October 6, 2025 • 46 mins
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Christian Warrior Mission trains believers to stand firm in a collapsing world.
We are a discipleship ministry, home-based warrior church, and working farm that comes alongside local churches—not to replace them, but to strengthen them by equipping men and women to lead, protect, provide, and disciple according to God’s Word.
We train across the Seven Battlefields:
Faith • Family • Fitness • Fundamentals • Finances • Fellowship • Fidelity
This is not a place for spectators, excuses, or passive Christianity.
This is where believers learn to pick up the Sword of Scripture, fortify their households, and lock shields with other warriors in Christ.
We build households that stand. We strengthen churches. We prepare saints for real-world battle.
No retreat. No surrender. Christ is King.
Join our Live Warrior Church Service Tuesday Nights at 8 pm EST on X, YouTube, Facebook, Rumble, and LinkedIn.
Daily Bible Studies Monday- Friday on X, YouTube, Facebook, Rumble, and LinkedIn
About the Host:
Jason Perry — former Navy SEAL, SWAT officer, and paramedic; CEO of Trident Shield; Pastor of Christian Warrior Church. From a 44-acre homestead, Jason trains believers to meet spiritual and practical threats with courage, clarity, and a shepherd’s heart.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
Welcome to the Christian Warrior Mission.
Happy Lord's Day to you.
Welcome to our home church,community, ministry, and farm
forging Christian Warriors fortoday's challenges.
Advance on every front, everyday.
No excuse, no retreat.
All right, some things comingup.
Put on your calendar.
Reformation Day, Friday the31st.
(00:48):
I made an executive decision.
We are going to do it on Friday,not Saturday.
And let the chips fall wherethey may.
So come on over.
We'll do dinner and fire and allthat stuff and trick-or-treater
games here.
And it'll be that instead of anice little afternoon thing.
But I'm not surrenderingHalloween to the Dark Forces,
(01:10):
which are all going to be out onthat day.
We will be here cranking Jesusmusic, dressed in righteous
costumes, showing people thatyou don't have to be a hooker on
Halloween or a sexy devil or youknow, a pregnant nun or a zombie
or an axe murderer.
And I'm sure there's gonna besome tasteless Charlie Kirk uh
(01:31):
costumes out there.
So don't come here, it won't endwell for you.
So um, but for all of us, we'llhave kids dressed up as cows and
pigs, and you know, Lauren willbe a milkmaid and whatever.
We'll I'll I'll put on thishelmet.
So there you go.
All right.
So we're not gonna surrenderthat.
It'll be here Friday, the 31stof October, Reformation Day,
(01:56):
which is the day that MartinLuther nailed his thesis on the
Catholic Church doors, whichstarted the Protestant
Reformation.
Okay, just so happens that it'salso Halloween.
So the same, they're both on thesame day.
So we're gonna do that.
The other thing is this week,Lauren and I are gonna sit down,
(02:19):
we're gonna iron out uh thetriad and shield guardian
trainings that we're gonna do,which is teaching godly
disciplings, combatives, whichis striking, grappling, pistol,
rifle, fundamentals, situationalawareness, and biblical
relationships.
All in one weekend.
All right.
So we're gonna do that, andwe're gonna do that here, and
then we're gonna do it on theroad.
(02:39):
So be looking for that.
Some things that we do here,okay.
Those of you who have beenfollowing us know that we
deliberately live the Christianwarrior life.
Okay, we deliberately live theChristian warrior life, and we
pursue the following (02:54):
faith, family, fitness, finances,
fundamentals, fellowship, andfidelity, all in a godly way.
We submit our lives to thoseseven battlefields.
Okay, now some of you out thereare still doing the challenge
with me, but it's no longer thechallenge.
We've changed that.
I've done massive remodeling toit.
Now it is just the Christianwarrior life, right?
(03:17):
That's what we do.
The first 90 days is theforging, so everyone can go
through that and you'll becoached along the way.
There's no more scoring, no moregrace tickets, no nothing.
Post when you want.
Now, obviously, if you only postonce every six months, your
life's gonna continue to suck,and you're gonna be like, why
(03:38):
does my life suck?
Well, it's because you suck andyou're not doing things like you
said you were gonna do.
That's why.
So, and and if you're wonderingwhy your life's getting great,
it's because you're doing itevery day.
That's why you're submitting toyour Lord and Savior, you're
putting faith first, Bible,praying, family.
(03:58):
Why are my relationships sogood?
Oh, because you're actuallydeliberately investing in them.
That's why.
Why is your fitness better?
Oh, because you're making sureyou're working out every day, or
at least getting 10,000 steps orwhatever is a lot for you,
right?
Why are finances getting better?
Well, because you got rid of the$2,000 a month in auto drafts
that you have for things thatyou don't use anymore.
(04:20):
Fundamentals, why how are youbecoming so useful?
Well, you've decided todeliberately make yourself
useful.
You're learning skills, okay?
Um, fellowship.
Man, my life's getting so good.
I got so many godly friends,they're all dragging me straight
to heaven.
It's great.
Instead of, man, my life sucks.
(04:41):
Everyone wants to go out anddrink and do drugs and all this
stuff, and I don't know why, Idon't know why I feel so bad.
Oh, it's because you hang outwith ticks and hellions that are
trying to drag you back into thethe sewage that we pulled you
out of.
Okay, that God pulled you outof.
All right, other Christianspulled you out of, and then
(05:04):
fidelity.
Why does anyone trust me?
Because you're not a man of yourword.
You haven't kept your word toChrist, you haven't kept your
word to your spouse, you are abetrayer.
But not if you deliberatelypursue fidelity.
See, there's random reason tothis stuff, all right?
(05:26):
So that's what we do here.
So you can find that on Patreon.
Just look at Christian MoyneMission and join.
And it's a 90-day thing that youon-ramp, but it's something you
should be doing for the rest ofyour life, and that's basically
what we're treating it as.
And it's not, like I got rid ofall the suck factor, it's a
support group.
That's all it is, is a supportgroup.
(05:48):
Right?
The support group can sit thereand say, Bran, you, you know,
I'll pick an easy one.
Man, I really haven't feel likeI've, you know, grown in the
Lord.
Well, you've posted nothing forfaith for the past 30 days.
Maybe you should get in yourBible, right?
Whereas when you see other theother thing that's so great is
(06:11):
we got men on there and women onthere being so vulnerable,
talking about kids withtraumatic brain injuries and how
they're dealing with it afterthey've gone off to the military
and come back, and fightinglifelong sin patterns of their
self.
Right?
Like people honestly workingthrough stuff that you can learn
(06:31):
a lot from.
You can learn an awful lot from.
So join it.
Join it.
And and and stop wanderingaimlessly like you don't have a
destination.
It's like getting in a car anddriving, you don't know where
you're going.
You need to know what you'reaiming at.
That's what this is.
It's about deliberately walkingit out.
(06:52):
Okay, done with my rant on that.
Now to Warrior Catechism weekseven.
We believe in catechism.
Why?
You need to know what youbelieve and how to defend it.
Okay, so I'm gonna skip thefirst six and just go to seven
because we're late because ofthe Charlie Kirk memorial.
(07:13):
All right, Warrior, what is yourarmor?
Okay, the belt of truth, thebreastplate of righteousness,
the shoes of the gospel and theshield of faith, the helmet of
salvation and the sword of thespirit, fortified by persistent
prayer.
Okay, now if you read yourBible, none of those should be a
uh surprise to you.
(07:34):
So, warrior, what is your armor?
Belt of truth, breastplate ofrighteousness, shoes of the
gospel, shield of faith, helmetof salvation, sword of the
spirit, fortified withpersistent prayer.
Last time, Warrior, what is yourarmor?
The belt of truth, breastplateof righteousness, shoes of the
(07:55):
gospel, shield of faith, helmetof salvation, sword of the
spirit, fortified by persistentprayer.
All right.
Let's go ahead and go to prayer,shall we?
Almighty God, commander ofheaven's armies, you alone are
our refuge, our fortress, andour faithful creator.
(08:16):
We come low before your throne,confessing that our walls have
crumbled, where we have beenprayerless, careless, and proud.
Forgive us for our sins of theheart and of the household.
Clean us by the blood of Jesus,renew us in a right spirit.
Spirit of the living God, fallfresh upon us.
Awaken holy sorrow that leads toreal repentance.
(08:39):
Stir courageous faith that praysbig prayers and obeys without
delay.
Bend the hearts of rulers asstreams of water in your hand.
Teach our hands to war and ourfingers for battle, sword in one
hand, trowel in the other, sothat everything we do today
magnifies in the name of Jesusand strengthens your people.
(09:02):
Set a watch over our lips, unityin our ranks, and joy in our
labor.
Establish the work of our hands,establish it for the honor of
Christ our King.
Amen.
Now, that is a specific sermonfor what we're going to talk
about today, which we arestarting the book of Nehemiah
today.
Right?
Nehemiah, it's the amazing book.
(09:25):
It's one of my favorite books.
Top three favorite book of theBible because it is so relevant.
And uh, and we'll go over whythat is.
But if you're looking for anexample on why we should pray,
that isn't as elaborate as thatone.
Well, our Lord Jesus gave usone.
I'm not going to teach it, butI'm going to go through it
today, as we always do.
(09:47):
Matthew 9, or sorry, 6, 9through 13.
Okay, and I'm reading out of theLegacy Standard Bible, but you
can read out of the ESV oranything you want.
Here we go.
Pray then in this way, ourFather who is in heaven,
hallowed be your name, yourkingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily breadand forgive us our debts, as we
(10:11):
also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us intotemptation, but deliver us from
the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and thepower and the glory forever.
Amen.
Alright.
So we also talked last week on anice orderly way to pray, which
was Axe ACTS.
Or eight, yeah, ACTS.
(10:31):
Right?
Yes.
It's been a long week.
I can't even spell Axe.
I got it right.
I'm gonna write.
Okay.
All right.
So today's sermon is calledNehemiah from Ruin to Resolve,
from Nehemiah 1.
All right.
Now, Nehemiah is in the OldTestament, you know, and it is
(10:54):
was often, well, it was part ofEzra.
You know, this, you know, a lotof people don't know that, but I
believe it was part of Ezra fora long time.
Um, it's been separated.
But here we go.
Nehemiah is not just a historybook, it's a field manual for
rebuilding God's people whilesurrounded.
The city is broken, enemies jeerfrom every side, and yet in 52
(11:19):
days, a wall rises because ofwhat because one man wept,
prayed, planned, and worked witha sword in one hand and a trowel
in the other.
This is how households and homechurches fight against the
darkness.
Not by rage or retreat, but byrepentance, scripture,
(11:41):
disciplined prayer, stubbornobedience, and action.
It's real easy, as we coveredlast week, the uh the wickedness
of the Charlie Kirkassassination.
The memorial was today, it wasrunning here, and uh that's why
we were a little late.
We were waiting for PresidentTrump to be done.
(12:03):
Um, and in that, I told you whathow we win by doing small
things.
Okay, by doing the small things,by little acts of kindness and
good is how we push back againstthis.
But we have to deliberately doother things as well.
All right, this is going to be amassive project.
You're gonna see Nehemiah doover the next few weeks as we go
(12:25):
through it.
It's an amazing story withcharacters and a cast, and you
know, it's not like someabstract teaching.
This is this is great stuff.
So, again, let's do it.
So, in Nehemiah, we will learnthe following.
This is gonna cover everythingfrom as we go forward.
We'll learn to pray first.
(12:48):
Arrow prayers in con in inbattle.
Pray arrows, okay?
Your prayers are arrows.
Face the rubble, honestreconnaissance without excuses.
Look at your life.
Why does it suck?
Okay, look at it.
What sucks in your life?
What part are you refusing tolook at?
(13:09):
That corner right there.
In this room, okay, build andwork as families.
Every household owns a sectionof the wall.
You'll see that.
Guard the work, watchmen.
A trumpet rally, watchmen areset, guards are set.
(13:33):
Everyone is responsible for thefamily's protection and rally
when you hear the trumpet.
Do justice inside the camp.
There is no revival withoutrepentance and repair.
Okay?
If you've got a cancer in yourmix, you've got to fix it or
else it will kill you.
(13:56):
Ignore the bait, refusedistractions.
I am doing great work and cannotcome down.
That's what you need to say.
I'm doing great work.
I'm not gonna be distracted.
You are working for the king,you're not gonna get pulled off
into something worldly.
And be renewed by the word.
Read it, explain it, weep overit, walk in it.
(14:18):
This manual is household first.
Before Nehemiah challengesnations, he assigns families to
rebuild the stretch of the wall.
Before the city sings, thepeople confess.
Before strategies andsupplication, before strategies,
sorry, supplication.
(14:39):
Prayer is out to the Lord tointervene.
Charles Spurgeon said, prayer isthe slender nerve, small tiny
nerve, that moves the muscle ofomnipotence, which is God.
Prayer is the small tiny nervethat moves this giant muscle of
omnipotence, which is the Lord.
Nehemiah shows us how that nerveflexes.
(15:02):
Private tears become publiccourage, hidden fasting becomes
visible fortitude.
So if you feel outnumbered,outshouted, or hemmed in by the
darkness, take up this book.
Learn to turn lament intoleverage, scripture into
strategy, and ordinary homesinto fortified outposts of
(15:23):
light.
We are not building monuments toourselves, we are raising gates
for the king.
Now let's open the manual andmarch line by line.
So before we start, let me setthe stage.
(15:58):
Well, the first third is notthat.
I'd say that the next probablythird of the Bible is betrayal
of Israel, betraying Godforgiving them repenting, God
forgiving them, re remakingthem, and then them betraying,
(16:21):
and then getting smacked down,and then repenting, and then God
forgiving them and bringing themback, and over and over.
This is one of those.
So they were exiled out ofIsrael for covenant treason.
We see this in 2 Kings 17.
(16:44):
Uh, 2 Kings 17 25.
Yet in sovereign mercy, Yahwehstirred a Persian king or
Persian kings to repatriatethem.
We see this in Ezra 1:1 andProverbs 21.1.
The temple rises under, there'sa rubber bell.
Holy smokes, don't make me saythat too much.
(17:04):
In Ezra 1 through 6.
The world revives under Ezra inEzra 7 through 10, but
Jerusalem's walls lie shattered,a symbol of vulnerability and
divine reproach.
Enter Nehemiah, cupbearer inPersia's citadel, transformed
into God's field marshal for afortified rebuild.
(17:27):
How does this point to Christ?
Nehemiah foreshadows theultimate rebuilder, Jesus
Christ, who gathers scatteredexiles into his church.
Through his blood, he erectsimpregnable walls of holiness,
demolishing sin's strongholds,and establishing a city whose
gates never shut to therepentant nations.
(17:50):
As Reformed theology teaches us,this is all of grace.
Christ initiates, sustains, andperfects the work.
So, in 60 seconds, warriors ofthe cross.
Today we stormed the gates ofNehemiah, God's covenant people,
fresh from exile, had rebuiltthe temple, but Jerusalem's
walls and gates were rubbleheaps, inviting raids, shame,
(18:13):
chaos on the city, bear on thecity bearing Yahweh's name.
Picture all the rape, plunder,murder, crime that we saw in
this country with our openborders, except it's much
smaller in location.
It's not a giant nation.
We're talking about a reallysmall one, one town.
Picture New York City or Chicagoon its worst day.
(18:38):
Nehemiah, an elite operative inPersia's palace, so he's a
cupbearer for the king, which islike a bodyguard for the king.
Okay, it's not just he justdrinks.
He is one of the most trustedpeople of the king.
Receives intel, breaks down intears, fasts, and unleashes a
(19:00):
barrage of prayer.
God deploys him to rally theranks.
Prayer fuels plans, confessionclears the field, and the
families lock shields to fortifythe breach.
This saga mirrors Jesus, oursovereign builder, restoring
ruined souls and communities foreternal glory.
In this series, we'll drill downon rebuilding our families, our
(19:21):
church, and our nation, God'sway, with sword in one hand and
trowel in the other.
Yahweh chose Israel as hisvanguard to illuminate the
nations.
We see this in Genesis 12, 3 andExodus 19, 5 through 6.
They mutinied, covenantsshattered, prophets silenced,
judgment fell.
Assyria raised the north in 722BC.
(21:06):
Babylon torched Jerusalem andthe temple in 586 BC, exiling
Judah.
Persia overruns Babylon in 539BC.
A divine providence turns pagankings into allies for Jewish
return.
Ezra through Nehemiah era.
That's where we're at.
The timeline, I already justwent over that.
(21:33):
So where are we in Nehemiah 1?
Susa, Persia's winter fortress,Nehemiah the king's cupbearer,
right?
Again, this trusted, almost likebodyguard, high clearance intel
roll under our tax Xerces.
Okay.
He hears the walls are breached,the gates are torched, God's
(21:54):
people exposed and shamed.
And his response is lament, youknow, sadness, fast, prayer,
confessional, confessingnational depravity, claiming
covenant grace.
Okay?
The cast of characters,Nehemiah.
He's a lay strategist, meaninghe's not some great general.
(22:14):
He later becomes governor andhe's a model for vigilant
leadership.
He is the guy we all want towork for.
He's really, really, reallygreat leader.
Ezra, a priest scribe, a lawenforcer.
You'll see her in Nehemiah 8.
Our Tax Xerxes, pagan overlord,providentially swayed.
(22:35):
God softened his heart to dothis, you'll see.
Sandbalat, Tobiah, and Geshem.
These are any command enemycommanders from Sumeria, Amon,
and Arabia, mockers andsaboteurs.
And then Elisheib, high priest,later exposed for compromise in
(22:57):
Nehemiah 13.
Why the walls matter?
Security, no walls, raidersplayground, like poor's national
borders borders that are we arestill dealing with that chaos.
The identity, rubble mocks God'shonor.
A call to conservatives todefend biblical values against
cultural erosion.
Worship, stability securesSabbath, festivals and temple
(23:22):
life.
Right?
You can't do any of these holythings when you've got chaos
going on around you.
Injustice, gates, which havebeen burned, host verdicts and
mercy, rebuilt and restorerighteous order.
Okay.
The spiritual problem behind therubble.
Physical decay exposes spiritualsabotage, idolatry, injustice,
(23:46):
and sabbath neglect.
Nehemiah launches from theprayer trench, not the brick
pile.
True warfare is spiritual andphysical.
As Calvin notes in hisinstitute, Institutes, human
depravity demands divineinitiative.
We confess to alignment God'selecting grace.
So here we go.
So prayer in Nehemiah, rightnow, what we're going to cover.
(24:09):
Prayer and deployment, versesone and two, wall assault three
through six, people reformationseven through twelve, and purge
compromise 13.
Themes to listen for as we getready to read this.
Providence, kings' hearts turnlike water in God's hands.
Prayer as warfare.
(24:31):
Every offensive starts in theprayer bunker.
Covenant repentance, corporateand personal.
Owning your sin, owning yoursin, owning total depravity is
the beginning of everythinggood.
Word-centered renewal.
Hear, understand, and obey.
(24:51):
Resolve under fire, externaltaunts, eternal betrayal, and
steadfast command.
You must be resolved under allthose.
Reforming the front lines,Sabbath, marriage, finances,
government, all under scripture.
Why this matters today?
Today's breaches look likeprayerless families and moral
(25:11):
relativism, compromise worship,and fatherless homes.
Nehemiah drills us, lament theruins, confess the sin and the
depravity, volley God's promisesin prayer, strategize, build
with eternal vigilance, reformunder the word, ranks, fall in,
repent, rally, request, rebuild,defend the perimeter.
(25:36):
Our children's legacy demandsand depends on it.
So here we go.
Nehemiah 1 through 4.
Nehemiah prays for the sons ofIsrael.
The words of Nehemiah, the sonof Hakalah, Hakaliah.
I should want to cut my tongueout sometimes.
(25:57):
Now it happens in the month ofChislev in the 20th year, and I
was in Susa, the capital, right?
That Hananai, one of mybrothers, and some men from
Judah came, and I asked themconcerning the Jews who had
escaped and remained from thecaptivity about Jerusalem.
(26:17):
They said to me, the remnantthere in the province who remain
from the captivity are in greatcalamity and reproach.
The wall of Jerusalem is brokendown and the gates are burned
with fire.
Now it happens that when I heardthese words, I sat down and wept
and mourned for days.
And I was fasting and prayingbefore the God of heaven.
(26:41):
Anani's report, walls down,gates of flame, great troubled
reproach, public humiliation,God's name is being dragged
through the mud.
Nehemiah collapses, weeps,mourns, fasts, and prays.
A true warrior's intel sparksholy grief, not hasty action.
Again, that's how much to thesepeople and how much it should
(27:05):
matter to us of how holy and howmuch we should love God.
That here is his city beingcompletely dishonored.
And he hears that and it crusheshis very soul.
Proverbs in Psalms, uh, in Psalm137, 5 and 6, exile, Zion tears,
(27:32):
and then in Proverbs 17, 20,broken spirits have strength,
but godly sorrow fuels fight.
Church Father, John Chrysostom,tears siege heaven's gates.
Our tears siege heaven's gates.
Application, scout yourbreaches, your family are your
family altars crumbling.
(27:53):
Is your church outreach stalled?
Is your nation's morals eroding?
Grieve righteously.
Let it forge resolve.
As Americans, we mourn culturaldecay, but advance with biblical
blueprints.
All right, we all suck in someway.
I'm gonna say it.
I suck in more ways than most.
(28:15):
Okay, there are parts of yourlife that are absolutely a
catastrophe.
And you don't want to look atthem, and you don't want to fix
them, and you'll work onanything other than that,
because that's where your sinis.
That's the part you don't wantto touch, that's the part that's
too hard.
You don't have a city withoutwalls and gates.
(28:35):
All you have is a crime-spewnplace where people happen to
inhabit, where everyone'svictimized every day.
Same is for you.
Sin is assaulting you.
It's got places it loves to hidein your life that you refuse to
bring the light of God to.
(28:56):
Find them, fix them.
Nehemiah 5 through 10.
There's only 11 verses, okay?
So you guys are gonna get out ofhere easy.
I said, I beseech you, ohYahweh, the God of heaven, the
great and fearsome God who keepsthe covenant covenant and loving
(29:17):
kindness, for those who love himand keep his commandments.
Let your ear now be attentiveand your eyes open to hear the
prayer of what?
Your slave, which I am prayingbefore you today, day and night,
on behalf of the sons of Israel.
The sons of Israel, your slaves,confessing the sins of the sons
(29:39):
of Israel, which we have sinnedagainst you.
I and my father's house havesinned.
We have worked in utterdestruction against you, and
have not kept the commandments,nor the statutes, nor the
judgments which you commandedyour servant Moses.
Remember the word which youcommanded your servant Moses,
(30:02):
saying that if you areunfaithful, I will scatter you
among the peoples.
Okay, so we're gonna pause rightthere, pick it up in verse nine.
Here is Nehemiah owning hisentire ancestry's sin, saying, I
(30:23):
have sucked, my family hassucked, my people have sucked,
we have betrayed you, you havedone right by us, we have done
wrong to you.
We are sorry, we repent, we ownit, we don't deny it, we don't
justify it, we don't come upwith a million excuses on why it
happened.
(30:43):
We own it, we say we sucked,we're sorry.
That's what all of us need to dofor one another.
That's what all of us need todo, and you would find
resentment melt away, you wouldfind relationships restored.
(31:04):
Owning your mistakes takes awaythe power to be used against
you, and that's what he's doinghere, and then he's gonna quote
God's promise back to him.
But again, so again, Mosessaying, If you are faithful, I
will scatter you among thepeoples.
Verse nine but if you return tome and keep my commandments and
(31:27):
do them, though those of you whohave been banished were at the
ends of the sky, I will gatherthem from there and will bring
them to a place that I havechosen to call to cause my name
to dwell.
There they are your slaves, andyour people whom you redeemed by
your great power and your stronghand.
(31:49):
All right.
Again, he is doing what Paul hasdone and called himself, I am a
slave to Christ.
And what we see other disciplesdo, I'm a slave to Christ.
Because you're owned by him.
So Yahweh, God of heaven, greatand awesome.
Theology arms the warrior,covenant recall.
Nehemiah owns the his owncollective depravity for his
(32:12):
entire people.
We in my house have sinned.
Confession raises inner forts.
Verses 8 and 90 claims promises,scattering for sin, gathering in
mercy.
Sola gratia, God restores theundeserving.
(32:33):
Proverbs 28:13, confess formercy.
Contrite hearts, God honors.
We see that in Psalm 51:17.
Church Father Augustine said,confession unlocks mercy's
vault.
Okay, when you confess tosomeone, you unlock the vault of
(32:55):
their heart for forgiveness andgrace.
Total depravity demands covenantgrace.
We contribute nothing but sin.
Drill corporate repentance.
Families.
Unite against shared treason.
(33:17):
Arm prayers with scripturepromises.
Load and fire without cease.
It's talking about prayers.
Firing without ceasing.
Own where you're failing.
Own your godlessness.
Own everything around you thatyou can affect.
(33:40):
And that's happened before youbecause sin is generational and
is passed down.
You have to break the sin chain.
And then pray those prayers andpromises.
God restore us.
Save I come to you humbly.
(34:01):
Recognize Jesus as your Lord andSavior.
Repent, and you will berestored.
And then the last verse,Nehemiah 1:11.
Oh Lord, I beseech you.
May your ear be attentive to theprayer of your slave and the
prayer of your slaves whodelight to fear your name and
make your slave successfultoday.
(34:23):
And grant him compassion beforethis man.
Now I was the cupbearer to theking.
He's getting ready to go to thecupbearer.
I mean, as cupbearer to theking.
And you'll see in the nextchapter, he's going to ask to
leave court and to go fixJerusalem.
But that's the story's for nextweek.
(34:44):
Grant success, compassion beforethis man.
Our tax Xerxes, and I am sure Iam saying that wrong, or our Art
of Xerxes, Artiserces, maybe?
Who knows?
If I showed it to you, you'd belike, holy smokes, might be
manipulated by Yahweh.
Mighty yet manipulated byYahweh.
(35:04):
Nehemiah's post, strategicoutpost for kingdom ops.
Proverbs and Psalms, Proverbs21, King's heart channeled.
And then plans granted.
Jerome said, Providence plowsscepters like soil.
(35:24):
Meaning God's providence willmove kingdoms.
Your vocation is a forward base.
Where you work, what you doevery day, who you interact
with, leverage it for Christadvance.
Pray ball specific requests.
Watch for God open doors.
(35:47):
So some things we need to dodoing the book, during the book
of Nehemiah moving forward thatI recommend.
Five-minute recon.
Think about your household.
Spot one breach, whether it'syou're not doing family
devotions and then neglected it,right?
You're not praying as a family,you're not singing as a family,
(36:08):
you're not talking about God,you're not catechizing.
Whatever it is in your home,you're not doing that for
yourself.
Never mind your kids.
Bombard it.
Bombard it.
Confession drill, 10 minutes.
Read Psalm 51.
As a family, name we sins, sinsthat your family's been doing.
(36:29):
And then I sins.
Okay, things that you've beendoing.
I recommend you write downDeuteronomy 33 through 4 on your
word journal.
Fire it into the darkest times.
Again, list we sins, familypatterns, and I sins personal,
then confess to God as fittingto one another.
(36:52):
So if you've sinned againstsomeone, say you sinned against
them.
I'm sorry, please forgive me.
Done.
Now if they bring it up inanother argument, they're
sinning.
It's been dealt with.
So here's what I recommend youdo for family as a family, or if
you don't have a family byyourself.
(37:12):
Read one uh Psalm 103.1, andwhich is really short.
Bless, you know, but you'veheard it in a lot of Psalms.
In the LSB, it's bless Yahweh,oh my soul, and all that is
within me, bless his holy name.
And your Bible probably says,Bless the Lord of my soul, all
(37:33):
that is within me, bless hisholy name.
Okay.
Read one Psalm proverb orsection.
Pray.
Each person offers one sentenceof confession, thanks, and
requests.
So when you're praying as afamily, each person, if they're
old enough and they understandit, says one thing they did
wrong and they repent.
Okay.
Um, and then or a thanks or arequest, a prayer for God on
(38:00):
something to be to be asked for.
And then read number 624 overyour household, which is Yahweh
bless you and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face upon youand give you peace.
Marriage and parents, huddle twotimes a week, 20 minutes
(38:23):
minimum.
Confess to each other andforgive.
Choose one habit to rebuild thisweek.
Okay.
Husband and wives pray together.
It's the first thing that fallsaway with the Lord and I.
We we stop praying togetherbecause we're so busy.
We let the kids pull us indirections, schedules pull us in
(38:46):
directions, and we do not takethe time to lock hands and lock
souls to pray together, andthat's the most powerful thing
we have.
Okay.
And we do, you know, share ameal, share a meal with someone.
(39:06):
30-day household rule of life.
Focus on the seven battlefields.
Okay.
This week choose one habit perbattlefield.
Some examples.
Faith.
For prayer, kneel for fiveminutes each morning.
Kneel and pray for five minuteseach morning.
Even if you run out of things tosay, stay there.
Five minutes.
Period.
(39:27):
I got bad knees, I take mypurple pillow, put it on the
ground, that's where I do mine.
Okay.
No drama.
Read one chapter of the Bible,either alone or together, before
breakfast or after dinner.
Family confess and repent to oneanother.
I covered that.
We're just recapping this.
For fitness, walk 10,000 steps aday or whatever is a lot for
(39:48):
you.
Fundamentals, if you can carryconcealed, carry concealed every
day, everywhere.
Finances, track your spending.
Set first fruits giving.
If you're not being blessed, Iguarantee you, unless it's
because you're making a ton ofbad mistakes, if you're not
honoring God and you're notdonating to somebody somewhere
and using the kingdom, usingyour funds for somebody other
(40:10):
than you, somebody other thanyou, in God's name, that's your
that's what's going on.
Fellowship, call a friend everyday, tell them how much they
mean to you, and share thegospel.
And then fidelity.
Park your phones and your iPadsduring mealtimes, and no phones
(40:32):
during family worship.
Some famous quotes to go over,and then we'll do um, we'll pray
it out and then do Lord'sSupper.
So Charles Spurgeon, prayer isthe slender.
All right, I covered that onealready.
John Owen, be killing sin or itwill be killing you.
(40:53):
I love that.
Be killing sin or it will bekilling you.
Hudson Taylor, God's work donein God's way will never lack
God's supply.
Corey Tenboom.
Is prayer your steering wheel oryour spare tire?
Ouch, how does that one hurts?
Right?
Doesn't that hurt?
(41:14):
Go to God only when you get aflat tire and not oh where
you're going.
Oof.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Psalmsof the Prayer Book of the Bible.
JC Rao, prayer is the verybreath of spiritual life.
Matthew Henry, when God intendsgreat mercy for his people, he
first sets them praying.
And then C.S.
Lewis, relying on God has tobegin all over again every day,
(41:37):
as if nothing had yet been done.
So conclusion, Nehemiah 1declares ruins as God's rally
point.
There, warriors lament, confess,recall God's electing grace, and
petition the eternal commanderfor victory.
The rebuild begins in the prayerbunker and advances into the
(41:58):
breach.
Psalm 9017 says, Establish thework of our hands.
Sharpen blades, hoist trowels,orders, rise, build, hold the
line.
Lord of hosts, anchor us in yourcovenant mercy.
Make us quick to repent, mightyin prayer, steady in labor,
(42:18):
fearless in the face of mockery,and turn the hearts of rulers,
strengthening the weak, andestablishing justice inside our
gates.
For Jesus' sake, amen.
All right.
But a man must test himself, andin doing so is to eat of the
(42:40):
bread and drink of the cup.
Before we partake, let usquietly bow before the King of
Glory.
Let each man and woman, youngwarrior here search his or her
heart, confessing sin, layingdown burdens, preparing to eat
and drink, and a man worthy ofthe Lord.
Go ahead now.
(43:17):
Almighty God, Sovereign Lord ofhosts, we approach your table
today not because we are worthy,but because Christ is worthy.
We come not trusting in our ownrighteousness, but clinging to
the righteousness of JesusChrist alone.
We remember his body broken, hisblood poured out for the new
covenant.
We bow in humble gratitude.
We lift our hearts in reverentawe.
Sanctify this bread in this cupand sanctify us, your people, as
(43:40):
we proclaim the death,resurrection, and coming kingdom
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray in his mighty matchlessname.
Amen.
The Lord Jesus, in the night inwhich he was betrayed, took the
bread, and when he had given it,given thanks, he broke it and
said, This is my body, which isfor you.
Do this and remember to me.
Remember, this symbolizes hisbody, pierced, beaten, and
sacrificed for you.
(44:02):
Let us partake of the breadtogether and remember Christ's
body broken for us.
Go ahead and eat.
In the same way, he took the cupalso after supper, saying, This
(44:22):
cup is the new covenant in myblood.
Do this as often as you drink itin remembrance of me.
Remember, this symbolizes hisblood, the blood that perhaps
starts forgiveness and sealedthe everlasting covenant.
Let us partake of the cuptogether to remember Christ's
blood poured out for us.
Go ahead and drink.
(44:43):
For as long as you eat thisbread and drink the cup, you
proclaim the death of the Lorduntil he comes.
By this eating and drinking, wepublicly proclaim Christ has
died, Christ has risen, Christwill come again.
Let us pray.
Captain of real salvation, LordJesus Christ, you are seated at
(45:04):
the Father's right hand, andyour scepter stretches from
Zion.
Today we have wept, and now werise.
Take our grief and forge it intosteadfastness.
Make us doers of the word andnot hearers only, by the blood
of the Lamb and the word of ourwitness.
Teach us not to love our livesunto death, but to love your
name above all.
(45:25):
In Jesus' name we pray.
May the God of peace who trainsyour hands for war and your
fingers for battle, steady yourhearts in grace, fortify your
homes with truth, and surroundyour gates with his salvation.
May the Lord of Jesus, ourcornerstone and captain, go
before you, stand beside you,and guard your rear.
May the Holy Spirit strengthenyour knees in prayer, your minds
(45:48):
in Scripture, and your love inevery good work until the joy of
the Lord is your strength andevery breach is made whole.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
God bless you.
See you tomorrow.
Welcome to the Christian Warrior Mission.
Happy Lord's Day to you.
Welcome to our home church,community, ministry, and farm
forging Christian Warriors fortoday's challenges.
Advance on every front, everyday.
No excuse, no retreat.
All right, some things comingup.
Put on your calendar.
Reformation Day, Friday the31st.
(00:48):
I made an executive decision.
We are going to do it on Friday,not Saturday.
And let the chips fall wherethey may.
So come on over.
We'll do dinner and fire and allthat stuff and trick-or-treater
games here.
And it'll be that instead of anice little afternoon thing.
But I'm not surrenderingHalloween to the Dark Forces,
(01:10):
which are all going to be out onthat day.
We will be here cranking Jesusmusic, dressed in righteous
costumes, showing people thatyou don't have to be a hooker on
Halloween or a sexy devil or youknow, a pregnant nun or a zombie
or an axe murderer.
And I'm sure there's gonna besome tasteless Charlie Kirk uh
(01:31):
costumes out there.
So don't come here, it won't endwell for you.
So um, but for all of us, we'llhave kids dressed up as cows and
pigs, and you know, Lauren willbe a milkmaid and whatever.
We'll I'll I'll put on thishelmet.
So there you go.
All right.
So we're not gonna surrenderthat.
It'll be here Friday, the 31stof October, Reformation Day,
(01:56):
which is the day that MartinLuther nailed his thesis on the
Catholic Church doors, whichstarted the Protestant
Reformation.
Okay, just so happens that it'salso Halloween.
So the same, they're both on thesame day.
So we're gonna do that.
The other thing is this week,Lauren and I are gonna sit down,
(02:19):
we're gonna iron out uh thetriad and shield guardian
trainings that we're gonna do,which is teaching godly
disciplings, combatives, whichis striking, grappling, pistol,
rifle, fundamentals, situationalawareness, and biblical
relationships.
All in one weekend.
All right.
So we're gonna do that, andwe're gonna do that here, and
then we're gonna do it on theroad.
(02:39):
So be looking for that.
Some things that we do here,okay.
Those of you who have beenfollowing us know that we
deliberately live the Christianwarrior life.
Okay, we deliberately live theChristian warrior life, and we
pursue the following (02:54):
faith, family, fitness, finances,
fundamentals, fellowship, andfidelity, all in a godly way.
We submit our lives to thoseseven battlefields.
Okay, now some of you out thereare still doing the challenge
with me, but it's no longer thechallenge.
We've changed that.
I've done massive remodeling toit.
Now it is just the Christianwarrior life, right?
(03:17):
That's what we do.
The first 90 days is theforging, so everyone can go
through that and you'll becoached along the way.
There's no more scoring, no moregrace tickets, no nothing.
Post when you want.
Now, obviously, if you only postonce every six months, your
life's gonna continue to suck,and you're gonna be like, why
(03:38):
does my life suck?
Well, it's because you suck andyou're not doing things like you
said you were gonna do.
That's why.
So, and and if you're wonderingwhy your life's getting great,
it's because you're doing itevery day.
That's why you're submitting toyour Lord and Savior, you're
putting faith first, Bible,praying, family.
(03:58):
Why are my relationships sogood?
Oh, because you're actuallydeliberately investing in them.
That's why.
Why is your fitness better?
Oh, because you're making sureyou're working out every day, or
at least getting 10,000 steps orwhatever is a lot for you,
right?
Why are finances getting better?
Well, because you got rid of the$2,000 a month in auto drafts
that you have for things thatyou don't use anymore.
(04:20):
Fundamentals, why how are youbecoming so useful?
Well, you've decided todeliberately make yourself
useful.
You're learning skills, okay?
Um, fellowship.
Man, my life's getting so good.
I got so many godly friends,they're all dragging me straight
to heaven.
It's great.
Instead of, man, my life sucks.
(04:41):
Everyone wants to go out anddrink and do drugs and all this
stuff, and I don't know why, Idon't know why I feel so bad.
Oh, it's because you hang outwith ticks and hellions that are
trying to drag you back into thethe sewage that we pulled you
out of.
Okay, that God pulled you outof.
All right, other Christianspulled you out of, and then
(05:04):
fidelity.
Why does anyone trust me?
Because you're not a man of yourword.
You haven't kept your word toChrist, you haven't kept your
word to your spouse, you are abetrayer.
But not if you deliberatelypursue fidelity.
See, there's random reason tothis stuff, all right?
(05:26):
So that's what we do here.
So you can find that on Patreon.
Just look at Christian MoyneMission and join.
And it's a 90-day thing that youon-ramp, but it's something you
should be doing for the rest ofyour life, and that's basically
what we're treating it as.
And it's not, like I got rid ofall the suck factor, it's a
support group.
That's all it is, is a supportgroup.
(05:48):
Right?
The support group can sit thereand say, Bran, you, you know,
I'll pick an easy one.
Man, I really haven't feel likeI've, you know, grown in the
Lord.
Well, you've posted nothing forfaith for the past 30 days.
Maybe you should get in yourBible, right?
Whereas when you see other theother thing that's so great is
(06:11):
we got men on there and women onthere being so vulnerable,
talking about kids withtraumatic brain injuries and how
they're dealing with it afterthey've gone off to the military
and come back, and fightinglifelong sin patterns of their
self.
Right?
Like people honestly workingthrough stuff that you can learn
(06:31):
a lot from.
You can learn an awful lot from.
So join it.
Join it.
And and and stop wanderingaimlessly like you don't have a
destination.
It's like getting in a car anddriving, you don't know where
you're going.
You need to know what you'reaiming at.
That's what this is.
It's about deliberately walkingit out.
(06:52):
Okay, done with my rant on that.
Now to Warrior Catechism weekseven.
We believe in catechism.
Why?
You need to know what youbelieve and how to defend it.
Okay, so I'm gonna skip thefirst six and just go to seven
because we're late because ofthe Charlie Kirk memorial.
(07:13):
All right, Warrior, what is yourarmor?
Okay, the belt of truth, thebreastplate of righteousness,
the shoes of the gospel and theshield of faith, the helmet of
salvation and the sword of thespirit, fortified by persistent
prayer.
Okay, now if you read yourBible, none of those should be a
uh surprise to you.
(07:34):
So, warrior, what is your armor?
Belt of truth, breastplate ofrighteousness, shoes of the
gospel, shield of faith, helmetof salvation, sword of the
spirit, fortified withpersistent prayer.
Last time, Warrior, what is yourarmor?
The belt of truth, breastplateof righteousness, shoes of the
(07:55):
gospel, shield of faith, helmetof salvation, sword of the
spirit, fortified by persistentprayer.
All right.
Let's go ahead and go to prayer,shall we?
Almighty God, commander ofheaven's armies, you alone are
our refuge, our fortress, andour faithful creator.
(08:16):
We come low before your throne,confessing that our walls have
crumbled, where we have beenprayerless, careless, and proud.
Forgive us for our sins of theheart and of the household.
Clean us by the blood of Jesus,renew us in a right spirit.
Spirit of the living God, fallfresh upon us.
Awaken holy sorrow that leads toreal repentance.
(08:39):
Stir courageous faith that praysbig prayers and obeys without
delay.
Bend the hearts of rulers asstreams of water in your hand.
Teach our hands to war and ourfingers for battle, sword in one
hand, trowel in the other, sothat everything we do today
magnifies in the name of Jesusand strengthens your people.
(09:02):
Set a watch over our lips, unityin our ranks, and joy in our
labor.
Establish the work of our hands,establish it for the honor of
Christ our King.
Amen.
Now, that is a specific sermonfor what we're going to talk
about today, which we arestarting the book of Nehemiah
today.
Right?
Nehemiah, it's the amazing book.
(09:25):
It's one of my favorite books.
Top three favorite book of theBible because it is so relevant.
And uh, and we'll go over whythat is.
But if you're looking for anexample on why we should pray,
that isn't as elaborate as thatone.
Well, our Lord Jesus gave usone.
I'm not going to teach it, butI'm going to go through it
today, as we always do.
(09:47):
Matthew 9, or sorry, 6, 9through 13.
Okay, and I'm reading out of theLegacy Standard Bible, but you
can read out of the ESV oranything you want.
Here we go.
Pray then in this way, ourFather who is in heaven,
hallowed be your name, yourkingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily breadand forgive us our debts, as we
(10:11):
also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us intotemptation, but deliver us from
the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and thepower and the glory forever.
Amen.
Alright.
So we also talked last week on anice orderly way to pray, which
was Axe ACTS.
Or eight, yeah, ACTS.
(10:31):
Right?
Yes.
It's been a long week.
I can't even spell Axe.
I got it right.
I'm gonna write.
Okay.
All right.
So today's sermon is calledNehemiah from Ruin to Resolve,
from Nehemiah 1.
All right.
Now, Nehemiah is in the OldTestament, you know, and it is
(10:54):
was often, well, it was part ofEzra.
You know, this, you know, a lotof people don't know that, but I
believe it was part of Ezra fora long time.
Um, it's been separated.
But here we go.
Nehemiah is not just a historybook, it's a field manual for
rebuilding God's people whilesurrounded.
The city is broken, enemies jeerfrom every side, and yet in 52
(11:19):
days, a wall rises because ofwhat because one man wept,
prayed, planned, and worked witha sword in one hand and a trowel
in the other.
This is how households and homechurches fight against the
darkness.
Not by rage or retreat, but byrepentance, scripture,
(11:41):
disciplined prayer, stubbornobedience, and action.
It's real easy, as we coveredlast week, the uh the wickedness
of the Charlie Kirkassassination.
The memorial was today, it wasrunning here, and uh that's why
we were a little late.
We were waiting for PresidentTrump to be done.
(12:03):
Um, and in that, I told you whathow we win by doing small
things.
Okay, by doing the small things,by little acts of kindness and
good is how we push back againstthis.
But we have to deliberately doother things as well.
All right, this is going to be amassive project.
You're gonna see Nehemiah doover the next few weeks as we go
(12:25):
through it.
It's an amazing story withcharacters and a cast, and you
know, it's not like someabstract teaching.
This is this is great stuff.
So, again, let's do it.
So, in Nehemiah, we will learnthe following.
This is gonna cover everythingfrom as we go forward.
We'll learn to pray first.
(12:48):
Arrow prayers in con in inbattle.
Pray arrows, okay?
Your prayers are arrows.
Face the rubble, honestreconnaissance without excuses.
Look at your life.
Why does it suck?
Okay, look at it.
What sucks in your life?
What part are you refusing tolook at?
(13:09):
That corner right there.
In this room, okay, build andwork as families.
Every household owns a sectionof the wall.
You'll see that.
Guard the work, watchmen.
A trumpet rally, watchmen areset, guards are set.
(13:33):
Everyone is responsible for thefamily's protection and rally
when you hear the trumpet.
Do justice inside the camp.
There is no revival withoutrepentance and repair.
Okay?
If you've got a cancer in yourmix, you've got to fix it or
else it will kill you.
(13:56):
Ignore the bait, refusedistractions.
I am doing great work and cannotcome down.
That's what you need to say.
I'm doing great work.
I'm not gonna be distracted.
You are working for the king,you're not gonna get pulled off
into something worldly.
And be renewed by the word.
Read it, explain it, weep overit, walk in it.
(14:18):
This manual is household first.
Before Nehemiah challengesnations, he assigns families to
rebuild the stretch of the wall.
Before the city sings, thepeople confess.
Before strategies andsupplication, before strategies,
sorry, supplication.
(14:39):
Prayer is out to the Lord tointervene.
Charles Spurgeon said, prayer isthe slender nerve, small tiny
nerve, that moves the muscle ofomnipotence, which is God.
Prayer is the small tiny nervethat moves this giant muscle of
omnipotence, which is the Lord.
Nehemiah shows us how that nerveflexes.
(15:02):
Private tears become publiccourage, hidden fasting becomes
visible fortitude.
So if you feel outnumbered,outshouted, or hemmed in by the
darkness, take up this book.
Learn to turn lament intoleverage, scripture into
strategy, and ordinary homesinto fortified outposts of
(15:23):
light.
We are not building monuments toourselves, we are raising gates
for the king.
Now let's open the manual andmarch line by line.
So before we start, let me setthe stage.
(15:58):
Well, the first third is notthat.
I'd say that the next probablythird of the Bible is betrayal
of Israel, betraying Godforgiving them repenting, God
forgiving them, re remakingthem, and then them betraying,
(16:21):
and then getting smacked down,and then repenting, and then God
forgiving them and bringing themback, and over and over.
This is one of those.
So they were exiled out ofIsrael for covenant treason.
We see this in 2 Kings 17.
(16:44):
Uh, 2 Kings 17 25.
Yet in sovereign mercy, Yahwehstirred a Persian king or
Persian kings to repatriatethem.
We see this in Ezra 1:1 andProverbs 21.1.
The temple rises under, there'sa rubber bell.
Holy smokes, don't make me saythat too much.
(17:04):
In Ezra 1 through 6.
The world revives under Ezra inEzra 7 through 10, but
Jerusalem's walls lie shattered,a symbol of vulnerability and
divine reproach.
Enter Nehemiah, cupbearer inPersia's citadel, transformed
into God's field marshal for afortified rebuild.
(17:27):
How does this point to Christ?
Nehemiah foreshadows theultimate rebuilder, Jesus
Christ, who gathers scatteredexiles into his church.
Through his blood, he erectsimpregnable walls of holiness,
demolishing sin's strongholds,and establishing a city whose
gates never shut to therepentant nations.
(17:50):
As Reformed theology teaches us,this is all of grace.
Christ initiates, sustains, andperfects the work.
So, in 60 seconds, warriors ofthe cross.
Today we stormed the gates ofNehemiah, God's covenant people,
fresh from exile, had rebuiltthe temple, but Jerusalem's
walls and gates were rubbleheaps, inviting raids, shame,
(18:13):
chaos on the city, bear on thecity bearing Yahweh's name.
Picture all the rape, plunder,murder, crime that we saw in
this country with our openborders, except it's much
smaller in location.
It's not a giant nation.
We're talking about a reallysmall one, one town.
Picture New York City or Chicagoon its worst day.
(18:38):
Nehemiah, an elite operative inPersia's palace, so he's a
cupbearer for the king, which islike a bodyguard for the king.
Okay, it's not just he justdrinks.
He is one of the most trustedpeople of the king.
Receives intel, breaks down intears, fasts, and unleashes a
(19:00):
barrage of prayer.
God deploys him to rally theranks.
Prayer fuels plans, confessionclears the field, and the
families lock shields to fortifythe breach.
This saga mirrors Jesus, oursovereign builder, restoring
ruined souls and communities foreternal glory.
In this series, we'll drill downon rebuilding our families, our
(19:21):
church, and our nation, God'sway, with sword in one hand and
trowel in the other.
Yahweh chose Israel as hisvanguard to illuminate the
nations.
We see this in Genesis 12, 3 andExodus 19, 5 through 6.
They mutinied, covenantsshattered, prophets silenced,
judgment fell.
Assyria raised the north in 722BC.
(21:06):
Babylon torched Jerusalem andthe temple in 586 BC, exiling
Judah.
Persia overruns Babylon in 539BC.
A divine providence turns pagankings into allies for Jewish
return.
Ezra through Nehemiah era.
That's where we're at.
The timeline, I already justwent over that.
(21:33):
So where are we in Nehemiah 1?
Susa, Persia's winter fortress,Nehemiah the king's cupbearer,
right?
Again, this trusted, almost likebodyguard, high clearance intel
roll under our tax Xerces.
Okay.
He hears the walls are breached,the gates are torched, God's
(21:54):
people exposed and shamed.
And his response is lament, youknow, sadness, fast, prayer,
confessional, confessingnational depravity, claiming
covenant grace.
Okay?
The cast of characters,Nehemiah.
He's a lay strategist, meaninghe's not some great general.
(22:14):
He later becomes governor andhe's a model for vigilant
leadership.
He is the guy we all want towork for.
He's really, really, reallygreat leader.
Ezra, a priest scribe, a lawenforcer.
You'll see her in Nehemiah 8.
Our Tax Xerxes, pagan overlord,providentially swayed.
(22:35):
God softened his heart to dothis, you'll see.
Sandbalat, Tobiah, and Geshem.
These are any command enemycommanders from Sumeria, Amon,
and Arabia, mockers andsaboteurs.
And then Elisheib, high priest,later exposed for compromise in
(22:57):
Nehemiah 13.
Why the walls matter?
Security, no walls, raidersplayground, like poor's national
borders borders that are we arestill dealing with that chaos.
The identity, rubble mocks God'shonor.
A call to conservatives todefend biblical values against
cultural erosion.
Worship, stability securesSabbath, festivals and temple
(23:22):
life.
Right?
You can't do any of these holythings when you've got chaos
going on around you.
Injustice, gates, which havebeen burned, host verdicts and
mercy, rebuilt and restorerighteous order.
Okay.
The spiritual problem behind therubble.
Physical decay exposes spiritualsabotage, idolatry, injustice,
(23:46):
and sabbath neglect.
Nehemiah launches from theprayer trench, not the brick
pile.
True warfare is spiritual andphysical.
As Calvin notes in hisinstitute, Institutes, human
depravity demands divineinitiative.
We confess to alignment God'selecting grace.
So here we go.
So prayer in Nehemiah, rightnow, what we're going to cover.
(24:09):
Prayer and deployment, versesone and two, wall assault three
through six, people reformationseven through twelve, and purge
compromise 13.
Themes to listen for as we getready to read this.
Providence, kings' hearts turnlike water in God's hands.
Prayer as warfare.
(24:31):
Every offensive starts in theprayer bunker.
Covenant repentance, corporateand personal.
Owning your sin, owning yoursin, owning total depravity is
the beginning of everythinggood.
Word-centered renewal.
Hear, understand, and obey.
(24:51):
Resolve under fire, externaltaunts, eternal betrayal, and
steadfast command.
You must be resolved under allthose.
Reforming the front lines,Sabbath, marriage, finances,
government, all under scripture.
Why this matters today?
Today's breaches look likeprayerless families and moral
(25:11):
relativism, compromise worship,and fatherless homes.
Nehemiah drills us, lament theruins, confess the sin and the
depravity, volley God's promisesin prayer, strategize, build
with eternal vigilance, reformunder the word, ranks, fall in,
repent, rally, request, rebuild,defend the perimeter.
(25:36):
Our children's legacy demandsand depends on it.
So here we go.
Nehemiah 1 through 4.
Nehemiah prays for the sons ofIsrael.
The words of Nehemiah, the sonof Hakalah, Hakaliah.
I should want to cut my tongueout sometimes.
(25:57):
Now it happens in the month ofChislev in the 20th year, and I
was in Susa, the capital, right?
That Hananai, one of mybrothers, and some men from
Judah came, and I asked themconcerning the Jews who had
escaped and remained from thecaptivity about Jerusalem.
(26:17):
They said to me, the remnantthere in the province who remain
from the captivity are in greatcalamity and reproach.
The wall of Jerusalem is brokendown and the gates are burned
with fire.
Now it happens that when I heardthese words, I sat down and wept
and mourned for days.
And I was fasting and prayingbefore the God of heaven.
(26:41):
Anani's report, walls down,gates of flame, great troubled
reproach, public humiliation,God's name is being dragged
through the mud.
Nehemiah collapses, weeps,mourns, fasts, and prays.
A true warrior's intel sparksholy grief, not hasty action.
Again, that's how much to thesepeople and how much it should
(27:05):
matter to us of how holy and howmuch we should love God.
That here is his city beingcompletely dishonored.
And he hears that and it crusheshis very soul.
Proverbs in Psalms, uh, in Psalm137, 5 and 6, exile, Zion tears,
(27:32):
and then in Proverbs 17, 20,broken spirits have strength,
but godly sorrow fuels fight.
Church Father, John Chrysostom,tears siege heaven's gates.
Our tears siege heaven's gates.
Application, scout yourbreaches, your family are your
family altars crumbling.
(27:53):
Is your church outreach stalled?
Is your nation's morals eroding?
Grieve righteously.
Let it forge resolve.
As Americans, we mourn culturaldecay, but advance with biblical
blueprints.
All right, we all suck in someway.
I'm gonna say it.
I suck in more ways than most.
(28:15):
Okay, there are parts of yourlife that are absolutely a
catastrophe.
And you don't want to look atthem, and you don't want to fix
them, and you'll work onanything other than that,
because that's where your sinis.
That's the part you don't wantto touch, that's the part that's
too hard.
You don't have a city withoutwalls and gates.
(28:35):
All you have is a crime-spewnplace where people happen to
inhabit, where everyone'svictimized every day.
Same is for you.
Sin is assaulting you.
It's got places it loves to hidein your life that you refuse to
bring the light of God to.
(28:56):
Find them, fix them.
Nehemiah 5 through 10.
There's only 11 verses, okay?
So you guys are gonna get out ofhere easy.
I said, I beseech you, ohYahweh, the God of heaven, the
great and fearsome God who keepsthe covenant covenant and loving
(29:17):
kindness, for those who love himand keep his commandments.
Let your ear now be attentiveand your eyes open to hear the
prayer of what?
Your slave, which I am prayingbefore you today, day and night,
on behalf of the sons of Israel.
The sons of Israel, your slaves,confessing the sins of the sons
(29:39):
of Israel, which we have sinnedagainst you.
I and my father's house havesinned.
We have worked in utterdestruction against you, and
have not kept the commandments,nor the statutes, nor the
judgments which you commandedyour servant Moses.
Remember the word which youcommanded your servant Moses,
(30:02):
saying that if you areunfaithful, I will scatter you
among the peoples.
Okay, so we're gonna pause rightthere, pick it up in verse nine.
Here is Nehemiah owning hisentire ancestry's sin, saying, I
(30:23):
have sucked, my family hassucked, my people have sucked,
we have betrayed you, you havedone right by us, we have done
wrong to you.
We are sorry, we repent, we ownit, we don't deny it, we don't
justify it, we don't come upwith a million excuses on why it
happened.
(30:43):
We own it, we say we sucked,we're sorry.
That's what all of us need to dofor one another.
That's what all of us need todo, and you would find
resentment melt away, you wouldfind relationships restored.
(31:04):
Owning your mistakes takes awaythe power to be used against
you, and that's what he's doinghere, and then he's gonna quote
God's promise back to him.
But again, so again, Mosessaying, If you are faithful, I
will scatter you among thepeoples.
Verse nine but if you return tome and keep my commandments and
(31:27):
do them, though those of you whohave been banished were at the
ends of the sky, I will gatherthem from there and will bring
them to a place that I havechosen to call to cause my name
to dwell.
There they are your slaves, andyour people whom you redeemed by
your great power and your stronghand.
(31:49):
All right.
Again, he is doing what Paul hasdone and called himself, I am a
slave to Christ.
And what we see other disciplesdo, I'm a slave to Christ.
Because you're owned by him.
So Yahweh, God of heaven, greatand awesome.
Theology arms the warrior,covenant recall.
Nehemiah owns the his owncollective depravity for his
(32:12):
entire people.
We in my house have sinned.
Confession raises inner forts.
Verses 8 and 90 claims promises,scattering for sin, gathering in
mercy.
Sola gratia, God restores theundeserving.
(32:33):
Proverbs 28:13, confess formercy.
Contrite hearts, God honors.
We see that in Psalm 51:17.
Church Father Augustine said,confession unlocks mercy's
vault.
Okay, when you confess tosomeone, you unlock the vault of
(32:55):
their heart for forgiveness andgrace.
Total depravity demands covenantgrace.
We contribute nothing but sin.
Drill corporate repentance.
Families.
Unite against shared treason.
(33:17):
Arm prayers with scripturepromises.
Load and fire without cease.
It's talking about prayers.
Firing without ceasing.
Own where you're failing.
Own your godlessness.
Own everything around you thatyou can affect.
(33:40):
And that's happened before youbecause sin is generational and
is passed down.
You have to break the sin chain.
And then pray those prayers andpromises.
God restore us.
Save I come to you humbly.
(34:01):
Recognize Jesus as your Lord andSavior.
Repent, and you will berestored.
And then the last verse,Nehemiah 1:11.
Oh Lord, I beseech you.
May your ear be attentive to theprayer of your slave and the
prayer of your slaves whodelight to fear your name and
make your slave successfultoday.
(34:23):
And grant him compassion beforethis man.
Now I was the cupbearer to theking.
He's getting ready to go to thecupbearer.
I mean, as cupbearer to theking.
And you'll see in the nextchapter, he's going to ask to
leave court and to go fixJerusalem.
But that's the story's for nextweek.
(34:44):
Grant success, compassion beforethis man.
Our tax Xerxes, and I am sure Iam saying that wrong, or our Art
of Xerxes, Artiserces, maybe?
Who knows?
If I showed it to you, you'd belike, holy smokes, might be
manipulated by Yahweh.
Mighty yet manipulated byYahweh.
(35:04):
Nehemiah's post, strategicoutpost for kingdom ops.
Proverbs and Psalms, Proverbs21, King's heart channeled.
And then plans granted.
Jerome said, Providence plowsscepters like soil.
(35:24):
Meaning God's providence willmove kingdoms.
Your vocation is a forward base.
Where you work, what you doevery day, who you interact
with, leverage it for Christadvance.
Pray ball specific requests.
Watch for God open doors.
(35:47):
So some things we need to dodoing the book, during the book
of Nehemiah moving forward thatI recommend.
Five-minute recon.
Think about your household.
Spot one breach, whether it'syou're not doing family
devotions and then neglected it,right?
You're not praying as a family,you're not singing as a family,
(36:08):
you're not talking about God,you're not catechizing.
Whatever it is in your home,you're not doing that for
yourself.
Never mind your kids.
Bombard it.
Bombard it.
Confession drill, 10 minutes.
Read Psalm 51.
As a family, name we sins, sinsthat your family's been doing.
(36:29):
And then I sins.
Okay, things that you've beendoing.
I recommend you write downDeuteronomy 33 through 4 on your
word journal.
Fire it into the darkest times.
Again, list we sins, familypatterns, and I sins personal,
then confess to God as fittingto one another.
(36:52):
So if you've sinned againstsomeone, say you sinned against
them.
I'm sorry, please forgive me.
Done.
Now if they bring it up inanother argument, they're
sinning.
It's been dealt with.
So here's what I recommend youdo for family as a family, or if
you don't have a family byyourself.
(37:12):
Read one uh Psalm 103.1, andwhich is really short.
Bless, you know, but you'veheard it in a lot of Psalms.
In the LSB, it's bless Yahweh,oh my soul, and all that is
within me, bless his holy name.
And your Bible probably says,Bless the Lord of my soul, all
(37:33):
that is within me, bless hisholy name.
Okay.
Read one Psalm proverb orsection.
Pray.
Each person offers one sentenceof confession, thanks, and
requests.
So when you're praying as afamily, each person, if they're
old enough and they understandit, says one thing they did
wrong and they repent.
Okay.
Um, and then or a thanks or arequest, a prayer for God on
(38:00):
something to be to be asked for.
And then read number 624 overyour household, which is Yahweh
bless you and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face upon youand give you peace.
Marriage and parents, huddle twotimes a week, 20 minutes
(38:23):
minimum.
Confess to each other andforgive.
Choose one habit to rebuild thisweek.
Okay.
Husband and wives pray together.
It's the first thing that fallsaway with the Lord and I.
We we stop praying togetherbecause we're so busy.
We let the kids pull us indirections, schedules pull us in
(38:46):
directions, and we do not takethe time to lock hands and lock
souls to pray together, andthat's the most powerful thing
we have.
Okay.
And we do, you know, share ameal, share a meal with someone.
(39:06):
30-day household rule of life.
Focus on the seven battlefields.
Okay.
This week choose one habit perbattlefield.
Some examples.
Faith.
For prayer, kneel for fiveminutes each morning.
Kneel and pray for five minuteseach morning.
Even if you run out of things tosay, stay there.
Five minutes.
Period.
(39:27):
I got bad knees, I take mypurple pillow, put it on the
ground, that's where I do mine.
Okay.
No drama.
Read one chapter of the Bible,either alone or together, before
breakfast or after dinner.
Family confess and repent to oneanother.
I covered that.
We're just recapping this.
For fitness, walk 10,000 steps aday or whatever is a lot for
(39:48):
you.
Fundamentals, if you can carryconcealed, carry concealed every
day, everywhere.
Finances, track your spending.
Set first fruits giving.
If you're not being blessed, Iguarantee you, unless it's
because you're making a ton ofbad mistakes, if you're not
honoring God and you're notdonating to somebody somewhere
and using the kingdom, usingyour funds for somebody other
(40:10):
than you, somebody other thanyou, in God's name, that's your
that's what's going on.
Fellowship, call a friend everyday, tell them how much they
mean to you, and share thegospel.
And then fidelity.
Park your phones and your iPadsduring mealtimes, and no phones
(40:32):
during family worship.
Some famous quotes to go over,and then we'll do um, we'll pray
it out and then do Lord'sSupper.
So Charles Spurgeon, prayer isthe slender.
All right, I covered that onealready.
John Owen, be killing sin or itwill be killing you.
(40:53):
I love that.
Be killing sin or it will bekilling you.
Hudson Taylor, God's work donein God's way will never lack
God's supply.
Corey Tenboom.
Is prayer your steering wheel oryour spare tire?
Ouch, how does that one hurts?
Right?
Doesn't that hurt?
(41:14):
Go to God only when you get aflat tire and not oh where
you're going.
Oof.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Psalmsof the Prayer Book of the Bible.
JC Rao, prayer is the verybreath of spiritual life.
Matthew Henry, when God intendsgreat mercy for his people, he
first sets them praying.
And then C.S.
Lewis, relying on God has tobegin all over again every day,
(41:37):
as if nothing had yet been done.
So conclusion, Nehemiah 1declares ruins as God's rally
point.
There, warriors lament, confess,recall God's electing grace, and
petition the eternal commanderfor victory.
The rebuild begins in the prayerbunker and advances into the
(41:58):
breach.
Psalm 9017 says, Establish thework of our hands.
Sharpen blades, hoist trowels,orders, rise, build, hold the
line.
Lord of hosts, anchor us in yourcovenant mercy.
Make us quick to repent, mightyin prayer, steady in labor,
(42:18):
fearless in the face of mockery,and turn the hearts of rulers,
strengthening the weak, andestablishing justice inside our
gates.
For Jesus' sake, amen.
All right.
But a man must test himself, andin doing so is to eat of the
(42:40):
bread and drink of the cup.
Before we partake, let usquietly bow before the King of
Glory.
Let each man and woman, youngwarrior here search his or her
heart, confessing sin, layingdown burdens, preparing to eat
and drink, and a man worthy ofthe Lord.
Go ahead now.
(43:17):
Almighty God, Sovereign Lord ofhosts, we approach your table
today not because we are worthy,but because Christ is worthy.
We come not trusting in our ownrighteousness, but clinging to
the righteousness of JesusChrist alone.
We remember his body broken, hisblood poured out for the new
covenant.
We bow in humble gratitude.
We lift our hearts in reverentawe.
Sanctify this bread in this cupand sanctify us, your people, as
(43:40):
we proclaim the death,resurrection, and coming kingdom
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray in his mighty matchlessname.
Amen.
The Lord Jesus, in the night inwhich he was betrayed, took the
bread, and when he had given it,given thanks, he broke it and
said, This is my body, which isfor you.
Do this and remember to me.
Remember, this symbolizes hisbody, pierced, beaten, and
sacrificed for you.
(44:02):
Let us partake of the breadtogether and remember Christ's
body broken for us.
Go ahead and eat.
In the same way, he took the cupalso after supper, saying, This
(44:22):
cup is the new covenant in myblood.
Do this as often as you drink itin remembrance of me.
Remember, this symbolizes hisblood, the blood that perhaps
starts forgiveness and sealedthe everlasting covenant.
Let us partake of the cuptogether to remember Christ's
blood poured out for us.
Go ahead and drink.
(44:43):
For as long as you eat thisbread and drink the cup, you
proclaim the death of the Lorduntil he comes.
By this eating and drinking, wepublicly proclaim Christ has
died, Christ has risen, Christwill come again.
Let us pray.
Captain of real salvation, LordJesus Christ, you are seated at
(45:04):
the Father's right hand, andyour scepter stretches from
Zion.
Today we have wept, and now werise.
Take our grief and forge it intosteadfastness.
Make us doers of the word andnot hearers only, by the blood
of the Lamb and the word of ourwitness.
Teach us not to love our livesunto death, but to love your
name above all.
(45:25):
In Jesus' name we pray.
May the God of peace who trainsyour hands for war and your
fingers for battle, steady yourhearts in grace, fortify your
homes with truth, and surroundyour gates with his salvation.
May the Lord of Jesus, ourcornerstone and captain, go
before you, stand beside you,and guard your rear.
May the Holy Spirit strengthenyour knees in prayer, your minds
(45:48):
in Scripture, and your love inevery good work until the joy of
the Lord is your strength andevery breach is made whole.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
God bless you.
See you tomorrow.
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