Leaders Like Nehemiah

Introduction

Do you will open in your Old Testament with me to the book of Nehemiah? We’ll be studying through several chapters of the book of Nehemiah this morning. As many of you may know, today is known in America as Super Bowl Sunday. Of course, the Eagles are playing the Patriots, and I want you to know, as an Eagles fan, if you want to be in accordance with the scriptures in all ways, please know that eagle or eagles is found in the Bible over 30 times, and patriots are not in there at all. So you can be ready for this evening’s game. Of course, when it comes to the New Testament scriptures, we’re following the example of Jesus, and if there was a perfect example of just about any trait, you’d look and see what did Jesus do?

How did he live? What were his expectations for his disciples? In the Old Testament, though, we see many men of faith who live out wonderful examples of godly lives. What it means to be submissive to God’s will, what it means to lead others to know, understand, respect, and most importantly this morning, please, our great and wonderful God. This morning we’re going to study one such man in the in the in the name of Nehemiah. This morning the challenge is for us all to live like leaders, to live like a leader. You may be thinking this morning, well, I’m not an elder here, I’m not the CEO of a company, I’m not the husband, I’m not the father of many kids. What role is that for me?

If we note Nehemiah’s example, just like with all of the Old Testament and certainly the New Testament scripture as well, these principles of how we can be pleasing to God, how we can shine our lights in the community, and most importantly, strengthen our faith and our relationship with God, they are found contained within the same principles that make for a good and strong leader. Note with me beginning in Nehemiah chapter 1. If you will go in your minds back to the period we all know and love so well, the return from captivity. Of course, you’ve had Israel as the United Kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon, and then because of Solomon’s unfaithfulness to God and his many, many wives and concubines, and then Rehoboam’s foolish decision.

The kingdom was split, and you have Israel to the north and Judah to the south. And many years go on, and Israel’s taken into Babylonian captivity, Judah, excuse me, Israel into Assyrian captivity, Judah into Babylonian captivity. And finally, the people return, as God had promised them from long ago. But of course, they had a lot of work to do. They had to rebuild the city. They had to reclaim their spiritual heritage and nature. And by the time Nehemiah is on the scene, it’s about 444 BC. Some say 445, but there’s something about 444 BC that’s pretty catchy and might stick in your mind. So as you think about Nehemiah, he’s serving the Persian king, as we’re introduced to him in Nehemiah chapter 1. But his heart, you can tell, is with his kinsmen, with the people of Judah.

Pick up with me in verse 2 of Nehemiah chapter 1. Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, the remnant there is in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire. It’s important to note that in the Old Testament times, how important the walls of the city were. If you didn’t have walls, what did you have? A recipe for destruction, for pillaging. You had no protection. In fact, that’s why the proverb says, A man without self-control is like a man without walls. We don’t have protection.

1. Leaders Like Nehemiah Always Pray

We don’t have any fortification. But it’s interesting to see at the last part of verse 3 the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, its gates are destroyed by fire. That means that in all this time that had passed, and for all those Jews who had returned from exile, who had been given God’s second chance, you might say, that they hadn’t yet rebuilt the walls. They were vulnerable. They were possibly going to be attacked. And when you note in verse 4, you see just how severe and heavy of a problem this was. Note Nehemiah’s reaction. As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. You see, one of the first traits of living like a leader is to see that leaders like Nehemiah always pray.

And can I tell you the only thing that we do more than say leaders pray is preach about the necessity of prayer. First Thessalonians 5 17, pray without ceasing. But I want you to note with me three times in three separate chapters how and why Nehemiah chooses to pray, and under what circumstance. We’ve already seen if we if we look back at verses two and three, why did Nehemiah pray here? Well, first of all, his heart and concern was with whom? It was with his kinsmen, the people of Judah. You see in verse 2, he had asked them about certain men from Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And when he got this grim report, when his heart sank, when he was moved in verse 4 to mourning and fasting, what did Nehemiah do?

He prayed. Note in chapter 2 a different circumstance. Chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. In the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence, and the king said to me, Why is your face sad? Seeing you are not sick. This is nothing but sadness of the heart. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad? When the city, the place of my father’s graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Then the king said to me, What are you requesting? Note the last part of verse 4.

So I prayed to the God of heaven. Here we see a different circumstance, albeit related to the first, Nehemiah’s heart is truly not only in a request for his people, he didn’t just say, Hey, how are they doing? Hear that it was terrible and go, Oh, that’s too bad, and move on. Nehemiah had a heart of compassion, of true concern and care for others, and it manifested itself in his countenance, and yes, even in his prayer life. We saw in chapter one, when faced with devastating news that caused great despair, what did Nehemiah do? He prayed in verse four. In chapter two, as he is approaching the king, and the king sees he’s sad, where Nehemiah is normally so different, he doesn’t see him sad, so much so that it raises the question, Nehemiah, what’s wrong with you today?

Nehemiah’s heart is once again where? With the Jews he had asked about. And when the king looks before him and says to him, his cupbearer, this person in Nehemiah who was of high standing, perhaps in the court of the officials of the Persian king, and he says, What are you requesting? Note what does Nehemiah do? He stopped to pray. You see, in the first instance, in the midst of despair, what did Nehemiah do? He prayed to God. In chapter 2, in the midst of not knowing what to do, how to proceed carefully, not knowing exactly what to say, needing guidance, needing strength, perhaps praying that God would grant his request even, Nehemiah stopped to pray. What a wonderful story. As you keep reading, you’ll see that the king granted him this request.

Nehemiah was able to go back and lead the people in rebuilding the wall. And when we come to chapter 4 of passage we’re going to study a little bit deeper in a few moments, we’re going to see yet another instance where Nehemiah prayed. Except at this point, the people are having great success. The wall has been built up. Turn with me to chapter 4. You see, in chapter 4, then, though, in the midst of their success, while the wall was half built. What happened, of course? More challenges found their way to the people. In verse 6 of chapter 4, so we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. But when Sambalat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashtadites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.

What did they do? They plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. When receiving devastating news in chapter 1, Nehemiah prayed. When approaching the king with an important critical request, he prayed to God. And of course, even now in chapter 4, when they are vulnerable, when the enemies are surrounding them, Nehemiah and the people of Israel stopped to pray. We have to be people like Nehemiah who don’t view praying more as some lofty goal or some New Year’s resolution that we know we should just do and we know it’s a good thing. Nehemiah prayed because he knew the God he was praying to.

We have to know that God. We have to trust in him. We have to have the faith that moves us to pray. And leaders, especially leaders in God’s kingdom, know God’s power. They know God’s strength, and they know most importantly, that God wants to hear from us. What a powerful blessing to serve a God who wants to hear from us. Amen? We have that blessing. We need to use it. But one interesting aspect of Nehemiah and his leadership in his prayer life is it wasn’t just when he needed help or needed something. Notice back in chapter one, who was the prayer on the behalf of? Was it that Nehemiah was just in such agony that he needed relief? Perhaps a little bit. But what was he praying in response to?

The Jews who had returned to Jerusalem, who were at risk, because the walls had not yet been rebuilt. They were in danger, and Nehemiah prayed. That shows a concern, a concern not like, not much unlike that of Paul. If you read the book of Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, just to name three, if you read the first chapter and even in many of the letters, you read the concluding remarks. Paul has a concern for who? The Christians he’s writing to. Perhaps no example is stronger than Romans chapter 9 in the first five verses when you see Paul talking about the Jews, and he said that if the Jews would just understand who Jesus is, what it means to submit to God, I would wish, according to verse 3, myself to be cut off if all of my brothers could be, to use the phrasing from chapter 11, grafted in.

Do we have a concern that causes us to pray not only when we’re in need, but are we leaders like Nehemiah when we pray to God on behalf of others, of God’s children? You notice then, you think about our directory, you think about all the people who are here, and we use the directory under what circumstance? When we need to call somebody. When we need to email someone, when we need their address, when we’re trying to find their house and we’re hopelessly lost. Maybe that’s just me.

But think about this. Paul knew he was praying to and praying for. What if we made a list either out of the bulletin or out of the directory, and we sat back and we said, This is an opportunity for me to pray for you. I’m going to be like Paul, I’m going to be like Nehemiah. I know who I need to rejoice with. I know who I need to weep with. I am going to pray because I have a concern for God’s people. And I’m going to pray to God because he has the power and the love and the willingness to answer my prayer. That’s living like a leader, praying to God. Our knees need to be constantly worn out. We need to live a life of prayer, so that it can be described of us, like we could say of Nehemiah and Paul alike, including Jesus himself, that we pray without ceasing.

2. Leaders Give Credit Where It’s Due

A second way that we see leadership in Nehemiah is that he gives credit where it’s due. Of course, you remember in chapter two, as we read those first four verses, as he’s approaching the king, the Persian king, and the king notices that he is sad. His countenance is fallen. He doesn’t seem like he normally does. The king grants him the request, and he saw in verse 3 that he prayed to God. And in verse 4, as he prays, you see in verse 5, I said to the king, if it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah to the city of my father’s graves, that I may rebuild it. And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, How long will you be gone?

And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I asked. And note this last part really carefully with me. For the good hand of my God was upon me. Another perhaps obvious point, but I want to take this to two different conclusions.

First of all, as Nehemiah’s request is answered by the king, who didn’t need to do that, who certainly didn’t have to support this effort by Nehemiah or the Jewish people, perhaps. He chose to not only send Nehemiah, but to support him, you might say, financially, with material goods that he would need and use. And note who Nehemiah says deserves credit for that decision. The last part of verse 9, for the good hand of my God was upon me. The king answered his request, and Nehemiah undoubtedly was thankful and grateful and gave him his credit. But you see the last part. Why did the king allow me? Why did it work out for Nehemiah? Because the good hand of my God was upon me. That goes back to our first point in leaders pray always.

But secondly, we see that leaders give credit where it’s due, recognizing first and foremost credit belongs where? To God. I appreciate it very much, Brother John Hindley’s words before the contribution this morning, praying that we live in such a way that the glory goes to God, not to self, not to man. And not only did Jesus talk about that many times, but when we think about credit and glory and honor, we know it’s due to God, but what happens when we don’t offer it? If you’re in my Romans class last quarter, you know this very well. Turn with me to Romans chapter 1. And you’ll see about a people who did not honor God, who did not glorify him, did not give him thanks properly. In Romans chapter 1, Paul is beginning his climax towards Romans chapter 3 and verse 23.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And that included the Jews from chapter 2, and certainly the Gentiles in particular at the end of chapter 1. But note the beginning. We think about how terrible the Gentiles were. And we know verse 24, 26 and 28, how God gave them over. God gave them up. In verse 28, because they didn’t acknowledge God, he gave them over to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. But where did this snowball start? In Romans chapter 1 and verse 21. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. Rather what? They became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. We have a choice as citizens of God’s kingdom, as people considering who our Creator is, what he expects of us in submission in submission to his will.

We have to decide, will we know him? But not only will we know him, will we acknowledge him? Will we give him the honor he is due? Will we give him the thanks he is due? And that plays into our prayer life, but that also plays into our attitude. Nehemiah was known by the king as what kind of person, according to chapter 2? Some sort of happy person. We all know people like that. My wife’s like that. The unfortunate thing for her is if she’s ever not 100% happy, she gets her favorite question from me. Honey, what’s wrong? And then she says nothing, and I know that’s not right, but I haven’t figured out yet how to go back to it yet. But that’s year 10, 11, 12 in marriage, I think.

When you’re happy, people see that there’s a difference in you. They see that there’s something about you that is content, happy, and fulfilled. And of course, true joy and peace is only found where? In Christ alone. Leaders understand that. Leaders practice that. And they not only practice happiness and joy, but they gladly, willingly and proactively point to the God who gives them that joy. How often have we talked with other people? Not about the gospel message of salvation, not about understanding what the right doctrinal passages are about each different subject that we might barter over. But how much do we talk to people about what a wonderful blessing it is to obey God? What a blessing it is and how God has done this in my life, done this in my life.

Perhaps you’re like me and you do pray. And you ask God to get you out of these tough situations. When you’re in despair, you have prayed to God. When you didn’t know what to say, you did pray. Maybe you struggle like I do to then go back and to thank God for answering that prayer. Think for just a moment this morning about all the prayers, even within the month of January. Can you believe we’re already in the month of February? Think about all of your requests, all of your prayers to our God. What you asked of him, what you asked for assistance in, knowing that he was there, listening and loving. How many of those prayers has he already answered? Has he already taken care of you in?

Do we give him thanks and glory? Imagine one little phrase I found on the internet one time has always stuck with me. I’ve shared it before, I’m going to share it again now. Imagine if you woke up with today only what you prayed for yesterday. How thankful are we? Are we thankful for the little things? Or are we only mindful of when we can use God to get out of a jam and then we forget, like the Gentiles did, although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. And of course, that was just the beginning of the cycle. We need to turn back, turn towards God, pray to Him, and give credit where it’s due. And that includes to other people as well.

3. Nehemiah Knew How to Properly Handle Adversity

When people have good ideas, prop them up. Be a caring, conscientious person like Nehemiah was, like Jesus did, and as Paul constantly lived. No with me thirdly, or came to the last point here. Nehemiah knew how to properly handle adversity. In chapter 4, if you’ll turn there with me, back in Nehemiah chapter 4. We mentioned before, according to verse 6, that the wall had been half built, but before we get there, let’s read the first several verses. Chapter 4 and verse 1. Now, when Simbalat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said, in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves?

Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burn ones at that? Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, Yes, what they are building, if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. Hear, O God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads, and give them up to be plundered in the land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the built and the builders. Verse 6. So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

What’s interesting, of course, as you go through this, in Nehemiah chapter 4, is worthy of a sermon and a Bible study completely in and of itself. But the people of Israel not only were back, not only was Nehemiah allowed to help them rebuild the wall, but guess what was sitting right out there waiting for him? Enemies, opposition and problems. And if we’re honest and we think about our lives, what keeps us all from being the types of servants of God that we must? Opposition. Enemies. Despair. People trying to pull us away. Life, pulling us away from our good and loving God, because we get distracted. We get busy. And yes, even sometimes we fall into despair and grief and concern, thinking there has to be better.

This has to be something bigger in mind.

What was one of the taunts from Tobiah the Ammonite? But they are building their stone wall. His joke, his jeer, his taunt was what? Even if the foxes ran around on it, these stone walls would crumble. What kind of walls would those be in protection of the city? Of course, if that was true in its completed form, then that would be dangerous for the people, for the Jews. And yet, of course, we see in verse 6 they were building and they continued to build despite this opposition, and what did they do about it? They got it halfway. But what good leaders know is adversity doesn’t end at the beginning. Sometimes halfway is the most difficult point because that’s when complacency sets in. You don’t believe that.

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? We’re one-twelfth of the way into this year. How many of us have already set aside those resolutions? And might I add for a moment that we shameless plug here, we’re going through the Psalms this year, reading through Psalms, just about three every week. Are you caught up? Are you there? The good news is we can get there, you can get caught up. But consider these Jews who were rebuilding the wall, and consider with me in verse 7. But when Symbal and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Astridites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward, and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. In Judah it was said, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves, we will not be able to rebuild this wall. And our enemy said they will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work. At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us, ten times, you must return to us. So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them.

Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. As you go through this adversity that we found at the beginning and in the middle, and as they were continuing on towards the end of the building of the wall, the opposition didn’t stop. The job wasn’t finished, the task wouldn’t be done until it was completed. Until the job was done, there was risk, there was a problem, there was perhaps some complacency could step in, some grief, some concern. And yet Nehemiah helped them through this in what ways? First of all, you see in verse 9, of course, going back to our first point from this morning, what did they do? They came together and they prayed and trusted the God who would deliver their successes.

They prayed first and foremost. But if you note that wasn’t it. When Nehemiah said, Let’s pray, they didn’t go back and just sit there and do nothing. They recognized that halfway meant they weren’t even nearly finished. They had to keep building. They had a mind to work to continue growing. But when there was more opposition, what did Nehemiah do? He found a role for everybody. He put them in their place, and they were prepared themselves. You see that back in verse 13. So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall and open places, what did Nehemiah do? I stationed the people by their clans with their swords, their spears, and their bows. They were ready for the opposition. Sometimes I’m afraid that when we don’t step up as we should, as leaders individually and collectively in our homes and as part of the church and in our workplace, we’re not ready.

We’re caught off guard by adversity when the truth is spiritually, which is the most important application, we know opposition is there and it’s coming for you. And it’s coming for me. We know in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, the devil is out there seeking whom he may devour. He wants you. He wants to pull me away from our God. And Nehemiah took the first step first. What do we have to do in the concluding verse? Remember your God. Verse 9, they prayed to that God. Nehemiah was a man of prayer. He was willing to give thanks and honor to God. And when adversity came, he trusted in his God, and what did he do? He prepared accordingly. What preparations are we taking for our temptation?

Whatever problem or struggle you may have, are we prepared? Are we aware? Nothing quite gets Floridians running like a big storm coming. Of course, it really doesn’t matter until it’s right on top of you, and they have to say category five hitting in five hours. That’s when Floridians have the gh signal. Until then it’s like, we’ll see. Been there, done that. But when that storm is coming, when you see that it’s a three, a four, a five. Then all the models start converging, even though they tend to be wrong, it starts changing your focus. It starts changing your perspective. You take action, you take planning into consideration. You take precautions. You proactively stalk up. You prepare for the coming battle of the storm. We have to do that in our spiritual lives as well.

4. Like Nehemiah, We Have to Live to Serve

What is your weakness? How is it that the devil may tempt you? Is it laziness? Is it contentment with the wall being half built? Is it somebody around you? Is there someone taunting you, jeering at you, like there were the Jews at the wall? What can you do to prepare? Knowing the scriptures, knowing your God, and knowing his people is the first start to combating the devil and all of his scheming. Go with me finally this morning, one final point. We need to always pray. We need to give credit to where it’s due. We need to properly handle and prepare for adversity. But like Nehemiah, we have to live to serve. Leaders serve. We think of a leader as somebody who kind of sits back and he’s like Santa behind the sleigh.

He’s the one controlling everything and making it go while he just kind of sits there. That’s not what leaders do at all. Leaders are in the front. They’re leading everyone by example, through their work ethic, through their commitment, through their understanding of who God is and how he wants to be pleased. Look what Nehemiah did in chapter five. We have to remember that. Was Nehemiah important? In many senses, he was. He was before the Persian king. He was the royal cupbearer. And when he went, was Nehemiah descend alone? Not at all. He requested that timber be brought with him. And we see those supplies were given. But in chapter 5, note Nehemiah’s position and what he does with it. Nehemiah chapter 5, beginning in verse 14.

Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the 20th year to the thirty second year of Arta Xerxes the king, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God. I also persevered in the work on this wall, and we acquired no land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. Moreover, there were at my table a hundred and fifty men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.

Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people. Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people. Nehemiah was a leader who led from the front. He was a leader who lived to please God, and in so doing lived to serve others. That means that there’s not only prayer that belongs to God, giving credit that belongs to God, preparing for adversity by praying to God and being prepared. But recognizing that through the fear of the Lord, through faith, through trust in God, and Jesus the crucified Savior, that not only can we have the forgiveness of our sins, but that everyone else is God’s precious creation too.

And I need to show them love. As was read this morning, that new commandment that Christ gave to us, we are to love one another as Christ has loved you. Christ loved us sacrificially. Nehemiah led in a sacrificial way. You see, what did he do with the food allowance that was given to him in verse 14? Neither he nor his brothers ate of it. Why is that? The last part of verse 15, I did not do so because of the fear of the Lord. What else did he do? He prepared for those who were in need. He let them take advantage of his goods. And he said in verse 19, remember for my good, O God, all that I have done for this people. This isn’t this lesson in leadership is not for us to look at others and say, that leader doesn’t do this, that leader doesn’t do that.

It’s for me to look and say, I may know I need to pray. I may even be good at giving God the glory and the credit, but I’m not ready for adversity. Or maybe I don’t live to serve others. My focus isn’t like Paul, it isn’t like Nehemiah. I don’t think about all the Christians at South Mumbai, all the Christians in the world. I don’t think about who I could proactively be praying for and serving in a physical way, even in the most basic of circumstances, like with food and water. Then I need to work on my leadership in that aspect. Because the truth is we’re all leaders in different senses. Yes, God appointed different men to different points of service. Yes, Esther had a particular role in service.

Conclusion

But the truth is we all lead. We are all to shine our lights to the glory of God. So the people may see our good works and glorify our God who is in heaven. That’s what Jesus’ plan is. If we’re going to live like a leader, we are going to always pray. And if I’m not good at that, I’m going to start today. You make it a priority. Our phones have all kinds of alarms, all kinds of notifications. There’s no reason that we can’t remind ourselves or proactively choose to get down on our knees and pray to God. We need to be willing to give credit where it’s due. If I’m not good at that, I need to recognize what are other people doing. What has God done first for me?

And give thanks to him and give thanks to others as well. When it comes to properly handling adversity, yes, I will pray. I will remember my God and I will do what I can in preparation for the test that my God has promised me is coming, and that he has likewise promised that I can overcome because he will make it so we need to live to serve others. We need to lead like Nehemiah. We need to lead like Jesus, sacrificially, from the front, recognizing that God is worth it all. I want to conclude with some words from David Augsburger, when enough is enough. Ten statements and ten reactions. People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway. If you are successful you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. The biggest men with the biggest minds can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway. And the final one number 10 give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

God has never promised that serving him will be easy, will come without temptation, struggle, and difficulty. But what God has promised is that if we stick with him, we will have victory because God assures it, and Jesus has won the victory forevermore. Trust in God. Live like a leader. Do good anyway. If you’re here this morning and you’ve never been pleasing to God, you’ve never molded your life to be like His. You’ve never followed in the steps of your Savior. Recognize that if you believe in Jesus as the Christ, accept Him as the Lord of your life. Repent of your wrongdoing. Confess Him as Jesus the Christ. You can be baptized having your sins washed away forevermore. You can be part of the kingdom of God today.

Maybe you’re a Christian and you haven’t lived like a leader, you’ve shrunken back, you’ve grown complacent. Pray to God, recognizing that He is faithful and just. If we will confess our sins, He will forgive us of all unrighteousness. We can pray with you. We will pray for you. If we can help you in any way, come forward now as we stand and sing the invitation.