The Village Church
Time, Consistency and Presence - Audio
So, we're going to continue looking at Nehemiah, so if you have your Bibles, open them to Nehemiah chapter 2. And as we saw last week, Nehemiah, he just got permission from the king or the earth seas to actually go to Jerusalem. So, he's finally on his way there. And in verse 9 of chapter 2, we pick up with him on his journey. Then I came to the governors of the province, beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. And the king has sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. But when Sam valid the harinite and tabalia, the Ammonite servant, heard this, it displeased them greatly, that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. So, I went to Jerusalem, and was there three days, then I arose in the night. I had a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me, but the one I rode, which I rode. I went out by night by the valley gate to the dragon spring to the dawn gate. I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down, and there's gates that have been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the fountain gate to the king's pool, and there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and I inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work. This is the word of our God. Let us pray. Father God, as I always say every week in which I do mean this, that this is not about me, that it's not about Alex or my reputation or my glory. It is about the glory of the God that I serve, your reputation, your kingdom, your name. And I pray, Spirit, that I will move out of the way, that I will decrease so that you may increase Christ, that my words are nothing. The Spirit has to take what is said and preach and apply it to the hearts of your people. For that is His job and His responsibility. So I pray that He would do just that this morning and craft in my prayer. Amen. A few weeks ago, I had a meeting with a fellow pastor about our church here in the village. He wanted to know how things were going. He wanted to know how I was doing. And he asked me, he said, "Alex, how many people from the community are coming to the church? How many are you getting? Are they visiting?" I told him that their presence in the church is slowly increasing, that we are getting visitors from the community. But I also told him that it's going to take time, it's going to take consistency, and it's going to take presence to be a trust, to build credibility, and to build relationships. Those things don't happen overnight. Those things don't just happen because you come and plant the Christian flag in the community, and all of a sudden you have credibility. All of a sudden you have relationships. All of a sudden you just have all overnight trust. No, it takes time. It takes consistency, and it takes presence. And so, we as a church, when we think about our vision, when we think about our mission, we have to realize that, again, those things aren't going to happen overnight. They ain't going to happen overnight. They ain't going to happen in a few weeks. Is it going to happen in two years, probably? Time, consistency, and presence. Remember, Israel's restoration, we talked about that at Nehemiah. It didn't happen overnight, did it? Did it happen over three years? Did it happen over ten years? No. It happened in stages over many, many generations. Many generations. You see, the final part of restoration was under Nehemiah. That was to rebuild another wall. And even Nehemiah, when he received the call from the Lord to go to Jerusalem, he didn't go immediately. Did he? It was four months later. Four months after he heard about the conditions of his people, the broken down walls. Last week, we saw the Lord move. We saw the Lord move on Nehemiah's behalf. And the Lord gave him an opportunity to speak to the King. And the God gave him favor inside of the King, granted him mercy. So much so, it pleased the King to send Nehemiah to Jerusalem. So, you can imagine at the end of that conversation with the King that Nehemiah was excited, probably filled with a whole bunch of passion, because he's getting ready to go to Jerusalem, getting ready to go help his fellow Jewish people. And here's the thing. He wasn't just going to stroll into Jerusalem, and everything was going to be nice and easy. He might have had passion, he might have had excitement, he had his calling for the Lord, but none of those things were going to eliminate the fact that it still was going to take him time, consistency and presence to fulfill what God has called him to do. He was still going to take time. You see, there are factors, certain things in place that Nehemiah cannot overlook, certain things going on in Jerusalem that he has to take in consideration. And just because he shows up, all happy, got a vision, got a mission, does not take away those factors. And in this community, in our life, there are certain things that play that we can't overlook. And because of those factors, it takes time, consistency and presence to fulfill whatever the Lord has called you to do in this life. So, were this the first factor that cannot be overlooked? First, there is opposition. This is what Nehemiah saw on his way to Jerusalem. Verse 9 he says, "I came to the governors of the Providence, beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. And the king has synced with me, officers of the army and horsemen. But when Sambiah the Harin Knight and Tabalia the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. So, Nehemiah leaves the capital of the Persian Empire and he sits off on his journey to Jerusalem. But before he gets there, he has to meet with these governors. And his purpose again is to give him those letters, the letters that he requested from the king. Those letters were going to allow him to cross over to Jerusalem without any issues. And along with these letters, the king sends with Nehemiah soldiers from the Persian army and horsemen. And so, when he comes before these governors beyond the river, he has official credentials, right? I'm here with the king's support. The king is at my back. Here are the letters. Here is my military escort. So, I'm here doing the business of the king. I'm the authority of the king. And another thing is, Nehemiah is going to be governor of Judah. Do you realize that? He would be governor of Judah. And so, in a real sense, he's on the same level as all these other governors. And so, you would have thought they would have received him into the governor's club, right? But no issues. Well, come on in, Nehemiah. Welcome to the club, brother. No, everyone did not receive him of open arms. What does he say? Sam borrowed a hard night in Tobias, the Ammonite servant, heard this, and it displeased them greatly that someone had come to see the welfare of the people of Israel. And so, you think about his situation. Here he is. He got the letters from the king. He has his military escort. He has the backing of his guard because the Lord has called him there, and yet he still has opposition in his way. People still hating on him. Sam Ballad, Tobias, who were probably governors themselves, displeased him greatly. They actually thought it was evil that Nehemiah has come to seek the good of his own people. These two men are going to be at odds with Nehemiah throughout his time in Jerusalem. His whole time in there, those two guys are going to be a thorn in his flesh. They're haters, man, and they're going to hate on him every day. Every day, and they're not going to make it easy for him to fulfill his calling to restore that wall. And for you, the people of God, you know Christ in a relationship with Christ, there are forces that work against you that seek to him to you. Whether you acknowledge that or not, whether we believe that or not. You see, you can have all the credentials in the world like Nehemiah. You can have all the resources. You can have all the connections. You can rub elbows with all the right people. You can have the good vision and mission statement. You can have a strong sense that your God has called you to do what you're going to do. And yet you still are going to have those that oppose you. That's going to stand in your way. That's going to say, "I don't like that." Why are you doing that? I oppose that. You're going to have opposition. We're going to have opposition in this community. And things that God wants us to do here. We should expect that. You're going to have opposition in your marriage. You realize that? Raising your kids. Getting through college. Personal relationships. Jobs. Church life. There will be opposition. Are you surprised by it? You think I'll teach you a Christian, you're not going to have any people to oppose you? Because you're a Christian? Or do you expect it? When you know life is a battle, when you know this life is a battle, you always expect opposition. Because it's a battle. When opposition rises up against us in this community, what are we going to do? Are we going to tell and run? Are we? We're going to wisely engage whatever stands up before us as one body. Lock arms and press on and stand firm. That's what we're going to do. And that's not just for our ministry efforts in this community. That's for one another. When our positions come up against our marriages, our kids, new believers, we're going to lock arms and fight for one another. That's what we're going to do. That's what the body of Christ does for one another as well. And so, you know, Waikita and I, we had our teaching anniversary yesterday. You know, we have a good marriage, but it's not good by accident. It didn't just happen. Well, I got a good marriage, but you know what, I didn't work at it. It just happened. Really, it just happened. Well, I'm a good student. I get all A's and it just happened. It just happened. So, you didn't study at all? I'm a good employee, but you know what, it just happened. It just happened, Alex? No, it didn't just happen. You fought for it. We have a good marriage because we fight for it. We fight for one another. We fight to raise our kids. Because this is a battle. Do you agree? Okay. You agree. And so, we fight together. Our opposition will come. And we have to stand firm and engage it wisely, wisely. This week, I read a report from a pastor in a church in inner-city Philadelphia. He's planning a church similar to ours, but we know inner-city Philadelphia is not inner-city Huntsville, so there's a difference. So, and the report is called three years later. And in this report, he talks about the assumptions and expectations he and his church leaders had at the very beginning of the church. And three years later, he evaluates those assumptions and expectations in order to see where they stand. And as I read the report, I saw similarities between us and him and some differences. And one assumption, he said, I'll soon, if we, the church, engage in relational mercy ministry and outreach, such as we would get into people's lives over the long haul, stick and stay, that they would see the love and join us. That's a good assumption, right? And we have that, we practice that. But three years in to this, he now says, I hate to admit it, but this was the biggest surprise of all. That if we engage in relational mercy ministry and evangelism, then we will see, then they will see the love and come. Such has not been the case. We have engaged in outreach efforts, group mercy efforts like neighborhood cookouts, park picnics. We have in, we have thanksgiving packages. We have engaged in various mercy ministry and pastoral efforts for individuals and families from moving food cars to registering kids in school to financial management. And yet we have seen virtually no permanent fruit in a way of attendees or members. Our efforts have open opportunities to contribute to the wellbeing of these families, these efforts have not generated credible professions of faith. Where do you make of that? When I first read that, if you know me, you shouldn't know what it did to me. So, and to be honest, it messed up the rest of my day. I couldn't even finish my sermon because of that paper. And a friend of mine who sent it to me said, "Alex, I don't know if it's going to be encouraging or discouraging, so I'm ruining you." And I told her to send it to me anyway and I wish she hadn't. But, and it wasn't until late Wednesday night, late Wednesday night that the Spirit brought me back to my senses. Because once my fear and emotions got out of the way, I was able to see what I needed to take from that article. And it was this, Alex, curb your assumptions and expectations. Curb them, curb your assumptions and expectations. Curb them, because it's going to take longer than three years. Probably take longer than five. Time, consistency, presence. That's where it's going to take. It ain't going to be overnight. And so, just like the, there's opposition, and whatever God calls us to do, that we have to consider, we can't overlook the opposition, we have to engage it. There is also the community, the community itself, that must be considered. This is exactly what DMI did after he arrived in Jerusalem. He had to take in consideration the community, before he did anything in the community. He just can't go in and do stuff. You got to get some understanding that wasn't there. He said, "So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. Now I rose in the night, and a few men with me, and a few men with me. And I told no one of my God has put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me, but the one which I rode. I went out by night by the valley gate, the dragon spring, and the dawn gate. And I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down. And there's gates that have been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the fountain gate, to the king's pool. But there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall. And I turned back and entered by the valley gate, and so returned." So after he meets with his governors, he finally gets to Jerusalem. And the journey from Sousa, the Persian capital to Jerusalem, was four months. It's a four-month journey to get there, on horse. So you can imagine when he got to Jerusalem, he was tired. So for three days he rested, socialized with a few people. And also, this is Nehemiah's first visit to Jerusalem. First visit. He's a Jew, but he never lived in Jerusalem. He never lived there. There was his first time there. The first time he's actually seen his country broken, walls destroyed, gates burned with fire. He's actually seen these things. And even though he came to Jerusalem with a military escort, he did not have a savior ego. This comes out later in the book. He wasn't like, "Well, now that I'm here, the ants can get done. It's going to fix all these people. I'm going to tell them how to do it. It's going to be done my way. And I'm here to save the day." Super Nehemiah. No. That wasn't him. Throughout this letter, you're going to see the Nehemiah's really humble. And his humility flowed out of his relationship with his God. And you see that throughout this book that he did not have that personality. And most importantly also, when he got there, he didn't immediately tell people why he was there. Now that he jumped right into the building project. See, the only information he had about the conditions of Jerusalem was second-hand information. And it would be foolish to build a plan on second-hand information. He had to go see it for himself. He had to go inspect the walls for himself. Carl Ellis, many of you know, I like Carl Ellis. He's a good friend of mine. He says, "Determine the needs of the community." Then do that. Determine the needs of the community first. It didn't do that. Don't impose what you think the community needs. Go there and see for yourself. And you can't see from a distance. You can't rely on second-hand information. You got to go get dirty yourself. And this is what Nehemiah does. He surveys the land and inspects the walls for himself in order to determine what are the needs of this community. And again, to do that takes time, consistency, and presence. It ain't going to happen overnight. So Nehemiah, he conducts these secret inspections on the wall, done at night. He goes out at night to look at the wall, goes out at night to see the damage. And these nightly walks, they allow him to get a detailed inspection of the damage without any distractions. They help him to even avoid suspicion because he didn't want his enemies to figure out why he was there. He didn't want them to know what he was up to, so he kept it to himself. And until anyone, not even a Jewish people at this point, for the Lord had put on his heart to do. And during these inspections, he also was able to develop a plan based upon first-hand information. This is the damage. This is the destruction. Now, let me come up with some way in which I can help. So he comes up with a plan to rebuild the wall. His personal survey, his inspection. But, as we all know, our community is much more than just land and walls, right? And buildings, right? A community is much more than that. What's the most important part of any community? The people who live there. It's not the buildings. It's not the land, it's not the walls. They have to be considered too, and never overlooked. Nehemiah says in verse 16, "I had not yet told the Jews and the priests and the nobles and their fishers and the rest who were to do the work." You see, Nehemiah, he may have had this plan develop, but he was going to need the people help to put that plan into action. They were to do the work. And if they didn't do the work, would the wall get restored? If the Jewish people that lived in Jerusalem, if they were unwilling to do the work, was he going to get the wall built? He needed them, and he was waiting for the right time to tell them. And now think about this. If you are a Jew, living in Jerusalem during this time, and you see this guy riding in with all these... Look at all official, with this military escort. Now, are you happy? Are you wondering, what is he doing here? What have we done? Are we in trouble? You see, these Persian officers, these horsemen coming in, and so you're thinking to yourself, why is he here? What are his intentions? Can he be trusted? You see, Nehemiah, he was a Jew, but like I said, he never lived in Jerusalem. In a real sense, he was an outsider, and he didn't know how the people were going to receive him either. He didn't know that. He didn't know how they were going to receive him. He didn't know if they were going to trust him. He didn't even know if they were going to follow him. Will they do the work, Lord? Will they even want the wall restored? Will they consider Nehemiah a sellout to the man? The man who has his raw foot on their neck. Oh, Nehemiah, you just a puppet. Puppet of the King! You're not here to help us. You're just here to advance your own career, Nehemiah. This is just a stepping stone for you. You know what, Nehemiah? You know what you are, Nehemiah? You're on the Tom, Nehemiah. That's what you are. You may be a Jew on the outside, but I know your heart. You're a Persian. You're not here to help us. We can't trust you. We can't trust you. So what do you do with that? What does Nehemiah do with that? He does what he's been doing. He has to trust that the Lord will prepare the people to receive his leadership. He has to trust that the Lord is going to raise up the people in the community who were rallying over beside him to help him to work. That's what he had to trust, and because he couldn't change the hearts, and just because he showed up with a fancy plan wasn't a guarantee that the people are going to be excited about it. And you know what, the Lord has prepared their hearts. The people were already. How do you know that? Because the restoration was already going on. Don't forget that. The restoration has started years and generations ago. There was more happen under Zerobible. He was the first one that came back with a group of people from exile. And what happened under him? They rebuilt the temple under him. Worship. And then the second return was under Ezra. What did Ezra do? He brought the law back to the community. And now with Nehemiah, they're bringing the rebuilding of the wall to give them some security from the enemies. So you see, the hearts have been prepared by God. It has been. And God has simply now provided them a leader that they would be able to follow in the Nehemiah. A humble leader who depends on his God. And here's the thing for us. You know, we survey, we inspect the land personally. We do. We've been doing it. The ministry's been here for years doing that. We don't simply rely on second-hand information. We go see it for ourselves. Have you seen it for yourself? Have we? See it with your own eyes. And you also, you gotta consider the people that live there. And realize you can't force anything on people. People have to be at a brought to a place in their life where they want salvation, where they want healing, where they want restoration, where they want reconciliation. And just by us coming up, taking off our, putting on our Superman cape, ain't gonna force them to believe anything. Ain't gonna force them to come between those doors. People have a distrust of church. And some have that for valid reasons for that. Many of our neighbors distrust us. You know that? They wonder why we are here. What are their intentions in this church? Are they gonna beat us over the head with the Bible? Is that what they're gonna do? If they think they're better than us, why are they here? If you think they're not having those questions, then we're naive. They have those questions. And it takes time, consistency, and presence to break through all those issues. It does. And if we get five years into this, and there is no fruit, no professions of faith, no one from the community comes, are we gonna quit and leave? We could just be here calling the plant seas, and that's all we do. And if we do that faithfully, to God be the glory. Because we can't look at numbers. Looking at numbers would drive you crazy and insane and burn you out and you're gone. We will not leave. We're going to state a course. This is a marathon. It's not a hundred-yard dash. It's a marathon that we all run in. And I'm a firm believer that the gospel changes lives. I believe that with all of my heart, it changed my life. And I believe the gospel changes communities. But the gospel is not a quick fix. It's not a band-aid. It's not a genie in the bottle that you wrote. All right, gospel, show me some love. The gospel is not a lucky charm. It's not a government bailout plan. It's not like planned allottery. The gospel organically changes lives to the power of the Spirit. Gospel truth, gospel deeds, working together. And it takes time to do that. Time, consistency, and presence. The work is bigger than us, people. It's bigger than you. It's not our work. Don't think God just showed up when the Village Church popped up three years ago. Do you think that? Well, all of a sudden, God is here like he hadn't been here 15 years ago. He doesn't show up when we showed up. He simply brought us on board with what he's already been doing in the community. God, how prospective is his work? It will always outlive you. We are just here to just be faithful to what he has called us to do. And the question is, are we in it for the long haul? That's something that each individual family have to answer that question. That's what I have to answer in my in it for the long haul. If I'm 10 years into this, and there's no fruit, and I'm still in the game. And you know what? I'm still in the game. I ain't going nowhere. I'm here because God has called me to be here. And I hope each of you are here because God has called you to be here. Because that's what you got to remember. He has called you. If he's called you, he's going to do it. He's going to do it. We are simply need to be faithful to what he has called us to do. That's what we have to do. And again, time, consistency, presence. Let's pray. Father, God, I thank you that when we think about what you have called your church to do, we know that you've been doing that for generations. You've been doing that before. We were even born, Lord. You've been doing that since the beginning of the Bible, restoring, reconciling people to yourself. And so we thank you that it's not about us. We thank you that the work outlives us. We thank you that it's not lived up to us. We thank you that we serve a God who is sovereign, who is controlled, who is working, his plan, who is drawing people to himself. And we thank you that we have a God who uses broken vessels in his kingdom. So that's what we all are. And so, Father, I pray that as we continue to do, you call us to do, help us to be mindful. That there is opposition. There are real enemies of the kingdom that we engage. Help us engage them wisely as a body. And there's also the community, Father, that we have to consider the people that live in the community. And I pray, Lord, you give us favor. You have given us favor, and I pray for more favor, that whatever that distrust may be, that you would break those brick walls down to the power of your gospel. That relationships will be built. Trust will be built. And Spirit, you've got to do it, man. You've got to do it. You've got to be the one Spirit that has that changes hearts. You're the one who calls people into the kingdom. You take our weak efforts and produce great fruit for the glory of our Father. And help us not to look at numbers. Protect me for numbers. I battle with that. I battle with that. So shield me from that and give me protection. Give me a proper perspective that you have called me to faithfulness. Lord, you call us to faithfulness. In Christ in my prayer, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]