We are in Nehemiah 4:6, "So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height." Halfway there is one of the hardest places to be. A couple of years ago, we went for a weekend to help my parents clean out their house and get ready for a move to a retirement community. I remember that Saturday and Sunday in the basement taking way too long to go through all these childhood memories. I found a lot of my childhood projects that were halfway finished. I collected models - like model planes and model cars and most of those models I remembered putting them together. But the models I found were halfway finished because the picture on the box looked so good but when I got into this project, and saw that the project was pretty complicated and there were many, many, many pieces, I quit halfway through. I found halfway painted paint-by-numbers. Why would you only go halfway through a paint-by-number deal? Halfway finished is one of the hardest places to be. I know a lot of halfway-finished people - people that halfway finish their education or halfheartedly do their work or a lot of half-finished marriages. I know a whole lot of people who half finish a marriage and then start another one and half finish that one and start another. I know a lot of parents that are half-finished parents.

This fourth chapter is about persevering through resistance. The closer you get to the finish line, the closer you get to where God wants you to be, the more you will experience resistance and opposition. Any of you been watching March Madness on TV? Any of you see the Ohio State game today? Ohio State should have lost that game. But can you imagine that player right now who missed that foul shot for Xavier, he won't feel right until next basketball season. But the one thing I've noticed as we look at what the theme of chapter 4 of Nehemiah is, when the commentators on TV are talking about the great teams, they say all of the great teams focus on defense. The great teams focus on defense because offense scores its points by finding the holes and exploiting the vulnerabilities. I know there are Dunbar school people here. My kids went to Tipp City schools and earlier this season, Tipp City beat Dunbar by double digit figures. Dunbar went home and practiced something that they didn't use against Tipp City the last time. It is called full-court pressure defense for a whole game. It is hard to play full-court pressure defense for a whole game. Dunbar beat Tipp City the other night because they went home and focused on defense. Winning teams focus on closing the holes and strengthening the vulnerabilities. Nehemiah 4 is about strengthening or fortifying your vulnerabilities.

Open your Bibles to Nehemiah 4:7-14. "But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, 'The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.' Also our enemies said, 'Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.' Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, 'Wherever you turn, they will attack us.' Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your people, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.'"

Let's pray - and I want you to pray for the person on your right and left right now. For we fight unseen spirits, principalities and powers that would stop us in our progress from building God's purpose in our lives, in our homes, in our communities, in our world. So, Father God, we pray for strength to persevere, to be faithful and to finish. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.

I'm really excited that all of the men are here because I believe as men go, so our families go and so our children go. It is important, men, that we are very aware of our vulnerable places and that we strengthen the gaps in our vulnerable places. One of the vulnerable places that we need to be aware of that could cause ultimate defeat in God's progress in our life is in that vulnerable place of fatigue. Look at verse 10 with me. "The people say, 'The strength of the laborers is giving out.'" That's all about fatigue. It is important to recognize how fatigue makes us vulnerable in every area of our life. Fatigue affects our immune system of our relationships. Many times when I go into a restaurant, I can always pick out married people because they're not talking to each other. One of the reasons that we don't talk to each other is because of fatigue. Fatigue attacks the immune system of my spiritual relationship with God, the immune system of my moral integrity and it attacks the immune system of my physical health. So we have to be very aware of the vulnerability of fatigue.

There are two strategic areas that the enemy comes at us in this area of fatigue: spiritual fatigue and physical fatigue. Sometimes when I'm physically fatigued, it doesn't concern me like when I'm spiritually fatigued. The spiritual fatigue where it attacks your spirit, that's deadly. Jesus always guarded himself against spiritual fatigue. Jesus had long, late workdays. Mark tells us, "He had worked all day and that evening, after sunset, the people brought Jesus all the sick and demon possessed." You can imagine: you're tired after working all day and now you have to deal with the devil. Only three verses later, Mark tells us, "Very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed." You can't tell me he wasn't physically tired.

But there is something more dangerous than physical fatigue in our life and that's spiritual fatigue. It is critical that we do not in any day fail to meet with God. I call that the devotion time. Early this morning in my home, I was in my study meeting with God. Devotion is so important because it renews the "why" in my life. It connects everything in my life, my moral integrity, my commitment, my responsiveness, my focus to my wife, my responsibility to my children, my excellence in the way I do my work to God. It brings the whole picture together. The more compelling the "why" is in my life, the greater the creativity and energy. So we've got to pay attention to spiritual fatigue. Physical fatigue we'll experience often. Spiritual fatigue can be deadly. But, we also we need to pay attention to physical fatigue. It's why God has given us the law of the Sabbath. That's the way the human body is wired. We are wired to focus for six days out of every seven. But, we need one day to turn it off and reboot and refresh so we can be alive and renewed for the next six days. The religious institution has messed this up. The religious institution has taught us that the law of the Sabbath is about us doing religious things. Jesus told us that's not what the Sabbath is for. People weren't made for the Sabbath; Sabbath was made for the renewal or wellbeing of people. For me, it's critical that I take one day of Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day where you think about anything other than the work you do on the other six. My Sabbath day doesn't have to be on Saturday or Sunday, my Sabbath day this past week was Tuesday. On my Sabbath day this past Tuesday, I cleared off the top of a mountain in North Carolina. I normally don't clear off the top of a mountain in my work. My son was with me and built a couple of fire pits, so we burned dead wood and scrap lumber and collected trash. By the end of that day, I slept very well that night. And because I wasn't even thinking about meeting with you all, I was ready to go full force again on Wednesday. That's what the Sabbath is - where we take one day to reboot so we can refresh the offering that we make to God the other six days.

Part of that Sabbath principle in our life is diet. Isn't it interesting that the Bible has so much to say about our diet. All that boring diet stuff in the Old Testament is there for a purpose. What you eat, or if you don't eat the right kind of things, what you put in your body affects fatigue. It's why exercise is critical. There are two things that I don't miss in my life: one is the word. Early this morning I met with God because I've got to first and foremost protect spiritual fatigue because that's where we're ultimately most vulnerable. The other thing is the gym. Early this morning I was in the gym.

Women, can I talk to the men and you still hear it? I always believe that if the men are strong, you're happy. Men, sometimes we think we're invincible and that we can push our way through this fatigue. Some of you old-timers in the church remember when I was 30 years old and thought I could work through strep throat or anything else and ended up spending three days in the hospital. I discovered I wasn't invincible. Elijah, who was a man of great faith, did the same thing. He kept going like he was the bionic man and this fatigue sneaked up on him and he had a showdown with the prophets of Baal. He was on an intense travel schedule and we read that right after he had this fight with the prophets of Baal, he traveled 20 miles. In that day, without a car or motorcycle, it would take a while to travel 20 miles. So out of nowhere, he found himself depleted. This man of great faith plunged into a suicidal depression. Here was the prescription from the angel of God: two or three days of sleep, solitude and refreshment. The word says, "Strengthened by that food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God." One of the most vulnerable places where the enemy can score against us is when we're not paying attention to fatigue.

Another area that we need to focus on and close the gap, a vulnerable place, is the area of frustration. Look at verse 10, "There is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall." The people were becoming discouraged. I know all kinds of people who start a project with enthusiasm. Every January I see people say, "We're going to get our financial life in order. Here we go, we're starting." Or, "I'm going to lose some weight." We start with enthusiasm and all of a sudden we get into this task and we spend some time working on this project and we realize that the task we've undertaken, the work is greater than we first expected, and we begin to lose enthusiasm. It's like getting out of debt. You start, you're halfway there, you're making progress, and all of a sudden you have some unexpected frustration or stresses in your life. There's a sickness in the family; or you think you need to eat out again. You started making progress, but frustration and fatigue tempts you to go back and resume old habits. You've got to persevere in making your marriage work. In parenting, you start with enthusiasm and you get to those teen years and it can be like Chinese water torture - those kids just drip, drip, drip, wearing you down and you begin to make compromises and you back off and you have a child that's halfway built who is susceptible to the enemy. Parents, don't relinquish the responsibility and trust that God has given you as parent. Halfway there is one of the hardest places to be.

In the midst of this frustration, we've go to be proactive. Look at verse 9, "But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat." Sometimes in the midst of fatigue and frustration, it's not that you back off, it's when you double up. There are several things I want you to notice in their one prayer. As followers of Jesus, we fight by praying. It says in Ephesians, "Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray in the spirit at all times." Sometimes, I've heard people say, "Praying in the spirit means to pray in tongues." That's not what it means. I believe in praying in tongues, that's one of the gifts of the Spirit, but that's not what it means in this passage. To pray in the Spirit means you're submitting your will to the will of God. It's not, "Lord, this is hard; get me out of this situation." No, here's praying in the spirit: "Lord, your will, not my will, be done." It's making yourself available to God no matter what the cost, including your own life, for God's great purpose.

The first thing we do is fight by praying, but we don't stop at praying. There are too many Christians who come to me and say, "Pastor, we are in this situation and I've been praying to God for help and nothing is happening." That's because you've got to do more than pray. You have to set a proactive plan. Cut up the credit cards. You're praying about your financial situation, but you keep doing the same old things. Frustration is a master at getting you to compromise. You need to set a budget. Some of you have come to me and said, "Pastor, last November we set a budget and we were doing really well and then we had some sickness and we had some car repairs and so we put a few more things on the credit card, and it's just not working out." Maybe you need to fine tune your budget. You're married and you're frustrated and you feel like you're halfway there - maybe you need to go back to a counselor. You need to pray and you need to set a proactive plan. Commit to a date night. Men, that frustrates me when I go into restaurants and see couples who I can pick out every couple that's married. I can act that way. Things that make me act that way are fatigue, frustration and fretting. Sometimes it's thinking about projects I have to do. Be attentive to your spouse. Join a class at the gym. Get into a group like Weight Watchers - but pray and set a proactive plan.

Here's the second thing: you have to persevere. Look at verse 15 with me, "When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work." Success is the result of a lifelong commitment in the same direction. I counsel a lot of young pastors. I'm flying to Virginia on Monday to meet with pastors in the Virginia conference. I'll be with those pastors for two days. Often pastors say to me, "Mike, why isn't the same thing happening for me?" I'll say, "How long have you been in your church?" They'll say, "Five years. Before that I was at a church for four years." I've been here at Ginghamsburg for 28 years. Success doesn't just happen. It's the result of a lifetime commitment in the same direction. Here's what I see in the word of God, we have to shore up the places of fatigue as the vulnerable spot. We have to strengthen the places of frustration that make us most vulnerable.

Here's the third place we can be attacked: the area of fear. Look at verses 11 and 12. "Also our enemies said, 'Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.'" The problem is the children of God began to listen to the enemies of faith instead of the promise of God. One of the problems about being in the church, so many of the naysayers are in the church. Look at verse 12, "Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, 'Wherever you turn, they will attack us.'" Uh-Oh! We're outnumbered, we're outmanned, we're out resourced, we can't do it. Winning or losing begins in the mind.

What happened to Wright State basketball this year? They were small, they were young, virtually every team they played, they were outmanned. What happened? Same school, same players, different coach. Can you believe a coach would come into a team that four months ago was picked to finish sixth or seventh in their league, and on the first day of practice stood in front of that team and said, "Men, we're going to be cutting down some nets this year." I hear most coaches talk about rebuilding years. Who was this naïve, young coach that came from somewhere in the south that promised this year we're going to be cutting down some nets? They won their league! Cut down some nets! Beat Butler to do it, who was ranked tenth in the nation at the time. Two weeks later, they won their tournament. Beat Butler, who was ranked seventeenth in the nation, at that time. Who are you listening to? I don't have time to listen to the naysayers, the enemies of faith. Who are your life coaches? It's critical who you're listening to. I don't want to just sit on God's bench, I want to play in the game. I don't want to just play, I want to win. I'm an old man. I'm 55. I'm almost dead. I want to prosper for God's purpose. Who are you listening to?

The two Bible verses I taught my kids as they were growing up was John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." If you know nothing else, that's the most important thing to know. The second was Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Jesus Christ." When we started the Boy Scout troop here at Ginghamsburg Church we named it Troop 413. It's amazing the number of young men who come through this Boy Scout troop who attain the rank of Eagle Scout. "I can do all things through Jesus Christ."

We all have those times of fatigue and frustration that make us vulnerable to everything from sexual temptation to pulling back and letting our kids have their own way and do their own things and failing our responsibility and trust. Many times, as men, the way we relate to fear is not that we're scared, but that we fret. Fretting is a cousin to fear and both have to do with not trusting God. Fretting is worrying. Here it is, men, the ultimate motivator, in verse 14, Nehemiah said, "After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord.'" Who are you listening to? Here's the ultimate motivator: remember the Lord God who has called me, God who chose me, God who, in all of my failure and brokenness, let me play in his game. And that after I knew the truth of the cross and what Jesus Christ had done for me and I still failed, he still calls me his beloved, his son and he still lets me play. Remember the Lord who gave me Carolyn, my incredible wife, and the privilege and honor of having Carolyn as my wife. The Lord who trusted me to be father of Kristin and Jonathan; and father-in-law to Brendan. Remember the Lord and remember the promise I made to Jesus Christ: I will follow you wherever you go. I will do anything you call me to do. I will give you my life; I'll die for you, Lord Jesus, because you live for me. "Remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your people, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes."

Fight on, sisters and brothers. Build on for those who depend upon you the most. Men, remember your families. They're going to live my example. They're going to repeat my life patterns. Fight the good fight. Will you pray with me? Lord Jesus, we sometimes too easily fall asleep at the wheel and in the midst of our work and busyness and our commitment to live and work for You, we forget the vulnerable places. We are not invincible and we ask You to strengthen us in those places of fatigue. Make us aware and dependent upon You and to realize our dependence upon You. Let us be the men and women You need us to be and, Lord God, the people that our families believe us to be. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.