and so carter um he's he's seven now, but when he was four and we were playing this game one time he came out and he asked me like, hey dad, do you want to play cards with me already got it set up for us and he had this little kid smirk on his face, you know, I'm talking about just like something's up, but you don't quite know what's up. And so I'm like sure buddy and he's just, he's even giggling when before we even started playing and so I go over to the table and he's already got the two stacks laid out and he's like all right, I'm gonna sit here and he's like, oh he has no idea what's coming does he? And so I sit down and we start playing and I start noticing after a few hands, all of my cards are like 54, seven and his first five cards were ace, king, queen, ace, ace. And I'm like and we should start playing and he starts when he starts giggling, I'm like carter, he's like what? And started laughing. And so buddy, did you stack the deck? And he's like no. And so after he took all my cards, I turned over and turned off, he gave himself all of the face cards and so he didn't know at what point, like what order you don't know what order we were gonna play, but he just knew that his all of his cards were better than all of my cards and so he was gonna win every single hand and so he smiled because in playing that game of war, he knew that his cards were higher and he knew that ultimately he was gonna win. It didn't matter what order they were played, that he had the better cards, he had the better hand. And as we talked about going through life's battles and we talk about going through life. The truth is, as christians, that if you believe and you put your faith and your trust in God, that you have the power of jesus, living inside of you, meaning that you have the higher cards. And I don't know what battles you're facing, I don't know what's going to come at at you from the deck of life, so to speak, but I do know that at the end of the day, whatever card is played, having, jesus on your side gives you the higher card, it gives you the majority or gives you the power ultimately to overcome. Now, we're going through a series, we're in week two of a series entitled revival, we're gonna talk about what does it look like to potentially start a spiritual revival in this community right now, 2019 in order to prep for a potential spiritual revival here in 2019. We're actually going back about 2500 years and we're taking a look at a revival that took place in Jerusalem led by a guy named Nehemiah and the revival can be defined really as you can have a definition up here on the screen, but it's really an awakening back to life that sparks a movement of God. The idea of reviving something is to bring it back, meaning that at one point it had life at one point it was meant to live a certain way. At one point it was meant to have a certain aspect to it, a vitality to it, as the new testament calls Zoet really this idea of abundant life, a meaningful, vital life, a life that just has impact. And so to have a revival is the idea of there was what was life happened and now we're stuck, but we could actually get back to what God has truly called us to be and I believe that there were on the edge of an amazing spiritual revival in our country. Now you might think I'm crazy because the odds are stacked against us, but as we talk through this story that the odds were really struck against the Israelites, I mean their city had been overtaken and they're really just a remnant of people in the city of Jerusalem. And Nehemiah felt called by God to go back and we talked how the first movement to revival is this idea of being renewed and how revival start with a renewed passion for God's people. And last week we talked about how Nehemiah really had three moves that renewed his heart, he moved from comfortable, he was eating the food of the king to caring, he felt burdened for his people. But secondly, he went from Brokenness to boldness. He actually went back and then the third move was he went from an individual burden to inspiring others and he rallied the people around him and say we're going to rebuild the city and we are going to um make it stronger and we're gonna do this. And so this week we're gonna actually talk about the process of rebuilding the wall. And so the last week's theme was renew. This week's theme is rebuild because when he went to actually building the wall to rebuilding the city that he encountered all kinds of conflict and all kinds of battles. And so we're gonna talk about when you're in the middle of a battle, when you're trying to rebuild a relationship when you're trying to rebuild your spiritual life, when you're trying to rebuild your community, if you're trying to reach out, when you're trying to do something for God, you're going to encounter battles. If you're taking notes, you can write this down that when you feel under attack, when you are under attack, remember that you are built to overcome when you feel under attack, remember that you are built, you have it inside of you in the very image of God you were built to overcome a little background before we jump into today's message is that we're going to see these guys that the bad guys, we introduce them to you last week. And if you want to watch last week's message has already posted on our website at Mission Grove church dot com. But but this guy's name, sand ballot and Tobia and sand ballot, These guys that really, we don't have to go fully into their history and background and where they're leading, you just have to really understand that when Israel was taken over when Jerusalem was overthrown, they gained power and wealth and authority. And so Nehemiah coming back in to re unite the people and they really reclaim their identity of who God created them to be threatens sand ballot and Tobias power and Dominion over the people because if they're united and rise up, he might lose something. And so he wants to keep this from happening and sand ballot. And there's also a third guy Grisham, but he doesn't talk as much as we're focusing on the two. And so you have sand block who seems to be like the ringleader and then Tobia, is that yeah, God, you know what I'm talking about? Like there's always a group of people who are like, if you're gonna like fight, there's a leader, like we ain't gonna stand for that. And then that one guy doesn't say anything, but he pops from around goes, yeah, yes. And like someone like, okay, here's what we're gonna do and he's gonna walk in and go, yeah what he said, mm hmm mm hmm. And so that's to buy okay you're gonna see what I'm talking about in just a minute. And so we have these two guys and so they try all different kinds of attacks to keep Nehemiah from rebuilding the wall and in studying the attacks that they overcome, we're gonna be encouraged on how we can overcome and when the battles that we're facing and so we're gonna look through really three chapters, a little bit of four chapters here in the story. And so I'm gonna tell you about what's happening And then we're gonna actually read the response of how Nehemiah responded in each situation. But the first battle that Nehemiah overcame is that he realized that calling overcomes criticism. If you think about the card game war calling is a higher card than criticism that it wins every time when you recognize your call you can overcome the criticism and it's coming, It's coming for sure. In chapter four verses 1 through three I'm just going to read this first part two. It says now when san dola 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 brothers and of the army of Samaria what are these feeble jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it up in a day will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burned the burned ones at that? And then Tobias beside him says yeah what are they building? If a Fox Fox goes up it'll break down their wall. I'm sure you're saying that it's like really like that's the best slam. I'm like are you going to try to rebuild the city in a day? Are you gonna try to use stones that are even burnt up? And then the rubble, what are you gonna do? And then tomorrow comes up like I bet a fox could break it right? And so he comes out until they start criticizing. Now they have weight behind what they're saying because they have power and Dominion over these people and they're like oh my goodness if the leaders are saying this they receive this criticism. But then notice Nehemiah is response in verse six he says so we built the wall and all the wall that was joined together to half its height for the people had in mind to work. So he responded to the criticism by saying no I've been given a higher calling and you're not going to stop that. So we heard the criticism. He said no we will continue calling overcomes criticism every time. If people back down every time they were criticized, they would never amount to what they were meant to do. For example, a young woman when she graduated at a Tennessee State University, he was offered a job as an anchor a news anchor at a Baltimore news station specifically at W. J. Z. T. V. Now seven months into it. This young um newswoman this anchor was fired and the producer told her that you are unfit for Tv. Now imagine if you spent your life your career like you went to college to be on T. V. And seven months into your first big job, you were fired and the producer said you were unfit for tv. Now Oprah Winfrey went on to lead a pretty successful life don't you think? In fact she responded from this and kept pursuing and actually a door opened up for her to go into a talk show and grew into what became the most successful talk show in all of history and she now owns her own network and has a net worth of about $2.6 billion. Now what would have happened if Oprah would have received that first criticism and said okay yep that's me. No that's overcoming when you know you're meant to do something or another story. There was a young man who had a troubled childhood, he grew up, he was abused, he was kicked out of high school. In fact twice he tried to take his own life. But at age 23 he moved to Atlanta and he tried to to start over and he really wanted to be in uh in acting in media and so he worked a bunch of odd jobs and he saved up and then used his own money, his own savings, all of his savings to write and direct and produce this stage play. And when it opened, it completely flopped, all of his savings put into release the stage play in Atlanta. And it only made one weekend before they had to close down and a total of 30 people attended. But Tyler Perry went on to have a pretty successful career and actually is one of the most well known writers, producers, actors in all of Hollywood today. What would have happened if you would have stopped when the people said no, you're not good? What would have happened if he would have stopped? What happened in Nehemiah is case if he were to stop building the wall? What would happen in your case if I don't know what battle you're facing. But how do you respond when people criticize you? No, you're not gonna make it, you're not good enough. You can't do that. You're not qualified, you're not educated, You don't have the resources. See when you recognize that you've been called to do something greater. You can continue just as Nehemiah continued and says. So we built the wall and he moved on. What is your calling? And I don't know if you even know you're calling right now, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. But even if you don't know what you're supposed to do, you can know right now who you're supposed to be see your calling as a spouse matters, you're calling right now as a single person matters your calling as a parent matters, your marriage, your workplace where you are right now, this season of life matters and God has you where you are right now for a reason. And then when people try to criticize you, you can fall back on the calling that you are made in the image of God and you have been called to go and make disciples of all nations. And so when someone tries to criticize, you say you're not smart enough, you're not good enough, you're not gonna make it. You've made too many mistakes in your past, continue, move on. Fight for your marriage, Fight for your kids, don't don't fight your kids, that's not healthy. But um but continue on and and pursue and persevere and overcome because when a criticism comes, You can overcome it with calling because here's what happens, right? If you could get 10 compliments And then one person says something nasty to you? And the way the human mind works. When you put your head down on that pillow at night, what are you thinking about? The one comment? Why would they say that? What do they mean? Right, we always focus on the negative, but when you recognize that you're calling is something higher, something greater and that God will give you the power and the resources to accomplish what he's called you to, you can persevere and overcome because calling overcomes criticism. Secondly, second battle, that Nehemiah faced is that he recognized that talking to God overcomes threats from man, talking to God overcomes threats from man at this point, the criticism didn't work. And so sand ballot actually intimidates him says no, I'm going to bring the pain, we're going to actually attack. I will rise up forces against you, you will not succeed. So there's actual threats. And so what was his response in verse nine and we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. They prayed because they recognize that the God they're praying to is much larger than the obstacle they were facing. David did the same thing when he faced Goliath, Goliath seems pretty big until you recognize that the God who created the entire universe is on your side. Right? Prayer taps you into that Kent Hughes in his book, disciplines of a Godly Man. Um gives this illustration of prayer. Prayer and talking to God is like tying your boat to the shore. When you tie your boat to the shore. Do you pull the shore to the boat or do you pull the boat to the shore? You pull the boat to the shore. When you pray, you're not just saying God come to me, God come to me, what you're saying is God I'm coming to you, you're pulling to the shore of his goodness, his power and his grace and his forgiveness. And so when you pray, it's not your last line of defense, but it is the first action step you take when you go through a situation, if a situation is bugging you enough to worry about, it's worth praying about amen, you can take the same rehearsal of a situation and turn it into prayer. Does anyone else do this when you have a difficult, difficult circumstance that you just start replaying it, replaying it, replaying it, Oh man, what's gonna happen? What's gonna happen? What's going to happen? Do you realize just hanging on to this when you pray, you take that same thought that same rehearsal and you just go here you go God and what's too heavy for you is not too heavy for God. And so whatever battle you're facing right now understand this, that talking to God overcomes the threats of man every time. So whatever you're facing, go to him in prayer and bring others with you in that that's why we have a prayer team. That's why you have a connection card that you can write down your prayer requests this morning and know that we have people going before God every week lifting up your request to him. Mhm 3rd 3rd battle that Nehemiah faced is that he found out that actions of faith, overcome feelings of fear, actions of faith, overcome feelings of fear Verse 10 it says this now they're actually talking to themselves. It says the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rebel by ourselves. We will not be able to rebuild this wall. So now there's fear and there is doubt and the conversation has become internal. Have you ever experienced this? It's no longer someone saying you're not good enough. It's you yourself saying I'm not good enough, can I do it? I don't know. It's that internal struggle with self. And so Nehemiah hears this and he sees this and he gives two of the best response in all of scripture. So I want you to mark verse 14 and verse 17 down, just highlight it because these are just awesome. So people are struggling with fear and notice how Nehemiah responds to his people. Verse 14 and I looked and I arose and I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of 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. Woo! That'll preach right there right. They're saying we can't do it, we can't do it. And Nehemiah steps in and he looks at the nobles and he looks at the officials and he looks at all of the people and says rise up, Do not be afraid. Your God is with you, who is great and who is awesome. So fight for your families. Some of you need to hear this today, I don't know what battle you're going through right now, but I can tell you this, Do not be afraid. Your God is with you, your God is awesome and your family is worth it. So fight Amen. and so he continues on and then in verse 17 he says this and those who were building on the wall, those who carried the burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored with the work with one hand and held a weapon with the other. They believe so strongly in what they were doing, they said no you will not stop us. And so they were protecting themselves on one side and they continued working on the other side. How awesome is that? Some of you right now in relationships you need to protect in one hand, but you need to pursue with the other, some of you in your workplace right now you need to protect in one hand and pursue with the other. Why? Because you should not be afraid because your God is awesome. Your God is great and your community, your life, your purpose is worth fighting for. So fight, do not quit johnny cuff puts it this way He says, here are 10 things that fear hates This is 10 things that fear itself fierce says fear hates community, he wants you to be alone. Fear hates action, they want you stay still fear hate alarm clocks so they don't want you to get up. I kind of agree with fear on that one, but that's just another side. Fear hates truth because that's when you recognize who you are. Fear hates hustle because sometimes it takes work. Fear hates focus. So try to distract you fear hates sunrises because sometimes you gotta get up, wake up on purpose for a purpose. Fear hate spiders because I think everybody does okay, that's just thrown in. Hey, it's hope and ultimately fear fears. You, have you ever thought about the fact that maybe satan is trying to attack you or circumstances trying to bring you down because God has called you to something greater. He's not worried about people who aren't gonna make a difference. So if you're under attack right now, maybe you're right on the verge of a breakthrough. I know this to be true because it says in second timothy 17 for God did not give us a spirit of fear. That fear does not come from God. There is an awe. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but the idea of fear that keeps you from action keeps you from your purpose keeps you from moving forward. That is not from God. In fact it says he did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, Love and self control And then in 1st Timothy 6 12, it says fight the good fight of faith, he calls it the good fight of faith because faith is the location of the battle like the battle of Gettysburg, it took place in Gettysburg. The good fight of faith. Faith is the location of the battle but it is also the weapon that you used to have victory in it. And so timothy says fight, fight for your spiritual walk, Fight for that battle to overcome you are enough, you have enough and you can do it through the power of jesus christ alone when they were gonna walk into the promised land, Joshua leading the people, he had all these battles ahead of him, he said be strong and courageous for I am with you actions of faith, overcome feelings of fear every time fear can be described as false evidence appearing real. And I wonder how many people are kept from living out a greater calling out of fear because there are two types of people in the world, there are those that do and those that might. Is there something that you've been thinking about doing for a long time? But you've never made a move to do it, do it take a step start because an action of faith overcomes the feeling of fear every time next Nehemiah realized that generosity overcomes greed. Generosity overcomes greed. So they started building the wall. But it wasn't just building the wall, they're building a society and so for background on this, there were different types of people because there was economic oppression. So there is the wealthy, they were then taking advantage of those underneath. There were people who did not own land, then there was famine in the land. So then there are people who mortgaged their homes and their land, so just so they could survive with food and then there were others who struggle because then they were taxed on tax on tax and so they couldn't win there in a society where their own brothers and sisters were getting wealthy off of the backs of the people who were just trying to survive and eat food. And so Nehemiah seized that a part of the wealthy as a part of as a governor. And he responds in this way in verse eight and nine, he says, we are far as we are able to have bought back our jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you sell your brothers that they may be sold to us. They were silent and could not find a way to say a word. So I said, the thing that you are doing is not good, ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nation's and our enemies. And he says, stop it. He takes a stand for Justin says, this is not right. And then he goes on. And actually he says, look, I'm not even gonna take what I'm owed as a governor of the king. I'm not going to impress the people. In fact, I'm gonna give back. And so I'm not gonna take any food from them. I'm not gonna take what I'm deserved, but I'm gonna give back to the people, and I'm gonna pay for it out of my own pocket, and I'm gonna get back, I'm gonna give back. Because generosity overcomes greed. And then in verse Verse 19, he says, remember my good oh my God, all that I have done done for these people. Because when you fight greed, when you fight this calling you, you started working on this calling, but it's not for you, it's for others. And that being generous takes away that pride being generous, takes away the selfishness that comes with power. It seems like in our culture, everyone that comes into power just says, okay, my turn. But generosity overcomes that the late great Eugene Peterson describes it this way He says, picture uh swallow um the bird with three baby birds. This on a dead branch and a tree overlooking the lake. And these little bird leans a little babies have to learn to fly. So it kind of gives a little nudge. The first one goes out, starts to fall, spreads the wings and starts to fly. The second one kind of nudges out, nudges out, starts the fall, that starts to fly. But the 3rd 1 is a stubborn child. I think every family has because you started nodding. Okay. Don't point it out. That's awkward. Don't look at that stubborn child. That's even more awkward right now. Okay. But the third one was a stubborn child. And so the mama bird starts pushing the baby bird just clings on and hangs and then pushes the bird and just hanging upside down, just clinging on to this dead branch. He said. That might look kind of foolish. But the truth is is that there's enough enough nudging the mama bird knows that ultimately while it can walk, while the bird can grab ahold, the bird was actually meant to fly. Flying is the characteristic that makes the bird live out to its fully extended purpose. In the same way as flying is to a bird giving is to being human. We were created in the image of God and as God gave to us. So we're called to give to each other. You can hang on to the dead branch of own success. You can cling on and you can walk through life. Only thinking about the safety and security of yourself. But when you open up your wings to give of your time, your talents and your treasures. When you give to the people around you that my friends is when you soar. So, whatever that looks like for you this week. Look for opportunities to give in your relationships in church in the community. Because as the bird is made for flying. So we are made to give. But when we give, we experience God in a way like never before understand this that generosity overcomes greed every time the last battle that Nehemiah faced is that he faced distraction. And ultimately he learned that direction overcomes distraction every time direction overcomes distraction. Chapter six First one and to announce the san Bella and Tobia. And guess um the Arab and the rest of the enemy's heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left says the sample out and guess what I'm sent to me saying, hey come and let us meet together in the plain of ono. But they intended to do me harm. Now notice his response in verse three and it's going to be on your screen here. I sent a message, I sent messengers to them saying I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? He recognized that he had a greater mission to accomplish. If satan can't mess with your identity. If he can't bring you down, he can't keep you busy. He can take good things and fill up your time and your schedule and keep you from the great thing that God has called you to right and everyone's distractions are different but also the same. So if you find it in social media or um or a habit or netflix or something. I mean it's getting tougher and tougher, right like companies make money and spend billions of dollars to keep you using their application and their device. That's how they survive. So they have researched and scientifically put in efforts to keep you scrolling to keep you watching to keep you distracted and while that thing, that object is not in and of itself evil, the fact that we get distracted and put too much time and one thing we've missed out on the great thing or missing health Nehemiah recognized recognized this and he and he realized that saying no allows him to say yes to something greater. And if you want to say yes to a healthy relationship, if you want to say yes to meaningful work, if you want to say yes to a greater purpose, you're going to have to say no to some smaller lesser things to say yes to healthy lifestyle means saying no to the junk, say yes to relationships is yes to time and less to distractions, to say yes to learning that skill or that habit or that school is saying yes to the work and no to the things that pull you from that. And when you recognize that you have been called to something greater, you can say no to those distractions because you know ultimately you're going to grow when you commit to what God has called you to and who God has called you to So Nehemiah faced, all of these things. He realized that when he was under attack, that he was built to overcome and he rebuilt the wall. in fact in Chapter six verse 15, It says, so the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of the you'll In 52 days, I can't think of any current city construction project that has finished in 52 days, Let alone something that took place 2500 years ago, He completed the job. In fact, all of Chapter seven lists out everybody involved with it. So how did he do that? How did he rebuild the city? He realized that his calling overcomes criticism that talking to God overcomes threats of man, the actions of faith, overcome feelings of fear that generosity overcomes greed and that direction and vision overcome distractions. Now, if Nehemiah was able to answer his calling to rebuild the city from rebel, to recover a city's identity, to recover this people group and this passion for God that sparked revival amongst the people. If he was able to do that, then what about us today? The truth is, is that Jesus has overcome, Jesus has overcome sin and death so we can have life In fact, 1st John five verses four and five, he says this for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith, Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that jesus is the son of God, jesus has overcome, which means we can overcome that whatever battle you're facing right now, it starts with accepting jesus into your life and to answer that call and a vision to a greater life. And as you close your eyes and bow your heads, I just want to challenge you that if you've never received jesus into your life to do that this morning, I'm going to pray a prayer in just a moment and I want you to pray along with me that simply acknowledges that we cannot do this on our own, that we cannot make it on our own. But through jesus, dying on a cross, we can have forgiveness, we can have meaning, we can have eternal life and we can have an abundant life now and I'm gonna pray and if you're sitting there and I believe this, but you need to take that next step of faith, I want to challenge you to think about getting baptized next sunday, the word baptism, really, it comes from a word that means immersion and that it's a symbol of jesus dying on the cross and being buried and rising again when you go under the water and come back up. If you've never made that public profession, I want you to come talk to me or mark on the car that you want to get baptized next week, so that we can chat, take that step, fight that battle, whatever situation going through rebuild that relationship or that calling in your life because God can overcome. Let's pray dear heavenly father for those that feel under attack today. Okay, may you help us remember that we can overcome because we have been built to overcome God. We cannot make it to heaven on our own. We have sinned, we've messed up but because you died on the cross for us and you rose again on the third day because you overcame death, we can have victory in the battles that we're facing right now. God forgive us of our sins and God allow us to commit our lives to you. I pray for those that are considering getting baptized. I pray that they will have the courage. May they take that action of faith that overcomes any feeling of fear so they can publicly profess. Next sunday I got that that they believe in you. God may we remember that are calling overcomes of criticism. May we remember God that talking to you overcomes the threats of man, that actions of faith overcome feelings of fear. God that being generous, overcomes feelings of greed and that having a direction and a direct calling from you overcomes the distractions that this world offers God. May we spark revival by first experiencing revival in our own hearts in our own lives, help us overcome because you overcame we love your God and then we pray amen