this morning, Nehemiah chapter 2. Church, I mean, it's been a while since we've had Sunday School. This is our first time back, and we're going through a series of lessons we call GPS. This series is our second series of GPS lessons. This acrostic stands for God's Proverbs to Study. The first GPS lessons that we did was God's Principles of Service, and so there's 30, I think, 30 lessons that we're going through. We're on today's lesson being Labor. I'm going to guess that you have a Sunday School lesson. Didn't you all get a Sunday School lesson this morning? All right. Anybody not get a Sunday School lesson this morning? Alright, you guys did well. Very good. It looks like you covered it. I want to talk to you on this subject, and again, I don't cover everything in the lesson. I hope that you'll go through the lessons and study them. I want to talk about this idea of labor. We are living in a generation of people who do not like to work. And by the way, it's always been part of our human nature to not like to work because it goes against our grain. And I should say it goes against our nature. We understand that the reason we work like we do is because it's part of the curse. We understand that in Genesis that the Bible says that because of the fall of man that he would work by the sweat of his brow." Now, I want to add to that, is that work was not, this idea of work, if we just would not have fallen, we would not have any responsibility. Man had responsibility before the fall, and God said, now you're going to sweat by the sweat of your brow with this curse. But I want you to understand, God always intended for us to have responsibility. God always intended us to have work. In fact, it was Adam that was in the garden before the fall that the Bible says that he placed man in the garden to dress it and to keep it, alright? And so the idea of responsibility to take care of something and to protect something. So again, God wants us to work. So this morning, I wanna deal with this idea of work and we're gonna look at starting in the book of, I'm gonna say some things from Proverbs, but I wanna use our lesson from Nehemiah this morning with the people as far as building the wall. Let's go ahead and pray and ask his blessing on his word. Heavenly Father, now again, we stop and we say, we need your help, Lord, in teaching, but we also need your help, Father, in teaching us. Help us, Father, again, not to miss what you have for us. Help us, Father, the Lord, to take it in. Help us to be workers. Lord, help us realize our time is short. Help us do our best for You. And then Lord, help us teach that to our children. We love You and praise You. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Church family, the book of Proverbs was written to young people. We know that from chapter 1, verse number 4, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. It's the only book in the Bible that was specifically written for young people. Now, with that said, there are key things in the book of Proverbs that really stand off the page. I think that if we were to go around the room, all of us would find or say something different. For instance, the strange woman. We understand the strange woman is in chapter number 2. She's mentioned in chapter number 5, chapter number 6, chapter number 7, and then kind of throughout the rest of the book several different times. We'd say, well, that's a key subject of God trying to explain to the young man how important it is to keep himself pure and clean be careful in this temptation." Okay, we would say that. We would also say that there's different places in the book of Proverbs that it talks about finances and money. In other words, how important it is to make sure that how you spend money as far as what you do with money. We would talk about Proverbs chapter number 23 as well as Chapter number 30 where it talks about alcohol. If we were dealing with a young person, we might say, okay, a young person needs this, this, and this, but God wrote an entire book teaching specific things for a young person to know. Now those things are wisdom for us, and we should know them also. But one of those things is this idea of labor or work. The word slothful, the word sluggard, The word diligent, things that have to do with either you're a hard worker or not a hard worker, are mentioned several times throughout the book of Proverbs, and it's very, very important. Proverbs 14.23, in all labor there is profit. Think about that. He didn't say some, he said all. In all labor there is profit. Proverbs 13.10, wealth gotten by vanity should be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor shall increase. You know, work's a good thing. It's important for us to train our children to have a good work ethic, all right? That work ethic means you get out of bed in the morning. Amen. A good work ethic means you have responsibility that you have to take care of. You know, even my kids, they still, you know, Dad, why do we have to make our bed? Because you slept in it. You're responsible for that bed. You're the one that should be making that bed. You're the one that should be picking up your own clothes. You're the one that should be picking up after yourself. A responsibility. And what does that do as it carries as they get older? You know, listen, a Christian that goes and gets a job in the world, they like most Christians, not all, but they like most Christians that come and work for them because they show up on time. They don't leave early. They don't steal from the company. They put the time in that they're being paid for, they work while they're there. By the way, that's what a Christian should do. But we're trying, as Christian parents, we should be raising a generation of young people to do exactly that. So this morning, let's talk about this idea of work, but I wanna take our thoughts this morning from Nehemiah, and we're gonna start in chapter number two with me. Follow me, Nehemiah chapter number two, and I'll pick it up in verse number 11. Nehemiah chapter number two, verse number 11. So I, being Nehemiah, so I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days, and I rose in the night, and some few men with me, neither told I any man what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon gate, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem." Jump down to verse number 17 now, it says, "...then said I unto them..." After he viewed the walls, he said in verse 17, "...then said I unto them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me, as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. Jump down to verse 20. Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us. Therefore we as servants will arise and build. And again, he's referring to these enemies saying, And he says, you have no portion with us. Now church family, this Nehemiah, as far as building this wall around Jerusalem, was going to take a lot of work. They only had a small remnant of people. You have to remember that Nehemiah just got done coming from Babylon. They were in captivity in Babylon, and of course he hears words about all the distress and the reproaches taking place in Jerusalem. He asked the king, he was the king's cupbearer, he asked the king, can I go back? And he gets that permission, and the king gives his blessing as well as help. Nehemiah shows up on the scene and he goes in the night before he reviews how bad things are. In fact, we didn't read all the verses in chapter 2, but it was so bad that in some places his beast could not even get through the way. He had to get out, walk over the rubbish and rubble and stones as it was broken down. So now he comes to the people and says, hey, listen, we need to build the wall back up. We need to put this back together. It's going to take a lot of work, and it's going to take everybody. When you go to the following chapters, you're going to find out that there were rich people helping. There were poor people helping. There were men helping. There were women helping. There were daughters, as the Bible says. Everybody was doing their part to help build this wall. So this idea of work, can we take it from our story this morning? this idea as far as us having this idea of work in our own lives as well as again teaching it to our children. Let's look now at your Bible, I want you to jump over to chapter number four now with me and let's look at what the Bible says about them building the wall. In chapter number four, here's what he says, I want you to pick it up with me now, and we'll pick up verse number four. Nehemiah 4, verse 4, "'Hear, O our God, for we are despised and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. And cover not their iniquity, and let not our sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.'" Verse 6, chapter 4, "'So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together under the half thereof.'" Read the last phrase, verse number 6 with me together, ready? "'For the people had a mind to work, The reason these folks kept working when it was not really enjoyable, when the job was too big, when they were getting reproached, the reason is because they had a mind to work. This idea of mind means a desire, a heart to. There has to be a want to get something done. You know, my boys mow grass, but the reason they mow grass is because I invested, my wife and I, invested into a lawnmower for them, a riding lawnmower, a nice riding lawnmower. And the reason I did it is because I didn't need the lawnmower, but they needed something to go make money with. They needed something that causes them to push themselves to work. I know that in our society today, I worked at Burger King when I was 11th and 12th grade, and by the way, I would not encourage fast food by any sense of the imagination for a teenager. But there's something about, as a young person, that they need a responsibility. They need a job to do. They need a work to get done. And so, again, as parents, it's our responsibility to find a way to make that happen. I remember there were people in our church, as the kids were getting older, that they would send them out to farms, not to be paid, but just to help out on a farm. Why? They were trying to teach them a work ethic. What we're doing with our children when they're young is trying to get them to have a mind to work, all right? You have several things I think that are mentioned in your lesson. I hope that they're there, but at the end, as far as practical things, I want to look through those real quickly with you this morning, as far as having a mind to work and how important it is for us, as far as getting them to that idea of making sure that they're thinking or having a desire to work. Now, again, I hope they're in the same order you have on your page there. But if we're going to do that, the first thing is you've got to make sure you... I would not let your kids hang around lazy kids. You ought to shun lazy people. Because I want to tell you something. It's already part of your nature to not want to work. So if I hang around people who don't want to work, guess what I'm going to do? I'm not going to work. You want your children to hang around people who have a work ethic so it rubs off on them. You know why? Because that's how you get a mind to work. You have a job and you're going to accomplish that job. So the first thing, again it's practical, is I've got to make sure that I don't hang around people who aren't doing anything. Second thing there, think about this. This idea of having a mind to work has a lot to do with our physical. Now I fed you a donut this morning, forgive me. But if you'll read the entire verse there, it says that a prince or a noble eats for strength and not for drunkenness. Now the word drunkenness is not talking about alcohol there. It's talking about the idea of intoxication or just for enjoyment. How many of you like to eat? Raise your hand. How many like to eat? I like to eat. By the way, there's nothing wrong with eating. Stop eating, you die. Eating is a good thing. But we're supposed to make sure that we eat for strength, not for drunkenness. In other words, nothing wrong with having ice cream. Barney, he likes it for breakfast, lunch, and supper. But that's not really what it's talking about there, OK? But can I tell you, part of a person's desire for work, having a mind to work, has everything to do about how they feel. So that's why, again, this idea of making sure we're not lazy and have a mind to work, we need to make sure that we eat for strength and eat the right things. And I don't have a health course for you, but eat something that's healthy. Have a Big Mac. So number three, live by schedule. Live by schedule. If you're going to have a mind to work, you're going to have to plan your work. My kids, they give me a hard time sometimes. They get that from their mother. So at Family Altar, it's not unusual for us in an evening for me to ask them, OK, what's your plan for tomorrow? My kids are at that age now. They have two 17-year-olds, and it goes down. But I just ask them, I say, what's your plan for tomorrow? What are you going to get accomplished? In other words, there has to be a schedule. There has to be something that I'm getting done. There's nothing wrong with relaxing. There's nothing wrong with times that we... But that's not life. This is not our rest. So I've got a work that I have to get done. Think about it for a second here. Our kids, when they have school, that school, the two important things about school is discipline and schedule. Doesn't matter if you're homeschooled, doesn't matter if you're in Christian school. The two things that are important about a person's schooling is discipline and schedule. Schedule means I start school at a certain time and I end it at a certain time. Discipline means I turn in my homework and if I don't want to turn it in, I don't turn it in. That's not discipline. I was given work, I get the work done. Can I tell you that prepares them for life? Tomorrow is not a good illustration because tomorrow is Memorial Day for most of you. If it was a normal work week, there is a certain time you have to show up and a certain time you get off. You know what that does? It's called schedule. Schedule is what keeps me moving forward in my life. Our children need that. They need schedule. So again, having a mind for work. I need to make sure I shun lazy people, eat for strength, live by schedule. Think about this, next thing. Don't make excuses for not working. Proverbs talks a lot about the slothful person. Well, it's cold outside. There's a lion outside. How do you like that? How many of you have figured out that lazy people can come up with some of the most unusual excuses for not doing what they need to get done? Can I tell you, we shouldn't make excuses for not working. We ought to have a desire to work. We ought to have a desire to get things done. I was talking to the college before they left, and I was going over several things. Of all things, I told them, things I'd like to tell you if I never see you again. I probably had 15 things that I said, listen, if I never see you again, these are 15 things I want you to know. One of those things was to have something that motivates you to go forward. In other words, in life, there ought to be something extracurricular that pushes you. Church, I mean, you're always going to have your job, you're always going to have your family, and I say always, you're going to have things that you have to get done, but there ought to be something that motivates you to do more, and it's something that's not going to take all of your time, but there's something in the back. For me, it's writing. For me, it keeps me motivated that, OK, I've got some downtime here. I'm going to use this. It pushes me forward. I don't know what your motivation is, but you ought to have something that keeps you moving forward. And it's not something that's always in front of you necessarily every day of your life, every hour. But OK, I've got downtime. OK, this is what I want to work on. I want to accomplish something. My time is too short not to. Again, the idea of not making excuses for not working. Something else. Don't be idle. Again, kind of going along with what we said here. If you're going to have a mind to work, slothfulness casted into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. Hey, you know when young people get in trouble? It's when they don't have anything to do. Think about it. You know, it's amazing how they can find things to do wrong. So what we do is, and by the way, us as adults are the same way. So you go to work and you start work at 8 o'clock, maybe you get home around 6, I don't know. When you get home, you ought to have a goal or something. Again, I'm not telling you this morning that you shouldn't relax, I'm just trying to say that If you're not careful, idle time will get you in trouble. There ought to be something that pushes you, some desire. Thinking about something else as far as having mind to work is that our work is not about us, it's about others. Doing something for others. Look at the verse there in Ephesians 4. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor. Why? Working with his own hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Hey, you know why we work? It's not a matter of what we can do for us, it's a matter of what we can do for somebody else. That's why we work, alright? So again, the idea of making money is not so we become rich, it's so we can help others, alright? Something else here is remember your time is limited. Lord, I'm going to preach on that this morning, talk for you a little bit as far as the limiting of our time that God gives us, and then having this mind to work. And then remember God will judge your work. Ecclesiastes 12, 14 there, for God shall bring every work into judgment. You know, one of my favorite proverbs that I've used often is Proverbs 29, 25. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me. But the last phrase says this, I will render to every man according to his work. You know, God's going to reward us for what we do. Not necessarily for what we're not doing. God says, OK, I'm going to give you. I keep track of your work. That's what's going to have the great white throne of judgment. The books are going to be opened. Their works are going to be judged. So again, the idea of work. Now, I want you to go back to Nehemiah. Let me give you a couple more thoughts this morning. I'm going to be done this morning. I want you to think that what caused them to build that war. Number one, they had a mind to work. Do you have a mind to work? Do you have a desire to work? Tomorrow's Memorial Day. Relax tomorrow. But is there something you plan on getting accomplished tomorrow besides just eating? Besides doing nothing, you say, it's memorial day, I'm not doing one cotton-picking thing, alright? Alright, well God bless you, but you ought to do something, alright? Think about something else here, and I'll look quickly in your Bible there. Not only do we see, when you look at the Nehemiah and of course these people, is that first of all they had a mind to worship before, verse number 6. Look at verse number 9. It says, nevertheless, before verse number 9, nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. First phrase, nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God. You know, the reason they got something accomplished, number one, is because they had a want to, they had a mind to, but number two, they asked God to help them get it done. And again, you know, Proverbs 3, 5, and, you know, I can do all, Philippians 4, 13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. We understand, James 1, 5, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask about it. We understand that God is the one that allows us to get things done. You want to ask God to help you have a profitable, lengthy day. You've heard me say before in Proverbs, you know, talk to chapter number three there, And two, it talks about a length of day and long life, and there's a big difference between the two. Length of days and long life and peace shall they add unto thee. Long life means you live a long time, but a lengthy day means you get more accomplished in a day. Have you ever had a day and just felt like you didn't get anything done? Every day, right? Okay. Do you know what a lengthy day is? A lengthy day is God allows you to get more done in a 24-hour period. He did not give you more than 24 hours. He just lets you get more done in that 24 hours. He said, you know what to do? You ought to ask God. God, help me get much accomplished for you today. The Jay Ben's prayer prays for four things. Bless me indeed, enlarge my coast, that Thine hand might be with me, that Thou wouldst keep me from evil, that Thou mightest not grieve me. The second one there is enlarge my coast. It means to move the fence back. It means to give me more territory. We would say it in our terms, give me more opportunity. You know, when Jabez prayed that prayer, the Bible says, and God answered him, answered him his request. You know, the idea is, is God, help me to do more, enlarge my coast, help the fences, help me to have more opportunity, give me more. You know, you ought to ask God every day, God, help me do more. Help me to get more accomplished today than I did yesterday, all right? So first of all, they had a mind to work. Second of all, they asked God to help them with the work, all right? Something else, you look at verse number 10, In verse number 10 it says, And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish, so that we are not able to build the wall. And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places when she shall return unto us, they will be upon you." Who's the they? Verse number 11's the adversaries. Now, let me just stop and tell you what this third thought I want you to think about this morning. The reason they got the wall finished and the reason they got the work done is because they had a mind to work. Number two, because they asked God to help them in the work. Now, think about it. In verse number 10, 11, and 12, it's talking about things that were hindrances to the work. In verse number 10, it talks about the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed. In other words, the people who are doing the work are tired. Their strength is decayed, they're tired. In the same verse, it says, and there is much rubbish. In other words, there's too much to do. In verse number 11, it says, and our adversaries said. In other words, they had several hindrances to them getting the work done. Can I tell you why they got the wall done? They didn't let hindrances keep them from working. You know, we teach our children, not only by words, but we teach them by example, that there are going to be things in our life that are going to try to keep us from doing the work that we're supposed to do. And I know this morning we're talking about labor, we're talking about a good work ethic, we're talking about getting things accomplished, but can I tell you something? Work can be the work of the ministry. When it comes to your family, work can be the job that you have. All of us should be careful that we do not allow hindrances to keep us from getting the work done. Sometimes you are going to be tired. Sometimes there's going to be extra amount of problems to try to get that particular thing accomplished. Sometimes it's going to be people, adversaries. Sometimes it's going to be the devil. But we have to reject those hindrances. We've got to say, OK, listen, I'm not going to stop. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to get this accomplished. You know, when we train our children, if we're not careful, we let them give up too soon, which puts something in them for life. No, you're going to finish that job. There's been several times I've walked into the kids' room, whether it's girls or boys, and I said, now listen, you're going to get this thing done, and you're not coming out of this room until this room is clean. You're going to make sure the bed gets made, you're going to pick up those clothes, you're going to pick up the garbage, you're going to put the hangers back where they go. I said, you're not leaving this room until this is done. Sometimes we as adults, we need to tell ourselves that. The job's not too big, people are not going to side-check me, I'm going to get the work done that God's called me to do. So again, rejecting the hindrances that come from the work. Something else here, look at verse number 15. Here's what he says here next. He says, He says, And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught. Now look at this last phrase, that we returned all of us to the wall. Look at the last phrase, verse 15. Everyone unto what? His work. Now I want you to notice it didn't say we all returned to the work. It said everyone returned to his work. Again, church family, he's got this thing described very, very clearly. And I won't go through it with you this morning. But chapter number three, it goes through exactly who they were and where they were and what they were doing on the wall. The wall was huge. But you know what? Every person had their work. In other words, this is what they had to get done. At the table last night, and Stephen says, I want to trade my job. I don't want to take out the trash anymore. Now, Stephen's job is to take out the garbage. It's the kitchen garbage. And the kitchen garbage fills up frequently, several times a day. It turns into a volcano, starts to go over. And so Stephen's idea of taking out the trash is pushing the trash down as far as he can inside the bucket. He doesn't want to take the trash out. Did you take the trash out? It's not full. What do you mean it's not full? I was by it. It looked like a volcano. It's coming out all over the place. No, it's not. So his idea is he goes down there and he pushes it as far down as he possibly can so he doesn't take the trash out. Last night we were at the table. I said, Stephen, have you been taking the trash out? He said, I want to trade my job. I said, Stephen, have you taken... His mother looks over and says, no. What he's been doing, of course we're still here, but he says he's been taking the trash out of our house and he's been putting it in the bus barn. That's not the dumpster, by the way. I said, Stephen, you're not taking the trash out if you put it in the bus barn. If you know where our bus barn is and you know where the dumpster is, there's something wrong with this picture. We're talking a few extra steps. He said, Dad, I only did it two times. How many of you believe that Stephen only did it two times? Would you raise your hand? I have a bridge I want to sell you. I said, Stephen, you are going to take that trash all the way to the dumpster. I want to trade my job. That's your job. You're going to do your job. Now, can I tell you something? You've been given a job. It's to take out my trash. Would you get over there and get rid of it, all right? You've been given a job also, all right? As a Christian, you have a job. In a family situation, you have a job. And what you need to do is you need to determine, I'm going to do the job that God has given me, because you know why? It's your job. It's not anybody else's job. It's your job. So in the home, as the man of the house, God's given you a responsibility. You ought to fulfill your job. You ought to love your wife. You ought to train your children. You ought to provide for your family. There's a job that you have, OK? Can I tell you in a church setting, You ought to take your job serious. I don't know what your job is, but you ought to take it serious, and you ought to do your job. You've heard me say this before, and I don't mean to sound like a broken record, Most of us, most people in this auditorium, you're a volunteer for Christ, okay? You work a secular job, God's blessed you, and you come, but you volunteer here, okay? Church family, as a volunteer, I don't feel like I put pressure on you. I'm not gonna get on you. Now, some pastors, you know, they feel like, you know, that's their responsibility. But I look at it this way. You're volunteering for the Lord Jesus Christ. You ought to do your job, all right? If you don't do your job, I'm gonna do what all pastors should do. I'm gonna make sure it gets done anyway. But you know what? God's given you a responsibility. It's your job. All right, so quick, the idea of work here is that they did their work. One last thing and I'm done. Look, turn to chapter number six and we'll be done this morning. Look at verse number 15, Nehemiah 6 verse 15. So the wall was what? Finished in the 20 and fifth day of the month, Ebol, in 50 and two days. Keyword finished. You know, church family, the idea of working. Can I just remind you that one day we will be finished and it will be worth it all. This is not a rest. It's not a time for us to slow down. I know the whole world has been put on hold, but God's not on hold. We've got to keep doing what we're doing. And I know that we've had to switch things around because of what's been going on, but can I tell you something? Things are starting to pick up. And this train is going to start picking up motion again. It's going to start chug, chug, chug. Steam's going to start coming out. Soul winning ministries are going to start picking up. Choirs are going to start picking up. All the Sunday school classes are going to start picking up. Bus routes are going to start picking up. Prison, jail, all those, everything, slowly but surely. You know why? It's because we have a finish line. And I want to tell you, we've got to make sure that we don't give up. But in the idea of knowing thy kingdom come, that this thing is going to finish, that we've got to keep the work going until the Lord comes back, until he calls us home, one of the two. Hey, work is a good thing. It's not a bad thing. So may it be for us. May it be for our children. But when we get the idea, hey, listen, we've got to work. Can't be lazy. We've got to work.