All right, let's take our Bibles tonight and go to Nehemiah chapter number one. Nehemiah chapter number one. And we'll begin in verse number one. And let's stand as we look into God's word this evening. Nehemiah chapter one, verse number one. The Bible says here, The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakeliah, and it came to pass in the month of Shishlu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan, the palace of Hanani, one of my brethren came, he and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down, and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven. Father in heaven, we thank you now, Lord, for this time in your word. We pray that you would bless your word We ask for the Holy Spirit's power to be upon us, Lord, that our minds will be focused on You and Your Word. And I pray, Lord, that You would use me as only You can. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. So here we are in Nehemiah chapter number 1. I want to just begin by giving some of the background of where we find ourselves in Nehemiah chapter number one. The Babylonian captivity that took Daniel and his three friends out of Jerusalem into Babylon began about 160 years or so before Nehemiah chapter one. It's been 90 years have passed since the Jews began to return back to Jerusalem. This is the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes. And so here we are, and this is where we find ourselves in Nehemiah chapter number one. And Nehemiah says there that he was in Shushan the palace. Shushan is a city, it was an ancient city that is in modern day Iran. near the Iran-Iraq border. Think of that area there. That's where we find ourselves geographically. So who was Nehemiah? Well, Nehemiah was born into captivity. He was born not in Jerusalem. In fact, Nehemiah has never been to Jerusalem here in Nehemiah chapter number one. Yet, as a Jew, he loves his people and he loves his country. And he receives a report of what has happened in Jerusalem. And it's given to him by Hananiah's brother, And what he gets is terrible news of the conditions in Jerusalem. And that does something in Nehemiah when he gets that news. It puts a burden in his heart. And that's where missions really begins, is with a burden. A burden that God places in a Christian's heart. And so this evening we're going to look at the burden for missions. It's not the burden of missions because the work of missions is not a burden, it's a blessing. but it does require that there be a burden that God places in someone's heart. So missions, again, begins with a burden. We have to ask ourselves, was Nehemiah a missionary? Well, I guess not in the technical sense of someone going to propagate the gospel, but he was sent on a mission by the Lord. God gave him a mission to do. And that burden, that mission, if you will, was to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem. And so that's where Nehemiah finds himself. Again, he is far removed from Jerusalem. But he is in... a position of relative comfort and privilege. Even though he's in captivity, for him, life is a little easier than it might be for others at that time. He's in the king's palace, he is the cupbearer of the king. So he's taken care of, he's well fed, he's housed, he's clothed, all of those things. It wouldn't necessarily be his first choice, but relatively speaking, for the conditions of that time, You know, it's a place of comfort and privilege for him. And for many of us, we get to a place in our lives where we get comfortable, and we get in familiar surroundings, and we never want to leave those things. And so, for Nehemiah, you know, in the condition he finds himself in, he would have to ask himself, why would he ever want to leave what he's always known? His current situation, yeah, it might not be perfect, but it's what he's always known. And why would he ever want to leave that? And for many of us as Christians, we let our current situation keep us from moving for God. We get too comfortable with where we are. And we get so familiar with a place that if God were to say, okay, I want you to go, we'll never go because we're too comfortable with where we are. And so if Nehemiah were as settled as many of us get, then he never would have left to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. So what happens to Nehemiah is his eyes and his ears are opened to what's going on in Jerusalem. Again, he's never been there before, but his eyes and his ears are opened to the conditions in Jerusalem. Remember what Jeremiah said in Lamentations 3.51, he said, mine eye affecteth my heart. So what Jeremiah saw affected his heart, and what Nehemiah heard about Jerusalem, that affected his heart. And that's where, really, missions begin. That's where missions begin. It begins in the heart of a Christian, who maybe hears of a place, or sees the conditions in a place, and God begins to stir that missionary, or that Christian. Stir them for that particular place, those particular people. And that's exactly what happens to Nehemiah, and again, that's what happens to any missionary today. They might be in a church service like this, and they might hear about a place. Maybe it might be somewhere overseas, it might be somewhere in America, but they hear about a place. And God begins to work in their hearts to move, to do something about what they have seen or heard. And so Nehemiah is motivated to take action. And he doesn't just sit back and think, well, that's too bad. I'll pray about what's going on there. And he's motivated to actually take steps to accomplish God's will in Jerusalem. You notice here how Nehemiah was motivated. Let's look at verse 4 again. After he gets this report, it says, And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." So first of all, Nehemiah was motivated to pray. And the first step when it comes to missions is not really to go, but it's to pray. God wants us to be people of prayer and to pray about the people that we either hear about or read about the people that we see from afar, the conditions they live in, especially spiritual conditions they're in. We need to pray for those people. It's very important that we as Christians be people of prayer. Jesus asked his disciples to pray. He gave them a prayer request in Matthew chapter 9. It says, then saith he unto his disciples, a harvest truly is plenteous. But the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." We need to be praying that God will continue to send laborers out there into the world, into the harvest field that we have been called to. We need to pray for more laborers. I have heard from every single missionary that has been asked this question, what do you need? And they will say, we need laborers. We need people to do the work. That's exactly what Jesus asks his disciples to pray for. Pray for laborers. Pray that God would send more people. But here's the thing. When you pray that prayer, do not exclude yourself from that prayer. So many Christians pray that prayer. They pray and ask God, Lord, send more laborers, but dear Lord, please do not send me. And they pray that prayer, and that's a prayer that I don't believe God will answer. You say, Lord, send the laborers, but Lord, I'll never go myself. Lord, don't send me. We cannot exclude ourselves from that prayer for laborers. And laborers doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be front and center, that you'll be the missionary or the church planter, but maybe you'll come alongside and help the church planter or help the missionary. Go on a missions trip. I think missions trips are invaluable, and I wish that I've never been on one before. And I would really like to go on one. Maybe somewhere down the road the Lord will provide an opportunity. My wife has been on several mission trips, one to South America, and I think one or two to Europe. And the conditions, what you see there when you go on a mission trip, it opens your eyes. It's one thing to read about it in a prayer letter, but to actually be there and to see it face to face is something totally different. So even if it's not as the actual missionary sent out, to go simply as a help for a period of a few weeks, that's invaluable. So we do need more laborers, and we need to pray because we cannot do this without Him. Every time we go out and take a step without prayer. We're doing it without Him. Jesus said, in John 15, 5, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. So we need to be people of prayer. We need to pray for our missionaries. It's very important. Pray for the people they're trying to reach. Pray for their families. Their families need our prayers. Pray for the ministries they have. But we do need to pray for our missionaries. But also pray about God wants you to do, and then do it. Pray and ask the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do when it comes to missions? Or do you want me to give more? Do you want me to go? Do you want me to go temporarily just to be a help to a missionary on the foreign field or somewhere around the country? But whatever it is God wants you to do, once you know what that is, you need to do it. That's what Nehemiah did. Let's go over to chapter 2, verse 11 and 13. So Nehemiah knows what God has put in his heart. He doesn't just sit back and do nothing. He actually takes action. So, Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 11 through 13, it says, Neither told I any man what my 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 well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire." So Nehemiah was not only motivated to pray, he was also motivated to prepare. Yes, we need to pray, but we also need to prepare for whatever work God has called us to do. When missionaries do this, we call this survey trips. When a missionary goes to their field and they survey the area that God has called them to, they go and they find out, okay, what is this place like? What am I getting myself into? What are the costs of coming here? Counting the costs is very important. Jesus said in Luke 14 28 for which of you intending to build a tower Sitteth not down first and count of the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it It's very important that we be prepared because we want to finish doing not we want to finish the work God gives us especially when it comes to missions who want to finish the work So it's not a matter of us wanting to finish the work. It's a matter of how we prepared enough to do so and Have we prepared ourselves enough? Are we prepared financially, physically? Are we prepared spiritually, most of all? Are we prepared for the work of missions? And are you strengthened for the work of missions? Have you strengthened your hands for the work that God has called you to do? Because if you drop down to verse number 17, of Nehemiah chapter 2. The Bible says, Then said I unto them, Ye 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. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. And missions is a great work, the work of getting the gospel around the world. When it comes to this work, many times we do not have enough to get this work done. We do not have enough people to get this work done. Too many Christians sit back and do nothing, expecting the work to happen, expecting someone else to do the work. Always saying, well, someone else will do it, and never taking that burden upon ourselves. You just look at our nation right now. Look where we are as a country. It did not happen by accident that we are where we are today. The way that the public schools are, the universities, our politics, our culture, entertainment, sports, business, all of it. None of this happened by accident. Just in the last few weeks, I heard the story of the hockey team, the Philadelphia Flyers, one of their players, they had a pride night. So the players were required to wear jerseys with the pride colors on them. And one of their players refused to do so. He stood up and said, oh, I can't do that. And that's where we are as a nation. And it didn't happen by accident. It happened because we as Christians have not done the work that we have been called to do. We do not have enough hands for the work that is ahead. We have not strengthened our hands for this good work. We have not prayed and asked God, Lord, give us the strength to go out into the world and do this work, because this is a good work and it is a hard work. And the work that Nehemiah faced was very hard. To rebuild that wall was difficult, but it was a good work. And Nehemiah, he faced opposition. And we have faced opposition in our culture. Everything in our culture today stands opposed to the Word of God. So when we get up and preach that there are only two genders, that is in direct opposition to our culture today. For now there are 57 plus, and the list keeps going. When the Bible says, male and female created He them. There's only two, there's male and female. And marriage, Marriage is between one man and one woman for life. That's God's design. Well, the culture says the exact opposite. It's whatever you want it to be. It can be temporary, whatever you want. That truth has been completely undone in our culture today. The truth about salvation. There is only one way to heaven. That has been undone. The truth of creation. It's the most obvious, most basic truth. You don't even need a Bible to understand that. There is a Creator. And yet that truth is attacked every day in our public schools. Every single day. Our kids are taught to believe that they are in accidents. They're not here with a purpose. They're not here by design. And we wonder why there's so much violence. But if you tell an entire generation of people you're nothing but an animal, what are they going to do? They're going to act like animals, with no morality, no moral compass. And so every truth of the Word of God is in direct opposition to what the culture says. And so there's opposition, and we face opposition. But Nehemiah also faced opposition. If you turn to Nehemiah 4, verses 1-6, you see this opposition here. The Bible says here, But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we built of the wall, he was wroth. That means he was angry and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." You see this opposition here. They're mocking them, they're angry with them, they're ridiculing them. Tobiah says that a fox will run up that wall and it'll just crumble. Mocking their work, basically telling them, you can't do this work. It's impossible. You can't do this work. And they didn't like what Nehemiah was doing for God. and they had determined to stop Him. And notice Nehemiah's response here in verse 4. He says, Here, O our God, for we are despised. We have to remember that right now in our culture we are despised if we stand up for what the Bible says. If we don't want to be despised, then we don't have to be. We can blend right in to the culture and kind of just fit in and be comfortable. But if we're going to stand up for the truth of God's Word, and what this book says, and what God says, if we're gonna take a stand for that, then we are gonna be despised by our culture. We are. We're gonna be mocked, we're gonna be ridiculed, we're going to be made fun of, people are gonna be angry with us. We have to be determined to finish the work in the face of that. Nehemiah says, for we are despised, and he says, 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 their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders." Notice he didn't say, they have provoked us to anger. He said, they have provoked thee to anger. Nehemiah wasn't angry with them, but God was angry with them. And then he said in verse six, so built we the wall, And all the wall was joined together into the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work. I love that phrase in verse number six. The people had a mind to work. They were determined to finish the work that God gave them to do. They weren't going to let anything stop them. And Nehemiah was motivated not just to pray, not just to prepare, but finally to persevere in the face of opposition. Satan opposes missions. Satan wants to stop what we're doing in Riverside. He wants to stop every missionary that you support. He wants to stop you from supporting missionaries, whatever he can do, to get you to stop being involved in the work of missions. He throws everything at you. And he throws everything at us to stop what we're doing in Riverside. Satan does not want there to be another Bible-believing church started in the city of Riverside. or anywhere for that matter. And so he does all he can to stop it. And he uses things to stop us, to intimidate us. He uses our culture, our politicians, schools, media, whatever it might be. He uses discouragement. He throws things in the way to get us to stop. And many times we have allowed ourselves to be stopped. We have forgotten what the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3.12, which says, "...yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." When trouble comes, we should expect it. We shouldn't be surprised. When we're doing the work of God and we're faithful in that work, again, it doesn't mean that you're halfway across the world. Maybe you're just giving faithfully right here through your local church to missions and Satan comes along and throws something in the way. Maybe there was a, you know, you lost hours at work. And you think, how can I keep giving the missions when I'm struggling? Or the price keeps going up, whatever it might be, especially if eggs or gas, whatever it is, it keeps going up. And you're thinking, Lord, how can I keep giving the missions? How can I give my faith promise to missions when everything keeps going up? And Satan wants us to be discouraged. He wants us to throw in the towel. He wants us to quit. And when somebody mocks us personally. If we try to give them a gospel trap, and they take it and they crumple it up and throw it on the ground right in front of us, or they just rip it up, or you knock on that door and they say, no thank you, and they slam that door right in your face, or they make fun of you. It's real easy, in the face of that, to just want to give up. But we need to continue rather than cower. When we do that, when we continue in the work, God is glorified when we do. God is glorified. Let's look at chapter six, verses 15 through 16. So Nehemiah has faced all this opposition, but the people and Nehemiah are determined to finish the work. And look at verse 15 here of Nehemiah chapter six. So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God." Nehemiah and those Jews, they were faithful to the end. They were faithful. And for missions to work, we need faithful Christians, faithful churches like this one, giving, praying, helping missionaries, faithful missionaries who will stick it out, who are not just going to give up at the first sign of trouble. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4, 2, moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. God is looking for faithfulness in stewards. You might be asking the question, well, what am I a steward of? Well, you're a steward of the gospel. If you're a Christian, you have been given stewardship of the gospel, that gospel message that Christ died for our sins, that he rose again the third day for our sins. That gospel message is entrusted to every one of us who are saved. We are personally responsible for it. We cannot pass it along to someone else and say, well, they'll do it, so I don't have to do it. Or the missionary will do it, so I don't have to do it. No, we have all been entrusted with it. And if we're faithful to the end, even those opposed to us will have to acknowledge what God has done. Because in Nehemiah's case, even his enemies had to perceive that the work was wrought of God. Because his enemies had determined to stop him, and they couldn't stop him. And only God could do that. Only God could see them through. And it says that they were much cast down in their own eyes. They knew that they had stood up to God and lost. And if we are faithful to the end, then those who oppose us, that will be their response as well. And even they will have to acknowledge what God has done. Even politicians who are dead set against what the Bible says will have to acknowledge what God has done. We are faithful to the end. God's glory must be our end. God's glory, not our own. If we're going to Riverside to promote ourselves, then God will put a stop to that, because God's not going to share His glory with us. God must be glorified in our lives. And He is when we are faithful to the end. We get to the end of Nehemiah, there was a great revival that took place. They opened the book, they read of the law, the people responded to the law. There was a great revival that happened. Why? Why did that revival take place? Well, it started back when Nehemiah was determined, I'm gonna go finish this work. In the face of all that opposition, when things got really tough, Nehemiah could have thought to himself, you know, this just isn't worth it. I'm going to go back to Shushan. This is too hard. I'm going to go back where I won't face Sanballat and Tobiah. If I know Sanballat and Tobiah is over there, I'm going to go back to what I know. For the missionary, when they are on the forward field and they have a tragedy take place, something happens. There's some opposition. Maybe it's from the government. Maybe it's from a group that is opposed to what they're doing. And they could say, well, we're going to go home, back to America, where everything is easy. It's much easier there, so we'll go back there. But if we continue in the work, God will be glorified. And again, God's glory must be our end. And that end begins with a burden. That's where it began for Nehemiah. And every missionary, that's where it begins. That burden then leads to motivation, motivated to take action. That motivation leads to work, and that work leads to God's glory. And what do we want to see happen in Southern California, as well as Northern California, and all throughout California? What do we want to see? We want to see souls saved. We want to see them baptized and discipled, so that they can go out and do the same work. That's God's method. It always has been and always will be until the rapture. This is God's method right here for the church to be involved in this work until we're no longer here. And that can happen in California. That can happen in this state. And a revival will happen in America. It might need to start in California. They say what happens in California works its way across the nation, right? And it's always in a negative light, right? Some crazy law we pass here, our legislature passes here, it works its way all across the country. Some terrible policy that gets put in place starts here and then it works its way across the country. What about if revival broke out here? And that worked its way across the country. Where is that going to begin? It's not gonna begin with them out there. It's gonna begin with us. Our hearts, where are our hearts? Remember God said, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and seek my face, then, and turn from their wicked ways too, turn from their wicked ways, humble themselves, seek my face, then will I hear and then will I heal their land. It begins with us. Judgment must begin at the house of God. So the things that we're praying for, what we want to see happen, especially in our home state, what will we pray about? We pray for revival. Where is that going to start? It has to start with me. I can't even rightly say it has to start with you, because it has to start with me, not with you, but with me. That has to be every one of our attitudes, that, no, it doesn't start with my pastor, it doesn't start with my fellow church member there across the auditorium, it begins with me. Revival has to start here in my own heart. That's what happened at the end of Nehemiah. A people came back to God. But that began with Nehemiah. If Nehemiah had said, I'm not going to do this work, or I know what you're calling me to do, but I just can't do it, it's too hard, God. It's too difficult. I can't do it." Well, there would have been no revival. Or if Nehemiah had started out right, but in the middle said, God, this is getting too hard. I quit. I'm going back to Shushan. I cannot finish this work, Lord. Someone else, Lord, I cannot do it. It's just too hard. The opposition is too much. And he would have quit, and there would have been no revival. That's where it begins.