I'm one of the most valuable that they could ever have in their organization and until they pay me accordingly to what I deserve, I'm not playing for that team."

Don't be a Christian holdout. Don't say, "Well until the church recognizes me and until they see how gifted I am and until they recognize how lucky they are to have me in the body, I'm not serving." Its pride and the Lord hates it. It's an abomination to him. If you're not serving, here would be a question why. Why? Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to serve you and die for you. And you're saying you can't serve him because... Why? Tell him. "Well, I'm really busy right now." Okay. Tell him that. He created you for this very purpose and you'll never be more alive until you experience it. Don't be a Christian holdout. Don't be a Christian holdout. Serve the Lord. It means this. How do I know where to serve? You want to know? Think about what in the church ticks you off. There.

I don't like the way the children's check-in is set up. It's so chaotic. Then go help them. I don't like the way the parking team did things today. I think we could be... Then go help them. I don't like the way the worship team is doing... Then go help them and go with an attitude to serve and go with an attitude saying, "I'm just here because I want to help to make things better, but I'll do whatever you want. Don't care how you use me." That's where you need to serve. Because if you don't serve in that capacity, you know what you'll do instead? You'll gossip, which is also sin. Now you're not serving and you're gossiping because you're calling your friends to tell them how bad everything is when God's saying, "I showed you that so you'd help me out." I mean, for years as an evangelist, I traveled, preached the good news, did what God wanted.

But when I looked at the church, I saw the same people sitting in the same seats, which is okay because y'all do the same thing, but nobody was really turned loose on mission and it bothered me. But over time what the Lord showed me with the things that I was frustrated with, it wasn't that I didn't like the church and it wasn't that I hated the church. It was that I loved the church and that God was showing me things that maybe I could help more align with what his word wanted. Now, have I done that perfectly? No. But I repented and moved out to Denver to plant a church and told the Lord I'll do it for the rest of my life. And I didn't do it because I had all my ducks in a row and I didn't do it because I knew everything about being a pastor and I didn't do it because I'm a spiritual expert and I'm still not.

And I know less now than I did the day I got started. I'm more dependent on him now than I was then. What are you waiting for? What are you holding out for? Get involved, pick up a brick. Serve the church. There's a great return on investment. I'm telling you, as your pastor, as a saved brother or sister in Christ, if you will serve Christ's church to the full, not only will you hear well done, good and faithful servant, you'll be handed rewards and royal responsibilities in the coming kingdom. And you will thank God that you heard this truth and you put it into practice. Don't be a holdout. Pick up a brick.

Number four is this. Start in your neighborhood and involve your family. If you want to see forward progress, start in your neighborhood and involve your family. Notice verses 9-12 says, "Next to them, Rephaiah the son of Hur, the official of the half district of Jerusalem made repairs. Next to them, Jedaiah, the son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house and next to him, Hattush, the son of Hashabneiah made repairs. Malchijah, the son of Harim and Hasshub, the son of Pahath Moab repaired another section of the Tower of Furnaces. Next to him, Shallum, the son of Hallohesh, the official of the district of Jerusalem made repairs who he and his daughters." What do you see? They started right where they were at. They started right in their neighborhood. I mean notice in the middle of verse 10, they made it repairs opposite his house. Where does the church go?

Everywhere you go. Well, who's in need of the gospel? Everywhere you go, I know this city. None of you live in a Christian neighborhood, unless you live on 30 acres of land all by yourself and your whole household saved, maybe. Other than that, just walk around your house and there are people there that are facing a Christless eternity that know nothing about the gospel, that God put you in their path so they would have an opportunity to see it lived out and to be talked about and to be told about what it was. So they would have an opportunity to be rescued from death and enter into life. Start in your neighborhood, right? And then involve your family, involve your family. This guy, presumably at the end of verse 12, doesn't have any sons, but it was he and his daughters. Let me say this, I go after the men in our church and you know why?

Because God called men to be spiritual leaders. I go after the men in this church because I am one. But the purpose of men leading is to elevate women, as we've said over and over again. And if you're a dad of a couple daughters like I am, let your daughters be on the front line doing the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Women welcome. We couldn't be a church without the wonderful women we have in our church. It's impossible. So who do you put on mission? Your whole family. You invite everybody in right in your neighborhood and you invite them all to serve to the full the way the Lord Jesus Christ would want them to. Amen? I mean, when I look at this text, I mean my math could be off and you can correct me on it, but I counted 43 distinct groups.

I see goldsmiths, perfumers, district leaders, half district leaders, priests, Levites, merchants. I see this man's daughters. I see all these different names. I mean, they're all just coming and coming and coming and why? Because God knows everybody's name and he cares about every single person, he knows who's saved. He knows who's lost, and he's positioned you in such a way that you can be used right in your neighborhood with your own family to reach the lost. So get started right where you're at. Get started right where you're at. I was saying this to a group of people this week as we talk about missions. I've been formulating this, praying about it, thinking about it, and I think we need to redeem the word missions. Church by definition is mission. To have a church that has a missions department is like a restaurant that has a food service department.

What else would you do? That's what you do if you're in the church, you're on mission. If you're in the church, you're living the gospel. If you're in the church, you're sharing the gospel and yeah, there may be some boundaries that you go over and you go to your Jerusalem, your Judea, your Samaria to the ends of the earth. You may go overseas, you may go to different places, but no matter where you go, whether you're here, there or anywhere, you're always on what? Mission. That's the church. The church is not about building an edifice so you can sit in it. You are the church of Jesus Christ. He's building you on mission to change the world. Amen?

So start where you're at. You want to see forward progress, start right in your neighborhood. You want to see where it's at, start right with your kids. Moms and dads, you are the best disciple makers of your children of any single person on the planet, regardless of popular belief. Pour the gospel into your kids. You can't save them, you can't make them save. You can do all the right things. You can train them up in the way they should go. You can't make them turn to Christ, but you can pray your socks off and you can lead them and you can hope and you can believe that God in his mercy will do the work. It's not somebody else's job. Please do not subcontract out the work to your youth pastor or your pastor or somebody else. You do it.

Men do it. I said this in the first service. The reason I go after the men is because sometimes when men hear this, here's what... The wives are like, "I'm in. Where are we going to serve?" We got to step it up and you know what the husbands think? I'm so glad my wife was here. Now we can check that box. She'll do the work. Get over yourself, men. Lead in every area in our church. Where's the men's ministry? Anywhere where there's opportunity to serve other people fully.

That's where the men's ministry's at. I mean, I'd love it, I'd love it if our kids didn't have to wait until they were seniors in high school to see a man actually live for Jesus. Amen? "Well, that's just the nursery. I'm not good with little kids." It doesn't matter. You're a presence with little kids that love Jesus. Let them see it in a man the same way they see it in a woman. Amen?

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, service isn't about you and how much you enjoy it. It's about Jesus and how glorified he is by what you do. Amen? One golf clap.

Thank you sister.

And then this, forward progress also happens when you repent of sin and start afresh with the Lord. I think this is huge. Notice verses 13 and 14, "Hanun in the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the valley gate. They built it and hung its doors with bolts and bars and a thousand cubits of the wall to the refuse gate. Malchijah..." Which is second time we've heard this name. It's as common as John was or Bill is in our culture. "Malchijah, the son of Rechab, the official of the district of Beth-Haccherem repaired the refuse gate." That means he made it stronger.

"He built it and hung its doors with bolts and bars." Now, why is this such a big deal? Many scholars believe that this man, Malchijah is the same one that's mentioned in Ezra chapter 10 verse 31. If you look back about three chapters. Because he's listed in the offenders when Ezra instructed them spiritually not to take foreign wives. And guess what he did? He took a Pagan wife, he took a wife that didn't serve the God of the universe. He found somebody that he's like, oh, she's cute or she's good-looking or she's great. I'll just take her and I'm not going to listen to what God says. And he's listed in these guys in chapter 10 verse 31 of Ezra, it says, "In the sons of Harim, Eliezer, Malkijah," there's his name, Shemaiah and Shimeon." He's listed there. You know what this tells me? God can redeem any sin in your life and still use you.

Some of you need to hear this because even as you're listening to me today, you're like, "I wish I could be a part of that, but I can't be a part of that because there's a sin I committed after becoming a Christian that God hates." To which I say, "Join the club. Who hasn't?" The enemy lies to you and he puts these sins on a scale and tells you well, that sin is unredeemable and that sin, God can't use and that sin, you should live in your shame and that sin, don't even think about serving that way. That's not what God says. Through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, God can redeem all sin. There's nothing that can keep you from serving his church. Now listen, wisdom would dictate that if you've had the heinous crime of being a sexual predator to a minor, we're never going to have you serve with youth.

But it doesn't mean there's not a place for you to serve. But why would we put you in a place to tempt you beyond what you can bear? It'd be silly. That wouldn't be wisdom. But there's so many people that sit in the church and the enemy whispers in your ear and said, "I'd love to serve the Lord. I'd love to, but I've been through a couple of divorces, so I can't. I'd love to serve the church, but I got this thing in my life that's immoral and I can't seem to get rid of it. I'd love to serve in the church, but we're broken. Nobody knows it. And when I hear about tithing, I think, how am I even going to pay my bills, let alone tithe and they wouldn't want a person like me or I hear about service and I look at myself in the mirror and I hate what I see. How could I ever share the love of God when I don't even like me?"

And on and on and on. And the devil uses that as a stronghold in your life to say, "See, you're not worthy to serve." To which we need to say, "Well, Jesus Christ died for that. He already paid for that. He says, I'm worthy. He says, I can be used. He says, I'm redeemed. He says, I can be filled." And that's why the only people God can choose are broken, dead people. The gospel is not about good people that then trusted Jesus and became better people and then learned how to serve so they can look down on people that aren't.

The gospel is about dead broken people, that by God's grace were made alive by the cross of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead who were once dead and now alive, who were once lost and are now found, who were once enemies and are now friends, who are saying it's only because of Jesus and he filled me with his spirit and I love him and I'm willing to do whatever he wants me to do so that when other people see me as a man or a woman or a boy or a girl, they see the living Christ pouring through me and they wonder, how could God do that with you? And you say, "If he could do it with me, he could do it with anybody." Amen.

Because when I read my Bible and I see it, I only see one perfect character in the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, but I wish I could meet Noah. He was awesome. For 120 years, he built an ark and he preached righteousness and his whole family was saved, even though the whole culture didn't go with him. What a noble, righteous man of God. And he went on the ark with all the animals for over a year, and then he came off the ark and got drunk, laying around naked, shamed his whole family. Oh, yeah, but Peter, I mean, Peter... Seriously, you want to go there? Or Paul, I mean God used the Apostle Paul. I wish I could be like that. You know what he spent his whole life doing, prior to conversion was persecuting and tormenting and seeing Christians dragged off so they'd be killed, so that his false religious God could be exalted and what he spent the rest of his life doing, humbling himself so that Jesus Christ could be exalted.

Friends, there's nothing in your past that can hinder God using you presently or in the future. Amen? Let him use your life or I'll just read you from scripture if you don't believe me. Romans chapter 6 verses 3 and 4. "Oh, do you not know, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore, as we have been buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Friends, there's no sin in your past that's anchoring you to that. It's only if you listen to the enemy and say, "I'm unwilling to bring it to Jesus." Bring it to him. Amen. Repent of sin. Don't try to fix it. Don't try to work on it. It's not going to help.

Just repent of it. Cast it at the feet of Jesus. Exchange all your sin for all of his grace and be filled by him so you can go live a new life. Amen. How about number six? You want to see forward progress, how about this? Serve the Lord wholeheartedly regardless of where you are sovereignly positioned. Serve the Lord wholeheartedly regardless of where you are sovereignly positioned. Listen to this. We're going to get through this pretty quick. Starting in verse 15. Notice this. It says, "Shallum, the son of Colhozeh, the official of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Foundation Gate. He built it, covered it, hung its doors with his bolts and bars in the wall of the Pool of Shelah, at the King's garden as far as the steps that descend from the City of David. After him..." Now you're going to see after him and next to him the whole time.

"After him, Nehemiah, different Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, official of the half district of Beth-Zur made repairs as far as the point opposite the tombs of David. And as far as the artificial pool of the house of the mighty men. After him, the Levites carried out repairs. They strengthened them under Rehum, the son of Bani. Next to him, Hashabiah, the official of the half district of Keilah, carried out the repairs for his district. After him, their brothers carried out repairs under [inaudible 00:40:18], the son of Henadad, official of the other half of the district of Keilah. Next to him, Ezer, the son of Jeshua, the official of Mizpah required another section in front of the ascent of the armory at the angle. After him, Baruch, the son of Zabbai, zealously repaired another section from the angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib of the high priest. After him, Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the doorway of Eliashib's house, even as far as the end of his house.

After him, the priests, the men of the valley carried out repairs. After them, Benjamin and Hasshub carried out repairs in front of their house. After them, Azariah, the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, carried out the repairs beside his house." Here you go, listen, "After him, Binnui, the son of Henadad repaired another section from the house of Azariah, as far as the angle and as far as the corner. Palal, the son of Uzai made repairs in front of the angle and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him, Pedaiah, the son of Parosh made repairs."

Why read that? "Pastor Jeff, I didn't come just to have you read a bunch of names that mean nothing to me." Do you know why I read them? Because anytime somebody gives wholehearted service to the Lord, it means something to him. And isn't it good to know that he'll remember your name if you serve him? That not only will your name be written in the Lamb's book of life because through repentance and faith, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but you'll have something to show for the talents that he gave you. Whether you're a one talent, two talent, or five-talent saint, that whatever you have, you say, "Lord, I stewarded it back to you the best I knew how." And the Lord says, "I remember. I saw that." I'm looking forward to the joy of meeting Jesus, not because of anything I've done on this planet.

I'm looking forward to it because of everything Jesus has done for me and seeing what he's been able to work through my life in the areas where I've been obedient to him. Because I know that there's rewards and royal responsibilities for that. "Well, Pastor Jeff, you're just being selfish. You're focused on the wrong thing." No, I'm not. I'm focused on honoring the Lord Jesus Christ. And if with that comes rewards and royal responsibilities, I'll take everything he has to give me. But I'm comfortable in the kingdom just being a foot washer. I don't care. I just want to be with Jesus. But I'm telling you, church, give God your best. Colossians chapter 3 says, "Whatever you do in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." You need to realize that when you're serving the church, you're building something far greater than you can see.

JFK years ago, went to NASA and he noticed as they were getting ready to put a man on the moon and they were building the rocket to do it and all these different things, he noticed a janitor that was so joyous just cleaning up at NASA, and he walked over to him and he is like, "What are you doing and why are you so excited?" And he said, "I'm part of a team that's putting a man on the moon." That's what service to the king looks like. You change diapers in the nurseries, ladies, that's what it looks like. You're advancing the kingdom of God. You're vacuuming the floors, that's advancing the kingdom of God. You're helping with parking, that's advancing the kingdom of God. You're serving in the church, that's advancing the kingdom of God. You're encouraging your counseling, whatever the Lord has for you to do, you're advancing the kingdom of God and you have the utmost responsibility for it.

And if you're faithful to what he calls you to do, he'll continue to open up more and more doors, because he's always looking for faithful servants. Amen? Amen. Then how about this? If you're serving the Lord wholeheartedly in the position where you're sovereignly placed, and by the way I say that because Acts 17 tells me, God gave you life and breath. He chose where you're going to live. And even those of you that say, well, I chose to move to Colorado, God already knew before you did. Quit looking for the spot to serve. Just start serving and the Lord will open up the doors. You don't have to go looking for it. Find a church somewhere and go all in wholeheartedly. Just say, "I can be anonymous here. I don't care who notices me as long as Jesus wants me here, I'm going to serve to the full." And then do this.

Number seven, go above and beyond the call of duty. Go above and beyond the call of duty. Notice verses 26 and 27. The temple servants living in Ophel, made repairs as far as the front of the Water Gate toward the east and the projecting tower. After them, the Tekoites, we've already heard about them. Remember they served but not their nobles. After them, the Tekoites repaired another section in front of the great projecting tower and as far as the wall of Ophel. What did they do? They went above and beyond the call of duty. The Tekoites were already serving. But you know what they noticed? There's some places where there's still some help even though I'm serving. Do you know what we tend to do when we're serving and we see that there's help that's needed, but nobody else is picking up the ball? We whine and complain.

How come I'm the only one that's serving? How come I'm doing this? How come nobody else is doing it? How come there's only 20% of the people doing 80% of the work? I'm already serving, I'm already doing my best. Why don't you pick up a brick and do something? Not the Tekoites. No, no, no, no, they were already serving. They were already engaged. They were already helping build the wall. But you know what they noticed? There were some other places that needed built and they're like, "Okay, we'll help with that too because I don't care. I just want to see the work get done. Because I care about this." If you care about the church, you won't complain about what other people aren't doing. You'll continue to look for opportunities to serve. And when you see a need, you'll fill it. And what would it look like if the whole church did that?

I've seen some examples in my day. I remember going to a megachurch some years ago. It was over 20,000 people, I was there for a student pastors conference, learning all that I could, Tuesday through Thursday. And I remember on the Wednesday after we broke for lunch, I kind of stayed and lingered in the worship center, which was ginormous. I want to say it was five to 8,000 seats or something like that. And when I did, about 20 people came in and they started vacuuming the floors and moving all around. And I was standing next to this lady that was part of the security team. And I remember asking like, "Wow, how many people do you guys have on staff?" And she said, "None of us are on staff." And I said, "None of the people sleeping on the floor on staff?" And she said, "No."

I said, "Don't they have judge?" She said, "Yeah, we all do." I said, "Well, what are they doing here?" She said, "We take our vacation time so that we can be here and serve." I said, "Why in the world would you do that?" She said, "So someone like you who's a youth pastor could benefit from this conference and go back and lead more people to Jesus." I said, "Well, how many facilities people do you have, I mean, for a church of 20,000?" She goes, "We don't pay one. It's all done by our volunteers." If you're looking for a place to serve, there's places to serve. If you're looking to get recognized, we may not have that position for you yet, and you may wait and wait and wait.

But I promise you this, the conversation you don't want to have with the Lord Jesus Christ when you meet him was, "I was so gifted for this position. It wasn't quite opening up. I was holding out for a management position until you got here." Just be a servant. Just pick up a brick. Just find some place to give the Lord your best. Go above and beyond the call of duty and then do this.

Number eight, devote yourself present to God presently rather than wait until you have an abundance. Notice verses 28 and following, he says, "Above the Horse Gate, the priest carried out the repairs each in front of his house. After them Zadok, the son of Immer carried out repairs in the front of his house. And after him, Shemaiah, the son of Shekaniah, the keeper of the East Gate carried out repairs. After him, Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph." Don't you find that interesting? Where are the first five sons? God knows that they weren't serving but the sixth son, he got his name mentioned in scripture, Zalaph, he repaired or strengthened another section.

After him, Meshullam, the son of Berekiah carried out the repairs in front of his own quarters. Now that word for quarters is a small cell. It means he probably had a hundred to 200 square foot little house. But you know what he wasn't doing? He wasn't saying, "As soon as I get a bigger house, then I'll help to build the wall. As soon as I get more, then you can count on me." What was he saying? "I'm content with what I have and with what I have, I'm going to give God my best." Friends, do not believe the lie that you can't participate in the work of God because you don't have enough.

Here's what Jesus would say, just like he said to the disciples when they were trying to feed 20 plus thousand people. "We don't have enough." Here's what he said. What'd he say? "What do you have?" Go and see. "Well, all we got's five loaves and two fish."

"Great, I'll take it. I'll bless it. I'll break it. I'll multiply it. I got this." Just bring what little you have and God multiplies it. Just bring what little talent you've got, bring what limited time you have. Bring what limited resources you have. Oh, and by the way, no matter how abundant you think you are compared to the eternal God of the universe, all your resources are insignificant. "I'm super rich." Not compared to God, you're not.

Elon Musk is broke compared to God. Jeff Bezos is broke compared to... They couldn't give God all their money. And God said, "Oh, thanks. I really needed this." God owns it all. So whatever little you bring him, he'll use. Don't believe the lie that you need to be more talented, more gifted, more studious, more educated, more financially... Quit buying the lie. Come to him now. Give him everything you got. Amen?

Congregation:

Amen.

Pastor Jeff:

This guy's living in a little small quarters. He's like, "I want to be part of this. I want to build the wall outside my house. I'm more excited about that wall than I'm about my little cell that I live in." And by the way, when you give God your best, it brings you the greatest joy that you can possibly have. And then how about this final one? If you want to see us move the needle forward on kingdom advancement, then here's what we do.

We believe we can accomplish far more together than we ever could individually. We believe we can accomplish far more together than we ever could individually. Verse 31, he said after him, Malkijah," that's that name again. That's so popular. Somebody's going to have a baby and name it Malkijah, I know it. "One of the goldsmiths carried out repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants in front of the inspection gate. And as far as the upper room of the corner between the upper room and the corner and the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants carried out repairs the word of God for the people of God." Now, what did we just read about? You just read about 42 groups of people that all came together that really didn't know each other very well, and all took a position on the wall wherever they were assigned and did exactly what God wanted them to do.

Here's what you do not read about. You do not read about why did I get put on the south wall, where the dung gate is? I should have been part of the Sheep Gate. How come I have to be in the Fish Gate? Fish stink, why am I there? And notice this, even the Levites and the priests and people that were as unskilled as me mechanically, helped build the wall. You don't have to be super gifted in an area to be used. You just need to have a willing heart to do it. I used to have this poster in my room in college that said, Team, and it was a puzzle piece coming together, and you've heard the saying before. "Together everyone accomplishes more." In the body of Christ, together, everyone accomplishes more. In the body of Christ when the whole body comes together and says, Lord, we just want to honor you, you're the head of our church. Help use us for your glory, because whose church is this?

It's Jesus Christ's Church. Who's in charge of his church? Jesus Christ. Who has he appointed to lead in his church? All of us. All of us. And what might happen if everybody that was moved of the spirit said, "Count on me to pick up a brick. Just count on me to do a little." You would get such an appetite for service, you won't be able to stop. You will have a joy that's so overflowing that you wouldn't be able to contain it. And that's what God wants to do in your life. Because we know in the Book of Ephesians, like we prayed earlier, that you are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. So you'd walk in them. He's already paved the way.

And now to him who can do far more abundantly than all that you can ask or think according to his glorious power that has worked within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, all generations, forever and ever. Amen. May we be a church that champions real people that serve. May we be a church that is for all people who have repented and trusted in Christ. There's only one group of people that we don't want serving in our church. Unrepentant people. That's it. If you're repentant, you can be part of this. If you were dead and have been made allowed by Christ, you can be a part of this. And here's what you're being invited into. You're being invited by the king of the universe to bring God your best and he will use you and multiply your efforts in a way that you never even dreamed possible.

Jesus Christ wants to build his kingdom here. Jesus Christ wants to advance his kingdom here. Jesus Christ wants you to do it here. And the vehicle he's chosen is the church. And the wall that's been broken down is the church. And he's invited all of you who have been born again into a church to give it life. Every church is different. Did you know that? Everyone, God's entrusted certain churches with different things. It should come as no surprise to you. Several of the pastors here in town, they're friends of mine. I have several pastor friends all around the country, and each one of them feels entrusted to the Great Commission in a slightly different way. And they do things slightly different. Some of them you'd be comfortable with, some of them you'd be uncomfortable with, but they're still friends of mine. They've been entrusted to the Lord, entrusted to the Great Commission by the Lord.

We've been entrusted with some things, Sundays and Tuesdays and cadres, and proclaiming the word of God boldly and setting everybody on mission to go out and share the gospel. That's what we've been entrusted to. But there's other ways in which you can serve. There's other things which you can do if you're humble enough to see the need and pick up a brick. If you're humble enough to say, "I don't care about anonymity. I do care about the quality of work I do for my Lord. And I am grateful for the fact he died and rose for me." Church, it's an invitation to you. It's an invitation to be part of the work of the Lord, of the universe who's going to come back and inspect every bit of our work. And if you'll just let him do the work, you don't have to do it.

He'll do it through you. You'll experience greater joy. He'll get greater joy, get greater glory, and you'll hear those words, well done, good and faithful servant. I entrusted you a little bit, I'm going to now entrust you with more in my coming kingdom. Amen?

Would you stand? We're going to close today by singing a song, we used to sing in the church a lot called, Build Your Kingdom Here. It's an upbeat song. It should remind you of all that the Christ has done through his church and all that he wants to do through you. And may you sing it with boldness. Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for today. Lord, thanks for a text that reads like a punch list for you to draw principles for us to honor you and your church. Lord, glorify yourself, honor yourself. We give you all the praise and glory. Lord, we repent of our sin. We trust you as our Lord and Lord, we ask you and invite you to use us for your glory. And it's in Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen and amen. Can we give God praise today for who he is?