The Good Work

And if you have a Bible this evening, you can grab it now and turn to the book of Nehemiah. I'll read from chapter number two, verses 18 through 20. And as you're turning there, I want to again say what an honor it is to have been here. And uh somebody said to me last night somewhat somewhat ingest I think but they said you're going in the morning you know speaking on the assumption that well I was just supposed to preach the evening services and I said yeah I'm going to go in the morning my wife is here and they had to go back this afternoon but some folks from our church.

And I'm glad I came in the morning. It obviously could not be in every session, but I know our folks from home uh diversified and split up and recorded so they could regroup and uh but I want to say especially, brother Acres, how much you have blessed me today. Um you know, I I don't teach at our school. I have no formal involvement, but I'm sitting there thinking, I've I've been a church planner. I've pastored. I've lived overseas. I travel now. And what he's saying is applicable in any context I have ever ministered in.

And so, I feel like I'm leaving with my heart that has been refreshed by the teaching, the presence of the Lord, the fellowship of God's people. I feel like I've got some tools in my toolbox and uh I'm not only honored by the invitation to be here and speak, but but I'm blessed to have been here and heard. And so, thank you. And I honor each of you for the work that you do. And I was telling Brother Sanford this afternoon, I I tell it at home when I speak chapel. It be a few times a year perhaps.

And I tell those students all the time, you have no idea how blessed you are to be educated in an environment like this. And you have no idea the the blessing it is to participate in sports in an environment like this. Um it's I just I thank God. And as I become more and more aware, my first exposure really to to Christian education and certainly in an apostolic context was in North Little Rock when I began preaching for them uh a little over five years ago. And I was blown away by what I witnessed in that school and church.

And my hope is that somehow uh the apostolic movement can have their eyes open to the opportunity that is before us. Um you know I'm a nobody in the UPC. I don't I don't have any office. I don't think I have much influence. But somebody somewhere has got to shift the conversation uh to to how we as a movement and an organization. I understand it rises and falls on the local church, but somehow someway the conversation has to start of how we as a movement uh can facilitate this on a much broader level. And so I honor each of you for your power in this.

And it's my prayer that somehow God will put his favor on your effort and sacrifice in Jesus name. Amen. Nehemiah chapter 2 verse number 18 the Bible says 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. But when Sand Ballot the Horonite, and Tobaya the servant, the Ammonite, and Gisham the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you do?

Will you rebel against the king?" And then answered I them, and said unto them, the God of heaven, he will prosper us. And therefore we as servants will arise and build. As for you, you have no portion nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem. And looking back to verse number 18, it concludes with that statement that they strengthen their hands for this good work. And this is my endeavor tonight is just to preach to you something that would strengthen your hands in the good work that you were doing. And so my subject is simply the good work. Amen. Lord, we love you.

I thank you for the people of God that have gathered here over this last day and a half. I pray tonight the word would be a blessing to the work of their hands and the disposition of their hearts. I pray, Father, that you would minister to us as individuals and teams and staffs that something would be deposited into us that we could take back to the place that we labor and to the people we invest in. I pray you would help us tonight. I want the hearts and the hands of your people to be strengthened. And we know this only happens through and by you. So we ask these things in Jesus' name.

And everybody said, "Amen." Amen. Amen. The Lord bless you. You can be seated. Some context for where we read tonight in the story of Nehemiah. King Cyrus had sent 50,000 Jews back to their homeland. These would have been the children, the grandchildren of those who were taken captive when Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. In really a dehumanizing act, he herded them like cattle and drove them to a foreign land. His hope was that he could immerse them in another culture.

By doing so, he could dilute their doctrine and eventually their identity as the people of God would be dissolved. I will not make comments at length because as I said last night, I think you labor in the field you do because you already understand this well. But the similarities of what happened in their history and what the spirit of the age would seek to do today are great. This is the work that is happening in our world. The spirit of the age would seek to dilute the doctrine of scripture in an attempt to dissolve the identity of God's people.

And so it is the work of Christian education is significant in the text tonight we would come to understand that prior to its destruction Nebuchadnezzar had set kings to rule over Jerusalem before he would destroy it. And at that time God moved upon the prophet Jeremiah who told of the coming destruction. He prophesied of a 70-year captivity. But God did not leave his people without hope. He assured them at the conclusion of that 70 years he would come again.

He would visit them and he said, "I will restore you to your lamb." And from that prophecy is that scripture we speak of so often in Jeremiah 29 and 11. And he said, "I know the thoughts that I think towards you, sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end." And this of which we read tonight is that end. It was their return from captivity and they had one goal in mind. We will rebuild the temple. And this is what you find in the story of Ezra in your Old Testament. The book which precedes Nehemiah.

It was the rebuilding of the temple took 20 years to complete. They dedicated it in 516 BC. And the Jews gather as you might expect in joyous celebration and worship that the temple has been restored. But there remains a missing thing. The city is without walls. And while the glory of that temple is significant, no matter how great it might be, it is in jeopardy without a boundary. The absence of a wall was a constant reminder of their vulnerability. The work was noble but was not done. And by way of application tonight, this is what I would draw.

The temple speaks to us of their worship, their doctrine, their spiritual lives. But the fact is life must constitute more than this. Yes, this is the supreme matter. It is of great importance. It should be first and foremost. It is the foundation of which we build upon. But as beautiful as that temple was without walls, it was in jeopardy. And so it was it demanded a more holistic approach. And likewise, we must consider our lives and the work of the kingdom. Yes, worship does matter. Yes, doctrine is absolutely important. Yes, we need churches and Sunday schools and youth groups.

But I would submit there is place for a more holistic approach for you. As I I'm sure could tell stories in great number of those who were raised in churches like this sat in our Sunday school rooms and youth groups. But somewhere in their exposure to the world through the form of public education and the world, they were seduced and led astray by the things the world would introduce to them. And if I could perhaps you may think it a stretch, but if I could make the parallel tonight that the temple speaks to us of the ministry of the church, it is doctrine. It is worship.

It is all of the things we are accustomed to. But the need of the walls was for something more. And perhaps that something more is this agenda of which we have gathered to consider. It is Christian education. And so it is in our text. We would find that Nehemiah comes. He is the cup bearer in the court of the king. He is working in what we would call secular employment. And he is burdened because he knows that the church has been rebuilt. The ministry on Sunday is intact. But he can sense the need for something more. And so it is. His burden leads him to survey the city at night.

He is troubled. When he comes back into the presence of the king, the king can see something is not well. What what is it that burdens you Nehemiah? and he is burdened that his city lays in waste. It is the absence of these walls that weighs so heavenly upon him. He is not content that the church is intact and has services a couple days a week. He realizes the people are still in jeopardy if there is not something more. And so it is. We find the similarity of our burden here tonight. Yes, we know we need a church. We thank God for the church.

But you're here because at some juncture of your life, your eyes laid hold of a city that was still in waste. And a burden grabbed hold of you and you were awakened to the realization that yes, I need the temple, but we may also need something more. And so here is Nehemiah with a burden heart seeking permission from a political leader of his day to rebuild the walls, seeking favor and funding to begin this project of great construction to ensure that what is taught in the temple is not lost outside of the temple. And I know you know this this this is this is Sunday school stuff.

But in a mere 52 days, Bible names 42 different working parties that come together. And what they do is unmatched. They rebuild a wall that stands 50 feet high at a circumference of four miles. That averages out to 54 feet per day. And in case you've not done construction, I can tell you that is unmatched. In all of this, while facing severe opposition, 52 days, what had not been done nor existed for 140 years is now finished by this miraculous measure of only 52 days. The recognition of such a reality summons the question tonight. How in the world do you build a wall like that?

That's the kind of question you're asking in the middle of a building project. How does that happen? What kind of miracle happened? What what kind of amazing thing did God do that would make something so unthinkable and so impossible happen? I think I have the answer. It's not as deep as you might expect. I would submit to you they built the wall the same way every wall has been built. Brick by brick by brick and then another brick on another brick on another brick.

And when they got one row done, somebody showed up with another brick and another brick and a little more mortar and another brick and they did that day after day. And somewhere in the midst of that mundane routine, the grace of God lavished their effort. And they were more efficient than they had ever been. And perhaps when they should have been worn out, they weren't weary. And when they felt like critting, they persevered because the grace of God, this miraculous power showed up in the most ordinary of activities. And so it is in the building of our lives, in the work that we do.

It is just the same. It is day after day and class after class and week after week and year after year. I preach to you tonight, the work of which we do is not nearly as complicated as we make it to be. Consistency is the key to success in the kingdom. I remember being a 21-year-old church planner, dreams and visions burning in our hearts, setting out to a city of a half a million people. And I I thought the elder surely just didn't hear from God like we did when brother Woodward told us that day.

Now remember, boys, that most people overestimate what they can do in two years and underestimate what they can do in 10 years. I thought, "Yeah, you just haven't heard from God like we have." Well, after 10 years in that city, I can tell you the elder was right. And when I look back over 10 years of church planning and what started as four people in a living room and after a decade was almost 200 people in a multi-million dollar building that was given to us debt-free, this is what I can tell you. Consistency is the virtue to be celebrated.

We look for this miraculous moment, this mystical display of God when the reality is the grace that we so desperately need is at work every day and every class and every break and there it is always present, always working, but we are just not always aware. So it is that they just build the wall like every wall had been built and somewhere in that God made them more efficient than they had ever been. But as you know building especially in kingdom matters always invites opposition. The Bible speaks to us of Sand Ballot and Tobaya and Nehemiah 4 and their efforts to discourage the work.

It came to pass that when Sand Ballot heard we builded the wall, he was wroth. And he took great indignation and mocked the Jews. He spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria and asked the question, "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? And now Tobiiah the Ammonite who was by him said, even that which they build, if a fox goes up on the wall, he shall break down their stone wall.

And I would submit to us that in these words, there is a revelation for us tonight. There is a revealing of how the enemy works against us. First, it is this great indignation, this mockery that was present. Fear is present. Fear is the emotional response to the display of anger. And now the people of God who are laboring so faithfully. Their minds are entertaining fear as they watch this angry display of those who would oppose them. And then they have the audacity to ask this question. What do these feeble Jews really feeble?

We who have successfully built a wall at 504 ft per day, 4 miles around, 50 ft high. We can stand in celebration of this miraculous work in a mere 52 days. And you're calling us feeble. But you know what it is? When the enemy starts whispering in your mind, trying to sew lies into your spirit, causing you to believe that you are less than you are. And then if that was not sufficient to speak words that put insecurity into the heart of the laborers, then he says, if a fox was to walk on that wall, that wall would break down.

It is this this this this three-fold effort of fear, insecurity, and doubt that the enemy uses so diligently against the minds of labors in God's kingdom. And we are fearful and we are insecure and we doubt, well, I don't know if I can do it. I I'm not sure if I'm really capable. I don't know if I'm really making any impact. I don't know if anything good is going to come out of this. And the response to such a thing was this. In verse 6 of Nehemiah 4, the Bible says, "So we built the wall." What? You didn't respond? No. Cuz the people had a mind to work.

They paid no attention to what the enemy was doing or to what the enemy was saying. They realize my hands are busy with a good work and I'm going to keep on doing this good work. I will not be dismayed. I will not be distracted. I may be tired, but I will not quit. I may be discouraged, but I will not throw in the towel cuz I know the work is good. So what' they do? The same thing they'd always been doing. They just stayed consistent. They showed up. He said, "Well, I had a bad day today." I know, but you show up again tomorrow. You feel like, "I've been so patient with that student.

I've tried so hard. I've met with the parents. I've invested and it feels like it's going nowhere." And you begin to doubt the investment of which you made. And you begin to feel insecure in your abilities and your giftings. I come tonight to pull back the curtain and let you know these are the enemy's devices. They are the ways in which he speaks, the words in which he uses to discourage those who are making great impact in the kingdom. So I rise tonight to tell you, don't stop. Don't throw in the towel. Quitting is not an option.

And as the story progresses, you get to verse eight, Nehemiah 4. They're relentless. And this is the way of the enemy. And the Bible said they conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it. He is a relentless adversary. He fights in every form and fashion. He'll oppose people spiritually and economically and emotionally. He'll he'll attack children and marriages and homes and churches. I he'll use any avenue he can use to hinder the work that is at hand. So one might wonder what then is the way in which we must respond.

What does one do when the work is good, your hands are busy, but the enemy is relentless? What does one do? Well, verse 9 offers us the answer. The Bible said, "Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God. This is our answer." I do not preach to you tonight a profound revelation, but I will confess to you, it is something that is easier discussed than done. The solution that I offer all of us tonight is simple. It is spiritual. But I will confess to you, I have learned simple does not always mean easy.

The answer to the problems of which we will encounter, no matter the manner in which they come, is prayer. I preach to you tonight, you say this, this is a this is for Christian educators, apostolic educators. I know. And we will better ourselves. And we've been doing it all day. We have talked about tools and tactics and insights and wisdom. And I thank God for all of it. I have already told you tonight I have learned and I'm going to take some of these home. I I've got some new tools in my toolbox. However, what makes us different than everybody else is that word apostolic.

And it is on the basis of that word that our world view is shaped and our our perspective is formed. And so I say thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the tools and the tactics. But I must preach to you tonight the supreme need of the hour is prayer. Prayer is our response to everything. Prayer is the source of our power. Prayer is the need in our schools. I want you to hear me now. We can plan and not pray. We can prepare and not pray. We can strategize and not pray. We can have staff meetings and not pray. We can teach and not pray. We can practice and not pray.

We can do all the We can have church and not pray. We can master the mechanics of what it is to run a church and a school. We can execute to a tea the production of a service and a conference. And we can do all of it without prayer. And I want to remind you tonight, the opposition that they are encountering encountering is a physical literal opposition. The enemy is opposing the physical construction of a wall. He is trying to stay their ham to slow down their efficiency. He doesn't want another brick on the wall.

He doesn't want another line of mortar that'll make that wall more secure than it's ever been. It is a physical and a literal opposition. And so one might think, well, if the opposition is physical, if the opposition is literal, should I not address it in that same arena? If we can't get funding, shouldn't we go there? If we can't get this, shouldn't we talk to them? All that's good and well in time. But don't do anything until you first go to prayer. Prayer has to be the bedrock of which we do. I was so encouraged. I went to Sister Arowwood's session this morning.

I don't work in this field, but I thought, well, she's going to talk about working with people, and I work with pastors and leaders all the time, so surely I'll get something. And I was so encouraged when she said, "We made the decision last year to have our teachers come 10 minutes early." And for the 10 minutes before the students show up, all of our teachers gather in one room and we spend 10 minutes praying together. I thought, "That's awesome.

That's where this thing's going to be built." And you say, "Well, I don't know because I have staff shortages and money shortages and I'm being opposed here and there." And we look at all the practical things we think we need. But the Bible gives us the pattern that it did not matter the form or the fashion in which the opposition showed up. It said they gave themselves to prayer. Prayer is our response to everything. It does not matter what the problem is. Does not matter the face in which it comes in. Prayer is what we must do.

God help us not to make the mistake that Joshua did when he encountered the Gibeonites. Bible says he took of their victuals. He ate their food because he asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. God help us that that statement can never be said of us. Even amidst his uncertainty, he knew it did not feel right. Because he acted in haste, not pausing to inquire of the Lord and make sure that this was sanctioned by God. The absence of prayer caused him to make a decision he would come to regret.

I preach to people tonight who are doing a good work that the enemy would oppose in so many ways and through so many faces. And it may seem that we need this and we need that. But I tell you, our greatest need is prayer. God, help us to never in our haste to make decisions with the absence of prayer, without pausing to consult the Lord. What would God say? How would God lead? What might God do? And the simple things and how I respond to this situation or how I may speak to that parent. Did you pause and pray that God would season your words with salt?

Did you give the Lord opportunity to direct your conversation? Prayer is our answer. Paul understood it well. He had lived through so much. And he said, "Be careful for nothing. You don't have to be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, he said, "Let your requests be made known unto God." You don't have to be anxious about it. You're concerned about that student that Paul said, don't be anxious about it. You're wondering, "How is that parent going to respond?" You don't have to be anxious about it.

You wonder, "Well, I took a pay cut to do this." You don't have to be anxious about it. You think, "Well, I had this opportunity and that and I'm unsure how this is going to work out and I don't know if I'm really qualified. I'm struggling with my classroom management. Maybe I'm not really h I'm anxious." And Paul says, "You don't have to be anxious about anything. But what you do is in everything by prayer. You think, well, I just I need another coffee. I need five minutes outside the classroom. I need a longer lunch break. I I need more prep time.

I need more this." And there's a time for all that. That is good. and well, but more than anything, what we need is prayer. Kind of like Jehoshaphat in his time of need when he said, "There is a great company that has come against us and I don't even know what to do." But he said, "My eyes are on you." And how many times I found myself in that same place in life, God, I don't know what to do. I really don't. I'm in over my head. I don't know where to go, which way to turn. I don't I don't know what what's up and what's down. I'm not wise enough, experienced enough. I don't have enough money.

God, I really have no idea what to do, but this is what I do know. My eyes are on you. Hallelujah. And this is what I'm talking about tonight. We don't know what to do, where to go. How do we deal with this kid? How do we deal with that kid? How do we get a hold of the classroom? How do we grow the school? How do we raise more money? How do we come up with more resources? I don't know. But this is what I do know. My eyes are on you.

And if you can live with that disposition, if you can labor with that mindset, the acknowledgment of my own limitation and my need of God, there is a world of possibilities that show up in the mundane. How many times have gone to conferences or fleed from the place in the field in which God placed me thinking my help would come there or come through them when the reality is it it showed up on a Tuesday morning in my black recliner or a Thursday night as I sat in my chair sipping a good cup of coffee in the mundane routines of life grace just showed up. It wasn't this ornate mystical moment.

It was when I put my hand to the good work and I was consistent in the field in which God placed me. And the story continues in verse 10 of Nehemiah 4. Judah said, "The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed and there is much rubbish and we're not able to build the wall. Our keyboard can come. I won't be much longer." He said, "We're weary. We're tired. The strength of those that bear the burdens is decayed. They're worn out. We've been doing this for 52 days. We're tired. God's helped us, but it's been hard. And he says, "There is so much rubbish." Rubbish. You know what that is?

It's the ruins of the old walls. It lays before them as an everpresent reminder of what was but is not now. And more than a discouraging memory of their past, the Bible says because of it, we are not able to build the wall. It is a burden to the work that is at hand. Rubbish in the context of which you labor is literally the unsettled and unresolved issue in the life of a student that is carried into your classroom. Rubbish is that thing from their past that very likely may have been introduced into their world beyond their control and not by their own choice.

And now their behavior, their disposition, their struggle makes it difficult for you to build what you're supposed to build. And if you don't pray before you deal with rubbish, you won't have the fruit you need. God, there's so much to discourage us. A world that is wicked and forces of hell that fight against us and families that are dysfunctional, kids that are distraught, struggling. You can stand in the front of the classroom and look into the eyes of kids whose lives are full of rubbish.

past hurts and struggles, things that they didn't invite upon themselves that were imposed by the decision of another. And there you are trying to teach them how to count and add and what biology is and how to make sense of chemistry and geometry. And maybe you're trying to talk to them about a budget and real world things. And you're explaining to them the truths of our Bible doctrine. and they're squirming and distracted and struggling to focus. It's the rubbish. It's their makeup.

It's the environment they have been raised in, the things they've been exposed to, and it's part of who they are. And it would be so easy to get discouraged and distracted and feel like, well, I'm I don't have what I need and become insecure of myself and doubt the effectiveness of my abilities. and throw in the towel. And I tell you, there's nothing the enemy would like more than that. But when I go to prayer, the perspective through which I see changes. There is a compassion with which I see and a patience with which I work.

There's a love that lavishes my words, an impatience that dissipates. Now I have the ability to move the rubbish even though I'm weary. I'm frustrated. I don't like this. I'm I'm just trying to teach you how to count. And then grace shows up in that everyday mundane routine wearing task. I know you were expecting this miraculous angel. You thought the heavens were going to open and there would be this supernatural manifestation. And sometimes there is. But most days it's just this grace that shows up.

And when the school year closes and you're enjoying summer break, you walk into church and you think, "Wow, that that that boy is a lot different than I remember him last summer." And you think, hm, somewhere in that mundane routine of school, five days a week, grace started working. Or as we heard so well today, maybe it won't be for several years. But you realize even when I couldn't see it, even when I couldn't feel it. When I was battling in my own mind, but did not let them know I was battling cuz I showed up to work with a smile on my face. Grace was working. Amen.

The word makes its way to Sam Ballot and Tobaya that the wall was done in Nehemiah 6. And now the enemy knows if we don't get them now, we'll never get them. So Sand Ballot and Gisham were sent to Nehemiah. In Nehemiah chapter 6, the Bible says, "I knew they were coming to do me mischief." And they sent messengers and they wanted him to come down. And Nehemiah says this in six and three, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?

He said they came to me four more times after saying the same thing and I answered them the same every time. He said I'm doing a great work and I will not stop. And so on this Friday night I just come to strengthen the hands of you people that are doing a good work.

And I want to preach this resolve into your spirit that in spite of what the enemy would bring against you, whatever lie he would try to put in your mind, whatever struggle you might face in the classroom, that you would respond as Nehemiah did and you could say, "No, I know I am doing a great work and I will not come down." Stand together with me. I will not stop. I will not quit. I will not throw in the towel because I'm doing the good work. Four things in which you need that I have preached. You have to be moved by a burden. You have to be committed to prayer.

You have to be willing to deal with the rubbish of people's lives. And you have to resolve. I am not negotiating about the good work. That's the take-home. I I hope to God you're here because you already have a burden. But if this is just a job to you, if this is just something you agreed to do until you can find something better, I hope to God you toss and turn all hours of the night with the burden of a child's salvation and the future of which they may never discover except for that teacher bearing fruit at the front of the class.

Do you ever hear tell the missionary Benny de Merchant went to Brazil, there was nothing there. And by the time he left there was upwards of 175,000 constituents. You know why brother de Merchant went to Brazil? Cuz as a teenage boy Nyla Rutled who married John men became Nyla men preached a revival in Perth Andover New Brunswick. And she believed that in every revival she preached she had to preach one message on the call of God.

And Benny de Merchant as a teenage boy went home from revival that night and he said, "I tossed and turned in my bed all hours of the night as I dealt with the weight of God calling me to the nation of Brazil." So I say, God, let your burden for apostolic education settle on our hearts. Let it consume our minds. Let it breathe life into our vision. Let us see by the spirit what is possible in the arena of apostolic education. Come on. I pray as the prophet did for the servant. Open our eyes that we may see. There is a world of opportunity. Oh God, that the burdens settle in our hearts.

And I pray that with the burden of the need would also come a burden of prayer. We're going to teach, but we're not going to teach without prayer. We're going to strategize, but we're not going to strategize without prayer. We're going to plan and prepare, but we're not going to do it without prayer. Come on. It ought not be a strange thing for you to walk through the hallway of your school and hear a staff member in a classroom speaking in other tongues. The students aren't there yet, but she's just preparing the atmosphere. It ought not be a strange thing to pause and say, "You know what?

I know we're struggling to pay attention, but let's pray right now that God would help us be attentive. It ought not be a strange thing for the power and the glory of the Lord to move. I was so encouraged by the testimonies that were shared in some of these sessions today. I've got one for you, too. It was a Bible class. We were in the middle of changing and accommodations. Classrooms were being worked on.

and they were meeting in our gymnasium when Bible class was concluding with a little routine prayer and Sister Crystal Fischer said, "I feel like we ought to push in prayer here just for a minute." And that prayer meeting lasted for three and four hours into the afternoon. And by the time kids went home, we had 15 or 16 children who had received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. How's that happen? because you've got a burden and you pray and God moves. And I know sometimes you get frustrated. I know sometimes those kids make it so difficult to be effective and teach.

And I thank God I told you brother Akre's session on classroom management was I mean mindblowing. Those are the tools, the tactics. But what's beneath that is I need to be in tune with the spirit to help me be patient, to help me love, to give me the grace. And so there's a reason I think God chose in that holy text to make sure prayer preceded the problem. I'll close with this. I I've been preaching a lot the last couple years on corporate prayer as I travel because I really am concerned about the prayer culture of the apostolic movement. Our churches don't gather for prayer anymore.

I've preached in churches that have five and 600 people there on Sunday and when I I I go to their Monday night prayer meeting, there might be 50 people. And if you close your eyes, you might think there was 10 people cuz nobody prays out loud. This ought not be. It's not who we are. It's not where we've come from. That's why many times, like I did last night, I don't call for singers when I'm done preaching because I know how we work. If singers come and words go on the screen, everyone's going to sing and read and not pray.

We have got to restore the priority of prayer among the culture of our lives. And then we just say, "I'm not negotiating. I'm not coming down. I know I'm tired and I'm frustrated. The enem is fighting on me on every side, but I've I've already resolved. The work that I'm doing is good." I wonder if you just lift up your hands right now. We're going to take a minute here and pray. And I want you to just let the Lord strengthen your hands cuz you're doing a good work. Come on. I speak strength into the work of your hands right now. I speak clarity into your mind.

I speak resolve into your spirit. The enemy will come at you any way he can. He'll seek to wear you out with division in your marriage and chaos in your family. And you thought, "Well, I I life was going great and I decided to work at the school and I had a flat tire. My roof started leaking. Everything went wrong." Yeah, cuz the enemy's opposing you, but I've already made up my mind. The work is good. I will not come down. Come on. Let God strengthen you. You're doing a good work. It's an eternal work. For anybody else, 3 + 3 is just about math.

But for you in an apostolic context, it's so much bigger. Come on. It's a good work. I don't know who the enemy has been lying to and telling you that you're not capable, you're not skilled enough, you're not qualified enough, you don't have the right personality, you're not gifted like somebody else. And come on, comparison. It's the enemy's trap to discourage you from the good work. But God sent me here tonight to strengthen your hands. You're doing a good thing. Don't come down. Don't entertain that conversation. Yes. Yes. Yes. Come on. Strengthen my hands, God.

We've got something to build. And it's not just brick and mortar. lives of godly men and women, godly boys and girls. Strengthen our hands for the good work. Come on. your building. Nurses and doctors, carpenters and architects, church planners and prayer warriors, Bible study teachers and missionaries, men and women of prayer and godliness. This is what you're building. You're building virtue and character and integrity. You're building the foundation of a godly home of a righteous future. It's a good work. Don't come down. Don't quit. Oh God, we need your spirit. Fall upon us, move upon us.

It is so easy to be distracted and discouraged, become overwhelmed. the reality of what we do in the context in which we do it. God, we're here because of burden. Almost every person in this room has committed to work in a field, in an arena, place their laboring of which if they would leave, they could perhaps make more elsewhere. But we are not chasing the world's definition of success. Burden has brought us here. This is about the kingdom. It's about a biblical worldview. It's about Bible salvation. It's about morality and righteousness. It's a good work.

And I'm asking, Lord, that you would strengthen their hands tonight. Renew their vision. I'm asking Lord that you would open the windows of heaven that you would pour out your miraculous provision on every school, on every servant, every teacher, on staff and administration. I pray Lord that you would raise up legacy givers in our churches and in this movement. I pray Lord that you would take the wealth of the wicked and pour it into the hands of the righteous. We're not about bigger homes and better cars. It's about the work of the kingdom. Lord, we're going to commit.

We will not be seduced by the materialistic nature that is overtaking this nation. We will commit to you to steward the resources of heaven, to the mission that is at hand. We will allow our spending to be tempered by the burden of the kingdom and not the beauty of the things of this world. I pray our classrooms will be a place of healing, a place of positivity, a place where rubbish can be removed and the construction can go forward. Come on, lift up your voice. That's the burden of the Lord. That's what I'm talking about. Ah Jesus. Shak. Holy, holy, holy. Lord, we yield to you your will.

We ask that you would give us your mind that we might think as you think. Your eyes that we would see as you see, your mouth that we would speak as you speak. Let our hands be as yours. Our feet be as yours. in Jesus name. We assume your burden and we will carry it by prayer. We will love those we lead and we will not negotiate with the enemy. I pray your spirit would seal it into our hearts. Let it put a resolve inside of us concerning the good work of which we do. I want to tell you this and then I'm done. Brother Sanford, you can come. I think we all understand that this is a ministry.

It's not just a job. If we're not careful, we can begin to allow our thinking to perceive it as merely a job if it is the avenue by which we live and make our livelihood. But it's important we consider this because beneath it is the motive, the reason that we do it. This is a ministry. And just in case you might be struggling with your personal needs or desires and the pull of those in the burden of the ministry. I want you to know God keeps good books. I heard Sister Koultharp say this many years ago. I I've never forgot it.

She said, "God writes long stories." So, I don't have time to tell you the whole story tonight, but I was one year in the university. had a dream of going to law school. I was going to be a lawyer, make a lot of money, and travel the world. And then I got the Holy Ghost. And well, the Holy Ghost, it really changes you. I, you know, it really changes you. When I began to tell people I wasn't going back to university, but I was going to go to Bible school, and it was the little small Bible school in Eastern Canada that's not prestigious and not big and not well known.

And when you look at its website and it's one little building, you might think, how did you go from law school to that? And my childhood best friend, his father was a very successful lawyer. And I'll never forget the night sitting on the steps of their house as I told them I wasn't going back to university. He said, 'D I really think you need to reconsider this. They were not apostolic. They were a Catholic family. He said, "Education will give you opportunity. It'll broaden your horizons. It'll let you see the world. Education will open doors for you.

And it'll take you places that you never dreamed of. Dan, if if you're making this decision about money, he said, 'I want to let you know that our family, we we love you. You're like another son to us, and we'll help you with with your degree. And in my hands, I held a $60,000 check to pay for my undergraduate degree. And I had to look at him and say, "This it's not about money. I don't have any money, but this isn't about money. This is about ministry.

And little did I know how that singular decision to determine the basis of which I would live would weave itself into so many parts of my life and my story. Went to Bible school, got married, planted a church. God did great things. And then after 10 years, the Lord spoke to me and told me to move to Europe. I was over there preaching a conference. And the Lord had been dealing with me for three years about transition. And when I was in Europe on a Friday morning, I could take you to the Airbnb, the spot in the apartment. I was on my knees praying.

And the Holy Ghost spoke to me and said, "This is the place and now is the time." So, we sold everything we owned and I moved my family of five with three checked suitcases and five carryons. That's everything we owned to the other side of the world. And in that transition, I told the Lord, God, 10 years ago, you gave me a word. And you said, "If I would fall into the ground and die like a seed, provision would come from the north, south, east, and the west, and the mountain of debt would be no more." 13 years ago, I turned down a $60,000 check and a free education to pursue ministry.

And I'm leaving this city to try to go overseas with $56,000 of debt. And I can't ask people to sponsor me to go overseas if I have debt. So I'll go anywhere you want me to go and I'll do anything you want me to do. But I need you to fulfill your word that you gave me. And in the most unlikely of times, remember March of 2020, in 60 days, God put $100,000 through my hands. I tell you, it literally came from the north, south, east, and the west. From all over the world, people I'd met, people I'd never met.

People who visited our church one time and never got baptized, never got the Holy Ghost, hadn't talked to in like seven years were messaging us, sending us money randomly. I'd tell you before God, my phone would beep and Haley would say, "What's that?" And I'm like, "It's a PayPal notification. It's $1,000." And I'd put my phone down and not even 30 seconds later, it would beep again. What's that? It's another PayPal note. I'm literally it was supernatural. You say, "What'd you do?" Well, the first thing I did was I paid my tithe. The second thing I did was I gave a great sacrificial offering.

The third thing I did was I paid off all the debt. And then the fourth thing I did was put some money in savings. You say, "Why am I telling you this?" Because you have to determine that what I'm doing, I'm doing for the ministry. It's the motive. And the Bible says God weighs the spirits. He judges the motives. And if he finds that your motive is right, sometimes the story is long, but he tells good stories. I don't have time to tell you it all.

I'm just telling you, I've lived and seen enough to know that when you choose to live your life based upon the burden God gives you and your motive is right, you can relinquish the concern of your well-being into his hands. He will take care of you. I know a friend of mine who pastors in the south had an elderly lady in his church in her late 70s and got a phone call from a lawyer. She says, "So and so has passed away and according to the will, he's left everything to you. It was her aranged nephew that she hadn't talked to in decades. He was out of church, backslid, alcoholic doing drugs.

Last time they had had contact." She called her pastor and said, "Pastor, I I got a call from a lawyer. They've say they've left me this. she's got a property in such and such a city and would it be okay if you and your wife drive me to to see it? I I have no idea what to expect. And he said as we were pulling into the city, he said, "There's this mass of houses." And I'm thinking, "Oh Lord, who knows what what what is owed on this and what this house is full of and the things she's going to have to deal with." She's almost 80.

She says, "Pastor, wouldn't you know, it's the craziest thing." She said, "The lawyer told me that the house is paid for. He had no debt. It everything in it is mine." And he said, "When I pulled into that driveway," I was stunned. And we started walking through the house.

And she said, "Would you get some men from the church and come back next week and help us start moving and organizing?" He said, "Yeah." He said, "We went back the next week with a U-Haul, started moving things, and I was in the bedroom helping her moving some of his personal things." She went to lift a bag and she couldn't lift it. She said, "Pastor, will you come help me with this?" He said, "I walked over, went to lift it, and the weight of it startled me." He said, "Lifted it up and set it down, looked inside. Solid gold bars." I mean, who even has gold like that?

He sold that gold for $250,000 and she sold the house for I think it was $580,000 if my memor is correct. And here was a little old lady in her late 70s just been living on social security, a home that no one in this room would ever desire for. But in one of her last chapters, God showed up and said, "I'm going to bless you upwards of almost a million dollars in one day." This is what he does. I could tell you testimonies like this for the next several hours. I'm not going to because I'm kind of getting hungry.

But I just want to put your mind to rest tonight that what you're doing is a ministry. And if you will do it as a ministry unto the Lord, God keeps good books. So you can put that worry to rest, you can go to prayer and keep up the good work. Would you lift your hands to the Lord right now? Father, I thank you for the sacrifice they've made to be here over this last day and a half, but more importantly, the sacrifice of their lives to do what it is they're doing. Strengthen their hands. renew their vision. Put peace in their minds and joy in their hearts.

I'm asking that you would bless the work of their hands. Bless their finances. Open the windows of heaven and provide for them. If you want to send it by a raven, send it by a raven. If you want to bless the finances of the school, bless the finances of the school. But Lord, we confess we will trust you. We will believe your word and we will do the good work and we thank you for it. Now, would you just lift up your voice in praise and thanksgiving? Lord, we love you. We love you, Jesus. Come on, that's it. Open up your mouth and thank him. Just let his spirit wash upon you. Come on.

I feel very strongly right now. God wants to put the concern of your mind to rest. I know the testimonies of which I've shared do not seem conducive with the word that I've preached necessarily, but the Holy Ghost is trying to put your concern to rest. You are doing a good work. Do not stop. Don't come down. Don't consider something else. This is too good. It's too important. Come on. I sat across the desk of a general manager of a Hilton hotel with a job offer in in excess of $100,000. And instead of signing the paper, I gave my notice to quit to go work for a church making $35,000 a year.

And it was the joy of my life. This is what we do. It's the good work and we will not come down. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Congratulations. I want us to pray one more prayer and I'm going to ask my pastor to close us out tonight. But I'll tell you what I felt about 15 minutes ago. It's going to be the focus of our prayer. For some here, just like a constricted artery restricts the flow of blood to the body, there are some here your prayer life is like that constricted artery. It's hard for you to flow in a spirit of prayer. We're about to pray together.

And if you'll open your mouth and lift your voice, I believe God's going to expand that constricted place in your life. And you're going to be able to flow in a spirit of prayer for the next few minutes. And that flow of prayer is going to open something up in you where you're going to desire prayer. You're going to commit yourself to prayer. But you got to lift your voice right now. Can you begin to pray and let God open up your spirit right now? She saychech. Come on. Your prayer life has all but been choked out.

But God's trying to allow the flow of the spirit of prayer in your life again here right now. Open your mouth. Yield yourself to his spirit right now. God, everything restricting that flow, dear God, open it now in the name of Jesus. And that flows going to cultivate a desire for prayer again, God, where it becomes the priority of every man, every woman in this place tonight. That it be released now, Jesus. One day, God, it's not going to be an afterthought anymore, but it's going to be the forthought of everything that we do. A spirit of prayer flow in every life here, God. Myity come up.

Hallelujah. Come on, that's it for a few more moments. The measure at which you open yourself right now to his spirit. Come on, allow the Holy Ghost to maximize the flow of prayer in you right now. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. shall never shall. Become the Lord. I say thank you. Beautiful. Thank you. Hallelujah. Glorious. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glorious. Hallelujah. Yes, Fire. Can you just yield yourself to him one more time? You don't have to be loud, but just open yourself to him. Hallelujah. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. He says, for the melt. Would you come close us out tonight?

Whatever you feel to say direction.