Hello Everyone,

Read with me Nehemaih 4:14:

¹⁴ 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 brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

"Remember the Lord" was to be their motto, their rallying cry.

When Paul the apostle wrote his letters to a young preacher named Timothy, he gave him a rallying cry.

2 Timothy 2:8
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel

That is the rallying cry of believers today. "Remember the Lord" was the rallying cry for the Jews in Nehemiah's day.

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. [Neh. 4:15].

The Jews could go back to work now. The enemy had retired. They found out that they could not surprise the Jews.

Nehemiah is an ingenious fellow. He still has more strategy. I like him –

¹⁶ From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah ¹⁷ who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, [Neh. 4:16-17].

I love this. Each builder had a trowel in one hand to build, and in the other hand he carried a sword with which to defend himself.

These two weapons or instruments should be in the hands of believers today. The trowel represents the fact that believers should build themselves up in the faith.

I don’t agree with letting a person who just recently been saved jump right in and start doing. I really don't think new converts ought to be used too quickly in a ministry.

They first need to learn from experience that Jesus saves and keeps and satisfies.

It is wonderful to hear that someone was saved yesterday, or last week; but let us hear from him in a year or two years from today to see if he has been built up in the faith.

You see, we need to be built up. The trowel needs to be in our hand.

Also we need to hold the sword of the Spirit. That is also important. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God with which we defend ourselves.

We need the trowel in one hand and the sword in the other.

It's an unbalanced life that just focuses on life, money, and things...and then you die! When you die is when eternity begins somewhere. And besides, God wants something better for you while you are alive anyway!

Greater Things Are Still To Come!

Pastor Phil