Stay on the Wall

And amen. Briar Creek, it's always good being with you. This is a real treat and a delight for me to be here. If you have your Bibles, I want you to meet me in the book of Nehemiah chapter four. If you're new with us today, we've been making our way through the book of Nehemiah. I have personally found this study encouraging and uplifting, challenging a lot of ways even in my own life. So I'm excited to study the word of God and to proclaim the word of God to you all today. The game of football, which I love, and God bless me with a wife who loves it even more than I do. But I love the game of football partly because, and this is me and my sick, demented mind, it is premised on this whole idea of contact and opposition. Every single play, there are people lined up on the other side of the ball, challenging you and daring you and doing everything they can within their power to oppose you and to deter you from doing what you desire to do. That whole game, the whole game of football is premised on this idea of opposition and confrontation and contact. It's because of that that years ago, he since died, but the hall of fame coach and broadcaster, a guy by the name of John Madden, John Madden came up with a stat. It's a very instrumental stat. It's an acronym called YAC, Y-A-C, Y-A-C. YAC simply stands for yards after contact. Yards after contact. I didn't think Madden would actually foresee this, but it would, it would turn out to be one of the most important telltale signs and statistics as it relates to the ability of a ball carrier. Because at the end of the day, what YAC seeks to tease out is, is when the opposition comes, will you immediately fold and crumble? Or will you push through? At the end of the day, YAC really gets to the heart of the ball carrier.

It taps into such universal traits like resilience, grit, perseverance. When the opposition comes, when the contact comes, will you fold and crumble or will you drive and push through? Like the game of football, our faith is premised on this whole idea of opposition. Jesus even said it himself in talking to his disciples. He says, I want you all to know that our enemy has not come to just, you know, give us a wonderful life, but he's come to steal and kill and destroy. Peter, who was in the audience listening to Jesus, would pick up on this in his epistle. He would say, I want you to understand that our enemy goes about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Jesus in John chapter 15 would talk about this whole idea of opposition when he says, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. I hate to break this news to you, American Christian, but opposition is just part and parcel of what it means to not only live in this life, but to also be a follower of Jesus Christ. Our faith is designed to be a contact sport. And what we need are followers of Jesus Christ who lead the kingdom of God in yak, yards after contact. People who do not fold when the contact comes, and it's coming, but keep pushing through. People who are still going to drive. This is exactly what we see in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 1, as we've been making our way in this study, Nehemiah gets some devastating news from one of his siblings. One of his siblings brings the news that Jerusalem, the beloved city of God, that its walls are in shambles. The walls are in ruins. Nehemiah's first reaction is to really weep. He's heartbroken. He's overwhelmed. Nehemiah understands that back then, in that cultural context, a city's walls were everything.

There was no such thing as a city that had any future hope, much less any future hope of flourishing and thriving if its walls were in ruins. So here's Nehemiah, his beloved city, the beloved city of God. The walls are in ruins, and he weeps. Not only that, he goes into a season of fasting and praying, and what we saw, Pastor J.D. and I, that first week, we just kind of unfolded this whole idea, this whole concept of burden. Nehemiah has a burden. Something is wrong. Something needs to be done about that. So Nehemiah, in great faith, he makes a bold request. of the king, gets permission, God blesses in a very providential way to go back to the city of Jerusalem, take some people with him, and rebuild the ruins. In chapter 3, that's exactly what we're seeing is one person after another person after another person. They're on the wall. They're rebuilding the wall. And now we come to Nehemiah chapter 4. If there's one word I want you to write down, it's this word, because it canvases all of Nehemiah chapter 4. It is the word opposition. Yeah, I didn't think any of y'all would say amen. Not that y'all are an amen crowd, but that's okay. We don't like opposition, and I don't like opposition. I'm not saying you should. It's just a reality. Nehemiah chapter 4 is going to give us a master class in opposition. What it is, where it comes from, and how should we respond. But I've got to begin by just asking you this question. What makes you pound the table and weep? What's your burden?

What's going on in your spirit as you're just looking around our society, and you're going, that's broken, and I'm burdened to be used of God to address that? Now I can tell you, we can sit back and clap and cheer each other on. Great, you got a burden. Great, you got a burden. Great, you got a burden. But with every burden comes opposition. Whenever you decide to follow the call of God, and to be used in redemptive ways in our society, newsflash, our enemy ain't going to pop some popcorn and sit on the sofa and watch you do God's will. He's going to come after you. But we need not fear, because my Bible reads, greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Our enemy is a defeated enemy, but nevertheless, opposition is coming. Now I'm at your neighborhood. I got to express to you a deep concern that I have. We are living in American society amidst a culture in which we are seeing a slowly diminishing kind of dripping away of this thing called resilience. Sociologists tell us this. Cultural anthropologists tell us this, that the younger generations lack what Angela Duckworth called in her New York Times bestselling book, grit, determination, resilience. And I wanted to say, it ain't the younger generation's fault. It's the parents. I always laugh when we want to rip on the younger generation about how they got to always have a participation trophy. I'm like, they weren't lobbying for it. It's the parents who are lobbying for it. So the reason why, and I'm not saying this is true of every person in the younger generation. I've met some incredibly strong, incredibly resilient people. But I'm just saying the reason why there are so many who have gotten so soft, and the moment

opposition comes, they crumble, is because their parents raised them under the happiness ethic, where everything is about you, your comfort, and your happiness. I remember I got a call, it's in a manuscript, but I got a call one time from one of my young adult sons. Actually, it was a text in the middle of the night. I need you to pay for my therapist, okay? What's going on? My girlfriend just broke up with me. Not paying for a therapist, go to sleep. Listen to a couple of love songs, it's amazing how I made it through. I'm not diminishing therapy. I've gone to therapy. My wife's gone to therapy, our kids are going to therapy. I told you, our dog has gone to therapy. We believe in therapy. I'm here to tell you, some people, I listen to some of what they're going through, and I'm like, this is called life. Life, life. What we need are the people of God, filled with the Spirit of God, who understand they have something greater than a human counselor. It's called a wonderful counselor, and they have grit and determination. They push through, they drive through. I just want to illustrate this, because I'm trying to create this thing called felt need. Who here has heard the phrase, safe space, you need safe space? Very popular phrase. That enters into American vernacular back in 2015. There's a wonderful book that I think every person should read. It's not a Christian book, but it's a wonderful book that really gives you insight into this.

It's called The Coddling of the American Mind. In a passage in this book called The Coddling of the American Mind, they give us the origin of that phrase, safe space. Here's the origin. The origin happens on an Ivy League university where the administration brings in two individuals to debate a topic, which means they have conflicting views. The students are in an uproar because they don't like one of the views. So they lobby for the administration to cancel the debate. The administration responds, we're a university. University means a diversity of thought within one body. We're not canceling the debate, but here's what we'll do. We'll have another room to the side that when you get triggered during the debate, you can go to this room and find some peace. What was in this room? Here's what was in this room. Keep in mind, this room is for college students. Look at it with me. The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets, and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members purportedly trained to deal with trauma and what did they call the room? A safe space. Now, hear me, I don't make light of this. I've told you all before,

I've gone down a road called depression and anxiety. I've taken medication. That stuff is real. And understand that you gotta guard your heart, guard your mental health, guard your emotional health. I'm not making light of this at all, but what I want you to understand is we are creating a culture that doesn't know how to deal with opposition. Life, life's, we've got a real enemy's coming after you and you're gonna have to have more than just $150 a week for a therapist. You're gonna have to learn how to suit up and put on the whole armor of God, to lean into the spirit of God and to gain some yak. Some yards after contact. That's exactly what our text is about. Our text is a real masterclass in opposition. Life is difficult. I mean, I got a burden for something, I'm getting after it. I mean, when I planted this church in Memphis, Tennessee in 2003, I'll talk some more about that later on. Real burden, man. We chose Memphis, Tennessee because we wanna do a gospel-centered, disciple-making, multi-ethnic church in the most racially-divided center, urban center in our nation at the time. And I'm telling you, the enemy came after us.

Anytime you do God's work, he's coming after us. Where do we see this in Scripture? Nehemiah 4, they're doing God's work. I got a burden, I'm sitting on the wall, opposition comes. It comes from all over the place. Nehemiah chapter four tells us that sometimes the opposition comes directly. Look at the first two verses. Now, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews, and he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing? See the name-calling, will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? These are taunts, by the way. Will they finish up in a day? Will they retrieve, revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burned ones at that? Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, yes, what they are building, if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. Sometimes what this text teaches us is that opposition comes at me directly. I don't have to guess that there are people whose agenda is very clear. We're coming right through the front door. I'm just gonna let you know, I don't like you, and I'm gonna do whatever it takes

to kind of make your life miserable. They could be people maybe working the cubicle next to you. They could be coworkers. They could be people on the board. They could be neighbors that you have. There are sometimes, the opposition, don't need to guess, there will be some Samballots and Tobiahs who are just coming at you. But not only that, sometimes the opposition is around me. This is very interesting. Look at verse seven. When I came across verse seven in my studies this week, this was very curious. It made me stop because I'm going, why is he naming these places? But when Samballot and Tobiah and the Arabs, make note of that, and the Ammonites and the Ashtodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed. Now let me stop you right there. Well, the Arabs are south of the Jews, the Ammonites are to the east, the Ashdodites are to the west, and if we throw in Sanballat, who's from Samaria, they're from the north. See the picture he's painting? Everywhere he turns, there's opposition. Everywhere he turns. There are seasons in your life that everywhere I turn, I'm just catching it everywhere. I don't know about you men, but when problems come to my house, they never come by themselves. They bring their aunties, their uncles, their play cousins. They have a nice little family reunion right there on our front steps.

I get opposition everywhere. Sometimes it just bees like that. Opposition from all around. I wish I was done, but I'm not. Look over at verse 9 into verse 10, excuse me, verse 12, at that time, the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us 10 times, you must return to us. Wow. Who's on the wall? Jews. Where are they getting opposition from? Yep, directly Semba and Tobiah, all around them, and then they're catching it from within. Their own people, own Jews are coming to them saying, get off the wall, it's too much, stop. Sometimes the opposition, yeah, it comes directly from other people. Other times it's all around. But I got to tell you, if I can just be honest with you, sometimes I'm my worst enemy. If you've ever stepped out on faith and believed God or, or, or man, I really sensed God was saying for me to do this or we made this decision and you step out on faith and then you just, you just, you're almost like Peter when he gets out of the boat. Man, this was a great idea when I was in the boat, but now I'm out, out here on the water going to Jesus. What was I thinking? I don't think I heard him right. Did I hear him right? And these thoughts, like these Jews who come to the Jews 10 times, it just kind of wave after wave after wave of self-doubt and opposition, sometimes we can be our worst enemy. What's the goal in all this opposition? Verse 10, here's the goal. In Judah it was said, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There's too much rubble. The enemy has a plan.

He's not going to sit back and just see you kind of translate the burden into reality. The place in which you translate the burden, what God has burdened you for. Some of you have a burden for fostering, others for adoption, others for maybe some kind of justice cause, like maybe homelessness, others of you, maybe it's a, it's more of a spiritual missional burden. Like I want to, I want to see me, you know, people come to faith, I want to be a part of a local church plant, whatever it is. You get out there and you start repairing the walls, the enemy has an agenda. He wants you off that wall. And he's going to send you opposition after opposition after opposition. He wants to fatigue you and frustrate you so that you can get off of that, that wall. I want to show you a picture. My wife and oldest son were at the first, first service and this is a triggering image for them. This is our backyard in San Jose, California, right in the middle of our backyard. You see that big tree, huge, huge tree. I was actually thinking about cutting it down and just kind of asking for forgiveness instead of permission, but that is the state of California. Had I done that, they would have put me on death row for cutting down a tree. But anyways, this tree, part of the reason, the main reason it just drove me nuts is that it didn't just shed one season of the year, but it just kind of steadily shed its leaves throughout the year. Well, dumb me, when I first got there, before I realized this, you'll notice that there's black bark at the base of the tree and all towards the back of that. That was a bad move on my part. So get the picture. You got a tree that is steadily just shedding its leaves into black bark. It just didn't look good, but no problem. In my mind, we got three young kids at the time. I'm going to go, you need to be like Nehemiah.

Go on the wall. Here's your wall. It's the black bark in the backyard. Here's your chore. I want you constantly picking the leaves out of the black bark. My wife was not pleased. My wife was really upset with me, and this was a four-year — I won't call it argument between us. I'll call it a four-year marital realignment session, and her issue with me is this work is unending. Like, they're never going to get to a place where they're going to feel like they've accomplished something, they've achieved something. In other words, she felt like I was — setting them up for fatigue and for frustration. In my mind, I wasn't thinking achievement. I wasn't thinking about what they were going to accomplish. Instead, I was thinking about development, what was being accomplished in them. And one of the things I was trying to get my wife to see is that hard things are incredible gifts that develops people. Sometimes the best gifts you get come through not prosperity, but through opposition. So here's what I want you to understand. What if being on the wall is not just about what God wants to do through you, but what God wants to do in you? And in order to deepen his work in you, he's got to allow you to see opposition.

How do I know that? Because read Nehemiah 4. We're gonna see them praying like they've never prayed before and trusting God like they've never had to trust before. That only was heightened and deepened through opposition. If you get nothing else I say, get this counterintuitive truism. Here it is, look at it with me. Opposition is often affirmation that I am in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. I love how one pastor says it. If you have not met the devil head on, then you are most likely going the same way he is. Isn't this counterintuitive? How so many of us think is, it's hard, it's hard. So God must be telling me, don't do it. And I'm telling you, if you've prayed about it, if you've sought God, if there's just this sense that this is where I'm supposed to be. Now, of course, are there stories in the Bible where God uses opposition as a hand of discipline? Yes, Jonah would raise his hand, but that joker knew he was going in the wrong direction when he got on the boat. So I'm not talking about that, but I just wanna encourage you because some of you, you are so sincere.

You've been praying, you've been pleading with God, you've been seeking wise counsel and the devil's thrown everything, including the kitchen sink at you. Opposition is often affirmation that you are doing the right thing, you're in the right place, you're at the right time. Here's the person who should be scared right now is if you ain't getting no opposition at all. That means you ain't a threat to the enemy. Okay, Brian, as we round second head for third here, I got it, opposition's a reality. The enemy wants me off the wall. He wants me off of that place where the vision is being translated into reality. What do I do? How do I rack up my yak, my yards after contact? Three things and we're done. Number one, if we're going to stay on the wall, we have to really pray. Look at verse four again. There's this wonderful interplay in our text. There's opposition, then prayer, opposition, then prayer, opposition and prayer. Verse four, the opposition comes, Nehemiah prays, "'Hear, O our God, for we are despised. "'Turn back their taunt in their own heads

"'and give them up to be plundered "'in a land where they are captives. "'Do not cover their guilt "'and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, "'for they have provoked you to anger "'in the presence of the builders.'" I love this, opening words of verse six, "'So we built the wall.' They prayed and they got the resolve to stay put. Or you can go later on to verse nine, "'And we prayed to our God "'and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.'" So I want you to see opposition comes and they pray and they pray and they pray and they pray. Now I know this sounds very elementary, but I want you to understand that there will always be a gap between God's call and your capacity. Are you catching that? The reason you need faith is because you don't have the means to pull off God's will. Always a gap between God's call and your capacity. What fills in that faith gap is prayer. I want to take you to the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus enters into the Garden of Gethsemane, he's painted as being an emotion. emotional wreck. Now I know that disturbs some of you. I want to be careful here because I think there's a classic mistake that either side makes when it comes to Jesus. Liberals tend to so emphasize the humanity of Jesus that they diminish his deity, his godness. Conservatives, we tend to so emphasize the deity or the godness of Jesus that we diminish

his humanity. It's called the hypothetic union. It was one of the most helpful statements that was ever given from one of the early kind of church conferences about Jesus Christ. And they said this about Jesus Christ. Here it is, that Jesus Christ, don't miss this, is fully God, fully man, in one person without mixture. Don't try to think that through. We don't have the human ability to fully make sense of that. But the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is fully God, fully man, in one person without mixture. Now I'm going to use this analogy. Most of y'all won't get it. But just kind of roll with me. Act like you do. It's not like what Teddy Pendergrass said. He ain't 80-20. He ain't 70-30. Yeah, I didn't think you'd get that. I'm trying to bless your marriage, Teddy Pendergrass. Jesus Christ is fully, fully God, fully man, in one person without mixture. Why do I say this? Because when Jesus, on the night in which he's to be betrayed, the Gospel writers picture him as being an emotional wreck when he walks into the Garden of Gethsemane. John says he was sweating great drops of blood. Other Gospel writers says he was sorrowful and he was distressed. Here he is, an emotional mess, on the brink, I would say, of almost losing it when he goes into the Garden of Gethsemane. But when he leaves, he's the picture of poise and patience. What changed? Prayer. Prayer. He met with his father, stayed on the wall. Notice the exact flip side. When the disciples go into the Garden, they're the picture of calm. They fall asleep. And when they leave the Garden, they're the picture of worry, as all but one of them get off the wall and abandon Jesus on the cross. What changed them? Prayerlessness. If you want to stay on the wall, you have to pray. Now, watch this. It gets gooder. Because what Nehemiah's going to instruct us to is we're going to have to get in touch with our inner Pentecostal. He doesn't just talk about prayer in general. He talks about a specific kind of prayer, the kind of prayer my grandmama used to do. Come and go with me. Verse 4, he says this. Just look at what he says, "'Hear, O our God, for we are despised.'" Listen to what he says. "'Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives.'" Listen. "'Do not cover their guilt and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.'" You want to go, whoa. This ain't a master class in how to pray for your enemies. He's saying don't forgive them. What do we do with this? Here's what we do. Listen carefully. Theologians say that this kind of prayer is called a prayer of

vindication. Don't miss this. At its core, a prayer of vindication simply means this. Nehemiah is saying, hey God, I'm not on this wall for a paycheck. I'm not on this wall for career advancement. I'm not on this wall so I can take pictures to put on the gram to impress people. I'm on this wall because I got a burden and I heard from you. In other words, here's what I know. I am doing your will, which means this. If they're opposing me, they're really opposing you. God, prayer of vindication, I need you to take this personal. This ain't no cute, just regular prayer. Please forgive me about that. If you need to email me, email me at JDGreer at summitchurch.com. This is a real prayer. This is a real prayer. I don't believe this is some liturgical thee thou prayer. He's frustrated. He's probably raising his voice at God. Look, we went to go plant the church in Memphis, Tennessee. We moved there Memorial Day weekend 2003. We had prayed. We had sought the Lord. We just knew we were following God. Then we get there, man, and the bottom falls out. Several of our core team members had their cars broken into, financial difficulties almost all at once. You know, relational stuff was happening, there was strife happening on our team, and you start connecting the dots, and you go, man, we're under demonic attack. At the same time, man, we've got two kids. My oldest was, he had just turned two, and my youngest, Miles, was six months old. I didn't want to burden my wife, but I'm laying in bed at night, and I'm wondering, man, are we going to get paid? Is the next paycheck coming? So I would slip out of my bed at night, or I'd get up early in the morning, and we had a little home there in East Memphis. I can still see it now right there on Robindale Lane, man, and my neighbors must have thought I was crazy, man, because I'm walking back and forth, and I'm talking out loud. And I'm saying stuff like, hey, God, Memphis ain't no destination spot. I didn't come here to get a tan, because if I needed a tan, work with me. God, I came here following you. God, we got financial issues. They're not my financial issues.

That's your bill. Do something. God, we got relational stuff. God, the enemy is attacking. He's not just attacking me, but because I'm in your will, he's attacking you. This is where conservatives, we've been hoodwinked and bamboozled, because we think that when we come to God, we can't show emotion. I submit to you, you haven't read your Bibles. Psalm 55, David says, God, send my enemies to hell. I suggest he did not say, hey, God. Who sits up high and looks down low? Could you please send my enemies to Hades? He didn't say it with a British accent. I believe he's ticked. If God is all-knowing, he knows how you feel, whether or not you say it. In prayers of vindication, you're essentially saying, God, take this personal. What does that say when you pray that way? See, I think the reason why David is called a man after God's own heart is because when David prayed, God got his heart. God doesn't need your theology as much. He needs your heart. But there's something else. If we're gonna push through the opposition, if we're gonna stay on the wall, we have to resolve to stay on the wall. Look at verses 13 and 14. I love this. So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall and open places, I station the people by their clans with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them.

Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. Look down at verse 20. To the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us. So we labored at the work and half of them, here it is, held the spears from the break of dawn and the stars came out. You see them working on the wall with one hand, spears in the other. Here's the lesson this text is teaching. Trust God and stay strapped. This passage is bringing together what theologians call an antinomy. Antinomies are like, in mathematical terms, parallel lines that never intersect. What are those parallel lines? Human responsibility, divine sovereignty. And we see both of them. Divine sovereignty. I'm going to pray to you. Human responsibility. I'm going to stay strapped. Oliver Cromwell, that great leader, said to his soldiers once, will you look at it this way? Put your trust in God and keep your gunpowder dry. Or as the legendary Notre Dame football coach said, Newt Rockne, once said, I found that prayer works best when you have big players. See the idea here? There are times in the Bible where God says, all divine responsibility. All divine sovereignty. I'm divine sovereignty. I'm going to take care of this, okay? So I want you up in the stands.

Be on the football field, I'm gonna do this. In fact, one of the most popular passages is when Israel is pinned against the Red Sea, the Egyptians are coming behind them, and God gives Israel these instructions through Moses, Exodus 14, 13, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You won't have to do this, I'm going to do it. But here's what confuses us. There are other passages in the Bible where God says, no, no, no, I'm gonna go up into the stands and you go down on the field. I'm gonna be with you, I'm gonna be watching over you, but you're gonna fight. In fact, if you read the book of Joshua, the whole book can be summed up in the word fight. Here's what God's saying, oh, we finally made it, we finally made it to the promised land. Take your swords with you, because you're gonna have to fight. Because the land you're gonna get is already occupied and they ain't put up no for sale signs. It ain't on Zillow, it ain't on Redfin, you are going to have to fight. So the question is, I'm confused, Brian, which is it? Is it stand back and watch God do it? See, let me just mess you up. Nehemiah chapter four, ain't no let go and let God. These brothers are hammering and the sword is right there.

This ain't no let go and let God. So sorry, if that's your bumper sticker, it ain't biblical. Not Nehemiah chapter four biblical. No, no, no. So which is it, Brian? Your default posture should be, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna fast, I'm gonna trust, and I'm gonna stay strapped. Best way I can describe this to you is a black Jesus woman named Harriet Tubman. If you ain't read up on Harriet Tubman, you have got to read up on Harriet Tubman. From 1850 to 1860, at the height of slavery, she took between 13 to 19 trips from up north, down south, to lead people to freedom back up north. Now Harriet Tubman was four foot something. She was a little small glass of water. Four foot something. Loved Jesus, and she would take a band of slaves. Over these 13, 19 trips, some 300 slaves she led to freedom. She was the most wanted person in America. She would take, obviously they didn't have Siri, they didn't have any of that. She would take these slaves, and she knew generally where north was, but the slave masters and the dogs are on her heels, and she needs wisdom, and so she would freak the slaves out because all of a sudden she would just stop and pray. God, show us where to avoid these slave masters. Show us where to go, show us where not to go.

But watch it. While she prayed, sister girl had a little gun tucked in her waist. That's Nehemiah four. Okay, now hear me. This ain't no second amendment sermon, so don't mistake me to hear. Okay, some of y'all are like, ooh, okay, pastor said I can go to the gun spot, whatever, whatever. You and God work that out, okay? I'll let you examine what strapped means in the Hebrew. You work that out, okay? But here's what God is saying. Okay, you got a burden to adopt, pray, and save money. You got a burden for your neighbors to come to know Christ as Lord and Savior? Pray, and you share your faith. You got a burden for some justice initiatives in our city? You wanna see homelessness decrease? You got a heart for immigrants? Pray, and get involved. See how this whole idea of human responsibility, divine sovereignty, come together. Finally, as we close, if you're gonna stay on the wall, don't stay on the wall alone. Here's Nehemiah, he's got this burden, goes to Jerusalem, chapter three, all these names, all these names, here's what I love about the names. Most of these names were never mentioned before in Scripture, and most of these names

will never be mentioned again. They're ordinary people who are doing extraordinary work. And if you just read chapter three, that gives us the names of these individuals that we see in chapter four, there's a little phrase that keeps coming up, after him, or next to, or after him, or next to. I think the reason why they're remaining on the wall is they know, I'm not by myself. I got other folk on the wall with me. Who's on the wall with you? Last picture I'll show you. Of all the pieces of mail I get every single year, that's my favorite. Every single year, January of every year, I get a note from my mama. She should be 76 years old. I get a note every single year. Ever since I left her house in college, decades mama's been doing this annual tradition. And all the note is, there's a card that she's written some other stuff, and inside that card is this note. Every year she gives me passages of scripture that she's believing God for me for that year. Y'all, I'm 53 years old, and that blesses me. Here's what, here's in essence what what mama's notes and her prayers are saying to me every year. Son, baby, I'm on the wall with you. See, I got sense enough to know the beautiful things God is doing in my life and through my life ain't because I'm so smart, ain't because of the letters behind my name, ain't because of the giftedness. I got sense enough to know I got folks sitting on a wall with me. Who's sitting on a wall with you? Let's turn this around. Who are you sitting on the wall with? I mean, just this week I got a call from a dear friend of mine who's just going through it, going through it. And I said, hey man, you ain't by yourself. I'm going up to prayers, but I'm going to hop on a plane. I'm on the wall with you. Who are you on the wall with? Solomon says it this way as we close. Solomon says, two are better than one because they have a good return for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another

to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who's alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. Here's the translation. If you want to stay on the wall and do big things, you got to have people next to you. So, hey, you're not by yourself. Yeah, man, I see you. You're getting opposed. I'm with you. Your problem is my problem. We're yoked together. That's why I'm saying if you haven't jumped into a small group or if no one really knows you here at the church or if you're in isolation, you ain't going to last. I remember, I just showed you that picture of our backyard. There's a fire pit back there. Me and my boys, we used to sit back there. We used to call it the locker room. Mama wasn't allowed. It would just be me and the boys. And they would just talk. And we'd have these rich conversations. And Mama would come later. But I remember we're having this one conversation. And I had these logs. And they were leaning into each other. And they were on fire and burning. And I'm talking about the importance of community. Guys, you need men in your life. And as I'm talking to them, I just kind of remove one log from the other. So, now this one log is in isolation. And what happens over time? We just watched as the fire went out. I said, boys, there it is. You want to keep your fire for Jesus. One day you're leaving my house. You are leaving my house. You got to have men. This is not...let me go back. I've been using football analogies. Let me just go back to another football analogy and we'll wrap it up with this. I hate Philadelphia's tush push. But that's the idea. Where you just need a group of people who are just behind you. I said, I just believe in you. Not on my watch. You're not going to fall. Yes, you're frustrated. Yes, see you fatiguing. Yeah, the madness is coming. But I'm with you. I'm with you. Oh, and I'm thinking of Jesus now. Like the walls of Jerusalem, all of our lives were in ruins. They were in shambles. And I'm glad and you should be glad that God got a burden for us. Jesus got a burden for us. In fact, if you read Matthew 23, we know he's got a burden because Matthew 23 literally says that like Nehemiah wept over Jerusalem, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and he weeps over us. Why? Because he sees the perilous course we are on as we're headed to an

eternity separated from him. So Jesus left the comforts of heaven, took on flesh. He got on the wall. And boy, did he face opposition. You think you faced opposition? Jesus, for you, for me, faced opposition. He caught it everywhere. He caught it from the religious elite, the Pharisees. They constantly opposed him. He caught it from Rome. He caught it from his own disciples. 11 of them abandoned him at the cross. One of them, Peter, denied him. Another one, Judas, betrays him. But praise God, he had yak. Praise God, he didn't crumble. Had he crumbled, no hope for us. But he kept going. They crucified him on a cross on a Friday night, buried him in a borrowed tomb. He was there all night, Friday night, all day, Saturday, all night, Saturday night, but I heard an old preacher say, early Sunday morning, he got up with all power in his hands. Jesus's resilience, Jesus's determination to stay on the wall is how we are saved, and it's also an inspiration for us to stay on the wall. I tell you, I was just preparing all this week. I knew I was coming to Briar Creek, knew I was gonna come and hang out with you guys, and I just, I just felt unusually burdened

for this campus this week, unusually burdened. And I just wanna, in service, this is the last thing I'm gonna do. I just wanna pray for some of you. I just get the sense that some of you, you're in a season of opposition. And I just, and for some of you, man, it's just wearing you out, because you're like, it's coming, so let me just kind of do my internal checklist. No, I don't think I'm living in sin. In fact, I'm not perfect, of course, but I'm doing everything I know to do, but I'm just catching it. If some of us are really honest, we're frustrated with God. I'm in a season of opposition. I wanna pray for you. If that's you, we're not gonna pass the mic. We're not gonna ask you what it is about. We're not gonna put you on a spot. I just feel burdened for you. I just wanna pray for you. If you're in a season of opposition, would you just stand to your feet? I just wanna pray for you, if that's you, if that's you. If you would go, yeah, yeah, it just feels like this is what it is. Just feels like this is what it is. I'm trying, trying to be faithful. I blow it, I mess up, but I'm just,

pastor, would you just pray for me? I'm in a season of opposition. Prayer is not an individual sport, it's a team sport, and so I just, y'all don't have me up here praying by myself. There's someone standing near you. You have freedom to stand with them. You have freedom to stretch a hand towards them, put a hand, an arm around them, but please, would you just join me as we pray for our brothers and sisters all over this room? Father, in the name of Jesus, I just feel burdened for your sheep. I feel burdened for your people, Lord God. I think a part of that's because I've done several tours of duty, Lord God, in the land of opposition. I know what it's like, Lord God, and I don't wanna impose my feelings on anybody else, Lord God, but it can get especially fatiguing and frustrating when I just sit and I think, God, I'm really trying. I'm really trying to hear from you. I'm really trying to follow you. I'm really trying, and yet I'm just catching at what gives. So I just wanna pray for my brothers and sisters right now, Lord God. May we be encouraged by a couple of thoughts. Number one, that what we are going through, Lord God, is no surprise to you.

Nothing surprises you. Nothing ever occurs to you. Psalm chapter eight, the psalmist says, what is man that you're mindful of him? So you know about, you know about the sand ballots, the Tobias in our life. You know about the opposition that is coming at us, around us, even within us. God, you know about it, but here's what blesses me. Not only do you know about it, God, that you actually care. Psalm eight says, what is man that you're mindful of him, or the son of a man that you care for him? I'm thinking of Jesus in Matthew chapter six, Lord God, that if God so clothes the grass of the field, how much more will he clothe you? God, you care for us. We've been made in your image. And so, God, it may not feel like you care, but the truth of the Bible is you do care. So we proclaim that over ourselves today, that God, you care. God, you care. God, you care. Would you just, would you just proclaim that over yourself right now? God, you care. Say it again. God, you care. So God, we just, we just ask that you would use this, this season of opposition to accomplish your deep work in our lives. God, we, we, we resolve to lean into you in prayer. We resolve to come to you, not with safe prayers, but with prayers of vindication that God, we believe we are in the right place at the right time. So it's not just me being attacked, it's you being attacked. God, take that personal. Move in our behalf. And God, would you, would you send us other people to sit on the wall

with us? Help us to be vulnerable enough, Lord God, to get past all the pleasantries and niceties of who won the game and how many points did so-and-so have and, and to just say, hey man, here's what's going on with me. Would you sit with me? Now fathers, we leave this place. We leave this place, Lord God, thankful for you and your son, Jesus, who weep over us, who went through opposition for us so that we might be rebuilt. And seeing your grit, your resolve, we leave this place, Lord God, determined that the enemy will not get us off the wall, that we will keep pressing through. It's in Jesus' name we pray all these prayers. Summit family, there will be some people down front available to pray with you. God bless you, Summit family. You are set.