Vivi Diaz: This is the Sandals Church Podcast, a place for real people with real struggles learning to follow Jesus. Wherever you are right now, driving, working, or trying to make it through the day, we are really glad you're here. Let's get into today's message.
Melody Workman: Well, hey, everybody. I wanna tell you about something that happened a few years ago. My husband Adam and I, we're at dinner with some friends, friends that we loved. They were gonna be moving, and so we were having this really special dinner, kind of reminiscing and celebrating. We're sitting on one side of the booth and they're on the other side.
Right behind them is a huge window, and people are just walking around. There are shops and restaurants behind them. And so as we're sitting here talking, I see something that makes me, like, stop. Like, one of those things that you're not prepared for. And so what it is is I see a grown man and a teenage boy, like, fighting.
And I don't mean, like, pushing. I mean, like, exchanging punches. And so I stop, I freeze, and I yell, somebody's gotta do something. But before I even, like, could think, I hadn't felt any movement, I hadn't heard anything, I'm looking out the window and there goes my husband into the middle of the fight to break it up. And then I blurred out, but not you.
Somebody else. So, of course, I run out there, and there he is, Adam, in the middle, pushing the old man. Well, he wasn't old, but he was older, pushing him back, pushing the teenager back. And I look over to my left, and there's about 15 to 20 people standing over there. Do you know what they're doing?
They're watching and recording. And I finally, they the the the fight broke up. Adam Gotham to kind of cool cool off and chill out and move move away. And he comes over to me and I'm like, okay. We have to talk about what just happened.
I mean, first, it was kinda hot. I have to tell you. But but I did need you to get into that mess. And he said, babe, it was urgent. Nobody was doing anything.
That kid was about to get annihilated. Somebody had to do something. I'm sure that you have thought that, felt that way. It was like one person recognized something that couldn't wait while everybody else just simply observed. Well, we're in this we're in this study on Nehemiah.
We're in the book of Nehemiah. We're in chapter six. And before we even get into that chapter, there's something that we have to understand. For nearly one hundred and forty years, Jerusalem's walls had been in ruins. Generations had walked past them.
Children grew up beside them. People entered and exited through them every single day. What had happened? What had happened is that brokenness had become normal. And I wonder if that's where some of us are today.
You have just simply learned to live with something that's broken. Maybe it's your marriage. Maybe it's your relationship with your kids. Maybe your faith feels broken. Maybe your purpose.
Maybe your season of singleness. Maybe your sobriety. And somewhere along the way, you have quietly accepted this. It'll always be this way. But what if that's not true?
What if God wants you to look at what you've learned to live with differently? What if the very thing you've accepted as permanent, the thing that has become so mundane that we don't even see it anymore, is the very thing that God is inviting you to rebuild? Which leads us to this first point that I want you to write down. Where might I have missed my great work? When we get into Nehemiah six, it's literally the most famous same statement we have on record for Nehemiah.
We get into we get to Nehemiah six three, and here's what he says. He says, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Now notice what he doesn't say. Nehemiah doesn't say, I am building a wall. I mean, that's what he was doing.
He says, I'm doing a great work, which raises a question every one of us should ask. Do you know what your great work is? I want you to have a definition for great work because as we go throughout this message, we're gonna talk about that phrase, a great work, over and over and over again. So I want you to know what I mean when I say, here's the definition of a great work. It is God's assignment accomplished through your obedience.
That is a great work. It's God's assignment. He does the assigning, but he accomplish it. He accomplishes it through my obedience. What made rebuilding this wall a great work?
It wasn't Nehemiah. It wasn't the wall. Here's the truth. People built walls in the ancient world all the time, but this wall was a great work because it was God's assignment. But notice this.
God did not build Jerusalem's Jerusalem's walls himself. He built Jerusalem's walls through Nehemiah, which should which should you know what it should do for us today? It should make us feel really happy because God still accomplishes his great work through ordinary people today. Any other ordinarians out there? Ordinary, like, not that special.
Right? God says something different. Look at Ephesians two ten. I don't know what people have told you. I don't know what people have said about you.
I don't know what people have declared over your life, but I want you to leave today with a deposit from your heavenly father. He says, we are God's handiwork. Another version says, you are a masterpiece created in Christ Jesus for what? To do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Every follower of Jesus has an assignment.
Every follower of Jesus has a great work. The question isn't whether God has one for you. The question is, have you recognized it or not? Have you seen it? Isn't it so easy to miss the thing that's right in front of you?
I don't know if any of this if any of you guys can relate, but when you get older, you get a little bit more forgetful. Anybody else? And a few weeks ago, I was out shopping and went to the store and ran my errands and got back in my car and headed home and realized I'd left my sunglasses. And sometimes, you know, I just buy these little cheap pair, but I bought I had invested some money. These were some nice sunglasses, so I'm like, no.
I gotta go back to the store. So I turn around, drive back, park, get out, walk back in walk back in there. The woman at the checkout, same lady who checked me out, I walked in there and I said, did anybody hand in sunglasses? I think I might have left mine here. Did I leave them on the counter?
And she's just looking at me and she says this to me, are those different from the ones on your head? And you know what I wanted to say to her? Oh, sweet love. Forty's coming for you too. Enjoy your nice new brain.
Okay? Here's the truth. Sometimes what's closest is the easiest thing to overlook and spiritually, we do this all the time. God, show me my purpose. God, lead me to where you want me to go.
God, what is my assignment? We're looking for something over there, something bigger, something greater. And God might be saying, look again. Maybe it's your marriage. Maybe your great work is your children.
Maybe it's the coworker that you know is going through a hard time that you see every day. Maybe it's the ministry opportunity that you've just assumed somebody else will do. Maybe it's the broken wall you have walked past for so long you've stopped seeing it. It's worth asking yourself this question. What brokenness has become normal that God wants to rebuild?
Where might I have missed my great work? Here's the thing. Once you recognize your great work, the next question becomes this. Why me? Like, why why does God want me to do this?
And and and why here and why now? Why Nehemiah? Why not someone else? Here's the thing that's beautiful. God does not just give assignments.
He positions people to accomplish them. Write this down. God has positioned me for my great work. This is huge. And we're gonna go back to the first chapter of Nehemiah that we went through with pastor Matt a few weeks ago because this is crucial.
Nehemiah one eleven b says this, in those days, I this is Nehemiah. I was the king's cup bearer. Here's what we know from scripture. We know that there had been at least one attempt before Nehemiah to try to rebuild the broken, ruined walls of Jerusalem, but the king said no. But this time it was different, and I wanna tell you why.
Because of Nehemiah's position. From everything we know, Nehemiah wasn't a builder, wasn't an engineer, wasn't a construction guru. He was a cup bearer to the king. The most powerful king in the world at the time. The king who could grant him the access and the permission that he needed to accomplish his assignment.
Don't miss this. His greatest opportunity came through his greatest proximity. Your greatest opportunity comes through your greatest proximity. Let me just ask you this question. Who has greater proximity to your spouse?
Who has greater proximity to your children, to your coworkers, to your neighborhood, to your ministry, or to your team? The problem is is that while we're looking over there and we're looking past the assignment that's right in front of us, like the sunglasses I couldn't feel on the top of my head, God is saying, wait a second. I have uniquely positioned you for here, for them, for now. That's right. That's right.
A couple months ago, was sitting in my office with a woman, and she's healing from some significant trauma in her past. And she was sharing with me how she was always provided for. She always had her needs met, but her mom was a workaholic. Her mom worked all the time, so she never saw her. She said, I feel like I grew up without a mom.
And this girl, when she as she was growing up, she was into theater. She was into ballet. She she did that in in school. And so one day, she was shocked. Her mom surprised her and bought her tickets for them to go to, like, a play in the city, just the two of them.
And she said, I was so excited. She said, but then when it actually happened, it was the most awkward thing in the world because my mom felt like a stranger. She said, I couldn't wait for it to be over because we didn't know each other. And she went on to tell me that she got into a lot of trouble in her later years, high school and college, because she felt so disconnected from her mom. Her mom was absent.
We should ask ourself this question. Why should someone else have a greater influence on our kids when God gave them to us? Why should someone else be the safe place for your spouse when God gave you to each other? Why should someone else have greater influence on what you're doing with your mind and your body and your heart when you have greater proximity to yourself than anybody else? Never underestimate the great work you can do with your presence and your proximity.
In fact, I want you to think about this. We're talking about a great work. Do you know that we are a part of someone else's great work? The work of redemption, the work of redeeming the world, conquering the power of sin so that we, humanity, could be made right with God. And how did God go about doing that great work?
Look at John one fourteen eight. So the word became human and made his home among us. The the message version says, he moved into the neighborhood. Jesus decided to get close to us. He decided to look like us and smell like us.
Thank you, Jesus. Live with us. Eat with us. Walk with us. Talk with us in order to save us.
The great work of salvation redeeming the world, he chose proximity as his strategy. Why wouldn't we do the same? It's worth asking, where has God already positioned me? Where has he uniquely positioned you in your life right now? Who has God placed within your influence?
And wrestle with this. Am I waiting for a different assignment while overlooking the one that's closest to me? Here's the thing. Knowing your assignment, your great work, where God has positioned you and being confident of that, here's why it is so important. Because the moment you begin embracing God's assignment, showing up for the great work he has called you to, and quite frankly, why people don't do this and why people quit.
Do not be surprised when opposition shows up. Because here's why. The enemy is not threatened by our good intentions. The enemy isn't threatened by the thing you're gonna get to tomorrow. The enemy is not worried about that thing that's on your to do list, but you keep pulling it down.
The enemy is not at all shaking in his boots that you're praying about a missions trip. Do you know what the enemy's threatened by? Your faithful obedience. Look at look at this. I want you to write this down because you need this.
Every great work will face opposition. Gear up. Armor up. Let's read through Nehemiah six together. These names, Sambalat like, that's why he's got that's why he's a problem.
He's he's he he copes by bugging other people. Sambalat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out, Nehemiah writing here, that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained, though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates. So Sambalet and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at the villages in the Plain Of Ono, but I realized that they were plotting to harm me. So I replied by sending this message to them. I am engaged in a great work, so I can't come.
Why should why should I stop working to come and meet with you? Nehemiah might have been a eight on the Enneagram. I just I have a feeling. Four times they sent the same message, The same one. And each time, I gave the same reply.
The fifth time, Sambalat's servant came with an open letter in his hand and here's what it says. Ready? There is a rumor. Mhmm. Yes.
See you Nehemiah. There's a rumor. Among the surrounding nations in Geshem, my cloud number two, tells me it is true that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and that's why you're building the wall. And according to his reports, you plan to be their king. He also reports that you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim about you, look, there is a king in Judah, and you can be very sure that this report will get back to the king.
So I suggest that you come and talk it over with me. And I replied, there is no truth in any part of your story. You are making up the whole thing. They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So what did Nehemiah do?
Quit? So you know what? I'm tired of this. It's hot out here. I don't even know how to build a wall.
These other people don't know how to do it either. And by the way, we're trying to build a wall with one hand and hold a sword in the other hand because we constantly keep getting attacked. So I continued the work with even greater determination. We're gonna pause right here because I don't care if you're six or you're 60 or somewhere in between. There is a lesson that I want everybody everybody to walk away with today.
Are you ready for this? Yes. Learn how to say no to the nonsense. Let's rewind it back. Learn to say no to the nonsense.
Isn't it remarkable that the first word in nonsense is no? That should tell us something. Nehemiah six four, four times they sent the same message and each time I gave the same reply. What did Nehemiah say? No.
Say it with me. No. We we did something with our kids not too long ago. They're all young adults now. We had this conversation with them about, okay, so when you were growing up, if you were in trouble, who did you come to, me or dad?
Because, know, they would conspire. You know, they got their little side texts on the phone that I pay for and and I'm like oh, oh, said, oh, like, if we got in trouble at school, we came to mom. I was like, yeah. That's right. Because if that school is trying to tell me you're an idiot, you're my idiot and I'll take care of it.
Well, I'll take care of it at home, principal, teacher. You just let me know. But we went through the list and then we got to this one. But when you want money or when you want someone to buy something for you, who do you go to? Dad.
I'm like, that's right. Because dad says yes and mom says no. That's right. When my daughter was doing online school, online, they sent her a computer, a laptop, everything was digital. I opened the door one day, there's an Amazon box full of glitter pens and pencils and notebooks and I'm like, stickers?
I'm like, she's in the eighth grade. My husband, well, she said she need it for school. No, she don't. And you know why she didn't come to me? Because I would have said No.
Exactly. You're getting good at this. But some of y'all struggle saying no. And you know why? Because you say, it it it I feel mean.
I feel so mean when I say no. I am here to help. I wanna show you how you can say no and not be mean. You ready? Watch this.
No. See? See, that's how you do it. That's that's how you say no. Because let me ask you a question.
How much nonsense has ruined your life that you should've just said no to? Here, this is what we need to understand. Please don't forget this. The power of your yes to God, the power to your yes is only found in the consistency of your no. Track with me.
Your great work is your marriage. You said yes to God. You say no to flirty coworker who wants to decompress over drinks. You see my singleness, I'm giving my yes to God, then you say no to the guy that says, but if you loved me, don't fool, she don't. Bye.
You've given yes to God for your sobriety, then that's not where you go anymore. You understand? How we protect our lives and how we stay on mission with our great work is by learning how to say No. That's it. That's it.
Because the opposition to your great work is not going to end. I want you to look at all of the opposition tactics that we that Nehemiah faces in Nehemiah chapter six. Let's look at the Nehemiah six two, distraction. Come and meet with us. Nehemiah, just come down from the wall and and just come meet with us.
They were trying to lure Nehemiah away from the work. I wanna tell you something about the enemy because he's clever. If the enemy can't destroy your work, he will try to distract you from it. If you can't tear it down, he'll keep you busy, he'll keep you occupied, He'll keep you binging. He'll keep you scrolling and not working.
Deception. Look at verse two. But they were planning to harm me. What looked like an innocent invitation was actually a trap. And this is something you should know about the enemy as well.
The enemy loves and does some of his best work in counterfeit. Well, it looks like. Well, it sounds like. Beware of all these Christian influencers who frankly don't know the Bible. Well, looks like.
Well, it sounds like. Well, she said, well, she might not be smart. And this is why no. This is why we have wise godly counselors in our lives that when we don't know, and it's okay, there's somebody that we can go to who does, who can point you in the right direction. In verse four, we see relentless pressure.
Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply. I read this verse and I thought about the mom who put her kids to bed. Everything's been done. Mom, I'm thirsty. No.
Mom, I have to pee. No. Mom, you didn't read me a story. No. Mom, these pajamas are itchy.
No. Mom, I think there's a monster in my room. Here, take my keys. Just move out. I don't I have nothing else for you.
Like, right? The enemy the enemy doesn't stop often after your first no. You say no once. You see, you have to you have to get good at saying no. I don't have a problem with that.
False accusations, Nehemiah six six through seven, there's a rumor. Nehemiah, there's a rumor. Do you guys know what I heard? Do you guys did did you guys hear the thing that I heard that you didn't hear that I need to tell you what they said, what she said, but I don't know what she meant by what she said when she said it. The guys are like, we don't know what you're doing.
The girl's like, oh, we know that. We we understand that. I wish we could park here, but we can't. So I'm just gonna make it real simple. You ready?
God and gossip don't go together. They don't hang. They're not besties. So when the gossip comes your way, you should ask yourself, if it keeps coming my way, I must like it. I must be a part of it.
I must wanna bend my ear to that story, to that tea that you're spilling. Here's here's the thing about when you're doing a great work, this this is this is the beautiful truth. When you're busy about your father's business, you don't have time to mine theirs. See, you're doing a great work. Your work is over here.
This nonsense, this drama, this gossip, that's not part of my great work. So go God with whatever you're doing over there. But I am I am about my father's business doing the great work he has assigned me to. And then what about fear and intimidation? Nehemiah six nine, they were just trying to intimidate.
You know what their goal was? To make Nehemiah afraid. And let me just be real with you. This is what the enemy uses with me. Fear, worry, anxiety, panic attacks.
Melody, what if? But, Melody, what if this is what this means? Oh, and it's gotten a grip on me sometimes to the point where I'm so frustrated with myself because I love God, I serve God, and I follow God, but I have to keep reminding myself that that's why the fear keeps coming. And I have two options, I can give into it or I continue to stand my ground and say, but God has not given me a spirit of fear. And he hasn't given you one either.
And then discouragement, you think Nehemiah got discouraged? In verse nine, says, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. I'll just be real. I've battled some deep discouragement this year. And and and the longer you walk with God, the more you begin to realize discouragement is not always the devil.
Sometimes it's just life. It's just disappointment. She's like, that's not how I saw that going. I I didn't see that coming. And I've sat with God in moments of of deep discouragement and disappointment and I've begun to doubt my assignment, to wonder what I've written in my journal.
God, what are you doing? But in those moments, God is so faithful, it's the whisper, Melody, stay on the wall. Melody, stay on the assignment. It's a great work. And there's times where I wonder if Nehemiah didn't say to himself, man, God, I prayed.
I heard from you. Your hand has been on me. I have the blessing of the king. I have his protection and this is still so hard. Have you ever felt that way?
God, you gave me your yes and so I don't understand why this still feels so hard. God, spoke. You said. You sent. God, I obeyed.
Please don't miss this. The enemy did not attack Nehemiah because he was busy. He attacked him because he was dangerous. I feel confident in saying to you today that if Nehemiah had decided to build a memorial garden instead of rebuild the wall, Like, I'm I'm gonna plant some flowers, and we're gonna gather here every Monday morning, and we're gonna remember how beautiful the wall was. And I'm gonna water it, and I'm gonna make sure there's no weeds, and I'm plea get your feet off of my garden.
Like, I think that if Nehemiah had decided to do that, nobody would have bothered him. Nobody would have done anything. Plant your garden. Let it grow. But your obedience to God's assignment becomes a threat to everything the enemy wants to keep broken.
And he Nehemiah made a different decision, to go, to rebuild, to stay, and to refuse to come down. So the question for us is when it comes to our great work, when when it comes to our assignment, what will we choose? There is a promise in scripture that is for all of us. This is my command, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
Why? For the Lord your God, it's his assignment, is with you wherever you go. You'll begin to learn over time when you give God your yes for your great work that opposition isn't proof you're outside of God's will. It's just evidence that you understood the assignment. And here's what's remarkable, absolutely remarkable.
Nehemiah faced distraction, accusation, fear, threats, intimidation, and yet the wall got finished in fifty two days. Not because there was an opposition, but because Nehemiah made this decision. He refused to waste time, which leads us to this last thing I wanna leave you with. Please listen. Your great work, it can't wait.
It can't wait. Here's what it says in verse 15. So on October 2, the wall was finished just fifty two days after we had begun. That wall had been broken for one hundred and forty years. But once Nehemiah embraced God's assignment, it was rebuilt in fifty two days.
How did that happen? Nehemiah understood the assignment. He embraced it, and he refused to let anything stop it. And if we are honest with ourselves, sometimes the greatest obstacle to our great work is not opposition. It's believing we have more time.
And I'm convinced that one of the reasons why we waste time is because we're convinced we'll never run out of it. But listen to what it says in Psalm 90 verse 12. Teach us to realize the brevity of life so that we may grow in wisdom. Can I just tell you guys something? The enemy doesn't have to stop your great work if he can simply convince you to postpone it.
So what great work have you been putting off? Because you assume you've got more time. A few months ago, I found myself in a place that I hate, a waiting room, in a hospital. And I had been in this waiting room before, and I had missed an opportunity when God had instructed me clearly to pray for a woman. I didn't do it.
I was in my own angst, my own my own sort of isolation. But I told God, if I'm back in here and you give me assignment, God, I will be faithful. And it was buzzing with people. Some there waiting on people to do minor routine procedures, other things that they didn't expect, didn't know they would be there that day. And as I'm sitting there, I lock eyes with a woman who looks terrified, and she's alone.
And so I just say to her, are you waiting on someone? And her eyes fill with tears, and she says, my husband. He had a heart attack this morning. So because I know what that feels like and wanted to talk to her, I moved a little closer, and she began to share with me what had happened. And as she began to talk, she began to say, you know, this is the wake up call that we needed.
We're gonna start walking and eating better. And and I've told him, you know, we you've gotta retire, that you've made your money. You you've done it. Like and and this is this is gonna be our our new start. This is our we needed this because this is how we're gonna continue to to make the changes that we know we've put off.
And I was listening to her and understanding that. And as we were talking, a nurse came out to give her a pretty discouraging report. And I just sat with her and offered to pray with her. And when the nurse left, I will never forget this moment. She looked at me, and she asked me this question.
We have more time, don't we? I didn't have the answer. But two days later, she found out they didn't. They thought they had more time, and so do most of us. And you're sitting inside of a broken marriage, and you know you need to go to therapy.
You know you need to be spending more quality time with your wife and you're telling yourself, I'll get to it. You're watching your kids take a path in life that has you concerned for their spiritual well-being, the people that they're hanging out with, the decisions that they're making, and you're thinking, I'm tired. I work all day. They'll be fine. You're you're in a season of singleness and you think to yourself, well, it's just always gonna be this way and I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna get I'm gonna get myself together when I get closer to where, you know, I feel like I found the one.
What are you putting off because you think you have more time because you know what? You have no idea. And what a tragedy it would be to keep putting off your great work until it's too late. You're gonna get to your marriage until you come home and the bags are packed. You're gonna get to your kids so they're like, leave me alone.
They bailed on church. They bailed on God. You're gonna get to living a life of purity before God, but but but by then, you've already just started to kinda do whatever you wanted. You're gonna actually take a step towards sobriety and healthy living, but you keep going back to the other people. What a tragedy that we could miss out on the great work God has for us simply because we've believed a lie that we've got the time to do it.
What assignment have you convinced yourself can wait? And what if God is saying to you, today is the day. You can't put this off any longer. Just think for a moment what Sandals Church would look like if every one of us discovered our great work and we refused to come down from it. We just said no.
We got so good at telling the enemy no. We just we refused. If every married couple, you fought for your marriage. If every parent was intentionally discipling their children. If every student was boldly living for Christ.
If every leader embraced the ministry assignment that God had entrusted to them, if every believer decided to just stop watching from the sidelines, the difference that our great work can make. You know, that's exactly what Nehemiah did, and here's what's beautiful. Nehemiah thought, I'm rebuilding a wall, but you know what? God was restoring a city. A city where years later, Jesus would one day teach.
A city where 475 later, the Holy Spirit would descend and the church would be born. Nehemiah never saw any of that. He just simply remained faithful to the assignment that God had entrusted to him. So can you imagine the foundation we may be laying for a future we'll never see? The cycles we could break, the legacies we could leave.
We may never see everything that God builds through our obedience, But maybe your decision to fight for your marriage becomes the legacy that your grandchildren inherit. And maybe your decision to disciple your children changes the spiritual trajectory of your family for generations. Maybe your faithfulness in ministry in serving influences someone who will one day lead thousands to Christ. You don't know and neither did Nehemiah, but that's why your great work matters. Not because you'll always see the outcome because God sees a future you can't, but this is the truth we have to understand.
Broken things don't rebuild themselves. Somebody has to say yes. Somebody has to refuse to come down. Somebody's got to do something, and maybe today that somebody is you. Jesus, would you raise up a generation of Nehemiah's?
Would you raise up a Nehemiah spirit in me? Would you make it clear and evident what our great work, what our assignment is? And, God, and then would you give us the courage to obey? God, if there's a couple in here that's been putting off that work, may today be the day that they give you their yes. If today there's a single person who's struggling in that season, God, may today be the day they give you their wholehearted yes.
If there's a student struggling to give you their yes because of peer pressure, because of what all their friends are doing, God, today would you give them the courage to give you their yes. God, would you give us eyes for a future we may never see through our faithful obedience today? And, God, would you remind us that whatever our great work is, whatever our assignment is, you go with us, and you never leave. You stay. And because of that, God, we can believe you for great things when we give you our yes to doing our great work.
In Jesus' name, amen.