Hello, everyone. I am Kevin Applegate and I am the adult cell group ministry director. It is my privilege to speak with you. This perseverance message of Nehemiah has really struck me. Has it struck you? Have you found yourself not being able stand sometimes? I have begun to think how many times I basically start something and do not finish it, or I get part way through the process and stop. I remember what Mike said last week. He said halfway is one of the hardest places to be. I am really convinced in my life that if I live at that place of halfway, other parts of my life will begin to fall, as well.

I was talking to Nate Gibson, who is our CFO, the other day, and he was talking about his morning routine. What he likes to do is get up at 4:45 and run for about an hour. Then he gets back and gets into his TJ (Transformation Journal) for his devotional. He takes a shower, eats a good breakfast, spends time with his family, and is here at work by 8 or 8:30. What he said was fascinating, "When I don't get up and run at 4:45, I don't do my TJ, I don't eat a good breakfast, I am late getting up, and I am scrambling to get to the office."

It is those people who persevere through their life situation and their struggles that stand firm in their struggle. They are who people that get by. They are the people who succeed in what they do. It is not how they stand, it is what they stand for, that ultimately helps them refuse to back down. Are you ready to take a stand and get moving?

Pray with me, and let's invite God in: We thank You for Your words. We invite You into our hearts. God, push us where we need to be pushed, love us where we need to be loved, and, Lord, speak to us. We invite Your presence into our lives, Oh Holy Spirit. We thank You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah 4. Nehemiah and the Israelites were building the wall. They were building a wall in Jerusalem because God had called them to do that. They had come through this battle of getting organized, and getting all their supplies, and they found the wall in complete shambles, and they were building it, and having a good time. Nehemiah was seeing the work come to halfway. When the wall was halfway built, this enemy wanted to come in and destroy them. They had this fear, all of a sudden, that there was an enemy that was going to attack. When Nehemiah realized this was going on, this was what he said in verse 14, "After I looked over these things, I stood up and said to the nobles and the officials, and the rest of the people, don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome."

In order for us to persevere, the first thing we need to do is take a stand in God's power. Under any attack, Nehemiah always put his job and his directions under the Lord's provision. He always looked for the Lord's protection. Nehemiah was no stranger to attacks. Even when God first put that on his mind, to build the wall, he had to come before the king and put his life on the line. He prayed. Not only was the king able to help Nehemiah, he gave him all the stuff, and all the authority to go build the wall. Every time Nehemiah came under attack, he prayed and God took care of him. Psalm 127 says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain." It is under God's power that we, too, must take our stand. For some reason, we need to be constantly reminded to remember the Lord. Nehemiah was quick. The first thing he did was say to his people, "Don't be afraid. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome."

There is something that wells up in me when I start remembering what God has done for me. When I hear stories about what God has done for you, I begin to have faith, and it helps me to hang on, and to refuse to back down. But, how often do I forget? Are you forgetful, like me?  When we are in the midst of our struggles, or in our task that God has called us to do, how often do we forget that God is the one who gives us power.

In my devotion time this week, I have been reading about Moses and the Israelites. After Moses and God delivered the Israelites, with a mighty hand, away from the Egyptians, it only took one month out in the desert for the Israelites to say, "If you hadn't brought us out here, we would be in Egypt again. Why did you bring us out here, Moses, to kill us?" They forgot, within one month, the mighty hand of God. As we approach Easter, I am always reminded that the disciples abandoned Jesus in one night, after seeing all that Jesus had done. In my pride, I think, "I would never, ever forget the power of God. I wouldn't be like them." But, you know what? I forget all the time. Do you forget God's power?

There was a group of people I prayed with. We used to get together and pray for hours. God did so many unbelievable things in our prayer time. One particular spring, we felt like God was calling us to go out and pray at a lake. We got away for the whole weekend, to spend some time in prayer. We got someone else's boat and we went camping. We actually spent all night praying to God, on a Friday night. It was unbelievable - you could feel the power of God. On Saturday morning, we got into the boat, and there was no one else on the lake. It was March, it was 50 degrees, we were on this beautiful lake, and it was very remote. We went for miles, skiing in wet suits. All of a sudden, we saw a beach in this peninsula area. We headed to the beach to eat lunch. As we are eating, we decided since it was such a beautiful day we would do some more skiing. We got back into the boat, and started to crank up the engine, and click, click, click . . . nothing! The boat had a battery gauge on it and it was totally dead. We tried to fix it, we messed with the battery cables, and we could not get it started. I said, "Guys, what are we going to do? We are miles from anybody or anywhere." A friend of mine said, "I guess we will pray." I said, "That's fine, and then what are we going to do?" So we prayed. We got back in the boat, and it cranked right up. The battery gauge still was totally dead. We drove back to the dock hoping we could get there. When we got to the dock, we pulled up, turned off the boat, turned it back on, and . . . nothing! I am reminded, even as I speak this story to you of God's power, how God's power is so alive in our lives, and sometimes we forget. But we need to remember. It is when we remember God's power and how great and awesome God is, then we are able to stand against any attack, against any struggles. That is when we move from fear to faith.

Nehemiah's favorite Psalm had to be Psalm 27, "The Lord is my light and my salvation -
whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident." The same God who calls you is the same God who strengthens you. The same God who pulls you forward in your life is the same God who has your back. I believe that God has not called you forward to abandon you, in whatever you are trying to do in your life. Whether it is transformation, whether it is your finances, God will provide for you. When we are standing, doing God's work, that is when we are going to find that we have to trust God. That is faith! You have to trust God. "Don't be afraid," Nehemiah said. Romans 8 says, "If God is for you, who can be against you?" Don't be afraid, God is with you in your struggle today. God is with you in your task today in the ministry that you are trying to do. Sometimes, even when we try to stand in God's power, we sometimes give up the fight because we don't know, or we don't remember why we are standing.

I once led a week-long retreat with some of the best and brightest kids across the state of Kentucky. Our goal for the week was to get these kids to dedicate their lives totally to Jesus, so God could use them in whatever way God called them. So all week, from Monday to Friday we had sessions in the morning, Bible studies, small groups, and we had powerful worship. On Thursday we invited a guest speaker named Dr. B. Dr. B. was supposedly a great speaker. We decided to have this commitment service out by the lake. At the lake we had candles floating on the water, a Galilean-type service, being fishermen of people. As we lit the candles and we had all the kids out there sitting on the ground, our speaker started with Adam and Eve, and worked his way, for about an hour, through Genesis and Exodus and Numbers. He talked about every person in the Bible and what God had done for them. By the time he finished, all the candles were out and I looked around. Everyone was asleep. Dr. B didn't know it, because the spotlight was on him. The he said, " . . . and God is calling some of you to take a step and to be fully engaged into what God is calling you to do. I am going to ask you, if you want to make a commitment to God, STAND UP!" He shouted this very loudly and 145 kids stood up and accepted God's calling and commitment that night. As he talked about all the options, being a missionary, being a pastor, being a teacher, very few kids sat down. But most of them had NO idea why they were standing.

How many times do we sign up for something, or we sign on for what God has called us to do, and we forget why we are standing. When we get in the midst of struggle, we forget why we are trying to do what we are doing. We forget all the things that God has called us to do. We need to fully understand that God's power that is active in our lives is also the same power for God's purpose in our lives. We faithfully stand our ground. We don't stand for our own purposes. We stand for God's purposes.

One of the amazing parts of this Nehemiah story is that the people did not stop the work when they were threatened. They knew their objective; they knew they had to finish the wall. Nehemiah 4:15 says, "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 his own work." They did not give up or give in. They didn't say, "Oh, God, why did you let this happen?" They continued to work. In fact, in verse 21 it says, "They continued the work with half the men holding the spears, from first light to the stars came out." What that means is that they actually added at least an hour a day to their work. They wanted to complete the wall, because they knew that was what God's purpose was for them. I call this a one-thing focus attitude. Nehemiah knew the plan of God. He knew that God's intention for building the wall was to create community for the Israelites and to create a safe place. Because he knew that, he did not let distractions hinder him. He did not allow for compromise.

As you look through the Scriptures, all the great people have this one-thing focus. I am thinking of Joshua, who even being sold into slavery, saved the world from starvation. He knew that was what God had called him to do. It took Moses 40 years to get the Israelites from Egypt into the Promised Land. He knew that was what God had called him to do. Apostle Paul, through persecution, stoning and being beaten, he knew his task was to take the word of God to the Gentiles. Listen to what Paul wrote from a prison cell in Philippians 3, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize." He had not gotten there yet, but he was getting there. He had not finished the task, but he had one reason and one purpose to get to that task. When we have a one-thing focus, we do not leave any room for compromise. There is no easy way out, there is no quitting early. When God accomplishes things in your life, it is because you begin to have a one-thing focus and you do not stop until God accomplishes it in you.

At the end of next month I am taking a group to Costa Rica. It will be my eighth trip there. One of the reasons I go to Costa Rica so many times is because of a man named Marion Woods. Marion Woods is 88 years old this year. I met Marion almost 20 years ago. Marion has been a missionary to Costa Rica since 1955. I remember one particular time he was taking me to all these different churches trying to evaluate what churches could use, and bring teams in to help them. We traveled the whole country. We would go to the church and people would come to him and say, "Mario! Mario is here!" The whole town would come around him. I would ask him, "Did you start this church?" He would say, "Yes, I did." At the next church, the same thing would happen, and I would say, "Did you start this church?" And he would say, "Yes, I did." When Marion went to Costa Rica in 1955 there were eight Methodist churches in Costa Rica. Today there are about 150. The Bishop asked him how many churches he started, and he didn't know. The Bishop asked him to figure it out. When he wrote them all down, he had started 125 churches in Costa Rica. This man knows his purpose. He is 88 years old and he starts at least two to three churches a year. I want you to meet this man! I want you to come with me to Costa Rica. He inspires my life. We are taking a trip at the end of next month. If you have any desire to do that with me, we have some information at the table in the lobby, and someone there to talk to you about it. I want you to meet Marion. He inspires my life to keep a one-thing focus. He knows that at 88, he is not finished.

Compromise is so tempting - to quit what you are doing, especially when pain and struggles come in. How do we continue to stand firm and have that one-thing focus? We do it first by guarding our heart and guarding our vision. Proverbs 4 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." I know it is a battle. It is a battle for me. That is why it is so important that we guard our heart by getting into our Transformation Journal every day, and be dedicated to coming to worship. We need to get into a group of people who keeps us accountable. Guarding our hearts - there is no easy way. It is very easy to get into the mode of "What is in it for me?" Not only do we need to guard our hearts, we need to also guard our vision. We have to remember why we do what we do.

We recently started a new ministry, the Gateway Café. We have clients who come to get food at the food pantry on Mondays. The Gateway Café team wanted to start a hot meal for them on Mondays, along with a worship service, a devotion time, and a time for people to meet and build relationships with these clients of ours. As the team looked at it, they realized this was a large task. We needed to have servants that were willing to come on Mondays to make food, to spend a couple of hours meeting and greeting people, so we can be the hands and feet of Jesus, so that we can bring people into a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. They have asked me to begin to find cell groups that would do this. I thought it sounded like a large task. that is 52 weeks! Why are we doing this? Because people need to meet Jesus. The Gateway Café started the first of March and it has a great potential to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus. That is why we do what we are doing. That is why we are working so hard. It is a big job, but we are going to get there because the God who gives vision is the God who gives provision.

In guarding ourselves, we also need to be prepared. Nehemiah never, ever seemed to let his guard down. Here is what is says in verse 23, "Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water." Nehemiah was always prepared. Even after the immediate threat, when it was easy to let his guard down, he was still guarded, because he knew that he needed to be in prayer, he needed to be ready for the attack that would come.

During one of the trips I took to Costa Rica, Marion sent me to this very remote place. I had about 30 people with me. We were going to build a church. It was such a struggle to get all of our material there, to get our people there, and to find a place to stay and eat. I struggled so much, and prayed, "God, you have to do this for us." God just kept coming through, with people, with things, and everything just seemed to work out. About 10 days into the trip, we were getting close to finishing the church, and I noticed this man outside of our church walls waving his hands. He was talking, but I had no idea what he was saying. I went to our foreman and asked him what this guy was saying. He said, "He is the local shaman and he is calling down curses on you, so you cannot finish this church in this community." A chill went down my spine. I thought, "I have let my guard down." We were flowing along really easily and I had quit praying, and I had quit being on guard. That very night, someone broke into our compound and destroyed some of the work that we had done. They stole a lot of our tools. I thought, "I have to keep my guard up." I went to everyone and said, "If we are going to finish this task, we have to stay on guard and be prepared." God came through again, because we finished the church. That church is the only church in that community - because we were prepared. We have to be consistently on guard, never forgetting that God's purpose for our lives always has to do with building up God's people in our lives. In refusing to back down, we have to stand with God's people. Nehemiah said, "Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us.'"

It is easy to forget others in the midst of your own struggles. It is easy to forget others when you are lost in work or a task, and you are trying to fix something. We have been called to be near and be ready to come to the aid of our brothers and sisters, just as they are called to be ready to come to our aid when we are in need. I love the community aspect of that scripture. There we have this large wall with all these people working on it, probably a mile or two around, and they were working feverishly to get their section of the wall done. But, they probably had no idea what their neighbors were doing, or any idea what the people on the opposite side of the wall were doing. But they were always listening. They were always ready to lend a hand when the trumpet call happened.

Strength is not found in the walls of the city, strength is found in the people of the city. Just like the people are our greatest assets in this church. It is not the building, it is the people. God's focus is on people, and we are a community that cares for one another. That is where God meets your need and where you meet other people's needs. We can't just be ready, we must also respond to the alarm. Nehemiah literally had a trumpet by his side to call for assistance from the people. When he played the trumpet, he expected his people to respond. If they didn't respond, people were going to die. If they didn't respond to the trumpet call, the whole community could be wiped out. If we don't respond, people die. If we don't respond, our children, our families, our communities suffer. When we don't respond, people don't meet Jesus Christ.

Have you seen that commercial campaign, "Don't almost give"? The first time I saw one, it really struck me. I saw this picture of this kid in a car and it is raining. The commercial says, "This is a family that was almost fed by neighbors who almost volunteered to help them out." When it comes to giving, almost doesn't count. Standing with God's people means we don't almost serve at the Gateway Café. We don't almost invite our neighbors and our friends to our Easter celebration service where they can meet Christ. We don't almost serve at New Path Outreach. We don't almost serve our cell groups. We don't almost build lives in New Orleans, or build churches in Costa Rica. What Nehemiah knew, and I know, as well, is that isolation kills. Community brings life. I don't know how people survive without a Christian community around them, especially during times when you are struggling. Some people don't survive! We are not called just to respond, we are called to fight for people in need.

I want you to hear verse 14 one more time, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your people, your sons and daughters, your wives and your homes." There is no doubt in my mind that we are in a spiritual war. We are in a war for our families and our communities. If we don't respond, we are going to lose this battle. There are people around us in need all the time and sometimes I am so blind to it. There are people crying out and families crying out. We are called to fight for them.  

Since I've been here, I have been so inspired by most of you in this church who have this one-thing focus, and you are standing in the gap for people. I want you to meet one of them right now:
 
Before I moved to college, when I lived at home with my parents, my father was an alcoholic and I grew up with him being an active user. It had affected my family situation in many ways. My parents divorced and I had a lot of issues with that. I had my faith, and had been a firm believer that the things you go through help prepare you for God's purpose in your life. I felt a strong calling to go into counseling. That is why I chose psychology as my major. I studied drug use. In studying those things I grew to have more compassion. I knew that I wanted to do something in the "people-helping" field. I knew I was moving to Dayton, and I applied for a lot of jobs. (Amy was hired as a chemical dependency technician at a drug treatment center for at-risk teens.) I can relate to these kids because they are going through similar situations that I grew up in. I knew I could help them to understand that it is possible to cope with these things without using drugs and alcohol. I think I can be a positive role model. If I wouldn't have tried to get an understanding of this disease when I went into college, I think I would still be really angry, more so angry with my father. I have worked through those issues and those feelings, and have come to a better understanding of his disease. It has helped me to have compassion not only toward him, but it transfers over into the community I work with today. I stand up for their right to know they are worth the effort to succeed and they are worth the effort to move forward. I feel that being able to show them love and compassion, and to point out the self-worth I see in them, just by trying to see them through the eyes of God. It really changes their lives to know that people out there think they have some self-worth.

(Excerpts of a letter from a client) Miss Amy, you have been great. You have lifted me when I was down. You have helped me in so many ways and I thank you for that. I am going to miss you and I am going to miss talking to you.

I know fully that not all of these kids are going to stay sober. But I have chosen to see that their recovery is just like life. All throughout life you change and you grow and I don't think you are ever completely finished. Even if I can just help to plant a seed and give this kid a glimpse of hope to see there are people who care, if I can be that stability and stand in the gap where people have let them down before, just to show them there are people out there that can be there for them…if I can do that just for a little while….I think that is why I do it.

Will you fight for people? Will you stand in the gap for people? Will you refuse to back down? Stand with me and read this prayer along with me and we close out this celebration: I am a part of the fellowship of the unashamed and I refuse to back down. I have picked up my tools to build my part. I am a servant of Jesus. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, small planning, colorless dreams and tamed visions. I no longer need prosperity, position, promotions, or popularity. I don't have to be right, or first, or recognized or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, and labor by Holy Spirit power. My face is set, my road may be narrow, and my way may be rough, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear. I am a servant of Jesus. I will give until I drop and work until He comes. And in the power of God, I refuse to back down. Amen.