Why We Build | Dobie Weasel | Week 10

A building can be poured in concrete, but the real reason we build is written in people. We start by celebrating a huge win for foster care through the One Life Banquet, then we shift to something even bigger: praying over the next generation and calling young adults to stop waiting for “someday” and start living Spirit-led today.

From there, we open Nehemiah and ask the blunt question every church faces sooner or later: why build at all? Pastor Doby Weasel lays out a clear, challenging answer. We build because God told us to, and when God speaks, His call becomes divine permission to do what we could never do on our own. That truth collides with real life: discouragement, opposition, leadership pressure, and the temptation to look for an easy button that does not exist.

The message keeps pulling us back to the main lens: eternity. If we can see it, it is temporary. If we cannot see it, it is eternal. That changes how we think about church growth, Christian stewardship, giving, and sacrifice. Along the way, we connect Nehemiah’s rebuilding to Daniel’s prophecy and the arrival of Jesus, then we measure the value of ministry the right way: changed lives, restored marriages, freedom from addiction, healing, hope, and a clear gospel invitation that ends with a heartfelt salvation prayer.

If this encouraged you, share it with a friend who needs courage to obey God, then subscribe and leave a review so more people can find the message. What are you building right now with eternity in mind?

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Transcript

Welcome And One Life Banquet

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible. Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.

Honoring Mentors Who Become Family

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hey, I'm so excited that I get to uh introduce my pastor. He's here this weekend and uh hanging out with us. He's with us on Friday night at the One Life Banquet, to which I want to say first and foremost thank you to uh our directors, to every volunteer that made sure that that happened on Friday night. Uh we had a goal of$200,000. I'm happy to say almost$205,000 came in uh to change the face of foster care. Amen. Amen. If you don't know anything about one life, uh I highly encourage you to check out onelifemen.org and you can go on and see all that's happening from camp to respite to uh even partnering with Restore Network. Again, we want to change the face of foster care, and so I highly encourage you uh to get involved in that. Pastor Doby and Jamie, his wife, we have a certain rule. If I travel to Omaha or he travels here, like we get in trouble if we don't bring our wives because we understand that Pastor Doby's great, but he's so much better because of his wife. Ladies, that was a good moment for you to wake. Come on, she wakes. That doesn't mean she sleeps. So you know what I mean? She wakes. Like, wake up. Uh, that was a great moment. Like, she is the best part of him. Just like I'm the best part of Kelly, you know what I mean? Like, you understand. No, she's the best part of me. But it's so good to have them uh with us. Um there's a lot of stories that I could share about Pastor Adobe. It'd probably embarrass him, embarrass maybe myself. Uh, and I don't want to do any of that because he gets the mic second. Um, but I just want to more than anything in my introduction. I just want to say how grateful I am for him 20 years ago. Uh right about now, we left uh our hometown and went to move to Omaha, Nebraska. And I'll just tell you, it was the best decision in ministry we've ever made. We are standing where we are right now because of that. Um, not just because you appeased us, you you sought us, or anything like that. It's because you taught us. Um and you didn't just teach us. It's there's something to be said about something being taught and something being caught. And I caught a lot of things. And uh it was the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because I know when we came, it was a it was a rough time in uh in your lives. You were going through some difficult things, and um I remember one of the first conversations, I said, we're really looking for mentors, and you go, Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't know if that's what we're gonna be. I don't know that we can be that for you. But I do want you to come be our youth pastor. What happened was you weren't just a mentor, you became family. And uh so that I appreciate. I know my wife appreciates that. And again, we're not where we are today without you guys. So would you give it up for my pastors? Pastor Doby and Jamie Weasel.

Praying For Young Adults Now

Why We Build And Obey

Choosing The Eternal Over Temporal

A Fire That Exposed What Matters

Nehemiah Hears The Call To Rebuild

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Love you, son. Well, good morning, everybody. How's everybody doing this morning? Man, I love your pastors. They are the best. Amen. Amen. And uh it's just good to good to be here, good to see what God's doing here. Every time I come to this church, you blow me away. You really do. Just just everything that God's doing, whether it was the uh whether it was the banquet that we were able to be a part of, or uh hearing about what you guys are doing with building and buying land and you know, all of that kind of thing, it's just crazy. Uh, you guys are tearing it up. And uh, I just want to say it's great, great to be here, uh great to be with you again. If you are 30 years old and younger, do me a favor and stand. My gosh. That is awesome. The reason I'm having you stand is I want to pray for you. So keep standing. Keep standing. If you're if you're standing, I want you to keep standing. Uh last service, I didn't plan on doing this, but I just really felt that God gave me something for you. God gave me something for your generation, and that this generation is going to do exponential things for God as far as quick, anointed, and it's not gonna be ten years from now, it's gonna be now. And there's an anointing upon your generation, uh, and there's an anointing upon you today. Don't wait and don't say one of these days I'm gonna be used by God. Today I'm gonna be used by God. Today I'm gonna walk in the spirit. Today I'm going to do something great for God. I I believe today is your day. Don't wait to jump in, walk in it, let God lead you, and let God use you, because God wants to use you to change this generation, and this generation needs to be changed. Amen? Amen. Amen. So if you're sitting, if you're sitting down, I just want you to I want you to stretch forth your hand toward those that are standing up. And Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for every one of these young people. And Lord, you spoke to my heart this last service, and and it it was it was overwhelming. And God, you know that I struggled to keep from to keep from tearing up, to keep from weeping because of the anointing that I felt for this generation. And Father, I pray for this generation, I pray for these young people in this church, in this region, in this community. Lord, I pray for a fresh infilling, a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit. I pray, Lord God, that you would fill them, anoint them, use them. Father, cause your face to shine upon them, lift your countenance upon them, and bless them. Father God, I pray that you would begin to speak to them, begin to speak to them with that still small voice, saying, This is the way that you ought to walk, walk in it. And I pray, Lord God, that they would walk in holiness, in purity, in godliness, that they would walk with the wisdom from the word. Lord God, that would be years beyond their age. And Father God, that you would use them, give them a boldness, Father God, to speak to their peers in this generation. That Father God, this generation would find revival. There would be a revival and a deep spiritual awakening that would take place in this generation. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen. Thank you for standing. Thank you for letting us pray for you. Amen. Give them a hand. Hallelujah. If you've got your Bibles and you'd like to turn there, I want you to turn with me to the book of Nehemiah. Uh, if you don't have your Bible, that's okay. We'll have some of the scriptures up on the up on the screen. Uh, but as we as we open our Bibles and as we get out our notepads to take some scri to take some notes, I want to speak to you this morning, if you're taking notes. I want to speak to you upon the subject why we build. Somebody say, why we build. Turn to your neighbor and look at him and tell him, uh, this is why we build. This is why we build. And I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the main points right now. Here's why we build. We build because God told us to do it. Very simple. We build because God told us to do it. Somebody say God told us to do it. Somebody say God told us to do it. Somebody say God told us to do it. Somebody say God told us to do it. Somebody say God told us to do it. God told us to do it. And because God told us to do it, we don't have any option but to do it. Because when God tells you to do it, you do it. When he tells Peter, get out of the boat, Peter gets out of the boat. When he tells the the man with a with a with a withered hand, stretch forth your hand, he stretches forth his hand. Because when you hear the voice of God telling you to do something and you do it, the voice of God, the call of God to you and whatever he speaks is divine permission to do what you otherwise could not do on your own. Are you getting that? When God says to Peter, Peter, step out of the boat, and Peter steps out of the boat, the call of God to Peter is divine permission. To do something that Peter could not do on his own. When God says to the man, stretch forth your hand, it's divine permission. To do what the man with a withered hand could not do on his own. And when God calls a church to build a church, to change a city, to change a region, it's divine permission. Come on, I said it's divine permission to do, church, what this church could not do except God called you out on the water, and God called you to stretch forth your hand into this into this realm. And you wouldn't be able to do it except God called you to do it, but God called us to do it. And because God called us to do it, we can do it. And we can do all things through Christ, right? And it's so and and so we're we're why do we build? We build because God called us to do it. And we build not only because God called us to do it, but we build because eternity is everything. Somebody say eternity is everything. Paul said this. He said, We look not on the things which are seen because the things that are seen are temporal. But we look on the things that are unseen because the things that are unseen are eternal. Let me give you a clue. Let me just give you something this morning. It's not in my notes, but let me give you something. If you can see it, it's temporal. If you can't see it, it's eternal. Everything you see, young man, is temporal. This building is temporal. Those cars outside in the parking lot are temporal. Your house is temporal. Your clothes are temporal. Your body is temporal. Everything you see, if you can see it, it's gonna pass away, it's gonna fade away, it's gonna rust, it's gonna, it's gonna fall apart, it's going to turn into dust. That beautiful car you just bought, one day will fall apart. Hate to tell you. That nice house you're living in, one day won't be there. I mean, I I it may be a long time from now, but one day it won't be there. They they took a look at the at the Colosseums of Rome. They took a look at the marble, at the marble homes they were building, and they thought this is gonna last 10,000 years. And you go back, you go to Rome today, and you'll see none of those houses are are are there. None of those mansions are there. The Vanderbilts, I I could talk about the Vanderbilts and how that they built, they built 23 mansions, the family alone built 23 mansions. None of those but one is standing today. And so you so you look at that and you think you think if if you can see it, it's temporal, it's passing away. But if you can't see it, it's eternal. And invest in what you can't see. Hope is eternal, love is eternal. The things which you see are passing away, but the things which you can't see, those are the things that are and and so and so this morning as we as we look at this, we need to understand that building, why do we build? We build because God said to do it, and we build because eternity is everything. I was 15 years old, enjoying a Saturday morning snooze. Because you know how 15-year-olds are. They can sleep till noon. So I was enjoying this Saturday morning, thinking I didn't have to get up for anything, when suddenly I had this pounding on my door, and it was the worst voice in the world. It was my sister. Come on. My sister came pounding on my door. Toby, Doby, Doby, get up, get up. Mom needs you. And I awoke to the sound of of yelling and screaming and chaos. And I I thought, what in the world is going on? So I got up, got dressed, ran outside, and and as I ran outside, I could see my mom was across the street with an axe. And our neighbor's house had black billows of smoke ascending into the air. My mom had this axe, and she was pounding on the side of that house, trying to break into that house from the side, right under a window. I could see it today. My mom was drinking coffee that morning, she looked out, she saw black smoke billowing out of the windows, called 911, went to our shed, found a found an axe, and ran across the street in her in her nightgown? Is that what you call it? And so here's my mom, with an axe, pounding on the side of this house. Because she knew that Mary was in that room. My mom was a community health nurse. Mary was a special needs child. Mary's parents had made it out, and they let my mom know that Mary was still in her room. My mom knew where the room was. And my mom was crying, trying to, trying to pound a hole in that house so that she could she could get Mary out. Fortunately, the firemen arrived and they and they got out the chainsaw and they made short work of it, and they brought Mary out. Unfortunately, Mary died. And that house stood there. That burned out hull of a house. And it was a reminder of the life that was there. It was a reminder of that which once was. You see, Jerusalem, if you read the story, is for 150 years, they are they've been living in disgrace, they've been living in vulnerability. They've been living in shame. Because a king by the name of Nebuchadnezzar had come and he had attacked Jerusalem 150 years earlier, he had broken down the walls, he had burned the gates, and he left them in shambles. And they had tried to rebuild, they couldn't rebuild, they didn't have the resources, and then Cyrus came, Cyrus with Persia, and he overthrew Nebuchadnezzar, and he took over. And now it's a hundred years, or it's 80 years into this thing since Cyrus had taken over, and as uh as as as as Persia has now ascended to world dominance, there's a king by the name of Artic Xerxes who's sitting on the throne of Persia. There's this guy, this young man by the name of Nehemiah, whose family had been taken into captivity by Babylon, and they had they had been dragged to Babylon, and now as as uh as as his family had been led into captivity, this is generational bondage, and now he's serving the king of Persia. Now Persia is is the world's superpower. And when I say superpower, I mean superpower. There are only 115 million recorded individuals in that civilized world, 115 million of the 115 million, 50 million were ruled by Persia. It's almost half of the world's population. This guy Artaxerxes was a powerful man. If we were to compare it to what it would look like today if Persia was ruling the world and had that kind of population, it would be like combining Russia, China, India, and the United States of America, combining them all together as one superpower. So this wasn't just a superpower, this was a super superpower. And Nehemiah worked for the king. And one day he's in the palace and he's tending to the king because he's the king's cupbearer. And a cupbearer, what he would do is is is when the king was having breakfast or lunch or dinner, or he wanted something to drink, they would bring the drink in, he would taste it because he was the cupbearer, he would taste it first, and if he remained upright, there was no poison in the cup. And so then the king could drink it. And he'd been doing this. Well, some visitors come from Jerusalem, and he knows one of them, and he says to Hanani, the guy's name's Hanani, he says to Hanani, hey, how are things going back at home? How's the homeland? And Hanani says, Dude, it's horrible. We're living in shame and disgrace, the walls are broken down. And listen, these walls that had protected Jerusalem, had protected Jerusalem for years. David and Solomon had built the walls, and as they built the walls, uh, these walls were were were, I mean, they were they were no small, they were no small walls. They were like 40 foot high, they were like 10 foot thick, and when Nebuchadnezzar had come to besiege Jerusalem, it took him 18 months to breach the wall and to take Jerusalem. So, so so so now this rubble, this wreckage, this ruin had been sitting there for a hundred years. And he said, dude, it's bad. It's bad. We can't rebuild, we don't have the resources, everyone's discouraged. The enemy comes and goes because we can't, we have no defense from the enemy's demands, and and and so he just laid it out. And Nehemiah had heard this before, I'm sure. But this time was different. This time God spoke to him, and God said, You're gonna do something about it. He couldn't sleep that night. He tossed and turned. It bothered him. He cried, he wept, he mourned, he fasted. That's what the scripture says. And then he came back to work. And Xerxes said, Dude, you're depressed, man. What's going on with you? Why do you look so horrible?

SPEAKER_03 21:15

And Nehemiah says, It's what Han and I said.

Opposition And The Impossible Assignment

Stewardship That Moves Hearts To Action

Daniel’s Prophecy And Jesus’ Arrival

Measuring Ministry By Changed Lives

Two Questions And A Salvation Prayer

SPEAKER_02 21:24

He said, Why shouldn't I be depressed? My homeland is lying in ruins, its gates are burned, its walls are in rubble, and my people are vulnerable. Why shouldn't I? And so they had this conversation, and the king said, Well, what do you want to do about it? He said, Well, I'd like to go back and rebuild them. He said, Well, what do you need to rebuild them? He said, I need timber, I need this, I need that. He said, I'm going to give you everything you need. How long is it gonna take? He said, It's gonna take about this long. He said, Okay, you have permission. And so that's what the story is all about. It's a rebuilding project. And if there's anything I know about God, here, let me give you a couple of things I know about God. Number one, he's a builder. You read the Bible, and you see God is a builder all over the book. Whether it's God creating the heavens and the earth, I mean, God created the universe. God created, he created our galaxy. God created every star and he named him by name. And God, God created our world. And as he created our world, he created Adam and He partnered with Adam to take care of his world. And if there's anything I see about God, number one, he's a builder. He said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So God's a builder. Somebody say God's a builder. God's a builder. Yeah. God's a builder. And when God decides to build, he uses a man who he sends to a people. And together they build. God's a builder. He uses a man. Then he sends to a people. And together they build. Are you seeing this? Why do we build? Because God told us to. Because God's a builder. Because God has a man that he sent to a people. That he resourced with everything that you need to do what God has called you to do. But here's the thing about building. Building is never easy. Because when God called you to do something, he called you to do something that you cannot do. I said, when God called, when God called you to do something, God calls you to do something that you cannot do. Peter, get out of the boat. Walk on water. I can't walk on water. When I say you can, you can. Abraham, you're gonna have a son. I'm a hundred years old. I can't have a son. When I say you can, you can. Hello. Some of you thinking you're too old. You're not old enough. God's waiting for you to get a little bit older so that you'll know I can't have a baby. I'm not talking literally. I'm not talking literally, Kelly. Jamie. Jamie says, let's go. Oh Lord help us. But but God will always call you to do something that you cannot do. So that when you do it, you'll know it wasn't you. But you'll know it was God. Right? And so and so as we as we look at this, it's it's difficult. It's difficult. Not only is it difficult, it's impossible. I mean, I know the king gave permission. I know the king gave him all the resources, but when he got there, read the story for yourself. It was a mess. The rubble was so high, he had to he had to wade through that stuff. And he looked around and he said, God, God, why I can't do this. And sometimes when God called you to do to dream big, right? When God called you to build a church or to impact a community or give for the future, He's calling you to do something that you cannot do so that when you do it, you'll know it wasn't you, it was God. Because that's how God wants to do through you. And so as he as he looked at it, he said, God, God, there's all kinds of opposition. God, there's there's there's opposition from the outside, San Ballot and Tobiah, all kinds of people who are fighting against him. There's opposition from the inside. These people are discouraged and they have no money. And Lord, there's uh there's no way that we can we we we can do this thing. And they ridiculed him, they mocked him, they lambasted him, they lampooned him, they they made fun of him, they did everything they could to discourage him, even to the point of saying, we're going to kill you if you try to rebuild this wall. And there were death threats. And in the midst of all of that, I'm sure he must have said, God, you sure you called me to do this? Pastor Jamie, if you never are never overwhelmed, and if you never ask the question, God, are you sure you called me to do this? Then it's probably not God. But if you almost on a daily basis say, God, are you sure? Huh? Come on, somebody. Have you ever asked God, God, are you sure? God are you sure you told me to build this business? God, are you sure you told me to go to this school? God, are you sure you told me to marry this man? I almost said woman. Because there were no easy buttons, right? I thought there were. I mean I I I saw this on online and I thought there was an easy button. I could use an easy button. Right? Got a test. I need a better game. Come on. Yeah. God, I want to lose weight. True. We wish there was an easy button, but there's no easy button. There was no easy button for Nehemiah. There'll be no easy button for you or me. This campaign is going to be challenging. It's uh these next few years are going to be a struggle. The enemy's gonna fight against you every which way that he possibly can, but I'm here to tell you if you will keep your eyes on the goal, if you'll keep keeping on, keeping on, and putting one foot in front of the other, you're gonna get there because if God before you, who can be against you? Hallelujah. If God be on your side, watch out, devil. And so I'm here to tell you this morning. Listen, I I've been in capital campaigns, and here's how I felt as a pastor. I felt, God, I didn't learn how to do this in Bible college. They didn't teach me how to how to raise funds, they didn't teach me how to how to how to how to look at land. They didn't teach me, they didn't teach me how to how to how to strategize and how to plan, how to meet with architects and how to do all this stuff. They didn't teach me how to do that. I know. I know how to preach, I'm a preacher. I know how to teach, I'm a teacher. God, I'm not a fundraiser. I don't know how to do that. And so that's I felt I felt like I was ill-equipped. I felt like I was like a you ever feel like you're a milk bucket under a bull? I think you got it. But that's how I that's how I felt. I felt like a milk bucket under a bowl. I felt like God, I'm out of place. I can't do this. And then and then we got into it, and it's like, Lord, these people, these people aren't getting me. Because I didn't I didn't get into this for my ego. I didn't get into this because I didn't have anything better to do. I didn't get into this because somehow they're thinking I'm gonna I'm gonna get something out of this. God, I'm not the only thing I'm getting out of this is sleepless nights. And besides, we're living in America. And in America, we've got all kinds of people that have raised funds over the years and have said, I've got a jet, but I need a bigger jet. I've got a jet, but I need a helicopter, I've got a mansion, but I need a bigger, and and God, we've seen all those kooks, and we've seen all those guys that have misused and abused the body of Christ, and they've misused the name of God, and God, I don't want to be associated with come on. But the people out you know that, but the people out there, they don't know that. And they'll they'll they'll tell you your pastor's crazy, they'll tell you you guys are nuts, they'll tell you you're in some kind of a cult. They will do everything they can to discourage you. But listen, I'm here to tell you that as I as I as a pastor, and I went through this, I I knew, I knew, God, I'm not equipped. I knew, God, I I I they're they're gonna misunderstand us. I knew God, uh, Lord, I I I might be associated with some people that perhaps I don't want to be associated with. God, please don't let that happen. And I also knew that God, how it's gonna be a challenge because I know that there are some people who who who who need to be stirred up because they've just become fat sheep. But you know, we waddle into church. We find our our place. Sit down, feed me, Pastor, feed me, and Pastor Jamie, he does great, man. He's up there. And we waddle out on Sunday morning. Next Friday we waddle back in. You were falling asleep. I just wanted to wake you up. I know, I'm just kidding. I just kidding. I'm just kidding, I know you weren't. That was entertaining for them, though. Right? We waddle in and we find our stall. And God help the man who has taken our stall. You ever see anybody lose their stall? It's okay. And all of a sudden we lose our sanctification. Hello. Welcome to the friendliest church in town. It's great to have you in my place. You think you feel uncomfortable right now. And we waddle in and we waddle out. Pastor, feed me, pastor, feed me, pastor. And we never do anything with what God wants us to do and with what we receive from the pastor. And what I understood is Jesus said this: that where a person's treasure is, that's where his heart is also. And it was my job, even though I didn't, even though I was ill-equipped, even though I didn't want to do it, even though I didn't want to be associated with those guys, it was my job to challenge the body of Christ to step up and to step in to a deeper relationship and a deeper place of obedience with the Lord. And so then I said, God, I'll do it. Hallelujah! Because we all want to grow, right? We all want to be like Jesus, we all want to sacrifice, we all want to be a part of building the kingdom of God. Turn your neighbor and tell him. And so, and so it's why did I do that? God help us. And so some of you called her. I know it. You texted her and said you need to be a I'm almost done. So, so so so first of all, first of all, we do it because God said do it. This man isn't doing it. He's not leading us to that piece of ground. He's not leading us to build because he has nothing better to do. He could put it in cruise control, he could put it in neutral, and we can just coast into heaven. But God said to him, No, you're gonna rise up and you're gonna do more, you're gonna accomplish more, more souls are gonna be saved, more lives are gonna be changed. I'm gonna use this church ten times more than I'm using it now. Ten times. Somebody say ten times. You're gonna grow by ten times. You say, how do you know that? Because Jesus told me that. The Holy Spirit whispered that into my spirit this morning as I was laying in bed. Kind of half between heaven and earth. And I heard ten times. I'm gonna bless them tenfold. I'm gonna bless them ten times. And when when you guys do what God's called you to do, you're gonna see so many people get saved, so many drug addicts are gonna get saved, so many alcoholics are gonna get saved, so many people that are hurting are gonna come to Jesus. You're gonna see this community change and this region change. And if that's what you want to see, that's what you're gonna see, because that's the kingdom of God. I'm just telling you. And so, so, so, so let me let me let me finish. Let me finish. All right. So, number one, we do it because God said do it. Number two, we do it because eternity is everything. Let me show you something, and then we're gonna we're gonna be done. As Nehemiah was in the presence of the king, and the king said, Go back and rebuild. I don't know if Nehemiah was aware of this or not. Oh, that sounds so good. Sounds like lunch to me. I don't know if he knew this or not. But there was a prophet by the name of Daniel, right? Had three friends, right? They got taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar 150 years earlier. And he wrote in chapter 9, verses 24 and 25. Here's what he wrote. He talked about a period of 70 sets of seven. Now, in the Bible, seven is is like a week, or a week is like seven. So if you read the King James, it'll say seventy sets of weeks or seventy weeks. Seventy weeks has been decreed. Now, this was hundreds of years, or at least decades, many decades before Nehemiah ever came about. And here's what Daniel wrote: He said, a period of seventy sets of seven, or seventy sevens. Seventy sets of seven years has been decreed for your people and for the holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness and confirm the prophetic vision and to anoint the most holy place. And here's what I want to draw your attention. He says, Now listen. Listen and understand. Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two. If you have seven sets of seven, that's seven plus sixty-two, that's sixty-nine. So six nine times seven years will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem. What happened in Nehemiah chapter two when the king took a look at him and he said, Go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. It was that command. Right? So we see that command is given to Nehemiah. And so Nehemiah, although he doesn't understand it, is being used by God in that moment to usher in a prophetic timetable to the coming of Jesus. Because here's what he says two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler, the anointed one, comes and Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses despite perilous times. Look at this, and here's what they say they say that the decree, and and and they have it down to the day. These guys have studied this out, and they've looked back in history and they have discovered the day that Artic Xerxes gave the decree to Nehemiah to go back and rebuild. And here's what they say in 445, 400, nearly 450 years before Jesus came, Artic Xerxes gave the decree. And he talked about the 62 weeks and the seven weeks, which is 69 weeks, and 69 weeks, 69 sevens, you multiply that out, it's 683 years. So if you look at it, from the time Artixerxes said, rebuild the wall, and you move forward, it's 683 years. And if you move forward, 683 years, that's 1,000, not not 365 calendar years, 365 prophetic years. Prophetic years are 360 days, not 365 days. So so so break that down to days. Let's break it down to days. If we break it down to days, it's 173,880 days. I know I'm getting deep, but hang on. 173,880 days from the time, from the day this guy said, rebuild the wall. They counted 173,880 days. 173,880 days, 173,878, 879, 880. They got to 179,880 days. You know what happened on the 179th, 79, 888 days, whatever it is. You know what happened on that day? On that day, somebody brought Jesus a donkey. And he got on that donkey, and he rode into Jerusalem, and they cut down palm branches, and they waved them, and they said, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And God spoke to them generations, decades, centuries earlier, and he said, This is the day that you're waiting for. The Messiah's gonna come, the anointed one's gonna come, sin is gonna be abolished, there's gonna be a way made into the kingdom, and Nehemiah had no idea, but he was setting forth uh a pattern, he's setting forth a something that would usher in the Lord, and people would find salvation. Why? Because a guy said, I'll do what God wants me to do, I'll go where he wants me to go, I'll build what he wants me to build, and if God you're calling me. To do it, I'll do it. Not knowing that down the road, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords was going to ride into Jerusalem. Hallelujah! And salvation would be open to many. You see, we don't know. We don't understand. We don't see. God, you're calling us to build this building. You're calling us to buy this land. God, why? We don't see. They didn't see 15 years ago. He didn't see that people in this very church sitting here under the sound of my voice would come to know Jesus, whose marriages would be healed, whose lives would be changed, who would be called into the ministry. They didn't see that. They just said, God, we'll go and we'll build a church. And because they did, people got saved. People got set free. People got healed. You see, some of your life has been changed because God sent this couple 15 years ago. You've been saved, your marriages have been changed, you've been healed, you've been filled with the Holy Ghost. And I want you to just do me a favor. And if you would, and I'm done, if you would, I want you to indulge me. I'm gonna say a few things. And I want you to stand with me, not everybody, but only if this describes you. And I want us to see what God's done in the last 15 years in your lives because of this couple. If you've given your life to Jesus under this pastor's preaching, or if you came back to God after being away for many years, or you understood the gospel clearly, because of the way he brings forth the word of God, I want you to stand. If your life has been changed by his preaching. If you were baptized in water here or you dedicated your life to Christ at the altar here, I want you to stand. If you were filled with the Holy Spirit in this church or experienced a spiritual breakthrough and God spoke to you or called you into ministry, I want you to stand. If you're here and your marriage was saved because of counsel or preaching in this church and your family's been restored, I want you to stand. If you're here and you were in deep depression and found hope, and you're considering you were considering ending your life but found help here and found purpose again when your life felt empty, I want you to stand. If you were delivered from alcohol or drugs through this ministry, or you found support and accountability and your life was turned around, I want you to stand. Come on, don't sit there, stand. If you were prayed for in this church when you were sick and God touched your body through prayer and you experienced a miracle or healing in this church, I want you to stand. Thank you for standing. If you learned how to read the Bible here, if you learned how to pray here, if you learn if your faith grew here because of this ministry and you became a stronger Christian because of this church, I want you to stand. Come on. If you discovered your calling in this church and you were trained for ministry, and now you're serving because you're serving God because this pastor invested in you, I want you to stand. Or if you're if you've been prayed for at a hospital by this pastor and he stood with your family during a crisis, or he comforted you at a funeral, or he walked with you through grief, I want you to stand. In this morning church, we see the buildings, we see the services, we see the programs. We don't see the midnight prayers. We don't see the hospital visits, we don't see the counseling sessions, we don't see the tears that have been shed by this couple for your family and over your lives. We don't see the times that he comes to this church at four o'clock or five o'clock on Sunday morning to pray and make sure he's full of the Holy Ghost and brings forth a word from the Lord. We don't see that, but that's what this couple does. And we thank God for this couple. We thank God for your lives. And listen, this is this is what it's about. It's not about buildings, it's not about land, it's not about that stuff for them. It's about you, and it's about 10,000 like you. It's about other alcoholics that are going to be set free. It's about other people that are gonna grow and be called to the Lord. I'm here to tell you, church, continue to dream big, continue to be faithful, continue to give and pray, continue to obey God because eternity is everything. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. I'm gonna give you one more scripture, and I'm gonna ask you two questions, and we're out of here. And you can stop playing, not right now. One scripture, two questions. Here's my scripture, and I'm done. Mark it down because you're gonna use this. I'm giving this to you, and I'm giving this to you, and to you, and to you, and to everybody that stood that's under 30, and everybody that didn't stand that's over 30. I'm giving this to you. One scripture, two questions, and the scripture's found in Revelation chapter 20, verse 15, and here's what it says: look at me, and whosoever's name was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That's in the Bible, and whosoever's name was not written found in the Lamb's book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. That's the scripture. Here are the questions. Is your name written in the Lamb's book of life? Do you know that? Question number one. Question number two. If you don't know that, would you like to know that? And if so, can I pray with you? Anybody like to know that? Anybody like to know the name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life? You don't know that it's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You want to know, lift up your hands. Let me see it. Come on, don't be ashamed. Hallelujah. Church, I want us to pray together. Lift up your hands, everybody in this place, and pray this prayer with me. Pray it out loud, especially those of you that lifted your hands. Jesus, come on, say it out loud. Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. You don't have to convince me. I've lied, I've stolen, I've cheated, I've broken all your commands. God forgive me. Come into my heart, change my life. I want my name to be written in the Lamb's book of life. I give you my heart, I give you my life, all my past sin, all my present, and all my future is yours. Take it now. I want to be born again. You said if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things pass away, all things become new. God, may old things pass away, may all things become new. Make me new right now. Come into my heart in Jesus' name. And I thank you. You've heard my prayer, and it is done. My name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now help me to live like it. Help me to live a life worthy of the blood of Jesus. I pray in Jesus' name. Congratulations. God bless you, Pastor. Amen.