0055S Nehemiah 3–4 — Sword & Trowel: Build Under Fire

Ever tried to rebuild your life while the mockers get loud and the rubble never ends? We take Nehemiah 3–4 off the page and into the home, turning a spirit-breathed project ledger into a clear plan for families to restore order, courage, and joy. We start where worship leads the work, then we draw a wall map for modern life—marriage, kids, home order, finances, media, hospitality, and safety—and define “doors, bolts, and bars” you can actually inspect. No vibes, just standards you can see and celebrate.

We walk gate by gate, translating ancient landmarks into daily drills. The Sheep Gate anchors our mornings with Scripture and prayer. The Fish Gate turns our trade into witness. The Old Gate keeps doctrine stable with catechism. The Valley and Dung Gates build grit through confession and ruthless purging of sin and time-wasters. The Fountain and Water Gates guard our lifelines with psalms, silence, and nightly reading. The Horse Gate trains readiness: fitness, combatives, and trauma skills. The East and Muster Gates set hope and accountability with fasting and inspection. Each practice is small and doable, yet together they raise a wall that holds.

Opposition follows a script—mockery, rumor, plots, and force—but Nehemiah shows the path: pray, post a guard, and keep laying stone. We show how to throttle fear by limiting rumor loops, setting a truth channel, and naming rally points. The heartbeat is Nehemiah 4:14: remember the Lord and fight for your family by name. Half the team builds; half stands ready. Tools in one hand, a sword in the other, we plan short pushes, celebrate halfway wins, and pre‑stage for the long haul. Prepared is not panicked; it’s steady, hopeful, and useful.

If you’re ready to repair breaches at home, reclaim your routines, and make courage contagious, this one gives you the checklist and the charge. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s rebuilding, and leave a review to help other families lock shields and advance.

CWM Intro with Drums

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CWM Outro with drums

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome, Worship, And Music Finds
• 3:04 Mission Of Christian Warrior Ministry
• 4:42 Events: Reformation Day And Farm Updates
• 7:47 Deliberate Christianity: Seven Principles
• 10:46 Setting Up Nehemiah 3 And 4
• 14:18 Warrior Catechism And Community Patreon
• 18:49 Review Of Nehemiah 1–2: Recon To Rally
• 23:35 Family Application: Breaches And Standards
• 30:24 Nehemiah 3: Ledger, Ownership, Standards
• 37:07 Gate Discipleship: Symbols To Practices
• 43:13 Household Drills And Seam-Closing
• 48:03 Nehemiah 4: Mockery, Prayer, Momentum
• 54:05 Escalation, Guards, And Fear Management
• 1:00:00 Fight For Your Families: 4:14 Charge
• 1:05:15 Sword And Trowel: Build While Guarding

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:27

Happy Lord's Day to you. I hope you had a great productive one like we did around here. We had just some uh what I would call fidelity work today, making the property um look godly and um boy kids are special. But um hope you had a good day, hope you had a good week. Uh I know my last sermon was extremely late. Today we did some extended worship. Um man, that Josiah Queen um song, Watch Your Mouth Boy, absolutely crushes me. It's uh it's a good one if you haven't heard it. Um I'm constantly looking for good music that is godly out there, and um I absolutely love that song. So there's a lot of artists that I am finding now. My playlist was stagnant for about a year and a half, and now um there's I'm just stumbling upon um some really good stuff and actually some good workout music too. There was you know a couple ones out there that I just got a rock and tune to it that you can actually like throw some weight around. So uh so, anyways, welcome to Christian Warrior Mission, Home Church, Community, Ministry, and Farm, forging Christian Warriors for today's challenges. Christian Warrior Mission forges men, women, and families into battle-ready disciples of King Jesus, locking shields and advancing on every front. So Christ is honored, his people are protected, and his kingdom surges into every sphere of life. Advance on every front, every day, no excuses, no retreats. Okay. I do everything in this church for the individual and for the families out there. You know, we are not a church, a big church with a bunch of people in here, there's hardly anyone here. Um online, I know we have people who follow us, and that's what matters. Um, is that we're making an effect on some people's lives. So all the talking points, or not the talk, the takeaway points and the application that we pull from the Bible, I try to put it through the lens, the proper biblical lens, and how where the rubber meets the road is you and your daily walk with your family. Okay, now we here talk about things way more kinetic than most people. I mean kinetic, meaning that yes, we battle against powers and principalities and spirits and and everything else, right? And you know, and Paul says we don't battle against flesh and blood. But the all those are the ultimate enemies, right? But our enemies do use meat puppets. And those are the people that we see around here. Those are the rapists and the murderers and the bad guys and Atifa and the entire Democrat Party that is insistent on killing children and mutilating kids and stuff. So um, so yeah, we have evil and we do have to prepare, and we do have people that want to hurt us, and we have to protect our homes and our families and all we hold dear. We will not test the Lord, we will trust the Lord. Okay. So some announcements. Reformation Day, October 31st. Get your godly costumes ready. So we're gonna have it here. We're gonna have a fire out front, we're gonna get, you know, have the kids, we're gonna have, you know, uh bobbin for apples tank, we're uh trying to get a pinata and all kinds of stuff for families to come here and have a good time and to not let evil take that day over. Now, if you think you're gonna show up like a sexy devil and get in, you're not getting in, right? Or the pregnant nun or any of those other stupid, blasphemous or costumes. If you want to show up as something wholesome and good, you're more than welcome. I got one girl who's gonna be a princess, and the other who's gonna be a crusader knight. Okay. If you know my kids, you know which one's which. Okay. And then Gus will probably be a cow or something. You know, he's a turkey or a cow. He's he's two. So whatever cute costume we can put him in, but something wholesome. Um and we're gonna be here, we're gonna have a good time. You know, so we're gonna be cranking godly Christian music, have good food, and you know, and and redeem the night instead of letting evil run away with it that happens on Halloween. We also have two big processing days coming up. I know we're getting ready to process Karen, our black Angus cow, shortly, and pork chop, our Berkshire pig. Those are the next two up on the list, and we might have to get another freezer because Karen's gonna be a lot of meat, and so is pork chop. But we're trying to do pork chop closer or close to the Reformation Day party, and maybe we'll do pulled pork and all that stuff and do a pig roast kind of thing. He's too big to put on a grill. I mean, he's gonna be over 300 pounds, so that's too big to put on a grill. But um, you know, we'll do parts, we'll smoke parts of them and all that stuff. So that'll be good. And then the other thing was we got to schedule a crossfield day. So the the opening day of our ministry here, we put it out on Memorial Day, about four years ago now, that we were gonna carry a 600-pound cross up our up the mountain on the back of our property. I call it a mountain, it's a hill. But it's a tall hill, and it's it's very, very challenging, particularly when it's wet, which God made it rain because he loves a good story. We had 70-something people show up to carry that cross up. But the cross up there is needs to be sanded and repainted. Um, we've got a lot of, you know, here in Tennessee, the state flower is uh blackberries and briars because they grow everywhere. So we get to go up there and reclaim that. So we're gonna do a work party if you want to come be a part of that and help us redeem that mountaintop again. We're getting a picnic table and we get a the big windstorm moved our giant heavy pavilion, you know, a few feet off of where it's supposed to be. So we need at least two to six people, or sorry, four to six people to move that effectively, one on each post to get up and move it without breaking it. So um, so we'll have more dates of that. We'll put it out there and we'll get some people over there and we'll get it done. We want to get it looking good for this year, and I'm gonna be weed whacking down the tree line so the cross can be seen up and down the street. Because boy, does the jungle grow. It grows. All right, so you guys know here, you've been watching us long enough, or if you're new here, we don't do Christianity accidentally. We deliberately do Christianity by by doing the following. We deliberately fight for a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus by studying his word and through prayer. We deliberately raise our family Christian and we pour into them every single day. Every day we pick one and we pour into them and we just keep rotating through. We try to be functionally fit here. You don't have to win a best body contest. You don't have to be able to run a marathon, but you should be able to move and you should be able to take care of yourself, or else, what good are you if you're a kosh potato? I guess you command some phone lines, but that's about it. Uh, finances, we fight to deliberately use our war chest that we're blessed with, which is what God gives us and has blessed us with for his kingdom and not ours. Okay. And we try to avoid the two pitfalls of, you know, slave to debt and a slave to, you know, materialism. And then fundamentals, we try to be the best asset we can be for our families as well as our community by learning as many skills as you can that are beneficial. Okay, some of them are carpentry, electrical, plumbing, gardening, animal husbandry, things I thought I'd never say as a city kid. But others are firearms and combatives and Brazilian jujitsu and all that other stuff. So if you're gonna go out and go out this door right here. The next is fellowship. Okay. Fellowship is we deliberately try not to do this life alone. This godly life alone, it only works if you're doing it with other people in service to other people. And then fidelity, we try to make our whole life look godly. Now, this is something we have struggled with here on this property, as I was injured almost all of last year, and you know, being quad vocational and Lauren almost dying and everything else, the property has gotten run down here. And we've been very convicted to make it godly from the curb to the back. And we're starting that process, pecking at it a little bit every day, but 44 acres takes a long time, particularly when you work multiple jobs and you have a farm and you have three kids, and none of them are very effective at doing anything other than picking up small items, right? So we're gonna be talking a lot about that today. Now, we're I'm teaching Nehemiah 3 and 4 today. Okay, I've never taught Nehemiah 3 before. Nehemiah 3 is kind of just a log of who did what, and I'm gonna touch on that because it's important. And then Nehemiah 4, I've taught probably almost more than anything in this church because it is the found Nehemiah 4.14 is the founding like verse of this church. And so I'm going to be coming at it in a in a more applicable way for you to apply it to your life. Okay, not always warfare or any of these other things or protecting your family. There's that in there, but it's also about sanctifying your own life. Let's face it, we all are sucking. Um my family's in a season of suck right now. Everyone's in the grumps or sick, you know, we got sick kids and grumpy kids and everything else going on. And it's hard to get a um to stay positive and to be the light in the room that we need to. It takes effort. It takes ungodly effort when you don't feel like it to be happy and to project happiness. And just, but it is a decision. It is a decision. Okay. That's why I love that song by Josiah Queen, because the whole first ver uh part of it is he's sitting there feeling sorry for himself. He's, you know, screaming at the sky, I'm done, I'm done. And then God says, Watch your mouth, boy. Don't you talk like that. The holes inside my hand show you have all my love. And if that doesn't snap you out of your pity party, I don't know what does, because it does for me. And I've got I've been known to be able to throw some pretty good pity parties for myself. You know, there's few gripers in the world like my family, and then you roll that into law enforcement who are world-class gripers and the military, and you've got the Pro Bowl, the best of the best gripers in the whole entire world. So fighting that tooth and nail to not be the negative person that you can be is a for me, is going to be one of my lifelong thorns in my side that Paul talks about. You know, and we have to resist that with everything we have because it's so easy to roll over and play dead. And all you're gonna do is make yourself more miserable. You know, all you're gonna make yourself more miserable. Now, Lauren and the kids went away for five days, and I thought, I'm gonna have some me time, and that's gonna make me feel good. And what I've learned again for the hundredth time is me time never makes me feel good. The me time only makes me feel horrible, and I just become the worst version of me during that time. The only life worth living, and God has wired us all this way, is the life that Jesus walked out, which is a life of service to others. That is the only way you're gonna wake up with a smile on your face. It is the only way you're ever going to do anything right. And Nehemiah 4:14, or sorry, Nehemiah 3 and 4, is a version of this in their life, as they're walking out, as they're repairing Jerusalem and the wall around Jerusalem as it has completely been destroyed. So that's the setting for today. All right. I'll get into that a little bit more. Warrior Catechism, we're on week nine. Warrior, what is the church? The assembly of all true believers called out to worship, disciple, equip, and advance God's kingdom in the world. Warrior, what is the church? The assembly of all true believers called out to worship, disciple, equip, and advance God's kingdom in the world. One more time. Warrior, what is the church? The assembly of all true believers called out to worship, disciple, equip, and advance God's kingdom in the world. The other thing I want to cover is our is our uh Christian warrior Patreon page, which is um, you know, the it has undergone massive changes and softening to make it more palatable for people to do. Um, it is a community and a support group of people who are just like you. And we come there and we deliberately pursue those seven principles. But if you're doing the Christian, there's there's two ways to do it. The Christian warrior way, right? Which is basically you get on there and you post when you can what you do, and you just log what day you're on, right? And if you don't do everything, that's fine. Just post what you're doing and be honest. And you'll see, guys, in there, I am so proud of the men that I see in there right now. And Lauren's starting, I think, Monday again, because you know, you know, with the trip and everything else, she was having a hard time doing that. And uh watching people be extremely vulnerable and owning up to their faults, their victories, their struggles, their their needs, and everything else. And it has been so it's the only reason it gets me out of the bed sometimes. Okay. You know, I don't have a big church with a bunch of smiling faces looking at me that I'm doing stuff. People only show up here for this church usually when when their whole life is falling apart and they need a reset and they come to church. Okay, or someone's getting married, or someone died, and that's where it comes in because all of a most of our congregants are out of state or out of town or far away. So watching these guys walk through their lives there and knowing owning their struggles has been amazing. Absolutely amazing, and it makes me want to be more vulnerable in there. Because of that, we put it behind a small paywall. Now you can donate as much as you want in there to be a part of it, but it's a it's like a monthly subscription service where I think you can do it with 10 box. I can't remember where I set the basement at, but it's cheap. And that's just to make so people can't come in there and see what everyone else is doing and leech you off of it. They have to have some skin in the game, and there's a way, you know, they're they're paying, so they're real people, you know, they're not bots, they're not anything else, and it just adds a layer of privacy to it. It gets us some skin in the game, and um, so we did that. So I encourage you to do that because the other way is the real hard one, and that's the forging, and that's 90 days straight. And you can't like we made it so hardcore because we went really light with the Christian warrior way, and we're all on the Christian Warrior way, right? That is basically for the rest of your life, you're gonna be doing this, and hopefully you're journaling because that's all this really is. This is group journaling together, and it's a support group for that, right? People are praying for me in this ministry, I'm praying for other people, I'm praying for their family members, you know, and you're and you're getting all these guns pointed in the right direction and and and locking shields to one another, and it's really great. But the the the forging is when your life is a mess or your faith has not grown. And that is when you do 90 days, you don't miss a post, you don't miss a day, or you start over. Okay, I'm starting over the third time. So no one's perfect, no one's gonna be perfect, and it's it is humbling, and it's gonna be one of the hardest things you ever do, but it is also the way you'll get the most growth. So that's all that. So um let's go ahead and pray it in. King Jesus, good shepherd, captain of our salvation, we praise you for gathering this company. Set your good hand upon us, consecrate our hands, our homes, and our tools as the sheepgate. Sorry, tools at the sheepgate. Drive back the schemes of the evil one, ignite Baruch's zeal in our bones, steal us with Nehemiah's courage, and wheel and weld us shoulder to shoulder, so there are no gaps in the wall. Teach us to pray like warriors, work like craftsmen, and watch like sentries. Breathe upon us by your spirit, make us quick to repent, swift to forgive, dangerous to the darkness, and gentle to the weak. Establish the work of our hands for the defense of your people and the exaltation of your name. Amen. Not gonna do the Lord's Prayer today. We get a lot to cover, so we did that one, and we're just gonna drive on. So the context, we did Nehemiah 1 and 2 already. We are in uh 44 445 BC under Artax of Xerces. Okay, our tax Xerces uh first, Nehemiah, cupbearer, turned governor now, um, returns to build Jerusalem's wall. The cupbearer isn't just a guy who carries a cup, it's more of a bodyguard type position, like a secret service position. Um, so the thing to know about Nehemiah 3 is an operations ledger. We're gonna hit a couple verses, a few verses in there just so you the just so you can see what and why. And then Nehemiah 4 is the combat conditions. Together they make literally the sword and the trowel. A brief review of Nehemiah 1 and 2, recon, repentance, and rally. Nehemiah 1, report, weeping, fasting, prayer. Nehemiah hears of great evil and reproach. I don't know if you guys can hear all the kids screaming. If you can, I'm sorry, they're in the kitchen right now going nuts. Nehemiah hears of a great evil and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down. He sits, weeps, fasts, and prays. A model of adoration, confession, personal and corporate. He confesses and repents for all of his sin and his people's sin. Covenant remembrance and petition for favor. In Nehemiah too, we see favor, planning, recon, and charge. And Nisan, or Nisan, whatever, N-I-S-A-N. God grants favor before our taxerces. Nehemiah arrives with letters, timber, and authority. Does a night reconnaissance, then gives the charge. You see the bad situation we are in. Come, let us rebuild. The people respond, let us arise and build. Opposition mocks, but Nehemiah answers, the God of heaven will make us prosper. All right, so the lessons from one and two. Crisis to prayer reflex. This is something I have to battle with, everything I have. When crisis comes for me, I almost never instantly go to prayer. When crisis comes to me, unless it's something I can't control. When Lauren almost died in giving birth to um to um her son, I immediately went to prayer because I can't, I couldn't do anything. It was out out of my hands. But typically when crisis comes, I massive action is what I do. And that's not the right way to do it. We before you make plans, which you should be doing plans before you're acting, seek God. And if you have time, seek God with fasting. Okay. Next, name sin, not just enemies. Own your own mistakes for the situation you're in. Pray God, scripture back to God. We always pray our wish list, our want list, and all these things. God loves hearing his word. It's his language. Praying his word back to him. Proves you're his. Plan everything like it depends on you. Ask for time, timber, and transition. Build a real checklist. Okay? Plan like it depends on you. Again, ask for time, timber, and transition. Or transit. Build a real checklist. Recon and silence. I told no one. Nehemiah went in the silence of the night to look at the problems. Inspect at night, map gate, seems rubble. Expect at your worst. That's at night. At your worst. It doesn't have to be at night. That is just for that situation. That's what it was. And then charge with hope. Tie work to God's hands. Anytime you're tying something to glorifying God, it's a good thing. The good hand of my God was upon me, is what Nehemiah said. Answer mockery with theology and boundaries. Nehemiah told his mockers, You have no portion or right of or remembrance in Jerusalem. Okay, so what do we do as families with what we reviewed? As a family, list your top three breaches at home. Marriage communication, maybe child discipleship, finances, debt, household order, safety readiness, destructive media habits, strained neighbors. You know what they are. Those are just some. List them. List your top three. Fast and pray on Wednesday. Fast from Tuesday night to Wednesday night. And pray Nehemiah 1, 5 through 11 aloud. Now, this isn't just something you should do for this week. I recommend you do what we're highlighting today for a season.

SPEAKER_00: 25:50

For a season. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 25:57

Name your spouse and children in specific breaches. Okay. So as a family, when you see those breaches, if it's somebody in your family specifically that is causing that, name them. Okay? Name them and tie them to the breaches. Build an ask list. Time timber transit. Time. Block calendar slots for scripture, family councils, repairs, training. As a family, we're doing a lot right now with this. We're walking this out in real time as we are reclaiming our 44 acres for the Lord here. He blessed us with it, and we need to make it look like it's God's. Okay. Timber, these are items and skills needed. Bibles, door hardware, ammo, med kits, budget tools, parenting class, you know, whatever, right? Transit, get your permissions. Okay. If you're gonna start concealed carrying, go to a class, get your concealed carry permit. If you're going to have a gun in your house, get good storage, learn how to use it. If you're gonna if you're somebody who lives alone and you wanna be able to protect yourself and you decided that you're not gonna be a victim and you're gonna go get a firearm, go get the right training and know how to do it, and make sure they train you for your situation. Okay, your situation. If you're not mobile, don't let them make you go out and do ridiculous things that some of these guys do. All right. Next, so this is also so sorry for translation. This is like bedtimes, screens, spending rules, charm rotations, we might ask for us, as well as you know, sanctioned things from the city, state, federal government. Run a night recon or a home walk through. It doesn't have to be a night, it's just walk when it's at its worst. Quietly walk the perimeter rooms, identify your gates, front back, garage doors, bedroom doors, internet, TV, content gate, your cell phones, budget for you guys with older kids who are on their cell phones, budget money gate, list the doors, bolts, and bars you'll see. Needing repair. You remember these doors, bolts, bars, you're gonna see this standard. Needing repair, both hardware, locks, lights, numbers, habits, devotion time, scream rules, emergency roles, all these things need to be deliberate. And this is gonna sound cheesy, but for those of you leading your house and you're a new Christian and you're trying to figure out what are you gonna do, draft a family rally speech, one paragraph to your household. You see the bad situation we are in. Come let us rebuild. Okay? This is again you leading, you taking ownership, you stepping up and not commanding, but leading through inspiration. Propose two concrete steps and when you'll do them. Pick one repair to start tomorrow. Name the owner, the standard of what needs to be done, and what it needs how it needs to look, and check back in time. So now, without further ado, let's get into Nehemiah 3. All right, we're gonna do three Nehemiah 3-1, 3-5, 3-10, 3-12, 3-20, and 3-32. We're gonna jump around and I'm gonna read them all and then I'll unpack them. 3 1. Then Elishaab and the high priest arose with his brothers, the priests, and built the sheep gate, and they sanctified it and set up its doors. They started, the priests started. Moreover, and three down to three five, next to him, the Tekuites repaired, but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of the Lord. Okay, so there's someone being called out for being lazy. And next to them, Jediah, the son of Harum, sorry, Harumap, repaired opposite his house, proximity, you'll see. And next to him, Shalom repaired he and his daughters. So there he's incorporating the girls and the women. After him, Baruch zealously repaired another section. There is someone getting praise. And between the upper chambers in the corner of the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired. All right, so what does this all mean? It just sounds like work list, right? What the MIR3 actually is is a spirit-breathed project ledger. God records who worked, where they worked, and with what standard. A lot of people, anytime they want to do good something for God, they volunteer, they donate, and what is it? They give their worst efforts, they donate their junk, right, instead of the best. God's standard, if you're gonna put God's name on it, it better be the best you can do. Okay. They work to what standard? That means ordinary craftsmanship, family ownership, immeasurable finish or theology, not just admin. The thing that's great here is each family was given ownership. And they weren't working far away, they weren't going to Haiti to do something, they were working at what was right at their feet. So, some terms that if you had read the we had read the whole thing, you'd hear over and over again. Some refrain. With meaning, next to him or after him. The wall rises by adjacent effort, meaning by effort of people next to one another, not isolated heroics. Every section touches another section. Scenes are owned where two are joined. Not assumed.

SPEAKER_00: 32:11

Your obedience enables your neighbors. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 32:16

You walking out a godly existence serves as an example of what a Christian should be to your neighbors. Oh, that can be pretty convicting when your house and everything and your properties run down. Right? Right? Yeah. Okay, so again, nothing in this chapter. Everything was done deliberately and handed off, and there was ownership and accountability all the way through. You hear this term, opposite his house, you'll hear you would have heard over and over again. Assignments are approximate, meaning right where you're standing. Families repair what they live beside. Your first ministry is your front door, your marriage, your children, your budget, your habits, and your literal locks.

SPEAKER_00: 33:13

That's your first ministry in that. That's something we all gonna do better at what you do here.

SPEAKER_01: 33:26

Get this right before you go here. Okay? Doors, bolts, bars. God requires finished to spec, meaning a standard, not vibes. Gates aren't done until they close, lock, and hold. So when you write your standards, write acceptable acceptance criteria for your work at home. What does done look like? When the kids, before the kids go to bed, they're gonna go around and the floor is gonna be clean of all the toys, all debris, and swept vacuum. Like, where is the standard? So you can come out and say the standard wasn't met. Okay. So some things and why it matters. Worship leads the work. The priests started. The priests sanctify the sheep gate first. And the circuit ends there, meaning that's where it starts at the sheep gate, goes all the way around, ends at the sheep gate. Frame your labor in prayer and consecration. Proximity assigns responsibility. Refrain. Okay, that's not like, don't do that. This is something like a music where it's constantly brought up over and over again and repeated. God expects near field repairs first. Before you sail away to a million miles away to do something for somebody else, get your own house in order. Okay, cohesion closes seams. The editorial stitch next to him ensures no gaps. Cooperate across seams. Don't leave hands up handoffs fuzzy. You know, this is just good solid practice. Always know when your job's done and you're handing it on to somebody else to do something that that is done to its fullness. Standards are defined. Okay. Quality and inspection are godly. Women were included. Shalem works with his daughters. Train and honor women as co-builders. Zeal honored. Karuoch is singled out for zeal. God notices pace and heart. And then slackers are named. Takoa's nobles refuse to bend the neck. Yet the people of Tokoa work two sections. Titles don't measure contribution, faithfulness does. So gate discipleship, symbol and practice. Each one of these gates actually means something. I mean, this book is amazing. Sheepgate, worship and atonement. Start with God, dedicate your labor. Practice, uh, practice, open the day with scripture and a short family prayer. You should be doing that anyways, right? Fish gate, witness work, market need morale or morals. Your trade, your job is your pulpit. Practice one intentional gospel conversation or mercy act weekly. Should be doing that anyways, right? The old Jashana gate, doctrine and stability, keep the ancient past, practice catechism, QA. Memorize a catechism each week. Valley gate, humility and endurance, low places, build grit. Own your own sin as a family, forgive, plan, and repair. The dung gate. Who thought you'd find that in the Bible? Dung gate. Repentance and refuse removal. This is a hard one for most of us. Throw out what defiles. Whatever is dragging you down, and whatever is defiling your soul. Throw it out. Practice weekly trash list, one sin habit and one time waster purged.

SPEAKER_00: 37:32

You know how hard that is gonna be for a lot of us? To purge your time wasters.

SPEAKER_01: 37:40

So my girls are practicing service without me telling them. And they both bought me two glasses of water to be kind to me. The fountain gate, life in the spirit. Guard your lifelines. Okay? Daily psalm and two minutes of silence with God minimum. Water gate, word saturation. Scripture is at the center. Practice nightly chapter, read aloud with one comprehensive question. You should be reading your Bible, anyways. These are just deeper ways to do it. Try to come up with as many ways as I can because some people learn some ways and some people learn in other ways. By reading it out loud, it causes you some people to process it deeper. The horse gate, my favorite. Readiness and defense. Prepared to protect. Practice combatives, fitness, and tactical skills along with trauma skills. Eastgate, watchful hope. Start the day with expectation. A fasting prayer once a week. Give thanks. Ask big. Start your day with praying hope.

SPEAKER_00: 38:52

And on that Wednesday, make that your big one, your fasting day. And then the muster gate, inspection, accountability.

SPEAKER_01: 39:04

Review and inspect everything that your family's supposed to be doing. Don't trust that it's done. Always verify. Okay. Household drills. Draw your wall map, paper, or whiteboard with eight to ten sections: marriage, kids, home, home order, finances, media, hospitality, safety, work. Write one breach and one repair under each. Two, write one standard for your doors, bolts, bars. That's some in chapter three, it's mentioned over and over. Pick a task you usually wing, meaning that you do it half, I almost said halfway. Um family worship, budget, bedtime routine, door security. Define what done means. Do everything as if you're doing it for God and watch your life change. Okay. And if you want to write it down, one to three things and what's done, act like you're because we've we're all starting this. And very few of us have been doing this from Go. And if you're training young kids or teenagers, God help you. Write it down as if a guest is coming over and how to lock up, what to do. Name your adjacent seam. List who is next to you, another family, neighbor, family member, small group friend. Write one way you will support their section this week. Watch kids for an hour, share tools, pray together, check on a way on a widow. Honor zeal and confront slack. Publicly praise the Baruch in your home, the person who's doing a good job. Privately address the noble of Tokoa. That's your slacker. Behavior in yourself, excuse making, and replace it with a small act of obedience today. Okay, so if you've got a little bit of tacoa in you, get rid of it. Okay, now I was gonna do Nehemiah 4 in addition to that, but that took a long time. So we're gonna go ahead. Actually, no, we started really late. We started at 20 pass, so I got time. All right, so Nehemiah 4, 1 through 23. Nehemiah again, Nehemiah 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the whole book. So I'm gonna go through this and we'll break it down as we go. Nehemiah 4, 1 through 23. Now it happens that Sam Ballat, who was a bad guy, heard that we were rebuilding the wall. He became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Sumaria and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty heaps, even burned ones? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, Even what they are building, if a fox should jump on it, he would break down their stone wall. So they're being mocked, they're being made fun of. Mockery is an open salve, an opening salvo. Opposition often begins with contempt to sap your morale, to drain morale, kill your morale. Expect ridicule when you're doing great things. Don't debate scoffers while you're while you're laying the course. Just get back to work. Proverbs says, Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. Teach your family that when we when we are mocked, we pray, keep pace, and recite our standard. Picking up verse four. Hear, O God, how we are despised. Return their reproach on their own head and give them up to plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover their iniquity and do not let their sin be wiped out before you, for they have provoked you to anger before their builders. Nehemiah is not afraid to pray against his enemies. Nehemiah goes vertical first, straight to God. Prayer is petition for righteous reversal. Psalm style honesty beats horizontal venting. Right? Instead of battling with them here, go here to go to God. Commit your works to Yahweh and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3. Write a one-sentence prayer against specific pressure you face. Pray it aloud. Whatever it is that's dragging you down, pray it aloud. Pray against it. 4-6. So we rebuilt the wall, and the whole wall was joined together to half its height. And the people at heart to work, they're making progress. The whole wall, as everyone's doing, is half the height it should be. Okay? It's half the height it should be. That means the gates aren't hanging yet because guess what? You can't hang gates on half a wall, but they're making progress, and the people are motivated. Unity of will accelerates progress. Celebrate halfway wins. Momentum matters. When you hit check marks, or your kids hit check marks, or a family member kicks a problem or does something great, celebrate it. The plan of the diligence surely leads to advantage, Proverbs 21. Put a visible progress bar on your wall. Budget, declutter, catechism, heart, whatever it is, whatever it is you're doing, a progress bar motivates people to go and keep doing things forward. I think that's a great idea. 4-7. Now it happened that when Sambelat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Astrodites heard the repairs in the wall of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. And all of them conspired together to come fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. Escalation to plots, ridicule and rumor, and then violence planning. Application, build concentric rings, prayer, policy, posture, preparedness. A prudent man sees evil and hides himself. Proverbs 22, 3. Name your three rings for the Lord for the Lord's Day. Consecration, prayer. You know, so when you're getting ready to do your Lord's Day, what are the three things that you're going to do? The things that you're challenged by. So there's that posture. We're not going to be easy victims. We're going to resist you the whole way. We're not going to be targets. You know, so often in crime, particularly in the city, but crime anywhere, is often because there is no resistance. The irresistible draw of an easy target to an evil person is awful.

SPEAKER_00: 46:34

So pray and post a guard, 4-9.

SPEAKER_01: 46:40

Scripture marries devotion to diligence. Too often we as Christians we just pray, but we don't do the diligence part. We don't do our part. Spiritual and practical is obedience, not unbelief.

SPEAKER_00: 46:51

The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to Yahweh.

SPEAKER_01: 47:00

Thus, in Judah it was said, the strength of the of the burden bears is failing, yet there is much rubble, and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall. So here comes the negative speakers. Here comes the people trying to shatter the morale. This is eternal fatigue and drag and people who just want to quit. Internal friction can outweigh an external threat. Remove clutter, short loops, plan rest. So much of what we do here on this farm, and I don't mean to always bring it back to me, but I'm trying to make it applicable, is we don't have the right equipment, we don't have the right people, we don't have the right horsepower, we don't have the right knowledge, nothing is optimal, and everything we're doing is six times harder than it should be. So we are deliberately trying to improve our processes. As the kids age and they become more useful, we are trying to give them tasks that they can handle. We are bartering and training services and product to get people here to help with what we're doing here. All right. My wife's a reformed city girl. We don't didn't have the know-how. We had to acquire it. Proverb, by wisdom a house is built through knowledge, his rooms are filled. Proverbs 24, 3 and 4. Every day before you go to bed, 20-minute rubble sweep. Physical clutter, or if you're working and say that's that's one part of your problem. Let's say that's not a problem. Budget leaks. We're looking at your budget. Calendar bloat. You got too much stuff scheduled in there. Whatever it is, before the next build, before the next task, deal with it. 411, our adversary said they will not know or see until we are coming among them to kill them and put a stop to the work. So let me read that again. Sorry, my eyes aren't doing so good today. Our adversary said they will not know or see until we come among them to kill them and to put a stop to the work. Now it happened that when the Jews who lived near them came, they told and told us ten times they will come up against us from every place where you may turn. So now they're threatening. And now the cowards are showing themselves. Ten times the surrounding people wanted, you know, came up and told them that they were gonna get killed. This is psyops and rumor loops. Fear multiplies by repetition. Proximity to fear sources spike anxiety. The more you're around a fearful person, the more they contaminate you. The more you're around a courageous person, the more they the more braver you're going to be. Courage is contagious as is fear. Cut the fear cancers out of your life. They will kill you and you will live a life of doing nothing because all they do is panic and fear everything. You can be cautious. You can see the eye, the world with eyes wide open, and then counter it. But get away from cancerous cowards. Establish a truth channel, uh throttle. This is our news. I drink the poison of the news for our family. I have to sit there and sift through Fox and Twitter and the rest to be informed so our family knows what's going on in the world. And it is a cancerous, awful thing that I have to do. But someone's got to do it. I'm the throttle. Okay. A smart emergency thing to do, just throwing this in there, is uh particularly for everyone who's got older kids. Again, we get younger ones that don't have cell phones, they're not gonna have them for a very long time, all that stuff. But start a group Family Text Now that's an emergency channel. So when you need it, it's there and you can communicate instead of having to build it in time. 413, and then I stationed men in the lowest parts, the space, uh, lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the exposed places. And I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears, and bows. The key word there is families. These people were fighting for their own families. You know who, if you're not gonna fight for your families, who are you gonna fight for? The most tenacious fighting you'll ever do is for your family. Okay, and Nehemiah is now countering what he's hearing from the rule. I mean, he's an amazing leader. I mean, I can't wait to meet him in heaven. Um defense is local and familial. Tools are visible. Your first priority is your household and gathering. The wise man scales the city of the mighty, Proverbs 21, 22. 414. Then I saw their fear. So now Nehemiah is telling them stuff and he sees they're scared. So as a commander, he's recognizing this. And here he says, this is the verse 414, my favorite one of my favorite verses in the Bibles. And I stood and I said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people, do not fear them. Remember the Lord who is great and fearsome, and fight for your brothers, your sisters, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. The antidote to fear is remember God and fight for named loved ones. Tie missions to faces. If I'm fighting for some whatever, if I'm fighting for my wife, my daughter, my mom, my son, forget it. Like there's nothing I'm gonna fight harder for than that. The name of Yahweh is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and they're set on high. Proverbs 18.10. Here's a drill for you to do. Speak 414 aloud before the Lord's day. Each person's name is who they're fighting for this week. Again, this is something we should be doing for a long time, not just this week. 415. Now it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their counsel. Then we all returned to the wall and each one to his work. God frustrates the plots, they're not an easy target anymore. Nehemiah has countered them. Wise teams sprint when pressure's lift. Now they've got momentum, they're taking off. Keep a reticue, exploit when uh open doors. You know, depending on what you do and how you do it, if all of a sudden, like here on the farm, I'm gonna bring it back to that. If a friend of mine's like, hey Jay, I got some time and I've got this, you know, I've got a skid steer, you know, can I come on over and help? We're gonna drop everything and be ready to go help that guy do that. So we can, instead of him being able to do one mile of stuff, he'll be able to do five because we're there to help him. And we're gonna seize on that momentum. Maintain a short list of repairs. Um, and then when some when an opportunity comes around, execute it immediately. So, again, that's just seizing opportunities as they come. 416. Now it happened from that day on that half of my servants did work, while half of them held spears and shields and the bows and the body armor, and the commanders were behind all the houses of Judah. Those who were rebuilding the wall, and those who carried burdens carried with one hand doing the work and with the other holding a weapon. Again, this carrying concealed and being an armed citizen is not new. Here, we're talking thousands of years ago, they're already doing it. Okay, and this is how we need to live today, because we are surrounded by evil and wickedness. Half guard, half build. Carriers do dual tasks. They have they build and they're armed. Define rules, builders, guards, runners, overseers. Okay, this is more for organizations. Without counsel, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.

SPEAKER_00: 55:43

All right.

SPEAKER_01: 55:44

As for the builders, each wore his sword, girded at his side, while the trumpeter stood beside me. Sword at his side, trumpeter beside the leader. Keep tools where they belong. Specific who triggers the alert. Prepare your work outside outside and make it ready for yourself in the fail, Proverbs 24-7. Again, you know, having comms, we have radios, we have phones, we have all that stuff. You can't, you know, the trumpet, they had to rely on a trumpet back in the EMIS day. And you can only have one. All right. We don't necessarily need just one, right? Because if there's a bunch of trumpets going, then they would think the attacks everywhere. Okay. As we'll see here in the next section. We're getting there. And I said to the nobles and officials and the rest of the people the work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather to us there, or God will fight for us. So they spread out teams. Teams need a rally point and a got and Godward confidence. So here they are. I love this because it is so applicable. Where you hear the sound of the trumpet, go there, right? Go there and God will fight for you. Not, hey, we're not going to do anything, God's gonna fight for us, which is what so many do today. 21. So we labored in the work, and half of them held spears from dawn until the stars appeared. So there are seasons for long hours. Set a 30-day push with a planned feast at the end. So, like for us, we are right now, we have eight months to reclaim this farm before the next growing season, really. May is when this place explodes. Okay. So we are going to do this in like two-month blocks and then celebrate. Do a trip, do something. Another two months, another trip, another two months, another trip. Hard work should be rewarded. Hard work should be rewarded. The hand of the diligent will rule, 1224, Proverb.

SPEAKER_00: 58:03

Okay, and then here we go.

SPEAKER_01: 58:09

At that time, I also said to the people, let each man with his servant spend the night within Jerusalem, so they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by the day. Sleeping in kit, stage close to mission. Pre-stage supplies and responsibility for big pushes. The prudent sees evil and hides himself again, Proverbs 27, 12. Again, having your med kit, your dechoker, your go bag, battery pack for when power goes out, all that stuff is stuff that we recommend. And then lastly, so neither I nor my brothers, my servants, nor my men of the guard who follow me, none of us removed our clothes. Each took his weapon even to the water. Prepared is not panicked. Okay, and and hygiene continues whether you're prepared or not. Okay. I remember when I was bodyguarding a billionaire and I was staying in a condo. I had no dog, I had no alarm system, I had nothing, and I had to shower every day. And I'm like, well, I can think of 51 billion reasons that somebody would want to hurt me because of who I protect. And I had to come up with a way to stay sane when I showered because think of that, you're vulnerable. You close that curtain, you don't know what's on the other side of the door, you can't see anything, you got auditory exclusion, you got steam, you got everything in your face, you're washing your hair. That's why that scene from Psycho, the old Norman Bates, is so terrifying because you're so vulnerable. You're naked. So I had to come up with a solution. I went and bought Bing Bong alarms and I put them everywhere. So if somebody opens something and make noise, and I had, of course, have my firearm in the bathroom, but that's just an example. Keep your heart with all diligence. From it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 423. Establish lawful, context appropriate, carry, keep or carry, get habits, keep spiritual discipline flowing. So some famous voices. Spurgeon, pray as is pray as if everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you. Calvin said, John Calvin, the welfare of the whole depends on the fidelity of each part. And John Christosom said, the work is common, the reward is one. So we covered all those. So let's go ahead and do communion. All right. Almighty God, Sovereign Lord of hosts, we approach your table today not because we are worthy, but because Christ is worthy. We come not trusting in our own righteousness, but cling to the righteousness of Christ alone. We remember his body broken, his blood poured out for the new covenant. We bow in humble gratitude, we lift up our hearts in reverent awe. Sanctify this bread in this cup and sanctify us your people as we proclaim the death, resurrection, and coming kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray this in his mighty, matchless name. Amen. The Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was being betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Remember, this symbolizes his body, pear's beaten, and sacrifice for you. Let us partake of the bread together and remember Christ's broken body for us. Go ahead and eat. Do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me. This symbolizes his blood. The blood that purchased our forgiveness sealed the everlasting covenant. Let us partake of the cup together to remember Christ's blood poured out for us. Go ahead and drink. For as often as you eat of the bread and drink of the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. By this eating and drinking we publicly proclaim Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. We are his soldiers in the everlasting kingdom. Commander Christ, builder of your church and guardian of your people, we come to you at the closure of this charge. Remember us for good, and set your good hand upon our work. Forgive our breaches, cleanse our houses, consecrate our tools and our time, make our labor worship. Stir our hearts like Barak Baruch. Kindle holy zeal. Steady our spines like Nehemiah to look mockery in the eye and answer with faith. Knit us next to one another, family to family, seam to seam, so there are no gaps in the wall. Teach us to pray like warriors, work like craftsmen and watch like sentries. Arm us with the sword of your spirit, which is the word of God. Place in our other hand the trowel of service. Strengthen feeble knees, lift drooping hands, let courage rise as we remember Yahweh, great and awesome, and fight for our brothers, our sons, our daughters, our wives, and our houses. Give us clean hands, clean eyes, and willing hearts. Establish the work of our hands, build the walls of our homes, fortify our marriages, disciple our children, bless our neighbors, make us dangerous to the darkness and gentle to the weak. Let us rally, be sure, let our rally be sure, our trumpet clear, our standard firm, doors, bolts, and bars secure. And now, God of peace, equip us in every good work to do your will, working in us that which is pleasing to in your sight through Jesus Christ. Make us steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that the Lord are that in the Lord our labor is not in vain. For unless Yahweh builds the house, those who build it and labor in vain. King Jesus lead on. We rise to build and stand to God for your glory and for the good of your people. Amen. Go ahead and rise. The God of heaven will make us prosper, and he will and his servants will arise and build. Go, encourage charity, and quiet confidence. Lock shields and love your neighbors. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God bless you.