Alright, if you've got the scriptures with you, we're going to invite you to turn again to Nehemiah in chapter 4 and we continue in part B of discouragement, its source and its solution. We noticed the source last Tuesday and Tonight we're finishing this section on the solution. Very simple solution, a very effective solution. And we're going to read together from Nehemiah chapter 4 verses 10 to verse 23. Nehemiah chapter 4, I trust that the new environment for the Bible study won't be a distraction. I think it's actually quite enhancing, and I trust that we will know the Lord's blessing as we meet in the sanctuary tonight around God's Word. Nehemiah chapter 4, and we're reading from verse 10, and this is where the source of discouragement. These first few verses are the words of someone who's been discouraged. in the work. And Judah said, the strength of the bearers of burdens is diminishing, decayed, failing. 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 ye shall return unto us, they will be upon you. Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them, Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one onto his work. And it came to pass that from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the haperjuns, and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens, with those that laid it, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded, and he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, the work is great and large, and we are separated unto the wall, one far from another. In what place thereof ye hear the sound of the trumpet? return or resort ye thither unto us, our God shall fight for us. So we laboured in the work, half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us and labour on the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving every one, put them off for washing. Amen, and we trust that the Lord will bless that reading of his word to our hearts. We talked just a little bit last Tuesday about the source of the people's discouragement, the source of their discouragement, and we suggested a number of things. But just to paint the picture, perhaps you weren't here last week, Just to paint the picture, Nehemiah had received this plea from his beloved land and the walls were down and the temple was in decay and destruction. And we picture that as being the center of worship, the center of praise, the center of spiritual activity where people offer up praises and thanksgiving and the labor for the Lord, and they're involved in seeking to see the kingdom of God extended, to see the people of God nurtured for the glory of God, and to see all of that, just like a church setting, you may as well say. And so there, Nehemiah had this vision, and very, very quickly we see how God worked and made things available, and we see him back in Jerusalem. And he's not there very long. After surveying the walls, he's not there very long, until we see them building at a very, very fast rate. But, of course, as we've said, whenever God's doing a work, the enemy's also busy. And I will say this to you, that as you seek to build the kingdom of God in your home, or in your heart, or in your community. It's just as real a fight as it is in this church, or in any church, or in any community. The battle's the same. The devil doesn't like to see the kingdom of God been extended. In fact, he's the kingdom of God. He's the arch enemy of anything that we'll seek to do for God. And as I've often said, sometimes I believe that we think that the enemy's not real. He's very real. We battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. And I'm going to put this to the test. How many times have you sought to maybe do something for the Lord? How many times have you perhaps made up your mind or decision that you're going to maybe step out for the Lord and maybe a row happens at the home? Or some dispute happens in the workplace? or something happens somewhere else and you immediately get discouraged. And the first thing you think about is that you want to throw in the towel and give up. The battle is very real. The battle is very real. Paul says we're not... I see some of you doing this, so maybe I'll do this here. Is that any better? Paul says that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places. The problem with our enemy is we can't see him. And the playground of the enemy is the mind. The playground of the enemy is the mind. How many times have you thought, I wonder why did they look at me like that? Why did they say that? Why did that happen? And I would believe very, very definitely that eternity will reveal the close sheaves that we had with the enemy in our labour for the Lord. And how opposed he was, he's the arch-enemy. Do you know what it means to be an arch-enemy? He exists to oppose the kingdom of God. He wants to build his own kingdom. So whether you're trying to establish a kingdom in your home, in your own heart, or in your own community, or in the church, the battle's the same. The battle's the same. So of course they're building and they're seeing the work done, and of course then the enemy seeks to bring in discouragement and he seeks to do it from without. And we mentioned that quite comprehensively in the past. Now we see the discouragement and obviously then the opposition from within. And we've seen that their strength was depleted. They were tired out. As I've often said, if the devil can't stop you, he'll drive you. I know that, I'm sure you know that too. And their energy, they were not resting, they were not taking rest. Jesus has come apart and rest a while. And you have to be very careful not to get into the trap of feeling guilty when your hands aren't doing something. I grew up in the environment, I may as well be honest and tell you, I grew up in the environment where Christians used to tell me, God doesn't take a holiday. And the devil wouldn't want you to take a holiday either. And sometimes we think that we have to be flat out all the time, and if we're not doing something, we need to be very careful. And I preach to myself, we need to be very careful that we don't get into the trap that if we're not doing, if we're some way taking some relaxation, that some way we feel guilty, because the enemy would want you to feel guilty. That doesn't mean to say that God blesses the sluggard. And I wouldn't want you making the excuse, well God told me to take a rest for a while. He didn't tell you to take a year off or a half, six months off twice a year. So you need to be very careful that you're living and working and you're honoring the Lord. And seeking to work for Him. But nevertheless, their strength is depleted. And in verses 10 and 11 we notice that their vision was disappearing. They shall not know, neither shall they see. They're looking at the obstacle. They're listening to the lie. Remember we've talked about the Germans. The Germans, they practiced this in the Second World War. If you tell a lie big enough, often enough, people will begin to believe it. And they're halfway through. They had a mind to work. Verse 6. They had a heart to work. Their hearts were fully into it. Now, when we get to verses 10 and 11, they're giving up. Lord, we're buried under this rubble. I want to tell you, whenever you're entering from one dispute to another, from one difficulty to another within organisations or within church or within your home, within your community or within the work, you get buried under the rubble of disputes. And they're the thing that pulls the heart out of you. They're the thing that you wonder, what am I doing this for? It's almost like one step forward, two steps back. And that's not a dance. It's almost as if the enemy's pushing us back. By the way, I remember the first time I said this and the pulpit used to be here. Does anybody remember that? And I gave the pulpit a wee bit of a shake and it nearly fell apart. And I said, that must be prophetic. And of course, guess what? But remember, I was trying to give you an illustration of what Jesus said. I will Build my church. And what's the next little phrase? And the gates of hell shall not prevail. Well, prevail means you're trying to hold back the forward march. In other words, the church of Jesus Christ is not to be on the back foot. The church of Jesus Christ is to be on the forward foot. And it's the enemy that's supposed to be trying to hold us back. Of course, the enemy wouldn't want you to see the progress that you've made. The enemy wouldn't want you to think about that you're halfway there, because they were halfway there. Verse 6, they were halfway there. They were halfway around the walls. They had as far to go forward as they had to go back, or they had as far to go back as they had to go forward. And sometimes when you're about to break into victory in those aspects that you're facing in the battle of your life, it's then that the battle grows the fiercest. It's then that the battle grows the fiercest. And so their vision was disappearing. We have to ask ourselves, why did we start and what did we start for? Well, it's for the glory of God. We'll see that in a few moments. It was that His kingdom be extended. It's not about me. It's not about you. It's about us. It's about seeing his kingdom extended. And so their vision was disappearing. They'd listened to much of the lies of the enemy and their confidence was deflated. Notice that wee phrase there, verse 10 of chapter 4. Notice that wee phrase that says there, we are not able anymore. They just don't think they can make it. Starting off with the song, Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war, and the great gusto and encouragement and enthusiasm in the work of God. Let it be in your walk, let it be in your home, let it be in your heart, let it be in your school, let it be in the university, or let it be in the workplace, let it be in your community. We are supposed to be involved all of us together. Don't look at leaders. Don't look at organizational leaders. Don't look at those who are at the head of each organization as being the ones that's doing the laboring and we're the ones behind. We're all involved. All involved. Every one of us. So they've lost heart now. their confidence was deflated. And I'm gonna give you the four secrets now, as we look at them in God's word, as to how and what Nehemiah did. But before we do that, would you turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 30, and we'll get a little idea of what we should do, even from David. Now just before we go into these four secrets of their encouragement, 1 Samuel chapter 30, and David does it, but Nehemiah is an example of what David does here. 1 Samuel chapter 30 and verse 6. Ziglag has been taken captive by the Malachites. The village, the town is burned down and their belongings have been taken captive by the enemy and the people that were with David were about to stone him. Verse six, and David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters But David encouraged himself in the Lord. David encouraged himself in the Lord. We need to learn a wee lesson here. When things aren't necessarily going the way we think they should go, we start to point the finger of blame at everybody and anybody. Furthermore, when we turn on each other, we start then to become nasty and we fail to see that the one behind this was the enemy. And what had taken place, David's men became distracted because of their grief and frustration. But David didn't allow the distraction. He didn't allow the finger pointing. He didn't allow the condemnation. He didn't allow the blame. He didn't even allow the sense of failure. He didn't allow the sense of the fact that his family was taken. David encouraged himself in the Lord. What does that really mean? He encouraged himself in the Lord. He reminded himself of who God is. He reminded himself of who God is. And listen, God says, I will work a work and who will let it? And we need to remind ourselves again, before we get into these four secrets, that God is the sovereign Lord. He is captain of the host of the army of God. He said, I will build my church and we shall have the victory. Ask yourself who was going to accomplish the work anyway? It was never going to be our ability. Well here's the first thing then, the first encouragement as he gets them refocused on what they're about. He gave them all a common goal. Look at verse 13. He gave them all a common goal. Look at verse 13. Therefore set I the lower places behind the wall on the higher places and on the higher places. I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears and their bows. Nehemiah saw the people were separated, fragmented. It was you in your small corner and I in mine. And there was perhaps suspicion, there was misunderstanding because they weren't communicating. They were too far apart. And when you think of the work of God, if there's one thing the work of God needs is unity. Now we have this sentimental kind of romantic idea of what unity is, that everybody's all gusto and everybody's all happy and jolly and we're all loving each other and giving each other a holy hug and all of those things. But unity, unity is far deeper than that. It is people, listen, it is people who have maybe different tastes, maybe different backgrounds, different ideals, even different ideas. And they come together because they have something of more supreme importance in finding and gaining and getting their own opinion. And that's the work of God. That's the kingdom of God. Why are we in Abbots Cross? What are we here for? Why has God established this church on the Duke Road? What is our goal? What's our common goal? They were broken up and all that they could see was the work was scattered. Nehemiah reorganized the work. He teamed up people into the same families, and the same neighbours, around one common goal. And as I said earlier, one of the reasons that the work of God, the discouragement in the work of God is because, and I'm speaking globally of course, it's fragmented. Denominationalism, territorialism, traditionalism, factionalism, Racialism. Sometimes you'd almost think that we're working against each other and not with each other. Even in local areas, our pastor's better than your pastor. Our preacher's better than your preacher. Our circumstances is better than your circumstances. We have better music. We've got a better bond. We are more contemporary. We are more relevant. We are more whatever. And so there can come that kind of, what would I say, that contention, simply because of our carnal opinions and ideas. I had a conversation with a minister recently, and we were talking about church planting. And we asked, why would you go church planting in Northern Ireland? I mean, there's so many evangelical churches. Now I don't get it, maybe you get it, but we're tipping over. How many churches did you come past on the way here today? And how many evangelical churches? So maybe you're not looking at it the way I look at it, but I think of the Republic of Ireland. I often question the Lord, Lord, you've got a southerner in the north in the plague country. And yet there are vast streams of people down south who have no evangelical witness. I know the Congregational Union would be very interested in doing some church planting. And Philip, I'm sure, can verify that. but we're not doing it. I know a fellow called Jerry Nugent. I must pass you on some of his text messages that he sends me. He's doing evangelism in the little villages. He goes out and he visits a whole community, gets the loan of the community hall if they'll grant it to him, and he'll do some gospel outreach. And I want to tell you, it's a miracle after the amazing things that he's doing. And he's doing it because he's doing it for the glory of God. It's a small band of people praying around him. And I want to tell you, I would love to have him here to give his testimony. Maybe he'd be a wee bit uncouth for you, but I tell you, it takes the kind of him to go into the areas that he's going into. Are we not here, first of all, to nurture the people of God, to nurture, to further, to foster fellowship? Are we not here to reach out to our community with the gospel? Are we not here to encourage one another in the things of God? Is that not our calling? Are we not here to fulfill the Great Commission, God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance? There's lessons for us all here today. Because of the family of God being separated and divided, broken up into scattered parts, the enemy was finding a way in. No one to encourage the other. And everybody felt alone and lonely in the little patch that they were doing. But notice what Nehemiah said. He had a trumpeter beside him. You'll find that in verse 18, I think, from my memory. If it's not 18 somewhere. Yes, he said in verse 18, For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet. And you'll find the same thing in verse 20. He demanded to blow the trumpet. What is the trumpet? The trumpet is the gospel message. That's our common goal, to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should never get our eyes off our goal, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save on the cross of Jesus Christ. He said, we preach Christ crucified. That's our goal, folks, isn't it? We're not here to build up kingdoms, are we? It's amazing how easily kingdoms get built up. And then when something happens, it's as if a nuclear bomb has gone off. We're more taken up with what happens my reputation, our reputation, than we are about what happens to the gospel. We don't need to go too far away to churches that are fighting the bit out over who wants whose opinion. I'm not going to mention names or places. That's not my place to do that. But I wonder, whenever a row or a fight breaks out in various organizations or churches, have they lost the vision? Have they forgotten the rallying cry, the gospel of Jesus Christ? Well, we are to rally around, not a man like Nehemiah, but we are to rally around Christ, the captain of the host of the army of God. That's the first thing. That's the first thing that he did. He gave them all a common goal very quickly. He gave them a unified focus. Look at verse 14. Look at verse 14 of chapter four. A unified, and I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, be ye not afraid of them. Remember the Lord. Follow with me. Isn't it one of the tactics of the enemy to get us to focus on the disasters, the failures, the flops, the debris, the stuff that happens in churches. Isn't it one of his tactics to get us to focus on the things that breed negativity? Remember I said that the devil works in our minds? That's his playground. to lose focus, to begin to seek to persuade us that it's futile, that we're more focused on the problems and the problem makers than we are on the problem solver. It got them to focus on the Lord. We need to look to the Lord if we're going to guard against discouragement. You see, if you look to Christians, you'll be discouraged. If you look to preachers, you'll be discouraged. If you look around at each other, you'll be discouraged. If you look at yourself, you'll be discouraged. But who can ever say, As I looked to the Lord, I became discouraged. David encouraged himself in the Lord. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 20. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. And we're going to read an amazing story, verses 16 to verse 17. Jehoshaphat, absolutely and utterly surrounded by the enemy. There is no hope of their succeeding or surviving. And the vast army is coming against them. And they did the one thing that most of us don't do. 2 Chronicles chapter 20, I think it's verse 16. After they have sought the Lord and asked for a way out, God gives them clear direction. Tomorrow, go ye down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz. And ye shall find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves. Stand still. and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you." Remember we said that they had lost their confidence. Now we're finding from Jehoshaphat and the people of God that they're beginning to recognize, they're beginning to discover, they're beginning to refocus. Nehemiah, and by the way, every one of us ought to be a Nehemiah, not just one individual or the other. Every one of us should be a Nehemiah. We should always be encouraging others. When you hear somebody getting all negative, when you hear them getting all kind of... Whenever I enter into a conversation, I'm just like you sometimes, I can complain as well. I know you wouldn't have thought that, but I can complain as well. And then whenever I'm halfway through the conversation, you know what? God will always remind me of a little verse concerning Peter and John. Whenever he's after pointing at John, or he's after speaking to Peter and telling him the kind of life and the kind of end that he's going to take, and Peter says, well, what about him over there? I like the reply. Does everybody know it? Do you remember it? What's that to thee? Follow thou me. And this is one of the things that we need to discover. Often times God allows us to feel. Because he's a lesson to teach us. He's a lesson to teach us. And sometimes we can get slightly big headed. And sometimes he allows us then to be humbled by the circumstances that we face. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord. Remember Peter was out on the waters and he was walking on the water. He's been victorious. And then the next thing there was a huge wave or whatever and I don't know what took place. But the next thing we see, he took his eyes off the Lord, and they began to sink. See, the enemy will want me to look at the faults that's in your life. And the enemy will want you to look at the faults that's in my life. And I have to say, I have much of a hope, because I have about 300 people looking at me every Sunday. I mean, you can have a bad day at work, and I wouldn't know anything about it. And I can have a bad day here, and you all know about it. If a poor critter did the best he could. And sometimes I've discovered something about you folks. When it's not so good, it's then that you're the most encouraging. Isn't that right? You go out of your way to encourage us. Well, I appreciate that. And I also notice that as well. But the enemy, and sometimes it's the enemy within, what he'll want to do is he'll want you to start looking at the faults and failures, the weaknesses. the disappointing aspects of your life, and to point them at each other. Sometimes, I'm not going to say sometimes, I am so glad that God doesn't condemn me. Aren't you? He knows we are human. I like what Nehemiah did here. He said, forget about those faults. Forget about those disagreements. Bring them to the Lord. Why do we find it so difficult to bring our faults and our weaknesses and our misdemeanors and our grievances? Why do we find it so, so difficult to just say, I'm sorry. Will you accept my apology? Let's move on. Have you understood why yet? Because the enemy wants it that way. That's the way the enemy wants it. Because if you're talking about me, and if you're talking about each other, and you're criticizing somebody to somebody else, you know what you're doing, don't you? You're driving, you're allowing the enemy to drive a wedge. And here's what I've discovered. You mightn't realize it, but what you're doing is you're creating a division. I want to be very careful how I say this. From what I understand of the work of the Holy Spirit, He can be so easily grieved, because He's sensitive. And when one part of the body suffers, in God's eyes, we all suffer. And here's Nehemiah, I don't know what's been going on, Judah has said, they've been saying 10 times, 10 times they've said, this is a pointless fight, just let the rabble go there, they're worthless anyway, what's the point in going through all this pain? And I'm sure, as I said last week, Nehemiah could just as easily went back to Shushan, and he could just as easily went back to work for Artaxerxes, where he was the main man. But what does he do? And I'm sure his leadership was up for scrutiny as well. But what does he do? Would you ever get your eyes off the negative things that have been said? Now, I take the point in Galatians. If you see your brother error, you go in love and you correct him. That's what my Bible tells me. And if he persistently, continuously does not deal with the issue, you take somebody else with you. And then if he consistently and persistently fails to do anything about it, then you bring it to the church. The last place you take it is to the church, not the first place. That's what my Bible says. God expects you and me to be mature enough to deal with things in a mature fashion as we portray the grace, the mercy, and the person of Jesus Christ. And what did he say to the woman caught in adultery? I mean, the Lord said she should be dead. But he looked around and he said, he that's without sin cast the first stone. And I've discovered something also, sometimes on people that I've met way in the past, I'm in the Lord's work, Esther reminded me, you're in the Lord's work more than 30 years, do you realise that? You said 25 years there, I said 25 years plus, but it's actually, it's more like 30 years plus. I started about ninety-eight weeks ago, did you know that? That's why you've all aged. And the way back, I learned a way back, a way back at the beginning, sometimes when people are pointing the finger, they just tend to cover for their own failures. They had a unified focus. Let's get our eyes back on the Lord. The old hymn is right. O pilgrim bound for the heavenly land, Never lose sight of Jesus. It's all about Him. A common goal, a goal, a unified focus, a balanced approach. Verses 15 to 17. Verses 15 to 17 of chapter 4. And it came to pass when our enemies heard that there was no one unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, everyone unto his work. And it came to pass from that time forth that half of my servants wrought in the work, and the half of them had shields and spears and habergeons. And so here we have people, some of them are into fighting, and some of them are into building. Now he's saying, listen, we need to get a unified focus and we need to take a balanced approach. Everybody has to take the role and the responsibility given them seriously. There has to be a balance in continuing the work of the Lord and you have to be prepared to fight so that that work will continue. a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. Each fights for their particular issue nowadays and we've all got our own little petty themes and we've all got our own ideas and our own ideals. But I believe that Nehemiah said, listen, You have to set aside your petty ideas and your petty themes and get a hand on the trowel and a hand on the sword. You see, some people might believe in serious doctrine and theology, and I believe in it myself. And others might believe in a more casual, more contemporary approach. And you can focus on one and the other can focus on the other. Some can see the devil in everything and some can see no harm in anything. We have to have a balanced approach to the work of God. A balanced approach. In all our fighting, let's fight for the truth. Notice, please, turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. verses 14 and verse 24. 2 Timothy chapter 2. 14. And of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Verse 24. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach and patience, rather than always pulling each other down. Let's build each other up. Here's what Alan Redpath says, if Satan gets Christian people involved in controversy at the expense of capturing souls for Christ, he has secured a master stroke. Men spend their lives in so-called defensive truth and defensive position and neglect the main task of building. They fight over hair-splitting matters of doctrine while souls are perishing. And here's the last thought. An others-orientated occupation. Look not on every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. It's easy when we're encouraged in the work that we're doing, to forget about those that are not being encouraged. And what Nehemiah did, as he went round the people, he went round the nobles, he went round the builders, the ordinary common people, and he encouraged them. And he said this, even if nobody's fighting for you, God is fighting for you. Can I ask you this question? We're essentially selfish people, deep down in our hearts. And all we have to do is ask a few diagnostic questions as to whether or not we are others-orientated people. Let me ask a few questions. What are you going to do this week that lays ahead of you to help others? I thought it was a wee moment of inspiration on Sunday night when we were trying to bring the challenge to turn to someone and ask them, what would you have me pray for? It was interesting how many people asked me, what do you have? And I was stumped I had that many different answers I wanted to give. And I asked three people. And I got an insight into where people are. They were very honest. One person said to me, I would really love that you'd pray for guidance for me. I need God to clearly guide me as to where he would have me involved in the church. I thought that was great. I think that's a good habit to get into. To stop being inward looking and self-orientated. to start being outward looking and be others orientated. And I'm not talking about you wee circular. Aren't we creatures of habit? How many times? Here's maybe something you could do this incoming year, because rarely enough, sit in a different place next Sunday. Well, I'll tell you a wee secret. This is good advice. I'm going to let you into a wee secret, all right? I'm not pulling a wee church down. I love my wee church. God is me here. Whenever we came here at the beginning, some of my family came and they were just in the general congregation. Somebody said, that's my seat. Now that might happen, but I would pray and trust that it won't happen. But why don't we get to know each other? How can I pray for you? We're the kind of people of habit where we'll go to a wee circle of friends and they know us in and out. Go to somebody you don't know and say, my pastor told me to, I'm not telling you to barge with them now. Don't you dare barge with them. If anybody barges, you come and tell me, won't you? And I can name them from that pulpit there on Sunday. But what I am saying, let's become others orientated. What have you planned that's not around yourself this week? What would you do if you saw someone who's quite sad and sullen and you're aware that they've had a tough time, maybe coming up to the mark? Would you join the posse that has their worst that's listening to the gossip? Or would you go to them and say, I want it. This is all you have to do. You don't have to go into the details. You don't ask them nothing. Just say, listen dear, God's put you in my heart. I want to pray for you. Are you overwhelmed by the task that's in front of you? whether it's in the work, whether you're involved in demanding jobs, some even in life-threatening jobs or life-saving jobs. Maybe some people are working with difficult people at work and you're at your tether's end. Whether you're a mother changing nappies, a managing director moving companies, a minister of the gospel seeking to prepare sermons, or a missionary on the field, you can let the work of God get to such an extent that it becomes a disadvantage, and you easily and quickly become discouraged. Rather than giving up and throwing in the towel, get some advice from Nehemiah. He encouraged four things. Get a common goal. This one thing I do, says Paul. Get a unified focus. Don't look to the Christians around you. And don't look to yourself. Get a balanced approach. And serve others. Serve others. And it's not very long to see the workers going. And within 50 some odd days it's finished. But the opposition continued. But now they're better and stronger for having listened to the servant of the Lord. This is very good practical advice. This is what Nehemiah did, and I think we would do well to copy his practice. We're going to sing another song, Alfie, if you can make it. Alfie's the band tonight. Let's just bow together in prayer before we go on. Father, we thank you that there's ample advice for us. Lord, you were very aware that the enemy would come against us. You were very aware that the enemy would seek to prevent us and stop us and hinder us. You were very aware, Lord, that the enemy would try to infiltrate us. You were very aware of all of that. Lord, there's nothing new under the sun, as the Word of God says. And we would pray, dear God, that you would make us wiser and make us mature in our walk with you. And we pray that you will help us to apply your truth to our hearts, to take it as God says, as the truth that sanctifies us. We pray your blessing upon us now, in Jesus' name. Amen.