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One announcement I’m going to give to you all this morning. Just so you’re aware, um, inside of your bulletins, we announce this every once in a while. There is a prayer card in there for you to fill out if you have any prayer requests. What we do as a church family, um, is we collect those prayer requests in our offering plates, and we take them after the service is over. We put them in the children’s room. And so you have the opportunity not only to pray for your own requests, but if other people felt prayer requests as well. You’re welcome to go back to that children’s room and pray for the needs of the church. And so, just so you know, it’s an invitation for anyone who’s willing and desires just to pray. Anyone who feels like they enjoy praying to the Lord, I think that should be everybody. Um, but they feel like led as a prayer warrior just to be praying for the needs of this church. That room is available for as much time as you want to spend in there, to be able to pray for the needs of the church family. And so just want to make you aware of that, that we have that opportunity. With that being said, as a church family, we’ve been studying the book of Nehemiah together. And if you’re interested in joining in this, I invite you to just open up to Nehemiah. We’re on chapter four together, and interesting passage that we’re going to get into today.
There’s not a whole lot of exegesis necessary to understand what this passage is about. Nehemiah was sent to Jerusalem to build a wall. And this passage, they work on building the wall. That’s the exegesis of this passage. And so in reading this passage together, what we’re going to do as a church family is we’re going to make a lot of personal application to what Nehemiah is talking about for the nation of Israel right here into our personal lives and what that means. I had a missionary friend of mine come up to me as I was preparing to go into ministry, thinking about where the Lord would lead, and he wanted to share with me what he thought was his greatest mistake that he’s ever made as a missionary on the mission field, or as a pastor of a congregation, and his desire was for me not to make that same mistake in my relationship towards God and living that before others. He came up to me and he. He was a missionary to South America, and he worked with a tribal group that had never had the gospel preached to it. I never had anyone share Christ with them. And before he left as a missionary to this South African tribal group, he began to pray that the Lord would just give him one convert. I am praying about that one convert.
He said he began to pray this prayer even after he arrived, and for the next four years that he served among these people in South America. And he said, after the end of four years, based on his prayer, all that he ever saw come to the Lord was just one convert. And he said, in my life, if there was something that I had to do over again before I left for that country, and while there, I wouldn’t just pray for one convert, because God is more than capable of seeing one person come to the Lord. I would have prayed for the entire tribe to know Jesus. It applies to our own personal lives, and when God is at work, we have the opportunity to dream big in the Lord. It’s the same thing with the book of Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem who are seeking to rebuild the city. We saw in chapter two of verse 18 when Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he shares with the people that God is behind the vision to rebuild the wall, the city of Jerusalem, that God has shown him favor before the King, and knowing that God showed him favor. But the King has even given them material they need to build this wall. God is behind them. And in verse 20 we saw reiterate it again, even to the enemies that were attacking Jerusalem, that God was behind them. And the mission to rebuild this wall was going to be conducted because it was by God’s power.
And in so understanding this, Israel could dream big for God. That dream was so big that within 52 days, the walls all around Jerusalem were able to be rebuilt. When God is at work, we can dream big. For 140 years, the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem lay desolate for the first time in those 140 years. Israel begins to dream again of the possibilities of what might be, as they’re obedient to their God, and following the calling that he has placed upon their lives in order to dream big and live the way God has called them to. Nehemiah just shares this particular verse in the book of Nehemiah about what he handed to the people. It tells us in verse 15, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan. Then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work from that day on. Half of my servants carried on the work. While half of them held the spears and the shields and the bows and the breastplates. And the captains were behind the whole house of God. We saw in the very beginning. Of chapter four. That opposition came to the nation of Israel, literally encompassing the entire nation from the North, South, East and West. Every nation that lived around the city of Jerusalem was opposing the purpose that they were called in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem.
Opposition on all sides. And the nation of Israel was reminded in verse 14 that God is behind him, and they needed to continue the work that God has called them to. And they began to work. And it tells us in this passage of Scripture that they also begin to carry with them spears and shields and bows and swords to fight against their enemies. It says in verse 17, those who are rebuilding the wall, and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built while the trumpeter stood near me. I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, the work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. And whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us there. It’s an important thing. You hear a trumpet call. Everyone has to come to that position and fight. Our God will fight for us. Nehemiah says in verse 21. So we carried on the work, with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars appeared. At that time I also said to the people, let each man with his servant spend the night within Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day.
So neither I nor my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me. None of us removed our clothes. Each took his weapon even to the water. Nehemiah. And understanding that God had a purpose and desire for his people to rebuild, he hands his people two things a trowel And a sword. If you’re interested, if you know anything about masonry work, a trowel is necessary. As a bricklayer lays his brick and he lays on the the material that he needs the brick together. He uses the trowel to smooth out that material. And Nehemiah hands the people of Israel the trowel to do the work and the building of the wall. But not only that, he also hands them the sword. And I stopped for a minute. And I think about this. What a cool group of people to be a part of. To join this group you get to carry swords, right? You think about that as a church family. God has also called us to fight in a spiritual sense. We also carry a sword. Now to you pacifists, don’t worry, we’ll fight for you, right? But the sword and the trowel are both necessary for Nehemiah to carry the work here. There was a man in history by the name of Charles Spurgeon, who really enjoyed this passage of Scripture that Nehemiah shared with that Nehemiah shared with the people, and carrying the sword and the trowel.
His name is Charles Spurgeon. I’m going to go ahead and give you a opportunity as a church family ever begin to look like that? Start worrying about me, okay? Charles Spurgeon was a man only his mother could love. I think in a lot of ways. Cute kid. Right? I know what that’s like. We have one now. So Charles Spurgeon, though, was a very powerful witness for Christ. He was a man that understood in a spiritual sense, what it meant to carry both the sword and the trowel for the Lord. Charles Spurgeon came to know the Lord at the age of 15. By the age of 16 he was already preaching in churches. By the age of 18, he was already the pastor of a smaller church. By the age of 22, he was a pastor of a church in London, and it was the largest church in the world. Over 5000 people were a part of the church. It said it grew as upwards as high as 10,000 people at one time within this church. And by the end of Charles Spurgeon’s life, when they went back and they counted the church membership, over 14,000 people were a part of the church that Charles Spurgeon preached at. And this is all in a time and a day before there were any type of sound system to carry the voice. You could imagine having to speak to 10,000 people at a given time, how loud you’d have to speak.
And they said, Charles Spurgeon would preach up to ten times a week by the end of his life. I can imagine how tired his voice felt. His sermons were written down by those who dictated as he shared it with the congregation, and it was sold to people around the world. Over two 200 to 300 million people are estimated to have bought his sermons within his life. Charles Spurgeon also wrote over 100 books on a relationship with Jesus. He was considered the most influential man at his time, living in London for Christ in the world. At one point he was so influential in the people that he shared Christ with in the congregation that he preached to in the world, that listened to him, that Charles Spurgeon started his own newspaper, And in trying to determine what title he would give to that newspaper, Charles Spurgeon found himself in Nehemiah chapter four. He titled the newspaper The Sword and the trowel. The title of today’s sermon. And Charles Spurgeon came to the conclusion of Nehemiah, chapter four and verse 15 to 23, that the purpose that God intended for this passage of Scripture within the Bible is for us as Christians to ask two questions of ourselves the trials intended for the building work that God has called us to do. So Nehemiah or excuse me, Charles Spurgeon would ask, what is it that God desires me to build? And the sword was intended for the battle.
The spiritual battle and the fight in the day of Nehemiah. As us, as Christians today, we have a spiritual battle that we are up against. And Charles Spurgeon would ask the question, what do we need to protect. And so this morning we have two simple questions that we want to ask ourselves based on Nehemiah chapter four. What has God called you to build? What personally has God called you to protect? When we talk about areas of our lives this morning, I’m just going to practically look, there’s a lot of verses that we could refer to in these passages of scriptures, but what areas of our life are encompassed in the calling that God has placed on most of us? Just as Nehemiah physically built the wall of Jerusalem and physically fought for Jerusalem. We as Christians carry a same calling in a metaphorical sense. In life, we need a spiritual awareness. Life is about trial work. Life is about building a spiritual relationship with Jesus. The Bible tells us in Galatians five and verse 16. It says, walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walking with Jesus is just that. It’s a walk. It takes time as we go down the path with him and grow. Christianity isn’t an instantaneous experience. When you come to trust in Jesus, all of a sudden everything in your life makes sense. And there’s no more problems, no more pain, no more trials that you go through.
But it’s a consistent walk with God. It is trial work. It’s taking the time in your relationship with God to to build that wall. Jesus said in John chapter 15, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him. He bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If you want your sins forgiven, if you want to know God, it’s about walking with him. And the question that we ask in our relationship with God, when we understand that there is trial work to that relationship, is there any opposition, as Christians that we might face that would deter us from that consistent and daily walk in building that wall and growing with him. The Bible also tells you that while your relationship with Jesus is trial work, it’s also sword work. In John chapter ten and verse ten, it says, Satan came to kill, steal and destroy. In revelation 1210, Satan is the accuser of the saints. He wants nothing more than to destroy that relationship with God, because he understands that’s the very purpose for which you exist and which God’s glory is ultimately brought forth. The Bible says for us to defeat Satan, it requires us to carry forth truth. If you read in the book of Genesis, when Satan went into the Garden of Eden and he tempted Eve, the first thing that he began to do was to twist the truth.
It tells us in Matthew chapter four, when Jesus went to the to the wilderness, he was tempted by Satan. And Jesus quoted from the book of Deuteronomy repeatedly he says, Thus it is written. Thus it is written. Thus it is written. Jesus understood that there is sword work to be done. The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter six that the Word of God is the sword of God, the power of God that we carry forth. And if we’re serious about doing the trial work and the relationship with Jesus, we’re also serious about carrying that sword and that battle armor for him. We do the sword work, and the more that I know Jesus, the more I know Jesus for the better. It’s in our relationship with God. Satan isn’t just an arbitrary accuser of people. He’s an accuser of me. According to revelation 12, Satan desires to weaken my relationship with Jesus and accuse me of things that might deter me from feeling like I should have a relationship with him. Echoes in your mind. Sometimes that might say you’re not worthy enough. Are you sure that God really accepts you? Or are you sure that God loves you? But the more you know Jesus, the more you know him for the better. It tells us in Romans chapter eight that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And Romans 838 that nothing separates you from the love of God.
In Second Corinthians 517, he has made you new in Christ. In fact, Ephesians six paints nothing but a picture of you as individuals being warriors. For him take on the breastplate of righteousness and the and the helmet of salvation, and shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel, and carried the sword of the spirit. It’s about trowel work in your relationship with God. It’s about sword work in your relationship with God, because you understand that there is an enemy who opposes your very purpose. Nehemiah chapter four and verse one. The people of Israel began to face opposition. They faced ridicule in the first few verses by outward pressure. Then they face physical threats in chapter four by outward pressure. But then it begins to turn inward on them as they think about the threats and the ridicule that they’re receiving, they begin to doubt themselves and the purpose that God has called them to. But the more you walk with Jesus, the stronger your walk becomes. We have to understand as people that we are in a spiritual walk with him. And the trowel and the sword and the consistency of growing with God starts with self. And when Jesus showed up in the garden, when God showed up in the garden after creating Adam and Eve, the very first thing that God says to man, it is not good for man to be what? Alone. Man was created for a relationship purpose being created in the image of God.
God being a triune being. Man is also created for the purpose of relationships, and it’s not good for him to be alone. Genesis 126 and 27 tells us that we are created in his image. God being a Triune being, we ourselves having body, soul and spirit. One of the neat things that we recognize in Scripture is we think about what it means to be created for relationships. A love in First Corinthians chapter three and verse nine, it says, for we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field and God’s building. You know, one of the great things that I love about this verse is when it says the word you. It’s not me in the singular sense as just an individual. He’s saying you collectively as the church of Corinth. You are this to God. And he goes on and says in verse 16, do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Corinth was a city of multiple religions. Somewhere around the number of 26 temples existed within the city dedicated to various gods. And what Paul is saying to the body of Christ collectively here is saying that any of these temples that are built in this area, you collectively are as a church are better than these temples because the Spirit of God dwells within you. You are more beautiful than these temples.
The argument that Paul is making in first Corinthians chapter three is that the people aren’t agreeing with one another. Collectively, they don’t get along. And he’s saying to the body of Christ, when you work together, when you understand that your purpose is found in relationship to God and relationship to one another, you become a beautiful temple in Jesus Christ. Understand the significance of self. God said, the greatest commands are to love the Lord your God and to love others. And finding your identity as an individual, it’s really found in understanding what your relationship to God is all about, in that what your relationship to other people should be. The trial work for us as self is to consistently walk with God in His church as he guides us along. The problem is, is that sin causes us to isolate. See, as even Adam partook of the fruit in the Garden of Eden. The first thing they did when they realized they sinned is that they ran and hid from God. They hid from one another. Sin causes us to isolate from those things that are significant and important, considering a relationship with God and a relationship with one another. When I offend a friend of mine, it’s far better than in my own pride not to admit my mistakes and just make a friend with someone else than it is to confront the need and just work on building that relationship.
Because the nature of sin is to create within us a need to isolate. As people, we’ve got to understand the purpose that God has created us as found in relationship to him and to His church and to this world. There is trowel work and sword work to be done not only itself, but let’s consider marriage for just a moment. Practically speaking. Applying Nehemiah, how many of you here today are married or would are considering marriage at one point in your life? Anyone? All the young people. Are you considering marriage someday? Too young? Still fighting girls here? Okay. How many of you that are married would say that at the moment you got married, all your problems went away. That that fixed your problems, right? Except, Mark, you get no brownie points for that. Raquel’s not here. So we understand something about marriage, right? When you. When you get into the same household together, the the problems that you didn’t think you have all of a sudden start festering up, living in close quarters with somebody 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Really show your flaws as an individual and especially your spouses, right? No problem with me. I’m just kidding. I’m kidding, I love you. That’s a bad example. We’ll delete that later. We won’t put that on the internet. Here’s Satan when he shows up in the garden. He didn’t even bother coming to the Garden of Eden until after Adam and Eve were married.
Satan didn’t even try to tempt Eve with following and eating from the fruit until after Adam and Eve were joined together in unity. The trial work of marriage. The first thing that we want to do within our marriage relationship is to agree. In order to make marriage work, to understand the purpose that God has called us to, to to fulfill within that marriage, we need to agree with one another, agree with the beliefs, agree with the rules, agree with responsibility. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 614 not to be unequally yoked because it understands how difficult it is when two people don’t agree that are married, how hard it is to live together when you can’t find common unity with one another. In Genesis chapter two and verse 24, it tells us that husband and wife are literally to become one flesh. It means in the Hebrew to be glued to one another. Well, you can’t. You can’t tell where one spouse ends and the other begins because they’re so united in purpose, responsibility and beliefs, roles and understanding of what each one wants to accomplish and the calling that God has placed on them to fulfill in their marital purpose together. You are glued to one another. Ladies like to refer to this word as intimacy. Men like to hide from the word intimacy. And if I ever write a book on marriage, I don’t think I’ll ever write a book.
But if I did, and I wrote one on marriage, I would just title something with intimacy in it. Because most people who buy books on marriage are women, and women tend to buy the books with the word intimacy on it because they love that word. I mean, let me give you a different word that might help. How about cultivate or explore? Men are created to cultivate and explore. When God cursed the earth, he cursed the sweat of the brow where men were supposed to build. Men are builders. Men are cultivators. Men are explorers. Right? And your wife has that desire for you to women be intimacy with intimate with her men to explore and understand and cultivate her. So we don’t need to get married, divorced, married and divorced. The best marital advice I ever had in my life was a gentleman came up to me right before I got married and he said, you know what? I am married to my ninth wife now, and I knew he had been married to the same lady his whole life, but I didn’t understand it. And he went on to tell me that she, she changes so much, because if your wife gets boring to you, just wait a day. That’s all you have to do. And you’re going to be exploring a whole new lady tomorrow, all right? There are no set rules with her. Everything changes when you are consistent as the sands of the sea.
But she keeps things interesting for you. Cultivate that. Grow with that. You literally are desired by God to become one flesh. The Bible says in Genesis 316, This should be no surprise to any of us that when God allowed the curses to exist upon this earth because of sin, he tells the woman also related to the man in verse 16, that there will be trouble in your marriage because of sin. There is trouble. After all, what sin causes us to do is isolate from one another and not agree with each other. The responsibility of both of us ladies to be intimate men, to cultivate that marriage relationship. It tells us in Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse 25, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church to remove spot and blemish from her. He’s saying this the more that you love your wife, the more opportunity you give her to become more beautiful and be able to love. Love makes her more lovely. He goes on to say in verse 33, women respect your husbands and ladies and respecting the role of your husband in your life, regardless if he’s worthy of it or not, you give him the opportunity to love you more. There was a pastor who once gave advice to this couple who was about to be married. He said, this marriage is going to be a wonderful marriage. You know how I know there’s only two problems and that’s it.
That’s all they have is two problems. The husband and the wife. But as we’re responsible towards the unity that God desires us for us to build, carrying both trowel and sword together, you can do and build the intimacy that God has called you to. So usually in our marriage relationships, we end up doing one or the other, but not both at the same time. We do a lot of trowel work within our marriage, but we don’t do a lot of sword work in fighting off any opposition. Or we do a lot of sword work with one another, but we don’t do a lot of trowel and building that marriage relationship. Let me just encourage you as a church family Before the problems arise in your marriage, start doing the trial work and the sword work. Today. We talked about understanding there’s a spiritual need in life. We talked about in recognizing in self that God has called us to a bigger purpose than just us. It exists in God. It exists with one another. We talk about marriage. But what about kids? There’s trial work and sword work in a relationship with kids as well. You can’t just have kids, right? There is trial work involved. They become wild animals if we’re not involved in their lives and trial work. After all, we all have a sin nature. It tells us. Second Corinthians 1214 children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their kids.
Parents are responsible for your kids, right? We know that, I hope as a church family in first Timothy five eight, but if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Fathers, it’s your responsibility as the head of the household to see that your family is taken care of. To teach your children what it means right from wrong. It says in Proverbs 22, train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Teach them right from wrong. Model for them what you want them to become. It says in Matthew chapter ten and verse 25, it’s enough for the disciple that he become just like his teacher. Be a source of consistency in their life and establish boundaries. You know what boundaries say for a child that I care enough for you, to love you, to set these things in front of you, to protect you for the needs that you’re going to have in life. Set boundaries for your kids. It says in Proverbs 29 and verse 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother. This is our responsibility as parents to model for our kids what they should become, to show them how to make good choices in life.
Not only do we need to do trial work, but as people, we also have to do sword work for our kids. Jesus said to the nation of Israel, how often I’ve wanted to gather you as my children, as a as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Jesus modeling for us the protection of a mother. The sword work. In Matthew 942 it says, and if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea and with a large stone tied around his neck. In the world that we live in today, parents, we carry the responsibility of protecting our kids from any bad influence. Most kids that are abused are abused at a young age, and I know there’s a lot of varying statistics on this, but especially when it comes to young ladies. The the number of young girls that are abused in America is sickening and staggering. It’s our responsibility as parents, though we can’t always be there with them in their need is to seek and protect them as much as we can. We can’t just raise them. We’ve got a responsibility before God to do the trial work and to do the sword work. Let me give you just a couple of practical illustrations that if you’re raising a young daughter, the first time she ever goes out on a date shouldn’t be with some 16 year old young punk who just got his car keys for the first time.
Get involved in daddy daughter dates with your kids. Take your daughter out and show her how a man should treat her. Show her what it means to be loved the right way. That way, when some young punk does show up at your door, you’ve already beat him to the to the punch. And you can show him the expectation level that is set for your young daughter as she one day looks for that mate and doesn’t just settle for someone that might just show her acceptance. Raise that bar for dads in raising men. I wrestled with this last week. We’re going to do a dedication for this week. We’re going to do a dedication for Grace and our child here. At the end of the service, I went to the to the bookstore to find a Bible for him because when we do a baby dedication, we like to give them their first Bible. And I was looking at all these little kids Bibles, and every picture of Jesus on the front of his Bible is he is a he is a sissy. He is a wussy. Jesus I’ve ever seen. And so it became very easy for me which Bible I was going to pick for him, because I didn’t want sissy Jesus influencing my son and what he needed. Skeptical, I even looked for well never mind. I just didn’t want a sissy.
Jesus. We’ll just stop there. And. But Jesus teaches in his in his Bible that he is a warrior. Do you know when Christ comes back in revelation, he literally comes riding on a horse with a sword that comes out of his mouth? I mean, he is a warrior. He is a fighter. Dads, it’s important for us to teach our young kids that we need to do the protecting work of the family, that we need to learn what it means to go to work and to do the trial work, but not just the trial work to fight for what’s important in this world, to protect the innocent. We don’t attack innocent civilians. You could teach your kid that. I know kids, boys especially have the tendency when as soon as they come out of the womb, they’re just picking up trucks and crashing and making noises. Boys don’t even talk. Girls are interested in those relationships with other people. They play house. You know boys don’t. They just make noises. My son, I try to hold him and I look at him and I say things to him and he doesn’t care. He always looks at the ceiling fan. I don’t know what it is about a ceiling fan, but boys just they love getting down and playing with things. They love protecting and fighting. But learn to protect the innocent. Learn to to not attack women. Learn not to bully, but but to defend.
We do not do jihad. We do Jesus right. We love others to Christ and we protect the innocent sword work. It’s our responsibility as parents to understand that God has called us to carry the trowel and the sword. What about the area of business? God has called us to trial work as well. What has God called you to build? What has God called you to defend? When we talk about walking in a spiritual world with Jesus, growing with him consistently in our life, it affects every area of who we are. It’s not about Sunday. It’s not about my relationship with him in front of my family. It’s about my relationship with him in front of everyone, even those difficult coworkers that I might work with. Maybe God is calling you and he should be calling you to be the best you can be, wherever you are, and demonstrating him to this world. Maybe he’s called you to build a business. Maybe he’s called you to simply work in a business. But the Bible addresses both. He says in Colossians chapter four, Masters or owners of a business. Just be just and fair to your employees knowing that you too have a master in heaven. The trowel and the sword work if you’ve got your own business. Do you know what it means to do you know your liabilities as a business owner? Do you know have termination policies? Do you have training policies? Do you have compensation policies? Do you have good record keeping? Do you? Do you understand what those roles and responsibility is before God as being a good leader in a business, as an employee? It says in all things, obey those who are your bosses on earth, not with external service, but as those who merely praise men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord in Colossians 322 and Ephesians six eight, it says, knowing that whatever good that each one does, he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or whether he’s free, whether he’s an employee or the master of his own business, the owner of his own business, as the Bible would say.
Do you plan according to the Lord? James four reminds us to make our plans according to God. It says, depart from evil and seek peace and pursue it with all men. Psalm 34. We do the trial work in taking care of one another and our responsibilities within our business. But there’s also sword work. Compromising of integrity is always at stake to get ahead within a business. David was considered a man after God’s own heart and being a man after God’s own heart. It tells us that God took him in Psalm 78 and verse 71, and it says, from tending the sheep, he brought him to the shepherd of his people of Jacob, of the house of Israel, his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart.
David understood that God was always watching the way that he carried himself before people and opportunities. That David, I’m sure, had to get ahead and make someone else look bad for his benefit. David still chose to walk with integrity. And it tells us in Psalm 78 that David was blessed because of that, and at the right time, God, as David nurtured his character and his leadership abilities, removed him from that position and allowed him to leave in a place where God had called him at that particular moment, God put him in both the trowel and the sword work of leadership responsibility within his business. Now, in the area of business and the area of work, money always becomes an issue for us, and the tendency is sometimes to allow money to rule our lives. It says in first Timothy 610, for the love of money is the is a root of all sorts of evil. Not money itself, but the love of money becomes the source of all evil in our lives. So what God has called us to is a relationship with him and a growing relationship with one another. That responsibility to self, to family, to our marriage and to our business, and what money has the tendency to do is distract us from those things that God calls important, and our focus becomes making that paycheck, rather than the importance and significance of the relationship of the people that are around us that God has called us to fight for, that God has called us to carry that trowel.
Work in. Last, let me just share this with the church. God has called us to a sword work and trowel work as a church family too. And here’s what I don’t want to do. And I had this danger, as I thought about what it meant to be a part of the church earlier today was to think in terms of inside of this building. So we talk about ministry as a church family, everything that we’ve just talked about this morning, whether family, whether yourself, whether whether your marriage, whether your kids, whether your job, whatever it is, it’s all a ministry that God’s called you to. God has called you to be a light for him everywhere you go in this world, to carry that responsibility, to walk with integrity and to be that light to people out in this world. But I also think, and we also think about the confines of our church family as well. What ministry has God called us to build in this church building or outside of this church building? What has God called us to protect? So as you read the Bible, one of the things that you find very early on in the life of the Apostle Paul when he traveled on his missionary journeys, is that there were these people who followed after Paul, going after where he was ministering, and they begin to pervert the truth.
And so, Paul, if you ever read the book of Galatians, the book of Galatians is nothing but a warrior sword. Fight back against those people who have tried to pervert what truth was. Paul understood as he ministered, it was insignificant to the body of Christ to preserve what truth is for them to understand. After all, Jesus said, worship me in spirit and truth. As a church family, you become a warrior for him. If you’ve come and been a part of Alpine Bible Church, where the coolest church ever because we tell you to carry a sword, fight for truth in love, but fight for truth. You don’t have to hate people in truth, but stand for truth. There is sword work to be done. Not only do we need truth and to understand truth, and I think truth is easy to understand as we walk with the Lord. But we have to do trial work as well. What ministry has God called me to build? It’s not about just showing up on Sunday and us just carrying the status quo of whatever we become. I don’t want to do that. It becomes a lazy church. Coming to church when we get a routine. But we’re always thinking about how we can make things better in reaching out to this world for him, and not only to this world, but just ministering to one another. I rip my nametag off because I didn’t want to be a distraction to us, but it was a great suggestion.
A few of you have made about getting name tags at church. That’s something that we’re going to do regularly here, but we’re always just thinking about little things, big things, whatever we can add just to help us as a family. It’s about relationships. We need to know each other, right? So we wear cheesy name tags sometimes. So pay attention when you walk in. We might have those one day, right? I know it’s kind of dorky and you may not. You might have a position against it, but just think about those things. We do things for the purpose, try to work with one another to growing this church family, as God has called us to, tells us in first Peter five eight, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. You know, as God was building this nation of Israel again, as the walls of Israel were being reconstructed, I can’t help but think in the mind of God, as those people were obedient to the calling that God has placed on them. How beautiful it must have seemed to him to see them working diligently because they wanted God in their lives. I think about us as a church family. How beautiful it is as a church to be doing the trial work and the sword work on behalf of him because God is in our lives.
It’s beautiful to see us fight for something that’s worth defending, to taking a stand in the midst of opposition for what we know to be right when God is at work. We have the opportunity to dream big, and we look at this church that two years ago didn’t exist, and we look at one another that have come to be a part of the church and a family that is growing here. And we can say to one another, God is at work. And so what we get as a church family is the opportunity to ask the question, what ministry does God want me to build? And what does God want me to fight for? Because when God is at work, we have the opportunity to dream big. Many a Christians in this world allow the opportunity to live to God, for God to die in the area of a dream and never gets lived out in the opportunity of trial work and sword work. Last week I was reading a book on leadership, and it said that only 30% of all Christian leaders ever maintain that leadership position through the rest of their lives. Eventually, they fall by the wayside and their relationship with God. And I don’t want to be a church of statistics. I want to be a church that just simply, very simply, just knows how important it is to grow in that relationship with him, to understand and growing that relationship.
What it calls me to do is to try to work with Jesus, to build that wall and my walk with him. And it doesn’t become just personal to me. It involves it encompasses all areas of my life. But as I’m doing that trial work, and as the nation of Israel was doing the trial work and building the wall. Every once in a while they had to look up because they never knew when the enemy was coming. And every once in a while, as you’re building that relationship and you’re growing you as an individual, as a family, as a church, we’ve got to look up and we say, what is it that we need to defend? Because God has called us both to protect and to take a stand. In closing this morning, there’s a couple of things I want to do with us as a church family. A few things that we’re going to do this morning. We understand as a church family, there’s different steps that God has called us to in our in our walk with him. The first being, if you’ve come to know Jesus as your Savior and you’re interested in in that trial work and growing with God in that sword fight with God is the Bible calls you to be baptized. And just a few weeks ago, this is a little bit late, but we had a few people come forward who wanted to be baptized and the Lord.
And so I’m going to have Frank and Marissa come up for just a second. And on behalf of the church family, I just want to thank you guys for taking a stand for Jesus. You wanted the Pink Bible, right? Not just taking a stand for Jesus and walking with him and being a part of this church family. It’s been great to get to know you. So on behalf of the church, I just want you all to know that we have they each get a baptism certificate for taking that stand for the Lord in baptism. A few weeks ago and they get a Bible as well. Um, because that’s good to read, right? If you’re going to sword fight for Jesus, you need to understand his word. So, Marissa, this is for you. Thank you. And, Frank. There you go. Thank you. You guys give him a round of applause. The last thing I want to do this morning is I’m going to have my kid come forward. And my wife and. Steve, if you want to come up, you’re welcome to everybody. Get a chance to meet Stacy’s dad. This is Steve. Everybody get a chance to meet the best looking visitor we’ve ever had in church. And I’m a biased. I’m a little biased. I say as a pastor, I’ve never seen a pastor dedicate his kid to the Lord before. Um, so this is going to be a first for me, but here we go.
Take him for just a minute, sweetheart. You guys can come stand up here for just a minute. Um, something that we should remember as a church family is, uh, children are a gift to the Lord. And we take our kids and our relationship to them. Responsibility to God’s place in our hand very seriously. And so what we do here as a church family is we do a dedication. It reminds us as parents that Stacy and I were going to dedicate to you guys the responsibility we carry to do the trial work and the sword work and raising this life. But the responsibility doesn’t just rest on us, it rests on our church family. So every kid that walks in this door, it’s our responsibility to share with them the truth of God’s Word and encourage them in a relationship with him. Everybody get up. Get a nice little view of Grayson. I told you, he’s the best looking kid to ever making it. Matthew 1042. It says, whoever in the name of of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink. Truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. In Matthew 18 six but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the depths of the sea.
You see the significance of training these kids the right way according to what Jesus? Jesus said these words in Matthew 1810. See that you not despise even one of these little ones. For I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see my face. The face of the father who is in heaven. You think about God has a guardian angel for each child in this world, and what we choose to do with him that guardian angel represents before the father who is in heaven tells us in Psalm 127 verse three. Do you see that the children are God’s best gift, the fruit of the womb, his generous legacy. Oh, how blessed are you parents with your quivers who are full of children. I ask you to do this morning as a church family. As we get ready to dedicate Grayson to the Lord, we understand that this isn’t a dedication of Grayson. It’s a dedication of all our kids here at Alpine Bible Church. So I’m going to invite you as a church family to just stand with me for a minute. And Israel, the nation of Israel and their worship together had different outward expressions of their worship towards God. Sometimes in the area of prayer, the nation of Israel would lay prostrate on the on the ground in prayer to God with outstretched arms. Sometimes they would lift holy hands and praise to God.
And there’s nothing special about what I’m going to ask you to do as a church family. But if you feel comfortable with this, I want to ask you to do is just place a handout of affirmation towards Grayson this morning. This is a way of saying before God as a church and understanding the responsibility that we have, that Yes, God, we are agreeing with you this morning in what you’ve called us to do and responsibility raising all our kids here. And as your hands are out, let me go ahead and pray for us this morning as a church family and then we’ll dismiss. I think there are some refreshments that might still be available out there. You’re all welcome to grab. God, we just thank you as a church family for what you’ve called us to do, God, to carry that trowel and that sword and to do that work for you. God, we just think of Grayson this morning. We think of all of our young kids here and the responsibility on us just to train them, to show them you to be an encourager and an example in their lives. And, God, I just pray that you help us to be responsible in that way. God help us. As you saw children as as beautiful lights in this world. Help us to love them the way that you’ve called us to. And God, most importantly, help us direct them towards you. Lord, we thank you for this morning for blessing our lives. And it’s in Jesus name we pray. Amen.