Facing Opposition | Nehemiah 4:1-23

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Good Morning, good morning. We talked the whole that through. Good morning, good morning to you and you and you. I wish I could help with that, but hell, no one wants to be singing, but Jeff, though. We need to get Jeff singing more often, is what I'm thinking. We need to get him more. Hey, last week he actually sang a couple of different times. He said mail bags, and I was like, I was like, dude, he's got a good voice. Oh you mean like with Wesley. Yes, maybe it's personal. Yeah, no, no, no, he just he says he doesn't want to sing because I'm the singing guy. But anyway, listen, Hey, good morning, how about that? Good morning, good morning. Welcome to the Bible guys. I'm Christ This is Kyle jeffs out of town. So today we're the Bible guys, and we are going to dive into in a minute Neami chapter four, chapter where Neamiah has just began. We're actually skipping over chapter three, which by the way, is an incredible chapter. It's just kind of boring with the details, but it's incredible in that Nami recruits all different walks of life of people, right, he recruits like, you know, masonaries and engineers and soldiers even and commoners and farmers. But he recruits people from all different walks of life. He organizes everything, He gives them assignments. He asked them to start rebuilding the wall, and that took place in chapter three, and then it's going to continue through today's. Chapter as well. But before we get to that, we have a segment by Desiree called would you rather? Would you rather? Okay, yeah, so it looks like I've got five would you rather questions for you? You got five for me. Oh no, no, no, we both have the same five with the same five. Yeah, so you do it. Just take turns of reading them and then we'll just sort of take a guess on answering them. All. Right, here we go, I'll lead the way here. Number one, would you rather have to communicate using only emojis or speak in pig Latin for a week? So I'm assuming that means you would have to be silent for a week because you'd have to type emojis everything up. But but pig Latin, you can actually speak out loud. I gotta be honest. I think i'd go emojis. I think I would. I inc they at a I would weigh and lay or a week way. Could you imagine everywhere you go doing that? Oh my goodness, every every time you go through the Starbucks line. That's how you order your drink, your wife at dinner. You're trying to have a conversation by miney is. You couldn't go anywhere by yourself. You'd have to You'd have to bring an interpreter. You know, like, did you know what I just said? Yeah, I'm assuming you said I would speak in pig Latin for the week. Yes, yes, but did you did you understand it? Though I would not, It's yeah, it's it's okay. So like so like, uh okay, oh yeah, ok lay I lay a feree ray no. Nothing, referee oh referee at the end, I'm assuming you say that it look like a rep read it. That's correct, that's good, that's hilarious. Okay. So so yeah, I just think it would be hard to be quiet for a week. Yeah, that would be tough. I'm gonna go with mojiso. Okay, we're different on that one, all right. Number two, would you rather have an adventure in Narnia or explore Middle Earth from the Lord of the Rings. Well, this is a crazy question. Well, I would say, Man, the listeners are gonna hate me for this, but I am like, not a Lord of the Rings or a Chronicles and Narnia guy. So this one's for you, Bud Well. I gotta be honest, it's it's it's shocking to everybody because I love movies so much, but I didn't love Lord of the Rings really Okay. I thought it was epic. I thought it was done really really super well. I thought like it was it was true to the book. I thought it was in every way great, except for I don't think it was written for anybody besides the book people. I think that you. I think that Harry Potter, for instance, did a fantastic job making the movie for people who knew nothing about Harry Potter. But I think the Lord of the Rings uh sort of, uh, sort of didn't take the time to bring along people like me. I never read the books, and so I think it just sort of ran through all these references and names and cities and stories and back back plots, and what they did was they didn't give the time to bring people carry people along. So it's like it's like they just kept on going from thing the thing, the thing the thing, almost in my mind, assuming that people knew what they were talking about, and and it's and it's and I just thought to myself, I'm like, hey, the director did a great job making this movie for the fans. But they but I don't think the director, honestly, in my opinion, did a good job making that movie for the people who don't know it. And somebody just shows up on a Friday night at the theater, they may felt it might feel lost. Well, I mean, I've talked ab If you google it right now and say what's the big complaint about the movies, you'll you'll read that you'll read that it was hard to understand. So I would say Narnia, because I think Narnia was prettier and more beautiful interesting than Middle Earth. Okay, go ahead and let let us know your comments on YouTube. What you think about Chris's assessment of Lord of the Rings. Yeah, And by the way, I would say, I would say most people loved Lord of the Rings. Yeah, loved it. I have a friend who every year he gets together and they watch all the Lord of the Rings. They'll do like a Saturday and they. Watch them all. They'll do it with Star Wars as well. Man. Yeah, and by the way, it wasn't It was fifteen years later when I said something like the enemy was the enemy? Was that wizard guy right like sore In or whatever? Wasn't it? And then somebody says, no, the enemy was the Tower? And I go what I was like, if that's unclear that that's a bad movie. Right, that's a bad movie. So anyway, Number three, would you rather have to wear clowns? Would you rather have to wear clown shoes every day? Or a jester hat with bells that jingle constantly? Oh geez, this is forever too, by the way, that's every day. Those are two bad choices. Yeah, this is like, oh, man, the lesser of two evils. I'm gonna go with clown shoes. Me too. Clown shoes too, It's easier to deal with. Yeah, and imagine driving though they're on your feet. Uh yeah, that's that's rough. There's some rough. Yeah, they're not I'm saying that out. There's some rough scenarios with the clown shoes. But can you imagine with your hair? Yeah, you're just a joke the rest of your life. Yeah, yeah, it's well, I mean you'd be a joke about what. Listen, let's be clear, there's no way you're not a joke. Yeah, yeah, all right. Number four, would you rather have a family camping trip or a family cabin getaway? And obviously in Michigan where we're at, this is uh, this is cabin season, Spartan, you know, cabin camping season, desiree big camper. Do you know that about Desiree? I did a huge camper? Yep. Yeah, So there is no question, uh, you know, just like shotreck me checking Ago King, we are not even careful to answer you. We don't even have to debate. It is a cabin get away from me because I hate. Camp Okay, So I got to actually, really it's kind of like, yeah, I feel like when you mentioned heaven people referring to hunting as heaven, this is probably like the opposite of that. The hell would be the camping. So we actually, my family and I we actually a few years ago we bought a camper. We actually did the pop up then we bought a travel trailer and that was so much fun. We had a lot of fun with it, you know, for the last few years. But then last year my brother actually bought a cabin, a family cabin up north, and comparing them literally in the last couple of years, it is not even closely cabin for sure, because our cabin get away, because we're able to go up there, we're able to experience some of the same things of camping. But then I go and sleep in a queen size bed. Afterwards when I can shower and you know, things like that. So currently living the US right now, and I will say, in my opinion, I'll go with the family cabin getaway, Okay. And then last one is would you rather have the voice of Mickey Mouse or the fashion sense of a Minion? Oh? Wow, the Menya just wore those little suspenders right, yeah, little blue jeans. I honestly think I would do Minion, yeah, because that's rough, but Mickey Mouse would be even rougher. These are two horrible choices. Yeah, they're really bad. You're stuck with a voice forever. Well, your style sense, let's let's just say that maybe maybe maybe blue. Gene overalls come back back around every fifteen years, and yeah, you're you're, you're, you're in. Styles though that's rough. Well, hey, that's the art time for the segment. So let's move on to ne and Maya chapter four, and uh, we're gonna find out that there's some enemies. Yeah, and even then chapter two, for those who didn't listen yesterday, he was met with some opposition, one of them being sent SAand Blot. And then Neamiah Ford says, this sam Blot was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage, and he mocked the Jews, saying, in front of his friends and the Samaran army officers, what does this bunch of poor feeble Jews think they're doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something out of stones or something of stones from a rubbish heap and charred ones? At that to Buya, the Ammonite who was standing beside him or marked that stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it. And then the Neami respond says, then I prayed, hear us, our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land. Do not ignore their guilt, do not blot out their sins, for they provoked you to anger here in front of the builders. At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city. For the people had worked with enthusiasm and sand. Balot and Tobaia and the Arabs, Ammonites and Esdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired. They were furious. They all made plans to come and fight against the Jalem against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion. But when we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves, then the people of Judah began to complain. The workers are getting tired, and there's so much rubble to be removed. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves. Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, before they know what's happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work. The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again they will come from all directions and attack us. So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall. In exposed areas, I stationed the people to stand guard by families armed with swords, spears and bows. Then, as I looked over the situation, I. Called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, don't be afraid of the enemy. Remember the Lord who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall. But from then on only half my men worked, while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah who are building the wall. The laborers carry down their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon. All the builders had a sword belted to their side. The trumpeters stayed with me to sound the alarm, which is pretty sweet visual right there. Then I explained to the nobles and officials and all the people. The work is very. Spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. When you hear the blast of the trumpet, rush to wherever it is sounding. Then our God will fight for us. We worked early and late, from sunrise to sunset, and half the men were always on guard. I also told everyone living outside the walls to stay in Jerusalem way they and their servants could help with guard duty at night and work during the day. During this time, none of us, not I, nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor the guards who were with me, ever took off our clothes. We carried our weapons with us at all times, even when we went for water. Okay, yeah, well chapter there. Yeah, and uh, well there's there's a lot there. And uh, poor poor Nehemiah, I just what a task, right, He's not given like pure soldiers, he's not given an army, so he has to use the people. And and it's sort of like, you know, it reminds me, did you ever see that movie The Patriot with Yeah, yeah, So he's mobilizing and training farmers, you know, with pitchforks right to uh, to become soldiers, and turns out that they were pivotal in history for our country. Those uh, those militia. But anyway, that's sort of what's happening here. Uh. Nehemiah is, you know, tasked with. Protecting the city because he's hearing of people's plans to come and tear down the wall and attack them. And you know what's so great, this is a word picture of how we should live our lives. You know what it reminds me of is I'm doing. Some cross referencing here, but the story of Gideon in the Bible where God says, hey, have other people drink, and the people who stick their head down and lap like a dog get rid of them. But were the people who cut the water and bring it up to them? Keep those people? And I learned through study that it's the people who went for a drink and who still were on guard, and they didn't make themselves defenseless. They stood upright, they sat up. Right on their knees, and they brought water to their hands, you know, from their hands to their face. They were able to still have a sword in their hand, and they were still to be on guard. Those were wise and prudent people. The people who just ran to the river threw their sword down and stuck their face in the water. God said, get rid of those because those people are ready. Yeah, they're they're not prudent, They're not you know, they were defenseless, right, They didn't have that wherewithal. They didn't have that wisdom of being on guard. And if you think about it, it's sort of the way that God calls us to live our lives. Right, So we should always uh, you know, be on guard to protect our families at the same time we're doing tasks at hand. It also reminds me of. The spiritual realm, right, so we were busy about doing things recognizing that there's a spiritual realm that could attack us at any minute. We should be on guard spiritually. It's just it's a great prudent look on how we should be as leaders who run our home, how we run our businesses. Right, we should always be busy and at the same time be aware of what could happen. That that includes preparations, that includes future planning. It's it's all those things. It's just a great big word picture. Oh that's that's really good because if you think about it, I mean, Niamiah trusted that God was going to provide. He really did. He believed that the that there's an end goal here, there's an end game that God was going to provide. God already had provided and open up doors. But yeah, you're right, he still was prudent. He still gave them and wanted them to have these tactical ways to defend themselves because, as it mentioned at the beginning, you kind of alluded to the patriot says, what does this bunch of poor feeble Jews think they're doing. So he didn't qualify or he didn't He didn't call on the people who were those soldiers, those military warriors leaders. Instead, he just gave them a practical wise step. One of the things that stands up to me is it says when it said the laborers carried on their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon. I know you kind of alluded that as well, but isn't that wildly but like one hand you're trying to do the work, one hand you got your weapon ready to defend yourself. And you're right, that is the way we need to live. We need to be on guard, we need to be wearing that protection from the enemy, wearing protection even from ourselves and the things that go on in our lives. But also I think there's one of the things that mentioned in the Life Application Study Bible as it relates to this verse. It says that the workers were spread out along the wall, so Niamiah devised the planet offense that would unite and protect his people. Half the men worked while the other half stood guard. Christians need to help one another in the same way, because we can become so afraid of possible dangers that we can't get anything done. By looking out for each other, we'll be free to put forth our best efforts, confident that others are ready to offer help when needed. So don't cut yourself from others. And I think that's so important because even here he's alluding the fact that essentially one person was watching while one person was working, and it's a reminder of how we need people in our lives. There was none of this could have been done on their own, and instead we need to people. And you see in military times even how because it's very I don't know why it's bringing up military thoughts here, but the fact that a lot of times when guys go into a place, they go back to back you know, it's like the movements, Like a lot of times when they say military people and they're going in, they're taking over a place. The way they stand back to back, the way they they're essentially not even thinking about themselves. They're trusting the person has their back behind them, and there's a lot of trust that's in that. And in the same way, I think. We need to live our lives with other believers and other people in our lives in the same way, letting them like trusting them, letting them them watch our back and help us out when we can't help ourselves out. And uh, you know what's interesting is that so I love this where it says, uh, first of all, they're mocking by asking these questions. Yeah, uh, they say, do they think they can build the wall in a single day just by offering a few sacrifices? In other words like delusions of grandeur? Right? And then he says, do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish sheep and charred ones at that? Which means that what the what the people are doing is they're taking the rocks that we're already there that are charred, and they're using them for the wall. And then they're also using random rocks from rubbish heaps, right, just just anything, so they're not taking their time to construct. Perhaps you know, you know, the the Babylonian Empire or the Persian Empire or the Roman Empire later on would would come along and say, hey, we're gonna fashion rocks and cut them and fit them and fashion them together like this fortified wall. They're literally taking, you know, just random rocks. They're not These aren't calculated things. They're throwing together from rubbish heaps, and they're trying to place together as best as they can. Now, here's what it's interesting is that it actually says. Tobia, the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked that stone would collapse even if. A fox walked along the top of it. Here's what's interesting is that parts of the walls of Nehemiah are still standing today. Did you know that? So actually, think about this, Think about this. So here's here's a wall that that they're making fun of. That's saying, this isn't even a wall. Even if fox ran across, they would fall. And yet here we have, two thousand, five hundred years later, parts of me and I's wall is still standing today, and most scholars, I would say, the majority of almost all scholars believe that this is and I's wall based on its location and then also based on its construction, because the construction is uh, it looks exactly like that. In fact, if you've ever seen a photograph of Nemia's wall, other walls from Jerusalem look very polished right in modern Jerusalem, right, but but an old Jerusalem, it's actually uh uh you can see, you can see they're all jagged and it looks like it looks like a hodgepodge wall. And yet I believe that it's God's sovereignty. It's his, it's his, uh, you know, it's a statement about who he is and about Nemiah's uh you know, uh mission, and about God's faithfulness. Yeah, we're thankful when our when our building stay up over one hundred years here, right, and you know in our in our state, we're like, oh man, it's over one hundred year old building, and that feels old. Yeah. I believe that God has allowed parts of the and I's wall to stand. That's crazy because of this, and so it's just really interesting how you know, niam I does something in faith I'm sure that as they're getting mocked, they feel inadequate. They're not masonaries, at least most of them. They're not professionals, and they're probably thinking, you know, I wonder if what I'm doing is going to last? Little did they know? Yeah, that's so cool that it's still today. You know, it makes me think, you, yeahts of it? Have you ever been to the Heidelberg Project in Detroit? Huh, it's like a it's basically a street and a half in Detroit, in the neighborhoods of Detroit that that's basically just an art constellation type thing where basic artists came in ten fifteen plus years ago in a very rough neighborhood and there's all these abandoned houses. Essentially he bought the properties and turn it into this art project. Or you go down, Oh, I have seen it. It's a little wonky like it's. Definitely like there's like arts in the trees, there's. A bunch of stuffed animals. There's old cars but they're decorated, there's pieces of art. It's when you realize what they did is it essentially did this in a way where they took charred, broken down torn up things. And made it into something beautiful, and you'd on that street. And I remember when I first went there, and it might have been fifteen, like when Detroit, I mean, Detroit has made a huge comeback, but this was a time when it was like there were there wasn't a lot of hope. There wasn't a lot of beauty even to be found. After you know, the the bankruptcy and whatnot. It was a rough time for the Steve Detroit remember going down there and just thinking how cool it was to take something that had been broken and make it beautiful out of the ashes, right, to see that street come alive. In fact, it's it's still a very popular tourist destination for people who go down to the city. But I think it's actually a picture of our lives too. Write how God works, right. He takes the charred, He takes our past, our our history, our mistakes, our breakups, our family land, like all the things that we think are broken, and he makes it whole and complete. And you know, the whole Gospel of Jesus. Even at the time when when. Jesus was first the name of Jesus was being spread, they're like, like, don't worry about it. Like where was it where they said, if if this is from God, we won't be able to stop them, like that, likes you said about Jesus, if this is a movement of God, we will not be able to stop them. And here we are with this wall. If this is from God, We're not gonna be able to stop it. And you're like you're saying to twenty five hundred years later, still standing. It's amazing. Yeah, I've always liked that passage that that was Gameleia. I said that on the on the Sanhedrin. So yeah, that's just incredible. So what other sermons do we have. We're approaching our time, we see enemies are opposing us, and maybe this is another sermon. Maybe we should talk about this. And that is when you decide as a Christian to take a stand for what is right, even if you're the only one, and even if there are people who mock you, and there are people who will try to publicly humiliate you. I remember, for instance, there was this one conversation where there's this person I was with in a group setting admitted that they were still a virgin, and they said, oh yeah, I'm I'm a ver and uh, I believe that God created sex for marriage, and I believe that I want to wait for these kinds of things. And they were in a group of people who, in fact, I think there were probably even some believers in that group. And one of them even said, uh, you know, isn't that a little bit old fashioned idea? You don't actually believe that that's, you know, something that's in the Bible, do you? And and and the people who weren't Christians, which were most of them, made fun of them, and uh, and I remember feeling bad in that moment, but then I only felt bad for a split second because this person had such confidence and such resolve and did not care at all what anybody said when they were mocking them, and said, well, absolutely, it's what I believe. And I know, I know that I'm right, and I know that because that's what God says. And so yeah, I love the fact that I'm that I'm that I'm doing this. I just remember thinking to myself, god lye like, I didn't even have to speak up. I didn't even have to come to this person's defense because this person had that much confidence. And uh, and so listen, if if somebody around you is making you feel smaller because of your faith. Don't don't ever back down because of it. Be confident because because Nehemiah and this feeble group of Jews could have easily been intimidated, they could have easily had their spirits broken, they could have easily lost hope. But they didn't do any of those things. Instead, they diligently move forward, confident and believing what Neamiah said about God. Right, God will be with you. God is gonna God is gonna be with you because he said these things. These are the promises of God. So let's not let's not ever doubt that. That's good. That's good. Great challenge too. Yeah cool. So that's all our time together. So hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible guys see