Sunday Morning Sermon Series with Pastor Jeff Shipley (Date: 09/16/2021)

Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military styles.

It wasn't the type of people they were talking about. What are we to do, or how should we deal with this, or how should we respond to what's going on in the world?

Guys, everyone talks about how the world is a runaway freight train, and how everything is horrible, and Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, and libertarians, and all this other stuff.

And we've talked about, and we've looked at, Nehemiah as an example of how

Christians should respond, even in the most bitterest times and most stressful times, to corporate and individual defeat.

Guys, are you in a place today where you're struggling? Am I doing something wrong, sound people?

I just don't want to feel like I'm yelling at these guys. Not yet, anyways. It was funny, a lady who is a new member of our church, did

I tell you all this? New member of our church, she's a hairdresser, and she was cutting somebody's hair, and she was all excited about Witten, and she's a member of our church, and she was so fired up, and it was amazing, and she was talking about how great her church is, and the young lady says, well, what church do you go to?

And she said, Witten Baptist Church, and this is what the lady said. Oh, that's the church the preacher yells.

I mean, you know, I'm just trying to get my voice heard. I'm not yelling a little bit.

I think y 'all got it now. Good job, Tay. How should we respond?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to give you several points today on how

Christians should respond. Now, you may say, well, I'm no Nehemiah. Well, first of all, in my typical male chauvinistic way, let me first address you men in here.

If you are a man in this room, and you have a family, you are

Nehemiah. You are. Now, you say, well, I have no walls that need to be rebuilt.

I've been for 30 years doing counseling, okay? I don't know a married couple in this room that don't need to work on some walls, okay?

Some of you young men in here, you say, well, I'm no Nehemiah because I have no family.

Let me tell you something. Some of you wandering eyes, some of your Internet choices, you need to build some walls.

You need to cause a cessation in your life by choice to flee that which is evil and cling to that which is righteous.

Some of you in this room, you say, I'm no Nehemiah, but yet you struggle with chemical dependency.

I'm here to tell you, you need to build some walls. Now, here's the awesome thing about our God. Notice that in this analogy, the walls had been already built and had been torn down.

Christians, it is so awesome that we serve a God who will allow us to rebuild walls, that will allow us to come back to Him no matter how many times we fail, no matter how many bricks we fall, no matter how many times we stumble,

God is still willing to let us, through His power, rebuild some walls.

For those of you in Christian ministry or desiring to, we have put 24 people into full -time

Christian ministry. I tell you, Witten Baptist Church is never going to be measured by the words or the numbers of men.

It will be measured on how we mar the gates of hell and mark the kingdom of heaven. That's how we're going to be measured.

One of the things you need to understand though, Christian ministry is not preaching. Oh, I have some folks that are still angry at that when

I say that. Just like when I say singing in the choir is not ministry. Your identity and image is wrapped up in what you do instead of whom you do it for.

You try to find value in how you place the brick instead of in obedience to the brick maker.

Guys, I'm here to tell you today, you as a leader, no matter where you are in your spiritual life, some of you in this room may not understand where you are with Christ.

You may have that religious understanding or even an unction of God called conviction calling you to a different place.

I'm here to tell you, you need to choose this day whom you're going to serve. And it's a business of work, repentance is.

It's a business of work, not a one -time prayer or an emotional feeling.

And some of you keep falling down on the ground because you feel that a tear in a prayer will carry you on to the next level of maturity.

And it never will. It never will. It is a grind. It is an everyday grind that does not stop until the day you die.

So let's look through the eyes of God's Word. Let's look at a man, not a great general, not a great orator, but literally a slave under the heel of a foreign power who caught a vision from God and by faith and obedience changed the destiny of a nation.

First of all, I want you to understand this. If you are a leader today, you must know

God's Word. How many of you can quote an

Adrian Rogers quote? Or Pastor Jeff quote? Or Charles Spurgeon quote?

Or Obama quote? Or Trump quote? You have on your pithy internet little world where you can cite statistics of this, that and the other.

But the Word of God eludes you. Let me tell you something here today. If you are going to be a leader, whether it be in your home, your business, your church, anywhere in your life, the absence of God's Word already sets you up for defeat no matter how burdensome you feel the need.

Listen to what Nehemiah says here. As he is a slave in a foreign kingdom, he hears of his city,

Jerusalem, of which he has never seen before. He hears of the city of God and the temple of God in desperate need, the people of God.

And he does this right here. He says in chapter 1 of Nehemiah, verse 8 and 9,

He says to God, please remember, now this is his prayer, please remember what you commanded your servant

Moses. He's quoting God's Word back to God. And it's okay to do that.

You see, the validation is not reminding God. The validation is I'm about to take a step of faith and I don't know what's going to happen,

God. So in my prayer to You, I'm going to validate where I'm at based upon the standard of Your Word and not my feelings or my fear.

Can I say that again? Not my feelings or my fear. God, remember what you said to your servant

Moses. If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.

But if you return to me and carefully observe my commands, even though your exiles were banished to the ends of the earth,

I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I choose to have my name dwell.

You know what's really cool about this verse? You know what's really cool? Is this isn't a sermon?

This is not a sermon. It's hilarious. The song we were singing in here,

I just heard the Spanish church singing in Spanish up there. Isn't that amazing?

We didn't plan that either. Ain't no Espanol. You know what's even cooler than that though?

Right now. Right now. In real time.

In real life. There's a nation of Israel right over there.

Brother Jeff, how fancy is that? Or what's so big deal about that? Because for 1200 years, there was no such thing as the nation of Israel.

They were there. They disobeyed God. This is history, y 'all. Fact. This isn't

Baptist opinion or a Bible study. Historical fact. They ceased to exist.

Their name was not even on a map. Oh, brother Jeff, that's ancient history. No. I'm talking about 1945, the end of World War II.

There was no such thing as Israel. Oh, but if you heed my commands, no matter how much you fail, no matter how bad the walls are torn down, my word will not return void.

And I will gather you back together, no matter all the nations are against you, no matter how many times you have faltered and failed, my word will happen.

And in 1948, the nation of Israel was born again. Isaiah said this.

Over 400 years, I'm sorry, 700 years before Jesus was ever born, he said this prophecy, can a nation be built in a day?

It's impossible. That's never happened before. Yes, even with the charter of the

Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, it was not a historical fact until 1783 with the ratification of our

Constitution that we became a nation. It took eight years. Yet, in May of 1948, and for you little millennials in here, look it up on Wikipedia.

In 1948, a nation was born and recognized in one day.

So, go take all your little millennial, little basement -wearing, mama -tofu -eating, sandal -wearing, dope -smoking, self -important intellectual garbage and come face -to -face with the reality of the

Word of God that is constructing and contorting the powers of this world to accomplish exactly what

God said was going to happen. Wrap your head around it. Now you say, Brother Jeff, why are you focusing on that?

Because I tell you this, any man or woman who steps out to rebuild walls in their life without the

Word of God will end up in absolute failure. Look what Nehemiah did. When Nehemiah was faced with emotions, when he was faced with fear, both his and others, look what he did.

He sat there and there were times when absolutely everything was going crazy. Nehemiah responded with prayer and God's Word.

Time and time again, as you read the 13 chapters of Nehemiah, people would come against him.

People would falter and fail. People would get tired. They would get worn out. They would get burned out.

And it wasn't a revival service that saved them. It wasn't the words of a preacher that put motivation back in their hearts.

It was the Word of the living God. For there is no thing given among men under heaven but at the name of Jesus, the

Word, the living Logos of God that people can be restored and refreshed.

You want to be a leader? You better know the Word of God. You want your children to respect you?

You want them to grow up in a home where they won't 20 years later say, Oh, I hate church because it's full of...

Then show them. Know the Word of God. Live the Word of God. Teach the

Word of God to the people that are under you. Second thing about leadership. Second thing about rebuilding walls is this.

Nehemiah did this. He had a heart and a passion for the people he led.

I was so sad this morning. Charquita went to Pastor Josiah and said this.

Hey, or it was Carrie, one of them, said, Hey, Pastor Josiah, are you excited about the mission trip to Puerto Rico?

This is what Pastor Josiah said. Well, yeah, but I'm going to miss my family. That's a proud moment for a daddy.

It's a proud moment for a senior pastor and his boss that he has a sense of value and he has a sense of priorities.

Yes, he's going to obey God and go. But there's a love. There's a passion for his family that cannot be erased by any grand event.

Guys, do you love your family? And I know most of you in this room just thought about your

Uncle Joe or your wife or your kids. Guys, you have an eternal family. You see this ring on my finger?

Promise keepers in so many churches hold this up as the epitome of Christian life.

Guys, that is what I call idolatry. I love my wife. I love my kids, but I love my

God more. Book it. And God said this. He said that if I love him,

I'm going to love you people. 1 John tells me this. If a man claims to love

God yet hates his brother, he is a liar. Let me say that to you again. Let me say that to you again.

If a man claims to be a Christian yet hates his brother, he is a liar.

How many of you in here have something against somebody in this room? Think about it for a second.

It's okay. Look around. Look around. If you do and you don't make that right, you're a liar.

You say, Oh, Pastor, you don't understand. I was abused in church. Oh, you don't understand,

Pastor. My father raped me. Oh, you don't understand what happened to me. I don't have to understand your horror story to justify your inability or unwillingness to move forward from the victimhood that's holding you down.

Was that too much truth for you? I'm sorry if that offends you. But there are too many preachers out there tickling your fancy and causing you to live in perpetual victimhood and live with broken down walls as an excuse because of what's happened to you.

Because here's what's going to happen. You're going to pass that victimhood onto your children. The fears that you have now, you will embed them into your children.

And just as God's word says, the sin of the fathers will be visited unto the third and fourth generations.

We now have in America a generational sin that is destroying the very fabric of our nation.

And why is that? Because we have failed to forgive. I'm going to be honest with you people and politically correct.

I'm sick of being called racist. I'm sick of it. It's disgusting.

And what makes it disgusting is not when the world spews that vile crap of division.

What is disgusting is when the houses of God do it. My words.

God, Jesus Christ himself said that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Our nation is where it is today not because of politics and drugs and guns.

It is because the house of God is divided and there is no love between brothers and sisters in Christ.

And God will not honor that. He hasn't honored it in history. He will not honor it now.

We have come to a place in our life where politics has replaced the grace of Almighty God in the church.

In the church. And yes, I've been very vocal. And so has the word of God been about people who look down on other people because of the level of, what's it called?

Melatonin? Whatever. In their skin.

They got a little Mexicanese blood in them. They got a little black blood in them.

Gosh, Charquita's black. Did y 'all know that? She really is. You look at Matt Dillon.

He looks Chinese. And he ain't nothing but white trash. Guys, how many races of people are there?

How many churches are there? Let's start acting like it. Let's rebuild them walls and let love heal the wounds.

Not claiming a sense of victimhood. Number three, you want to be a leader. You want to be a leader.

Look here. Chapter 2, verses 4 through 8. You got to have a plan, people.

I love it when I see leadership. When I go to all these churches, we're fixing to go to two or three, and we're going to help them.

We help other churches. We mentor other pastors. And I love it when

I go, okay, what is your 3, 6, 9, and 18 month plan? And they go, well,

I'm going to preach the word. I'm going to preach the risen savior of Jesus Christ. Oh, that sounds so good, buddy.

Great. How are you going to educate your people? I'm going to preach the name of Jesus. Okay, how are you reaching your neighborhood?

I'm going to preach the name of Jesus, right? You ain't got no plan. You know what that's called?

It's called laziness and apathy disguised behind the beautiful word of Jesus Christ.

Listen to what Nehemiah did. He goes before the king and he's looking a little sad. He's looking a little downtrodden.

He looks like some of y 'all when something doesn't go right. Oh, I'm the only Christian there is.

Right? And he sits there and he says to him, what's wrong with you?

Look what Nehemiah says in chapter 2. Look at the first thing he does. I love this. Then the king asked me, what is your request?

Now, notice this. Chapter 2, verses 4 through 8. So I prayed to the

God of heaven and answered the king. Guys, I've been worried about some of y 'all's prayer life.

I really have. Yeah, this is a detour. This is a squirrel. Write some notes because it's probably you to whom

I'm speaking. Listen. This is how you have to pray. Christi, Christi.

Right? Have you ever fallen asleep praying? Did you feel guilty?

Stop it. Stop. How many times have you prayed the

Lord's Prayer this week? Jesus said you have to pray just like that.

Is that what he said? No, man. Look at Nehemiah. Notice his prayer life.

You ready? Now, he had done prayed. Right? The king asked him a question and the

Word of God says this. So I made a prayer to God and I answered. His prayer was a microsecond.

It was, oh, God, help me. Here I go. I'm going in, champ, coach.

Put me in. And then Nehemiah answers the question and he says this.

Here's what I want, king. Now, he's talking to a godless heathen, a king who has enslaved his people.

And he walks up to him and says, king, this is what I need. I need you to let me go. I need you to give me permission to rebel and walk away from you.

Then, the king, this is what I need you to do. That military compound called Jerusalem that you spent 15 years to overtake,

I want to rebuild it in your backyard. I want to rebuild it. And then after that, king,

I don't have any money to pay for it, so here's what I need you to do. I need you to pay to rebuild that fortress of your enemy in your backyard.

Here's what the king said. Okay. And just to make sure you get there safely, Nehemiah, I'm going to send the very troops who conquered you with you to protect you.

You know what Nehemiah had? He had massive faith. But look what else he had. He had a plan.

When the question was asked, he had an answer. Husbands, fathers, let me tell you something.

You gave up the right to say I don't know a long time ago. I heard female amens.

I didn't hear no men. Where's that baritone bass voice in here, boys?

You don't have the right to say I don't know. You don't have the right to say I'll deal with it later.

You don't have the right, oh, my God, to say I'm tired. If I hear another man say I'm tired, I'm going to slap you.

Everybody's tired. They don't give you the right to sit on the back pew and do nothing.

I love Jim Matusik. He is an idiot. He is not a theological giant.

This guy works, and he's got all sorts of issues, but he works like a

Hebrew slave. Kroger wears him out nine ways to Sunday. He's off this week.

You know what he did with his week off? He's getting on a plane with me to go to Puerto Rico. I got respect for that.

I got mad respect for that. And he's exhausted. Are you tired, little boy?

Well, Brother Jeff, here's the other one I love. Brother Jeff, I would pray with my wife, but it feels awkward. Are you a 15 -year -old girl?

It feels awkward? Little baby? Reaching behind you and feel them knobs running down your back?

That's called a spine. You need to get reacquainted with it and some other body parts that you obviously forgot.

Guys, have a plan, and that plan is a plan for success. I love Rachel, my daughter -in -law.

Whenever she tucks or dresses, what's the older one, Ava? Whenever she dresses

Ava, yeah, I can't remember their names. Whenever she dresses Ava, she goes, we are now dressed for success.

I love that attitude. I don't know what the day is going to bring, but whatever it brings, he that is with me is stronger than he that is in the world.

And sometimes that may be your only plan in the moment when you've got to give an answer, but it's still a plan.

My plan is not to back up, back away, or back down, but to speak the truth of the Word of God, and no matter what answer or what question is asked of me,

I will give an answer according to the Word of God. Have a plan. Next thing, look at this one. It says this.

Chapter 2, verse 17. Nehemiah, after a four -month walk from Iran to Jerusalem.

Four -month walk. Four months. Good Lord, I can't even walk around the mall that long, but four months he walks to Jerusalem.

He gets there, he sees the city of Jerusalem all tore up, and all of the people that are already there that have done nothing.

And this is what he said to them. You good -for -nothing, lazy, scum -sucking pigs.

No. Notice the pronouns. Look at chapter 2, verse 17. So I said to them,

You see the trouble that we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned down.

Let us rebuild Jerusalem's wall so that we may no longer have been a disgrace.

Guys, the house of God. And we're not talking about this stupid building. Okay? There is no such thing as a church made out of brick and wood.

The house of God, i .e., the people, the church of God, are a disgrace to the

Word of God. I'm sorry, we are. We are. We have been a disgrace.

We have been more angry about a stupid nativity scene at City Hall than we are about unborn children being murdered by the dozens, by the thousands, by the millions.

We're more upset about, Oh, the Ten Commandments gotten taken out of the

Supreme Court House. Who cares? You really care about that?

You really get fired up about that? When your neighbor next door is dying and going to hell and you have never shared the gospel with him.

You think priority is a little jacked up? When you have more love for words written in a courtroom than you do a soul standing 200 feet from you dying and going to hell.

Got a little jacked up priority there. As Nehemiah is sitting there, he's faced with the understanding of this.

We cannot sit around and blame someone else for where we as a corporate body are.

How many of y 'all sit there and really appreciate the new Methodist, United Methodist Foundation on a gay trans, what trans, not transient, what is it called?

Trans, whatever. A dude playing like he's a girl as their new bishop.

Cool. Now I could preach a whole series of sermons on that. Oh, that's wrong.

You know what most of the time what people are really saying? Look at how right

I am and how wrong they are. See, I'm going to tear you down to somehow make myself look a little bit more spiritual.

That's not what God called me to do. God called me to rebuild the wall.

And it is a corporate effect and endeavor. Guys, Witten Baptist Church is a stud.

I'm telling y 'all. And for most of you who have been here for a long time, you've got that contempt bug in you a little bit.

You don't see the power of the anomaly. Guys, how much drama and disunity is going on in this place right now?

For a decade. Decade. Doesn't happen here.

Now, let's all be honest. The sole reason of that is you got one heck of a senior pastor.

The epitome of the male species. And humble, absolutely.

Guys, any success we have as a church is because of we. Any failures we have as a church is because of me.

That's how I raised my kids. You don't win at any time without the team.

You don't win without your family. And if you lose, it's 100 % your fault. Guys, we as a church have enjoyed massive success.

But it's because of we. Never as a leader do you ever take personal responsibility for the good and then try to sidestep and shellack the negativity.

As a leader, 100 % of the time, it's your fault. Now, watch this.

It may not be your fault. Let me change my words. It may not be your fault, but it's 100 % your responsibility.

Men in this room, if your families are jacked up, and I've met some of y 'all's wives.

I get it. They're crazy, okay? No, they are.

No, they... Well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

There are some of them better at hiding it than others. We'll do that. We'll do that one. We'll do that one. Guys, it's 100 % your responsibility.

Well, my wife doesn't do this. My wife doesn't do that. I have a pastor that I talk to once a week in Knoxville.

He's got a church of about 600 folk. He's a big, fancy guy. But watch this.

He says, I'm having problems at home, but I can't go to any of my brothers in the community because I have a reputation to uphold.

And I went, Dude, I can help you real quick. Guess what your problem is. It's called pride.

Pride. That's what your problem is. Quit blaming your wife. Quit blaming your congregation.

Quit blaming President Biden. Take personal responsibility, and you lead everyone else to rebuild that which

God has commanded you to do. Quit blaming others. And here's another thing for leaders.

Listen. If all you're doing is running around telling other people how they should do it, and you ain't got sweat on your brow or dirt under your fingernails, you ain't a leader.

You're a dictator. Okay? Let me say that to you now. Because some of y 'all, when we're about to have this time of invitation, you're wanting the adulterous and the drug addicts to come down here and get saved and ask

Jesus Christ from their heart, Lord and Savior. Right? But you don't realize that the very

Word of God that's being spoken today is convicting you and calling you to repentance.

Let me ask you a question. When's the last time you repented? At a youth conference 14, 15, 20 years ago?

Where's your repentance today? Next thing. How else do you be a leader?

Well, you do have to do this sometimes. You've got to stand up to opposition. Now, here in our culture today, we love to highlight this right here.

I can't do it good. My back gets thrown out if I try, but ain't nobody going to tell me what to do.

I ain't going to be under the authority of nobody. And as soon as you say that, you're going to be the same idiot going, why did my kids rebel?

What example did they follow? Who are you accountable and submitted to?

If you have no one to submit to, you're living in a state of rebellion. Rebellion.

Rebellion. It's funny how many mamas and daddies want me to fix their kids.

I can't fix your kids. That's your job. I can counsel them. I can encourage them.

But you're the one that needs to do the butt kicking. But before you kick their butts, do this.

Kick your own. Repent to God, and then repent, watch this, to them for being the failure of a

Christian leader they needed. Okay? So it's hilarious. I got so many parents who want their kids to obey as they are living in rebellion towards God.

And then we wonder why the church is full of hypocrites. You made them, buddy. Here's some opposition you need to stand up to.

Men, the number one thing you need to protect your family against, besides the

Russians or North Koreans dropping out of the sky, and you got to have five AR -15s and 42A,

I affirm that. Okay? I affirm that. Women, okay, you got 80 pairs of shoes, we can have 80 guns.

Okay? I rebuke thee, woman.

Guys, you know the number one thing you got to protect your family against? You. You are the biggest enemy your family has.

Men, your words can build and destroy in a breath.

In a breath. Guys, stand up to opposition.

Now the way you do that first is look at the man in the mirror. The second thing, look what

Nehemiah did. He stood up to opposition from without and within.

Especially you young men that are fixing to be pastors, you remember this. Look at chapter 4 verse 14.

After I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles and officials and the rest of the people, don't be afraid of those people out there.

Remember the great and awe -inspiring Lord and fight for your countrymen, your sons, your daughters, and wives, and home.

In other words, what he said was, freedom! Right? How many of y 'all, when y 'all saw

Braveheart and when he yelled freedom, you were ready to get up on a horse with a big sword? I was.

And when I was in the theater watching that movie and someone had spoken in a British accent, I'd have jumped over five rows of puke.

Slice that little girl's throat, I'll bust your head open. Right? Man, when

Rocky Balboa music's playing, we're all there. Guys, the opposition we stand up to is first ourselves, but it's not on the emotional cries.

It's on the word of God. This is not right. And men and women who are leaders, sorry, some of you all the time

Baptist, yes, women can be leaders. Watch this. When you stand up to opposition, look what

Nehemiah had to do. Even though he was afraid, even though at that point he was not sure other people would stand up with him, the word of God says, he stood up and he said this, hey, don't be scared of them.

Focus not on the fear out there, focus on the awe -inspiring

Lord who has called us here. That's what it takes to be a leader, is in the face of fear, no matter who else stands up with you, you're not going to wait for the crowd to motivate you.

You're not going to wait for the music to motivate you. You're not going to wait for emotions to motivate you. You're already motivated because you're in obedience to the word of God.

And you stand up from the people on the outside of the wall. Oh, but remember this, especially you pastors, you're going to get all wounded, warrior, and you're going to have to go and spend $5 ,000 at the wounded warrior seminar up there that the

Baptists have. Oh, someone's going to have to play a fiddle for you. I can't lead these people.

You're such a woman, dude. You can't lead these people. Here's the problem is, you were never called to be a pastor in the first place.

How is it we have 20 ,000 congregations and 32 ,000 pastors?

Hmm, maybe God just wanted some spares in case His plan didn't work out? You know how many little

Christian Bible boys have come down the aisle to me over the years and said, Pastor, I want to submit to full -time

Christian ministry. I go, cool, man, what are you doing? No, I want to go into full -time

Christian ministry. Right, so what are you doing? Well, no, here's what they're saying.

Oh, well, first I need to go to a Christian private school, then to a little Bible college, then I need to go get a four -year seminary degree that costs me $50 ,000, then

I need someone to hire me, pay me money so I can pay the Baptist convention back for the loan, and then

I'll start working for God. Dude, if you ain't working for God now when there is no coming against you, you are going to fold like a

Walmart lawn chair when something comes against you. You are going to fold up. People say, well, you need tough skin.

Oh, man, you need more than tough skin, dude. You need a lot more than tough skin. You want tough skin, go be a major league baseball referee or something like that.

You don't take tough skin, it takes a soft heart. That's what it takes, that you are more afraid of the holiness of God and disappointing

Him than you are in the lives of men. That's what it takes. Because just like Nehemiah, he had resistance from the outside, but look here, look here, also from the inside.

Chapter 5, verses 6 and 7, I became extremely angry when I heard their outcry because of these complaints.

After seriously considering the matter, I accused the nobles and officials, saying to them, each of you is charging his countrymen interest.

Here's what was going on. We're all fired up now. We are, I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, man.

They're burning up that wall. Everybody's doing good, but they got to eat. They got to do stuff while they're building the wall.

So here's what some fellow believers in Christ did. Justin, you need a little help with your rent.

You need a little help getting some food for your family or you're building the wall. I'm going to loan you 100 bucks if it's an interest.

Daily. In the love of Jesus. Nehemiah had a conniption fit.

He stood up in front of everybody and goes, are you kidding me? You're charging your fellow brother and sister in Christ's interest?

Have you lost your ever -loving mind? Leadership.

Here's what I call fake leadership. When you have preachers and pastors getting up yelling about what's wrong with this country, but they won't correct the very people under their care.

You've lost your mind. You ain't a leader. You a punk. I hate, and guys,

I'm going to tell you a secret. If you like confrontation, you have mental problems.

Okay, I'm serious. I don't mean that tongue -in -cheek. You have serious problems. You need to come make an appointment,

Miss Carrie, to come see me. If you enjoy confrontation, something's wrong with you.

Okay? I hate it. It's the worst part of my job. Ask my staff, how are you doing today?

Not good. What's wrong? I've got to be a pastor today. I hate it. I hate it.

I had to do it. I walked in the doors this morning all excited and happy and one of my church members comes up with her cell phone with someone on the video text.

What's it called? FaceTime. Pastor, you need to talk to this person? Oh my God, they're in crisis.

Ugh. You're an idiot. Stop. Just stop. Well, I don't know what to do.

Stop. I've got to go preach the love of Jesus now. Thank you.

Rah. It stinks.

I hate it. I want us to be all hippies in here with pink puffy clouds like we're on an acid trip.

For those of you who never take acid, never mind. But can't we all just get along?

Really? I just want to be a cruise ship director, man, and preach to you every once in a while, collect a paycheck and go home.

If you ever had a man who wants to do that, he'll never be a leader. You got to confront the outside evils, but you also have to correct the inside.

And yes, there's a massive difference between a preacher and a pastor. I'm a horrible preacher. I understand that.

I'm a very bad preacher. But I desperately love you peoples with all my heart.

It's funny. You ask anybody that's ever been on a mission trip with me, what is my number one concern when we're out of the country?

This place. My peoples. Josiah, one day, you'll understand that.

You're actually going to start missing your church family more than you'll miss your own children. I know that seems weird, but it will happen.

People always tell me, you're going to love your grandchildren more than you ever loved your children. I'm still waiting.

Sorry, I love my kids more. I do. And I'll be honest with you, my kids know this.

I love my wife more than I love them. And my wife knows this. I love my God more than I love her. Proper perspective.

Stand up. Last thing. I lied. Two more things, but I'll put them into one because I know we're going over time.

Chapter 13, verses 6 -8. Chapter 13, verses 6 -8. While all this was happening,

I was not in Jerusalem because I had returned to Susa.

I had returned to Babylon in the 32nd year of his reign. It was only later that I had asked the king for a leave of absence so I could return to Jerusalem.

Then I discovered the evil that Elisha had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of God's house.

I was greatly displeased, but I remembered what Jesus would do and I forgave them all and we all sat down, held hands and sang

Kumbaya. Well, in the Chaldean Hebrew Yiddish text, you've got to read it.

Now, this is what it says. I threw all of Tobiah's household out of this room.

Let me explain to you what's going on. And some of this is going to hit some of you hippies kind of hard, okay?

So, hold on to your daisies. So he had gone back to Jerusalem to rebuild with this cat named

Tobiah who was a Jew, had sat there and mocked, said, y 'all are stupid for rebuilding these walls.

No one can do it. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Have you ever wanted to know what a punk is?

A punk is someone who would rather rule the ruins than see people be lifted up. Because he's the big fish in the little pond.

And he actually makes his living on the backs of the oppressions of trying to free people.

Jesse Jackson, okay? Was that too much for you? I'm sorry. That's probably politically...

Al Sharpton, okay? Whoa, sorry. Joel Olsteen. Kenneth Copeland.

Okay, y 'all with me now? Okay. So, Tobiah was sitting there doing all that.

So, Tobiah was doing all that, but they rebuilt the walls in 52 days. Nehemiah was like, guys, let's obey

God's law this time. And everything was going great. So, Nehemiah went on back to the king because he had promised him, he was a man of his word, hey,

I'm coming back. I will put myself back into slavery in your court because I promised you

I would. So, he gets back there. He goes back. After being this great leader, right?

He goes back to serving tables. And he was okay with that. And then he hears people out in left field again.

So, he goes up to the king and says, yo, king, I hate to do this to you, but I got to go back there because the people are being stupid again.

The king said, go home with yourself. In Hebrew, that's what it translates to. So, Nehemiah goes on back.

And this is what he finds. One of the very leaders who was trying to stop the rebuilding of the wall, his brother -in -law is now the high priest of the temple, and his brother -in -law sat there and go, oh, well, you lost.

Well, come on in and move into the temple. It's no big deal.

We can set up a cot. Here's the holy of holies. We can set up a cot right there for you, bud. Ain't no big deal.

Ain't no big deal. Nehemiah hears about this, and this is what he does. He goes all the way back to Jerusalem.

Four -month walk again. Dude, that would have been a really much worse day for Tobiah if I had to walk four months to get there to straighten things out.

Okay? But Nehemiah gets there. He walks into the city. Doesn't say hi to anybody.

Walks right up to the temple and goes, yo, Tobiah, where's your stuff? Right there? All right, great. Throws it right out the front door.

Takes Tobiah and throws him out right after. He literally says he threw him out.

Then he was finished with Tobiah. Go read chapter 13. This is what Nehemiah does. Oh, y 'all are selling stuff in the temple court again on the

Sabbath day? It says he grabs dudes by the hair and starts pulling their hair out.

Right? What would Jesus do? Well, we don't have to guess, because about 400 years later,

Jesus walked into that same temple, and there were people doing it again, and Jesus made a whip, started kicking butt, and he wasn't even taking names.

He walked up there and said, I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum.

I know some of y 'all's precious moments, Bibles, with the white, blonde -haired, blue -eyed

Jesus with the big, fat, rosy cheeks with a little halo over his head, that don't fit with your narrative of God's Word, but fortunately for the rest of us that would like to live in a little place we like to call reality,

God is a God of forgiveness, but you can't have forgiveness unless there is first repentance.

Oh, well, God will forgive me. I can do what I want to do. God will forgive me. Have a nice time roasting in hell, buddy, because without repentance, you will never know the power of grace.

You're never going to know it. Does your spiritual life look like this all the time? It's because you're unrepentant.

You're going by emotions. You're going by how you feel. You're sitting in arrogance, picking and choosing what you want to obey in God's Word, and then you'll be the one who sits there and goes, oh,

I feel like me and God are this far apart. Repent. You won't feel that way no more. Okay?

Last thing. Don't y 'all hate when I say that? Chapter 13, verse 26.

It's the last point on your paper, y 'all. Chapter 13, verse 26 says this.

Nehemiah says, Didn't King Solomon of Israel sin in all matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations.

He was loved by his God, and God made him king over Israel, yet the foreign women drew him into sin.

Here's something I was trying to teach someone yesterday and this morning. Learn from your mistakes.

I'm going to let the music people come up here, but I'm going to pray that you're mature enough to be more concerned with the

Word of God than thank God this guy's finished talking. Listen to me for a second. Listen.

Why is it that some of you... Let me change that pronoun. Why is it that some of us continually make the same mistake over and over and over and over and over again, and we keep asking

God to forgive us of the same sin, and we keep failing? Why is that?

I don't know. Y 'all tell me. I'm looking at Marty. Look how skinny he's gotten.

He's kind of sexy. I'm coveting his body now. Not in a gay way, but I just wish

I was slim now. Well, I'm a little gay. He's a deacon. That's what he's there for.

Hey, do you learn from the past? Talk to someone last night.

He goes, Brother Jeff, I'm there again. And I went, well, why are you calling me? Is there another piece of information

I can give you that's not the same truth I've been giving you for three years? Stop calling me. You're not ready to change.

And all you bleeding hearts in here that keep on enabling them to stay in their sin because you keep absorbing the consequences

God's trying to do to correct them, just personally as the pastor, stop it. Please stop.

All you enabling parents and grandparents that you feel guilty because you failed as a parent or a grandparent or as a friend, now you're going to make up by it by doing the same strategy you did back then, enabling someone to continue in sin, personally for me and the rest of the counselors and the rest of the church, please stop.

We have a lady who I told her, you're going to be disfellowshipped from here.

Because she was an alcoholic who would not repent and she was causing all sorts of problems. She said, fine, I'm leaving.

And she left. She moved back to Illinois. She was sick of accountability.

I pulled mouthwash out of her purse and I had a group of concerned

Christians. I always loved that title. Come to me and say, Pastor, you were kind of harsh on her.

Two weeks later, she's trying to break back into her mother's house dead drunk.

Climbs through the window. The window's broken. Slices her femoral artery. Falls out in the yard and bleeds out.

Brother Jeff, we should have prayed harder. It's so tiring dealing with stupid.

Please do not govern your lives by your feelings or your emotions. Govern them by the

Word of God. Learn from the past.

America is failing to learn from the example of Israel. Some of us in this room are failing to learn from the failures we've already had.

Guys, the most beautiful part of grace is the scar tissues I can show as an example to myself and to others about how

God can deliver us. But we usually get stuck in one of two places. We either get tired of the fight and we just kind of start circling the drain waiting for the inevitable failure, or we do this.

Or we do this. We sit and we look and we make excuses for where we are knowing that the past and the

God of this present is calling us to make changes to change our future.

We'll sit and make excuses rather than make choices. I'm begging you.

I'm serious. I'm closing this. Listen to me. I'm going home tonight. Actually, I'm sleeping in my office tonight.

But I'll be sleeping in my office tonight to get on a plane at 3 o 'clock in the morning.

But I promise you, I'm going to sleep really good tonight. I am.

I'm going to sleep just as good as I did last night. How about you? You've heard the

Word of God today. Some of you in this room are not believers. You are not a

Christian. And you keep playing games and trying to talk yourself into it when God's Spirit is trying to talk you into heaven and talk you out of hell.

Quit playing church games. Quit playing stupid religious games. And surrender your life to Christ today.

Number two, some of you are Christians and you have zero accountability in your life.

And you keep wondering why you keep screwing up. Come forward today and either join a church or join an accountability group that will be all up in your business.

Because if you don't have a fellow believer who's all up in your business, your business is going to be living a double -edged life and a double -faced life.

And the hypocrisy you accuse others will convict you in the twilight of you trying to go to sleep. And that conviction will cause you anxiety and depression on a scale you have not experienced.