THE FORGING TABLE | Nehemiah 4 (Ep. 467)

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0:49 Welcome back to The Forging Table.

0:56 The mission of Undaunted Life is a quipping man to push back darkness with content that forges

1:00 spiritual, mental, and physical resilience.

1:03 At The Forging Table, you'll see a group of regular guys forging spiritual resilience

1:06 by digging into God's Word, and we're welcoming all of you to come along on that journey with us.

1:10 That's Zach, that's Eric, that's Matt.

1:12 And guys, we're fueled up on Jesus' chicken right now, and for all of you Gentiles out there, that's Chick-fil-A.

1:17 We just had a bunch of Chick-fil-A, now we're about to get into literally one of my favorite chapters

1:21 of any book in the entire Bible, and that's Nehemiah 4.

1:25 So we're gonna get in and get right after it, and we're coming off a discussion of Nehemiah 3

1:29 where if you're not an astute observer, or if you're just trying to like, you know, move past it or motor past it,

1:35 you're gonna miss a lot.

1:36 So guys, even if you thought that because you knew Nehemiah 3 was like that and you didn't listen to last week,

1:40 pause what you're doing, go back and listen to that discussion because there was quite a bit that we were able to glean

1:45 and quite a bit that we even learned while we were sitting here at the table.

1:48 But getting into Nehemiah 4, this is where you really start getting into the opposition of the work

1:54 that Nehemiah and his people are doing while on the wall there.

1:58 And in the first, even in the first verse here, now when Sam Ballot heard that we were building the wall,

2:04 he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.

2:08 So the first thing I think I want to talk about here, because there's so much towards the back half of Nehemiah 4,

2:14 but it's always easier to hurl insults than to actually doing something positive.

2:21 So you'll see this, what is it, the crab bucket thing where it's like, or lobsters or crabs,

2:25 you put them all in a bucket and when one tries to climb out, the rest of them kind of pull them down.

2:29 It's called Tall Poppy Syndrome.

2:31 I think a lot of people in the UK talk about that.

2:33 It's like, you don't want to be that type of person because in the UK, they kind of have this culture where it's like,

2:37 you don't want to be the person you're poking your chest out and, you know, you try to just go along and get along

2:41 and kind of stay on the even keel, and there's probably some major reasons for that.

2:45 But man, it's just, it's easier.

2:47 It's easier to just look at somebody that's trying to do something, they're trying to build a business,

2:50 or they're trying to get in shape, or they're trying to fix their family, they're trying to redeem their marriage,

2:54 and just for you to just sit there and just be like, "Ooh, what are you doing there?"

2:57 "For why don't you just come over here and play video games?"

2:59 And I just feel like there's so much of that in our current culture.

3:02 I immediately just thought about random, but when Walmart was going to, what was his name?

3:10 He was the founder of Walmart.

3:12 Anyway, it doesn't matter, but...

3:13 Is that Sam Walton?

3:14 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

3:15 Gosh, you know, I live like three hours from...

3:17 That's okay.

3:18 Of course.

3:19 Anyways, but I was just reminded, just as you were saying that, just whenever he had that idea to go out and do this thing,

3:24 that eventually became Walmart, and who he was working for was just like, "That is a terrible idea that's going to fail."

3:29 You know, and he obviously didn't let it sway him, you know?

3:34 And I think that's one of the things like when things are put on our hearts to do,

3:39 and we have a...

3:40 There's a passion, and there's an avenue, and we feel called to it.

3:45 We have to say the course.

3:46 I mean, it doesn't matter.

3:47 There will be opposition, and people are going to come at you from all angles when they either don't understand it

3:52 or they don't agree with it, or they just think it's going to be a complete failure.

3:56 But I feel like where it starts really is, do we have a passion?

4:02 Do we have a calling?

4:04 And then going back to what we said last week was just, "Where's our identity?"

4:10 And if we can kind of wrap those things up in the same thing with God as our central focus,

4:15 then we should not be deterred when he puts on a path towards something we should not be deterred.

4:21 Well, even something that's not as specific as building a wall, even coming to faith and putting to death our old self,

4:30 a lot of times that can bring mockery and jeers from even people you would consider your friends.

4:36 And obviously there's no evidence that San Belat was new, Nehemiah.

4:39 I don't think that he did because Nehemiah had never been to Jerusalem.

4:42 But even people who are supposed to be your friends when you make a decision like, "Okay, I am done with my old self.

4:52 I'm killing my sin.

4:53 I am pursuing Christ.

4:54 You can get jeered and mocked by people who you thought had your best interests at heart."

4:59 And so then you find yourself in a position like that.

5:02 I guess the way that I read this, it's not so much.

5:07 I'm getting criticism from people that I work with or am friends with or anything like that.

5:12 I read it very much like these are within the kingdom, but these are basically enemies.

5:16 They're out of service.

5:17 Yeah, right.

5:18 So, yeah, the enemy often insults God's servants when the enemy laughs at what God's people are doing.

5:24 It usually signals that God is going to bless his people in a wonderful way.

5:28 When the enemy rages on earth, God laughs in heaven.

5:31 I think that also leads to, well, actually, Zach, how about you read verses four and five?

5:36 Because I think that attides something that you just said.

5:40 Here, let's see.

5:43 "Hero God, for we are despised.

5:45 Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives.

5:51 Do not cover their guilt and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight.

5:55 Or they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders."

6:00 So, one thing I learned in preparation for this discussion is that is the first of three,

6:06 what are called imprecatory prayers in the book of Nehemiah.

6:10 So, Nehemiah 4, 4, and 5, Nehemiah 6, 14, and then Nehemiah 13, 29.

6:16 So, this is a prayer for someone to experience God's curse and judgment.

6:22 Which sounds super ungodly, right?

6:25 Super not Christ-like and all those types of things, but Nehemiah is literally saying,

6:28 "God, I want you to show off and show out and show your power by curse and judgment here."

6:33 Because going back to what you said, these aren't just people that are on the other side.

6:37 They have a slightly different opinion than you.

6:39 They'd rather build it a different way.

6:41 They want to stop you from doing this.

6:44 And who is blessing this work of Nehemiah?

6:46 Not Nehemiah.

6:47 Not the Jews.

6:48 But God has his hand on it, and it also shows something that we've seen quite a bit in

6:54 Nehemiah's life, where the dude just has a reliance on praying to God and relying on God's sovereignty

7:00 to do what God's going to do.

7:02 And he's going to play his part, but he's just going to let God get after it from there.

7:05 Yeah, I think the Psalms are full of some imprecatory prayers and psalms.

7:10 I mean, you hear David talk about wanting his enemies wiped out.

7:15 And I think that's important, that's applicable to our lives because you can go through life

7:21 and you can be in a position where that's how you feel.

7:24 And I think for me in my own personal life, you know, me and Caitlin have been through

7:29 some things the last few years.

7:31 And, you know, I know how that feels to want that.

7:36 And while it's not okay to sit in that, because all the imprecatory psalms, they end with to God be glory.

7:44 And I will submit to your will.

7:48 But I think God is saying it's okay to think that.

7:51 It's okay to feel that way because you're a human being and those are natural things.

7:55 And so praying that you'd rather us pray that than act that out, right?

8:00 Yeah, I mean, Psalms 139 says, "Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God,

8:05 department for me, from me, therefore men of bloodshed, for they speak against you wickedly.

8:11 And enemies take your name and vain, do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?

8:16 And do I not load those who rise up against you?

8:19 I hate them with the utmost hatred.

8:21 They've become my enemies."

8:23 And just think about like they are opposed to God.

8:26 It's not some annoyance that I'm taking on and I go, "You know what?

8:31 I really hate you.

8:32 It's not...

8:33 I'm super annoyed by what you're doing.

8:35 So I hate you."

8:36 No, no, no, they are opposed to the one and true living God.

8:39 And so I see how that's completely okay to have those feelings towards those who would wish to try to thwart.

8:48 Yeah.

8:49 You know, and even in the Lord's prayer, it says, you know, deliver us from evil.

8:55 So our prayers, if we want to be more specific, you know, might be for God to intervene into the minds

9:02 and the plans of those who want to do evil against us or against the believers.

9:07 And it's not a violation of the 11th commandment to be nice either.

9:11 Which we've all learned in modernity that there is an 11th commandment that went to be nice

9:15 and not make anyone ever feel uncomfortable.

9:17 And I don't want to take too much of a detour here.

9:19 Perhaps we can have a more, like a further discussion in the future.

9:23 But people are really uncomfortable with the idea of God hating.

9:27 And you get people that say, "Well, God obviously hates sin."

9:31 So, no, no, God hates sinners.

9:34 That's who he hates.

9:35 That's why he can't have them in his presence.

9:37 People are like, "Oh, well, they're not sinners.

9:39 They're just people that sin."

9:40 It's like, you know what we call those people?

9:41 Sinners, you moron.

9:42 Like, that's what you do.

9:43 Like, if you murder someone, you are a murderer.

9:45 You didn't murder someone before.

9:47 You are a murderer.

9:48 That is who you are.

9:49 And that is how you will be defined as a person.

9:51 That's where you will find your identity.

9:52 Unless you're recovered by the boy, the lamb, and then your identity is now in Christ.

9:56 And so I think it's very, very important for us.

9:58 Ooh, you look uncomfortable over there, new guy.

10:00 But like, the thing about it is it's like, you have to hate evil.

10:04 That's why, that's why when I say we're equipping men to push back darkness,

10:08 I don't dislike abortion.

10:10 I don't think it's an unfortunate result of the fall.

10:13 I think it's evil.

10:14 And I hate it.

10:15 And I want it to stop.

10:16 And I'm going to do what I can to stop it.

10:18 Everything short of sin to stop that.

10:21 Because if we are to be like God, we are to hate evil in a similar way to him as far as our brains can understand it.

10:28 You don't look super convinced, Zach Todd.

10:30 So hop in.

10:31 What do you think?

10:32 Yeah.

10:34 So much.

10:35 But I know you're fired up about number four here.

10:37 So I don't want to be towards it.

10:38 What did I say?

10:39 So the discussion is going to go where it goes.

10:41 Let's go.

10:42 Let's go.

10:43 So the first question that I would throw back is I could hear people asking is how do you reconcile everything that was just said within Jesus commanding, you know, love your enemies.

10:53 Right.

10:54 There's some contention, you know, conceivably in those two things.

10:59 One thing I'll say from a personal perspective is when I did give my life to Christ and I felt like I had a new heart and new spirit.

11:07 That's the kind of the way I describe it to my son.

11:09 My orientation changed internally first towards righteousness and towards hating things that we see in the world.

11:19 So like when I think about what I see in media, what I used to consume versus how I think about it now, I can just look back and see this progression started.

11:25 And now it's just, it's progressed so far that it's just like the start of your sanctification.

11:29 Yes.

11:30 And it's like new spirit.

11:31 Right.

11:32 But to your point, how do you, how do you reconcile this discussion?

11:34 Because we are to, I think, to hate evil and all that.

11:38 And, you know, we just got through hearing him throw down the gauntlet and say all sorts of things, but then we have Jesus come on the scene and say you should love your enemies.

11:45 What my mind goes to is we should hate evil, but it's God's responsibility to hand down whatever the consequences are going to be.

11:54 But then we just got through talking about we need to be doing things as well.

11:57 So this is an open ended question more than anything.

12:00 I think that's exactly right.

12:01 I think God hates, God hates sinners and sin.

12:05 We are not called to be God.

12:07 And we are called to speak truth into darkness and, but we are called to hate evil.

12:15 And I would even go as far as to say you don't just want abortion to end.

12:18 You want it eradicated.

12:19 Right.

12:20 And I think if you value the Amago day in everybody, you want abortion eradicated, but you also want salvation for the mother who aborts her child.

12:35 And you want salvation for the doctor who performs the abortion as a mercenary who's just a murderer for hire.

12:42 You want, you can hate those things, but still want salvation for that person.

12:46 Same as people who do evil to you.

12:50 And I think Jobe's book where he talks about the dad whose son is killed.

12:56 Yeah.

12:57 Anything is possible.

12:58 Anything.

12:59 Yeah.

13:00 He adopts that kid as his son and like what?

13:04 I'm still getting my head around that.

13:05 That's how they really just got chills as you described it.

13:07 That's gracious.

13:08 That's hard.

13:09 But to your point, it's not our job to hate.

13:12 It's our job to extend the same grace that is extended to us and to help to point people to want to be covered by the same blood that we are covered by.

13:22 Real quick, to that point, when I do my abortion talk, I talk about how abortion is not a law issue.

13:28 It's a gospel issue because if you are, if you have Christ, you're not going to want to kill your children.

13:33 And so that's a pretty easy thing to go on from there.

13:35 If anyone that doesn't know the reference that Matt made in the book, anything is possible by Jobe Martin that he just released this year, he talks about a guy whose son was murdered.

13:43 And this father adopted his son's murderer while his son's murderer was in prison.

13:48 I mean, like, like literally, I just got chills again, just even thinking about that story.

13:52 You got to go read the book to really get all the detail because it's just absolutely astonishing.

13:56 But Zach, back to your point.

13:57 Don't lose your point, Eric, because I want you to hop in here.

14:00 The thing is, is certain people read the gospels a certain way and they pull out the things that most align with their personality.

14:06 Okay.

14:07 So some people are more grace driven, more grace wired.

14:10 And so they focus in on the parts where Jesus was super graceful with people.

14:14 And then you have aggressive, like crazy people like me that I'm very, very attracted to the times when Jesus was calling out people's sin, right?

14:20 Because I'm more William Farrell than I am anybody else.

14:23 And so it's like, I like, I love him clearing the temple and I am so glad that I learned that he did that twice.

14:28 Once at the beginning of his ministry and once at the end.

14:30 But the reality is, is when you read the gospels and you read about lamb in line, you read about grace and truth, you read about it all there.

14:37 You have to understand that when Jesus was pointing out people's sin, he wasn't doing it to make it more convenient for them to recognize it.

14:44 He was doing it because he hated it, because he hated the sin that was in their lives.

14:48 That's why he wanted them to stop.

14:49 And then he said, Oh, hey, by the way, I can help you with that.

14:53 I've got this. I'm going to be paying attention over the next few years because you're going to see some stuff happen and I'm going to be your way.

14:59 I'm going to be your propitiation, the payment in full for your sin to where you can be in the presence of God someday.

15:05 And it's because of God's hatred of sin that he gave the ultimate grace and the ultimate love of the sacrifice of his son, which is why when Jesus addressed sinners, he always addressed their sin first before he gave them away out and said, you know, go and send them more.

15:20 I can fix you or those kinds of things to you.

15:23 Yeah, so that's kind of the thing is so I have to watch my personality just like other people do because, you know, the gray stuff is really, really easy and we love getting grace, but it's like, it is attached in both ways.

15:33 So go ahead and hop in.

15:34 Yeah.

15:34 So I think it starts with our, with kind of our, what we think about ourselves to you, right?

15:42 So in that kind of guards against us being holier than now and looking at us versus them.

15:47 I mean, what's the problem with the world? You know, I don't know who it was.

15:50 It said that we said, I am, you know, I'm the problem.

15:53 It's because that sin nature lives in me.

15:56 And I, just like Paul, he said, I do the things I don't want to do.

16:00 What in the world am I doing?

16:01 You know, he was struggling with the temptations to pull them away from what God had called him to do and recognizing the things in himself that he just absolutely hated, which was the sin that just really wanted to rear its head.

16:16 Consistently.

16:17 So I think it's, it starts there that I think that safeguards us a little, a little bit.

16:22 But the reality is that, you know, all of us like sheep have gone astray.

16:25 We're all running away from God in our natural state.

16:29 And it's only by his grace that we come back.

16:33 You know, so you're right.

16:34 I mean, I think you guys are in, in many ways, both right.

16:37 And I just, you know, I've having discussions with my oldest son.

16:41 You know, we're talking about a book called do hard things by Alex Harris.

16:46 Alex and Brett Harris came out several years ago.

16:49 And I'm like, what are some, what are some hard things that we can be doing?

16:53 And I mean, we're talking about a specific like one or two things and, you know, he said, you know, what's, it's hard to, to want to share the gospel.

17:01 So we talked that through and it was a great discussion.

17:04 Is it hard then to stand up against LGBTQ at school when everybody wants to commend that, that, that, that latest person that has come out or that has identified as, as a certain way.

17:20 You know, and he's like, yes, I mean, that, that's super awkward.

17:24 Like what, what do I do?

17:25 And so it just, it's a great opportunity for us to talk about, you know, we, we can call that wrong.

17:31 And it is wrong.

17:32 And we don't need to agree with it.

17:34 We don't need to affirm it.

17:35 But it doesn't mean that we can't be loving towards that person.

17:38 Now you may not be going to be best friends with that person.

17:40 You should not be, but it doesn't mean that God has stopped loving them.

17:44 It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be loving towards them.

17:46 Well, so here Nehemiah calls out, not sin against himself.

17:52 He calls out the sin of these guys against God.

17:57 How gracious and loving is, is our God that he could have snapped his fingers and killed all of them.

18:04 And, but you see just one verse later, they're still doing things.

18:08 They're still alive.

18:09 And I think, I think back to the RC sprawl.

18:12 I'm sure everybody's seen that.

18:13 What's wrong with you people?

18:14 That came from a discussion where somebody asked a question.

18:17 Why was the punishment for the original sin so harsh?

18:21 And he said, are you, are you kidding me?

18:24 Like this guy and this girl who, the God of the universe,

18:28 all powerful God of the universe created out of dust to disobeyed him.

18:31 He had every right to snap his fingers and just kill them.

18:34 Let them be part of the redemptive story and let them live.

18:39 And like, that is amazing to me that, you know, he's calling for, you know, God to act and God still, he hears that.

18:50 But what a gracious and loving father we serve that he's going to still let them live.

18:54 Right.

18:55 And guys, if you're watching the clock, yeps.

18:57 It took us 20 minutes to do the first five verses.

18:59 We're going to be going over here.

19:00 So just deal with it.

19:01 Buckle up and get ready.

19:02 So Browning, if you can actually see the words on the, on the page there.

19:05 If you can read seven, eight and nine.

19:09 And yeah, I'll leave the old guy joke there.

19:12 So seven, eight or nine.

19:13 All right. But when sandball and tabaya and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashidites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that be reaches were beginning to be closed.

19:26 They were very angry and they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and cause confusion in it.

19:33 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

19:40 Two big things here.

19:43 Number one, verse seven.

19:44 We see we're sandballot, tabaya.

19:46 I would assume Gesheb when they're when they're mentioning the Arabs there.

19:49 This is the switch from verus from words to actual physical violence as a weapon.

19:55 So we live in an era where words are violence, right?

19:58 Or they are considered violence where you are harassing people.

20:01 If you criticize them publicly, you know, we're, we're in that era where we're all so fragile that words can literally hurt us.

20:08 Even though our grandparents saw us that they're not supposed to, right?

20:11 So that's verse seven.

20:13 But then when we get down to verse nine, this is very, very important.

20:17 And we prayed to our God.

20:19 So prayer comes in again for Nehemiah always things are coming back.

20:23 Yes, things are coming back against you.

20:25 You're getting a bunch of heat now.

20:27 What are we going to do?

20:28 What are we going to do?

20:29 We're going to pray.

20:30 And we're going to do something else and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

20:37 So they prayed to God.

20:39 And then they did something.

20:41 They set a guard as protection against them day and night.

20:44 So it's prayer coupled with preparedness.

20:48 So to the Christians out there that only pray.

20:51 If you can only do one thing, that's a great place to start.

20:56 But that's not where you're allowed to leave it.

20:58 There, this is one of many examples from scripture, a people relying on God and then getting after it.

21:05 And there's way more of that later on in chapter four.

21:09 But this is in a lot of ways.

21:11 This is a biblical defense of self defense.

21:14 So all you morons out there that take Isaiah to, you know, turning the spears into plow shares and you're, you know, swords into pruning hooks and all that kind of stuff.

21:22 And you think that means you when you think when Jesus rebuked Peter in the garden for cutting off the Roman guards ear that that was him repudiating any self defense in any scenario for the rest of time.

21:32 You're an idiot and you're wrong.

21:34 And there are so many examples of Godly people doing things to defend themselves physically.

21:40 Sorry, I just spent, spit all over the table.

21:43 I'm getting excited here, but they wanted to defend themselves physically.

21:47 Why?

21:48 So that they could continue to do the work of God.

21:51 And as they were setting up these defenses, going back to a major theme of everything we've talked about with Nehemiah so far, God is blessing their work and blessing their preparedness.

22:02 Blessing Nehemiah's planning and preparedness.

22:05 This is such a big thing.

22:06 Again, you could read seven, eight, nine and try to rush to the rest of it because it's, you know, all the sexy passages of Nehemiah 4.

22:12 You cannot miss that.

22:14 Well, I think to the sandblatt and Tobias, they, they were convicted and they had conviction of what they wanted to do to.

22:25 And I think you can be convicted and be wrong.

22:28 Conviction isn't the reason to do something.

22:32 They were so convicted that they were willing to commit treason against the God King Artaxerxes.

22:41 Because Nehemiah had the authority and that, that attacking that party would have been considered an act of rebellion.

22:49 So they were so convicted and threatened by what was happening that they were willing, in a sense, to risk their lives to put an end to this thing that was happening that was ordained by God.

23:00 So conviction isn't what matters.

23:03 And don't wallow in what somebody said.

23:06 I think we could do it in our own head, right?

23:08 I mean, in this, it says, take every thought captive, right?

23:12 In this case, the best thing to do is to pray and then, and then commit this to the Lord and then get back to work.

23:17 Right, which is what they do.

23:19 And I think any time that we spend mulling over all of that is just giving a foothold to the enemy.

23:25 And then to Kyle's point, you know, after you've done that, it's, it's go time.

23:29 And, you know, you just need to believe that you've prayed, that you've done what you can and that God's going to carry you forward, but do not spend time wallowing in something if you're in the middle of it right now, because it will make it worse.

23:38 Well, and a lot of people love to get ready to get ready. Like I said, this a million times on my show. So they know their overweight, they know they need to run.

23:47 Like they want to do the thing that nobody ever wants to do, which is run.

23:51 And so they will read blogs about the best running shoes of 2023.

23:55 They will read about the best time of day, how their circadian rhythms connect with the stars in the sky and how that aligns to how their foot strike is going to hit the pavement.

24:05 And they do all this research, you know, what they never do is put on their shoes, go run.

24:10 And so a lot of Christians, they get stuck in the stuff that that seems like it's enough, which is just praying.

24:18 And then they forget about the action part. And again, I don't want to seem needlessly and pointed in a, in a, in a fence of to anybody, because as I've mentioned before, I'm not the biggest prayer in the world.

24:29 Sometimes I skip the prayer and go right to the plan, which shocked nobody causes some issues, right? Because, you know, I get out ahead of myself a little bit because I didn't stop.

24:38 Be patient like Nehemiah did, wait, maybe wait for a word from the Lord or wait for the plans to come from him and then enact them in real life.

24:45 But again, I just, I couldn't implore people more that at some point, just like you said, Zach, you've got to get after it.

24:51 I think that's, I think that's important. And I think, again, we're, we're just a bunch of guys who don't have degrees in theology, but we've all, we've all struggled through this at a certain, I wanted to understand how to read the Bible, and I wanted to understand God's word better.

25:06 But I went through a time where, like you're saying, like I was reading blogs like how to read the word, and then it got to, I just need to open the thing.

25:13 Right. And read the word. And that was the biggest thing I could have ever done was actually opening up my Bible and reading it instead of reading John MacArthur's commentary on how to read it, like just open the thing.

25:25 Ready, fire, aim. Yeah.

25:27 Yeah.

25:27 Well, when I, when I'm talking with someone about this general discipleship, we talk about the disciplines, you know, I'll show my hand and I'll say, okay, well, we've got hearing.

25:36 So it's a pinky. We've got reading. We've got studying. We've got memorizing and meditation right out of my hands.

25:45 Anyways, around our fingers, but like, if, if, if we don't apply the word and that's, that would be the thumb, you know, then I handle the Bible.

25:54 So try to hold on to this Bible without using your thumb. It's impossible, right? So you can have all those things, but if you're not willing to apply and do what the word says, you're like the guy that goes and looks at himself in the mirror.

26:05 And walks away, immediately forgets what he looks like.

26:07 Yeah, absolutely. That's a great kind of word picture for how you should be able to apply all that. Matt, if you could read 10 through 13, please.

26:14 Sure.

26:15 In Judah, it was said the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing.

26:19 There is too much rubble by ourselves. We will not be able to rebuild the wall.

26:24 And our enemy said they will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.

26:30 At the, at that time, the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us 10 times, you must return to us.

26:38 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed to the people by their clans with their swords, their spears and their bows.

26:48 Okay. So important thing here, this is kind of a furthering of what we saw in verses seven through nine, but the workers were expecting violence.

26:58 It was an expectation.

27:01 So they were just prepared for prepared sake.

27:04 It was an expectant negativity that was going to be coming to their work, hence, you know, having the guards and putting them there in certain places.

27:13 And again, it tells us specifically, they had swords, spears and bows.

27:18 They didn't have copies of the Old Testament.

27:22 They didn't have, you know, the scroll of Exodus. They didn't have a prayer circle. They didn't have any of those things.

27:30 And so a lot of people get really uncomfortable whenever I start talking about when the Amago day is being violated and I use an extreme example that has happened, where you have modern bystander effect, where a woman was being raped on a train in Philadelphia.

27:43 And as opposed to stopping it, people pulled out their phones and videoed it.

27:47 And that moment, a Christian, a sheepdog, it is not time for you to stop, hold hands with your neighbors and pray.

27:56 It is not time for a Bible study. It is not time for rebuke.

28:00 With words standing over them as he is violating this woman and telling him how he's violating the commandments and how he's violating, you know, the true exegesis of sexual immorality and pornaya and all that.

28:11 It's not time for that. It's time for you to physically intercede.

28:16 And because they were expecting violence and death and bloodshed, they were prepared for it.

28:22 So this is again my call to men in my audience that are not fighters, that aren't aggressive by nature, that don't really like training in those areas, that you may be called upon at some point to use your body and use your training to protect an image bearer of Christ.

28:38 And I would echo the sentiments of Jordan Peterson, that a harmless man is not a good man. He is a worthless man.

28:46 Because the only way that you can be meeked to truly be meek is to have the capacity for violence, but have it under voluntary control or the next step under the control of the father.

28:57 So I think that's a very, very important thing to consider here.

29:00 I think of C.S. Lewis, the Chronicles of Narnia, when I don't remember the character's name, but I think it's a beaver or an otter.

29:08 And one of the kids is asking him about Aslan, and that lion looks dangerous.

29:15 And he says he's a good lion. And they say, oh, okay, so he's safe. No, I didn't say he was safe.

29:21 He's good.

29:23 And yeah, Jesus is a dangerous lion, but he's good, and he's meeked.

29:33 And I think that's what you're saying is we should be dangerous. And I love that picture that he puts in the Chronicles of Narnia.

29:40 It's like we should be dangerous, but we should also be controlled.

29:43 And I'd agree at the end of Psalm 2 that you were talking about earlier, it references what Christ is going to be like when he comes back.

29:49 It's a different picture.

29:50 Certainly, when you look at Revelation, he comes back with his robe, dipped in blood, a tattoo on his leg, and sword in his mouth.

29:56 Yeah, Revelation's 19. That's one of my favorite few verses in the Bible.

30:00 But this is also a good word picture. I can't remember who originally said it, but for those of you that have daughters in this audience.

30:06 So I have sons, but for those of you that have daughters, because sons, you should almost teach them how to be a lion.

30:11 You need to teach them how to be meeked within reason.

30:14 Also, you need to teach them how to be graceful. That's part of catechizing them in the proper direction.

30:18 But with daughters, I think it was actually Driscoll that said this, but it's like the daughters in your life, your girls should only ever see the lamb out of you.

30:28 But they should know that the lion is ready to go because that's how they know they will be protected because girls have this.

30:37 I don't understand obviously because I'm not one. I haven't identified as one lately is what I mean, but like girls have a sense as to whether or not they are safe or not.

30:46 They have a different sense about whether or not they are in danger than men do. It's odd, actually.

30:51 Now, some women are completely aloof and that kind of leads to some problems for them, but they have a different sense of it.

30:56 But that sense is heightened when they know they're exposed and not protected.

31:01 And so these girls will act in certain ways and that leads to anxiety and all kinds of other things when they know there is no lying around to protect them if something pops off.

31:11 Plus you're the blueprint or the reference point that then they're going to look at when they're choosing somebody.

31:18 There it is. So I think there's a lot of weight there. I'd be thinking about it all the time.

31:23 Absolutely. Zach, could you read verse 14, please?

31:32 I looked in a rose 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 and your daughters, your wives and your homes.

31:47 So if you're a right in your Bible type person, I'm not. That's why I bought journals so I can write and highlight and draw pictures and all kinds of crap.

31:55 You need to put a one before the word remember and then put a two before the word fight because we're given two things here.

32:03 Number one, remember the Lord in the primary place, but there's a number two fight.

32:11 And I absolutely love that because you need to put your faith for your protection in the Lord, but also be prepared to get after it.

32:20 And again, I know it seems like we're, you know, beating this dead horse. We're going to keep beating this dead horse. We're going to resurrect it and then beat it to death again.

32:27 But the thing about it here is again, there are people that will remember the Lord, but then they're unwilling to fight. There are people that are down to fight.

32:35 Never remember the Lord. And so this is almost say another word picture of lamb and lion, grace and truth, you know, the nice stuff and the hard stuff like it's all right there just in one verse.

32:47 So guys don't miss that that there are two declaratives there. Okay. One of them is going to more so aligned with your wiring and your personality. The other is not, but you're required to do both on their tethered together and they're tethered together because the lamb,

33:01 the prayer is going to keep the lion from attacking all the time because this isn't a call to violence. This isn't a call to just go fight people.

33:11 But the lion is tethered to the prayer or the lamb as you're describing it. So the lamb isn't just back in its place, just cowering.

33:21 So there's there is the again, there's tension in Bibles full of those tensions where this while this is not a call to seek violence. It's also not a call to just sit back and do nothing.

33:33 And so, yeah, that's what a great, that's a, that's worth the price of admission right there. Those couple verses.

33:41 Well, and you know, this has all been kind of a ramping up, right? It started with just, hey, we show up and these guys are super [inaudible].

33:48 Then we're there and they're like, oh, we're going to throw some ridicule.

33:52 Then they're kind of ratcheting up like, hey, we might kind of take you out, you know.

33:57 So you better watch out. You know, so it kind of ramps up to this kind of physical violence.

34:02 And I was just thinking I wrote down here, like, what is going to get you a faithful believer to shut up or to stop your work?

34:11 And the most obvious thing that we've got going on in our society through media is what we've already discussed, which is people say all sorts of nasty things.

34:20 So how do you respond to that? And I think some people's faith is shallow enough that they'll shut up.

34:28 You know, they're more concerned with what people think about them than what they believe or believe who God is and who they are in Christ.

34:36 You know, but it takes, it takes, in my opinion, a decision yesterday to put into practice today, like what's going to happen.

34:47 So I remember at being a candidate camps back in the day, the story of Johnny Fairyear, he was a pilot.

34:55 They were just doing an exercise running an exercise to lose this control of his plane.

35:00 And they're telling him to bail out and he doesn't bail out.

35:03 Instead, he steers his plane and crash lanes it in the last moment in the middle of the park where there were no people, but there were houses all around.

35:14 People were like, man, that was, we were super lucky.

35:17 But what they found when they retrieved some of his personal effects were his wallet and inside his wallet, he had a card that said, God is first, other second, and I'm third.

35:30 And in talking to his wife, she said that that was his mantra for living.

35:34 He had made that decision prior to that situation.

35:39 So he was prepared that in that moment that he was going to put himself third and put others before himself.

35:46 So I say that because I think we all have to take an account personally, like what is it that's out there that is trying to push me away or pull me away from my faith.

35:59 What is it about myself?

36:00 What do I care too much about?

36:02 And what decisions can I make today to prioritize my faith to keep God first, even if it means, you know, giving up of being popular.

36:15 Or even in this case, you know, my physical self, my personal self, my wellness.

36:23 I think most people spend no time even considering that.

36:26 And, well, I'll ask this question after the next section here.

36:31 So, Eric, if you would mind reading 15 through 20, please.

36:38 When our enemies heard that it was well, was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.

36:50 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.

37:00 And the leaders who stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall.

37:05 Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other.

37:13 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built.

37:17 The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.

37:20 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, the work is great and widely spread.

37:27 And we are separated on the wall, far from one another.

37:31 In the place where you are, hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us.

37:36 There, our God will fight for us.

37:39 So that is perhaps my favorite section of Nehemiah 15 through 20 for a lot of the reasons that have already been elucidated in our discussion earlier.

37:50 I mean, verse 16, that's sword and trowel, right?

37:53 That's that sword and shovel that that's both where they were prepared for violence, whether it happened or not.

37:59 Again, it is a biblical defense of self defense.

38:03 It's a biblical defense of carrying weapons, training in a martial art of some kind of real one that would actually work in real life.

38:11 And also, you know, when you get into verse 18, they carried weapons for self defense while they were doing God's work.

38:21 That's very, very important.

38:23 Again, you know, they were verse 17, those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored with the work on one hand and held his weapon and the other.

38:31 Again, pointing back to foresight because for anyone that's ever concealed, carried a weapon of any kind, you have to put a little bit of thought into that.

38:38 You know, just like, you know, duct tape it to your chest and then walk out the door to go to work.

38:42 You have to kind of have an idea, well, this is what I'm wearing today.

38:44 This is where I can have it.

38:45 This is where I can easily get to it because the worst thing in the world is to have a weapon that is not easy to get to.

38:51 And when you hear these people that are defenders of the Second Amendment, they're like, I'm safe with my guns, they're in my safe.

38:56 It's like, great, I can't wait for you to go through three turns to the right, two turns to the left, one turn to the right.

39:02 And hopefully you get it right before the guy, you know, come before the wolf gets to you.

39:07 It's like, that's great.

39:08 But if you can't get to them quickly, then they're basically not worth anything.

39:11 But I guess the question that I wanted to ask on this guy is what certainly I would love any of your additions in the commentary for 15 through 20 is why are so many Christians in particular.

39:20 Scared of fighting.

39:22 And yes, I do mean physically fighting.

39:24 Because I can say for me, I avoided physical altercations for my entire life, my entire upbringing.

39:31 I was scared of them to a degree because I didn't want to get hurt.

39:34 And, you know, I had quite a bit of influence.

39:36 I was kind of over mother a little bit, if you will, in my upbringing.

39:39 And, you know, my mom tried to keep me from getting hurt all the time and I didn't really get pushed into fights a lot.

39:45 And I just had opportunities to, but I always kind of cowered away from them.

39:48 And part of it is because it wasn't until I was in my 30s and I started doing jujitsu where I was like, not only do I understand the ramifications of not knowing how to fight.

39:58 I also understand that I'm not made a glass.

40:00 And that I've been, I've been punched.

40:02 I've been kicked.

40:03 You know, I've done Muay Thai.

40:04 I've done kickboxing.

40:05 I've done Western boxing.

40:06 And then I've done a ton of jujitsu.

40:07 And it's like, man, if I don't know how to do these things, that doesn't make me virtuous.

40:12 That makes me a target.

40:13 And I don't like that feeling when you're being held down by another person and you can't get up.

40:17 That's a terrible, awful feeling.

40:19 But part of it is I feel like, especially with Christians, we get this modern sense that we're never supposed to be violent in any way, shape, or form because God wouldn't like that.

40:28 And gosh, you just, I don't see how you get that from scripture.

40:31 So take that wherever you guys want to go.

40:33 Personally, and I grew up at home where my dad and my dad had this thing.

40:40 We watched boxing together.

40:42 So any time I'd come in the room out, you know, I was young, eight, seven, eight, whatever you look.

40:47 We champion in the world, Eric Browning.

40:51 You know, it's I'd come in feeling all good about myself.

40:54 And, but we would sit there and we'd shadow box and he would stick his hands out there.

40:58 And, you know, just let me go after it.

41:01 You know, until one day I broke his pinky box and it went so good.

41:05 But anyway, there was no, that wasn't really a deal.

41:09 I remember him telling me specifically, he said, now listen, you know, if you get an issue at school or whatever, you just take care of that.

41:18 You know, don't, don't be, don't be just standing there and taking, taking punches.

41:23 You, you be proactive.

41:25 And I say that because my, my general thought and I, you know, I'd be interested to see kind of, you guys respond is I bet there's not a whole lot of dads at home teaching their kids how to, how to fight, you know.

41:38 And maybe you guys are different, but I feel like in school, like I remember like the threat was if you get in an altercation, you're going to get suspended, you know, and it's going to ruin your entire academic career.

41:49 Exactly.

41:50 And so you just, you don't do that.

41:52 You know, so that's where I think part of it is.

41:55 I think another part is we live in a culture of Christianity that, that their faith comes from bumper stickers turn the other cheek is a verse that.

42:07 That comes to mind.

42:09 And the same people that say turn the other cheek would also say, well, the Bible just talks about standing up for marginalized people and people who are, you know, less fortunate or are being oppressed or whatever the term is that they want to use.

42:24 But then if you look at a situation, and I'll just use my ear old son as an example, this isn't a real thing, but I'm just hypothetically, if he sees someone who's a weaker person getting, getting beat up by a stronger kid, is that not what the Bible speaks to?

42:40 Like protecting those who can't protect themselves. And so the same people that would say turn the other cheek, but also the Bible teaches to save the oppressed and save the weaker, like, would, but when it comes to violence, it's, it's not that.

42:55 And this is something I've, you know, struggled with myself because I'm not.

43:00 I'm not someone who looks for a fight.

43:02 I'm not, I'm not a fighter. But there are definitely situations that would call for something physical to happen.

43:12 So, so let's talk about that. So you're not someone that looks for a fight.

43:16 That my reading of scripture is that is the proper orientation to violence.

43:20 Okay.

43:21 Because when we're talking about violence in the Bible, like in Nehemiah, at no point did they say, and so we gathered all the generals of our Jerusalem army and we planned out our attack.

43:31 That we were going to push back against the darkness of, of Gesham and sand ballad or to buy it. Like, that was never it.

43:38 They were prepared for defensive violence.

43:41 And I'm reminded of Chelsea on and he's an MMA fighter, retired MMA fighter.

43:46 You just find the UFC and Bellator and one of the greatest fighters ever seen as the greatest trash talker ever and all those types of things.

43:52 But he was talking about in an interview and a lot of times he's kind of playing up his character and all that in, you know, selling tickets, but he got really serious.

43:58 And you can find this on YouTube or wherever. But he was talking about these about violence and about people getting into your bubble because there was a time whenever you shooting the ultimate fighter down in Brazil.

44:09 He had said a lot of inflammatory things about the country of Brazil and also about this fighter named Van der Le Silva.

44:14 And so they're there. They're getting ready to start shooting and Van der Le Silva gets into his bubble several times to where Van der Le Silva decided that he wanted to throw a punch.

44:23 That could have been a one punch fight ender. And so at one point, Chelsea on and pushes him away and then immediately gets into a fighting stance and they kind of get into a scuffle.

44:31 But Chelsea on its point in this quote whenever he was doing this, this interview with some media member is he said, it's only if you've been raised by wimps or your mothers to where your idea of fighting is that you don't throw a punch until you get punched.

44:44 He's like, in a real fight, one punch could end the fight. So if your rule is that I'm going to wait until I'm punched to punch back.

44:53 He's like, no, the moment you enter my bubble, you have now broken the barrier where I am to defend myself.

45:00 And my best defense in that moment is to throw the first punch.

45:05 And a lot of you guys have been in this situation. You weren't shocked when you got into a fight.

45:09 The guy was signaling to you that he was going to fight you. He was signaling to you that he was going to throw a punch. He was signaling to you that he was going to hit you with a chair or a bottle.

45:18 You knew it was coming. And if you have this idea in your brain, I have to wait until it happens. And then I'll start going. That is a horrible, horrible idea.

45:26 Because in this moment, I can guarantee you that if the negative forces here that are ran by Tobias and Sam Ballot and guess him and all the rest of the people.

45:35 Had they attacked them, I doubt that Nehemiah and his people will have waited until the first arrow was in the air or the first spear was coming towards their face.

45:43 They would have got after it before that point. But again, most Christians can't get themselves there.

45:49 Man, there's so much to this. I was trying to think how to.

45:53 So growing up initially when I was young, I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And my mom was single to time. They got married. And a man came into my life that really made a lot of impacts. There's a lot going on there.

46:08 But the school that I went to initially was in her city, big time gangs, blood, crips, all that sort of thing. And I can remember multiple times being in the locker room and getting ambushed, you know, put me up on the locker and just start beating the crap out of my face like multiple people.

46:21 And I remember I stopped growing. Everybody else kept going. You know, I'm not that tall. So I learned how to get really big friends really fast. I learned how to talk and do all this other stuff.

46:29 And what it came down to for me, I think the kind of culturally speaking on the weekends, I'd spend time growing up on a ranch with a bunch of guys that were not concerned with getting in fights if they wanted to all that sort of thing.

46:39 But I didn't know about jujitsu. I didn't know about, you know, I did like a karate class for what that lasted for five seconds.

46:45 And then as I continued to grow, I just never embraced that. And there are a whole bunch of other reasons. Fast forward through all of that.

46:53 You know, you introduced me way before we ever really knew each other to the concept of Jocko in a Sunday school situation. And that kind of set me down on path learning about things like jujitsu and people that do this and how it's normal.

47:05 And after multiple years now and kind of being in this world and being aware of it, I recognized that there are tools out there where that makes sense. You know, I was always aware of wrestling, for instance.

47:15 I didn't want my family to get into it because I feel like it might stunt your growth, but we can't, we can't do that.

47:21 But maybe not with jujitsu. So, I mean, yeah, to, I mean, to that point, I've got my son involved in it and he loves it. And really, it's just because I recognize that if you have it, A, you're going to have confidence in yourself. So you won't be going after something like what we'd see bullies go after.

47:37 And B, I want him to be able to defend himself and those around him. And I think that's going to be a good balancing factor. And you can go and do that in a way that's not going to harm him or other people.

47:46 Yeah. And also, when you really understand violence, how to receive it and how to apply it, that actually leads to more meekness and less violence overall.

47:59 Absolutely. And an example I had is, you know, some time ago, there was a guy that sent me some physical threats in my DMS on Instagram, okay, threatened to beat me up, called me a bunch of names, all those types of things.

48:11 And in that moment, I was able to laugh for a few reasons.

48:15 It's always the people that know how to fight the least that are the ones that are the most ready to fight.

48:20 It's because they have no real relationship with violence. So they're going to go poke in their finger in a guy's chest at the bar or at, you know, the grocery store or something like that, not knowing the potential ramifications because some guys give you hints.

48:31 They have cauliflower ears. They may have a scar or two. Their nose might be crooked. Those are hints. That's like, you know, spikes on a porcupine.

48:39 Don't try to eat me from this angle because it'll be painful for you, right? Those are hints. Stay away. Please get away from me.

48:46 But it is in those moments that whenever I was looking at that situation, I thought to the black belts that are at my jujitsu gym.

48:54 These are the most dangerous human beings I've ever been around in my entire life.

48:59 And they're the most calm, the most confident, and the least likely to send a message to somebody in their DMS inviting them to fight.

49:07 Why? Because they understand the ramifications of real-world violence more than anybody.

49:13 And they also know how to apply it.

49:15 And they also know, like you talked about Jocko, one of the first things he said about jujitsu is it's like, man, dude, the first thing you do in a fight is you run from it.

49:23 That's right.

49:24 Like, you don't want to get into physical altercation because maybe you can beat that guy up, but maybe he has a knife. Maybe he has a gun.

49:30 Maybe while you're focused on him, his friends got a knife or a gun where he's going to cite to punch your head into the next county.

49:36 And you're not going to be able to see it coming.

49:38 And so it's like the number one thing is to run away from it, but if you can't run away from the fight, you better be the one applying pressure, not being the one having pressure applied to you.

49:45 And I think that that is a big thing for people to understand.

49:48 And again, this isn't just a commercial about jujitsu.

49:51 This is a commercial about mindset that when you understand real-world violence, you will be more meeked, which leads to a better understanding of Christ and the gospel and meekness in general.

50:03 But it will also lead to less violence because there are people, I know I'm saying story after story, but I was reminded this old school wrestling coach, right?

50:11 Old school wrestling coach.

50:12 Well, he's in a rough part of town and he's walking out of 7/11 and a couple of young thugs are getting in his face and trying to give him trouble.

50:18 And I've probably said this story before here at the forging table, but he's an old school wrestling coach.

50:22 So his ears are mangled. He has an ugly face. He's probably a little bit, you know, walking over because he hasn't really fully taken care of his body.

50:29 And he just looked at these guys and he said, "How do you guys think I got these ears?"

50:35 Because here he is. He's a sitting duck, right? Seemingly, he's an easy target. He's an old man.

50:40 And that one statement, and I'm sure the confidence with which he said it, and his chest out, got him to be able to where he could just walk right through those two guys and go on about his business.

50:50 It's about a mindset and it's about how you carry yourself. I think that that's a point we don't need to diminish here.

50:55 Yeah, or you pull out your mouth guard. Hold on, just a moment. My mouth guard. It wasn't that so bad.

51:03 I can't remember who said that, but it's such a great thing.

51:05 It's like a rule for life. Carry a mouth guard. As soon as you put it in, somebody wants to fight you.

51:09 I don't know if I want this.

51:11 I think one more thing to add to that would just be, I know we spend some time talking about potential scenarios that you might think about.

51:18 You might get involved in, but think about scenarios you've actually been involved in, and I'll just give you one quickly.

51:23 I know we got a lot, but Houston, Texas, we were moving at one point, and Houston's got a lot of things going on.

51:28 We went to a bad gas station to refill you all, and I had my soon-to-be wife with me at the time, and there were some guys that started to walk toward the truck as we were getting in, and they started to surround this vehicle and close in.

51:43 It was very clear to me that there was some interesting things about to occur, and when you're in Houston, this is all you see on the newsreel.

51:50 There's a lot of great things about Houston, but there's a lot of things you've got to be careful about.

51:54 We quickly turned on the truck and got out of there. We got into the truck, turned it on, and got out of there.

52:00 I didn't have anything around me that I could have utilized if I needed to on my way to get in.

52:07 I know other people and situations there that have been in the same types of scenarios inside gas stations where somebody comes in and all that stuff.

52:14 I would just encourage you to think about your circumstances really for you personally. Don't think about it in terms of somebody else.

52:20 Think about you and what you've experienced and how you could prepare to take care of yourself and your family if you had to.

52:25 Part of that. Go ahead, Aaron.

52:27 Yeah, yeah, yeah. My dad told me a story of him. He was driving somewhere and had trouble with his car.

52:32 His vehicle, so he pulled off into it. It was at night, pulled off into it.

52:37 I guess it was a gas station or something, almost like an alley. So he's kind of back out of the way so we could work on his car.

52:44 And I mean, he said within just a couple of minutes of him kind of rummaging around to kind of figure out what was going on.

52:49 He saw some guys pull up in a car and get out of the car and start walking towards him.

52:54 And he was outnumbered at least four to one. And he said that was why that was when I was so glad that I was prepared.

53:03 I pushed over my glove compartment. I grabbed my gun and I just opened my door and turned towards him and laid that gun on my lap.

53:12 And those guys saw that gun and they stopped and turned around one by one and left.

53:16 Because he was ready to get after it. And prior to that, I would venture to guess he made a lot to.

53:23 He did a lot of mental reps for what he would do in a circumstance like that. So, you know, it was some time ago now, but there was a school shooting in Nashville.

53:32 And the very next morning, one of my good buddies named Mo, one of my best friends for my entire life. He's a police officer now in Kansas.

53:39 And he sent me the video of the body cam footage of the guys that went in there and took the shooter out as quickly as possible.

53:46 Literally like a mirror image, like, or an exact opposite of what happened in Uvalde, Texas at that school shooting.

53:52 And I'm watching that. And I know a little bit about tactical movement and all that. And they're doing it. There's no hesitation.

53:57 Even the guys or they're pushing the guy in front of them like, go, go, go faster. Like they're ready to go. They're ready for action.

54:04 And I said something to my buddy along the lines of like, dude, I can't believe those pussies at Uvalde and what they did.

54:10 Like they acted in such a reprehensible way. I couldn't believe that. And then I kind of caught myself and I'm like, easy for me to say as a civilian.

54:17 However, had I raised my hand and, you know, taken the oath or whatever to become a police officer, had I applied for that job and gotten that job.

54:24 And never thought about the potential of running towards the sound of violence. That would be a horrible, horrible thing for me.

54:31 And he said, yeah, Kyle, one thing that I do, and this is a guy of very, very few words. He doesn't really talk much.

54:37 But when he talks, it's kind of one of those things you lean forward and you listen, he goes, yeah, I've done, I do mental reps all the time about if I were in the same situation, how I would act.

54:46 And I know he didn't say I'm convinced. He didn't say I think he said, I know that I will run towards the sound of violence to save people.

54:54 And he's like, if I die doing that, then fine. And this guy is not a hyperbolic guy. You know, there are guys who are like, I would die for this.

55:00 It's like, no, you wouldn't, you wouldn't even take a bruise for that. But this guy was like, I would die. And it made me think all the way back to when he had applied to be a police officer.

55:09 I was one of his references that he put down. And the reference they call me, they put you through a bunch of scenarios and ask you about the person's character and all these types of things.

55:16 But the final question the guy asked me was a great question. He said, if you were out of town and your wife and kids were in trouble at the time we didn't have kids, but he said, and your wife and children were in trouble.

55:27 And it would be officer so and so I didn't get permission to use his name. So y'all can't look him out. But in officer so and so my buddy were on his way to your house.

55:35 What feeling would you have? And I said, my feeling would be that my feeling would be that my family would be okay because he's on the way.

55:44 And I said that without a moment's hesitation because I knew it because I knew his character. I knew who he was.

55:50 And that is years before he sent me a message saying, I do mental reps knowing that I would run towards violence. It was in him from birth.

55:59 And even so, even though it was in him from birth, he's still doing the mental reps. Think about what we talked about with sports, the guys that are already great at jumping.

56:07 Why do they work on their jumping? They're making their sword that sharp, even sharper, right? And so I think that's just an important apologetic for for all guys here.

56:16 It's the mental preparation because your dad was prepared. You were prepared. My buddy's prepared. I'm prepared. You're prepared for those moments where you might have to enact violence or to protect image bears of Christ.

56:29 I think this also has a non-physical application too. That's all great. And I agree with all of that. But as Christians, we're called to fight spiritually as well. So we should be mentally prepared to jump into the fight wherever that is.

56:48 And sometimes that's helping a buddy fight for his marriage. Sometimes that's helping a buddy fight off a porn addiction. But it's the same idea.

56:58 Like, am I going to run towards the fight? Or am I going to back off and step away? And we should always be sharpening our sword, as you said, and be willing to jump in the fight, whatever the fight is, whether that's physical or spiritual, we should always be ready to jump in the fight.

57:16 Matt, you're right. I mean, I can't imagine it being any easier moving forward to be able to decipher truth from non-truth outside the Bible. Don't get me wrong.

57:28 With media, with AI, with everything that's coming down the pike, just being able to navigate that because there's going to be some really powerful things either set or done or whatever that could be very confusing.

57:42 So being able to take those thoughts captive, be able to fight for your own mind, even ourselves. Go to battle with ourselves and our sins and our lusts.

57:53 Here's a note, too, and this will tie on to both of what you guys are saying.

57:58 For 4.19 and 20, again, Nehemiah spoke words of encouragement to the people. He reminded them that they were involved in a great work.

58:06 After all, they were serving a great God and rebuilding the walls of the great city. He also reminded them that they were not working alone.

58:15 Boxhole. Even though they couldn't see all of their fellow workers on the wall, God was with all of them and would come to their defense.

58:23 So I think it's important as we're going through these scenarios A, what we've talked about is expecting that there's going to be adversity. It's coming. So be prepared. B, don't be alone. And know that you're not alone.

58:37 And remind yourself that you're here for a purpose, serving a God who understands what's happening. So like when you mention AI, that scares the pants off me. Everything I'm hearing about AI is blowing my mind.

58:48 Not Alan Iverson. Different AI. Way scarier. So, but we got in all of these circumstances, I just think we have to recognize the world's moving really fast, but God's bigger than all that, and we got to remember it.

59:01 And the thing with that as well, Zach, is something we haven't mentioned yet was the trumpet. So the trumpeter was very, very close to Nehemiah because Nehemiah liked music, you know, because he, you know, whenever he felt sad, he wanted to be sued by the sweet sounds of a trumpet.

59:16 But yeah, no, Nehemiah is not a big John Coltrane fan. The reason why was because if danger was coming, they needed from all their disparate positions on the wall, whether they were working or ready to defend. They all needed to be made aware and there needed to be a bullhorn of sorts to make them aware that danger is on its way and it's time to go.

59:38 And again, that goes to a corollary to what you're saying, Matt, there needs to be some spiritual trumpets in your life. There need to be some breaking in case of fire, break glass in case of fire moments. There need to be some thresholds that once crossed.

59:51 That is the trumpet going off to whether it's for your own personal accountability or your future sanctification or for the protection of those around you to where it's like, that is your instigation of your actions, right?

1:00:01 We should all kind of have those moments. So I forget who who read last. So Matt, you're closest to me. So you're gonna have to. I wanted to just make one more point. Yeah, I think this is when you're done read 21 through 23.

1:00:11 This is.

1:00:14 Oh, actually, I'll read this first because I think that my point is good. He's going to go into it. So you told 21 through 23. Yes, sir. Okay.

1:00:20 So we labored at the work and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. I also said to the people at that time, let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem that they may be a guard for us by night and may

1:00:36 be made labored by day. So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me. None of us took off our clothes. Each kept his weapon at his right hand.

1:00:49 The point I was going to make is it like what it. We should all take some encouragement. And if there's people listening who, you know, maybe don't feel like there's anybody on their side. And maybe they don't know God. Like verse 20 or verse 19. He said, our God will fight for us.

1:01:08 So we labored at the work and half of them held spears. And I think of someone who doesn't like someone who doesn't know how to fight or someone who doesn't have God in their life is going to go.

1:01:26 It's going to work backwards and you're going to see a lot of flailing and a lot of chaos that I don't know what's going on. And the idea of we don't fight for victory. We fight from victory is evidently apparent in these few lines of scripture where God will fight for us.

1:01:44 So we labored and we are ready. Not we fight. So God. So, so this will happen. It is God's victorious and God will fight for us. We cannot lose. So we will stand ready. And I lean on God and God will fight for you.

1:02:03 But you can go into that battle with confidence knowing that you're fighting from a place of Victor. We already know the end of the story. These people didn't know the end of the story yet. We can, we can read when Jesus comes back like we know.

1:02:16 I think those are that can be very encouraging. Yeah. And because of that preparedness, they could set their mind to work. As you just said in a different way, I was just reminded of Stonewall Jackson's quotes as my religious beliefs teach me to feel as safe and battle as in bed.

1:02:31 When he knew when he knew or he knew that he was doing this work and he knew that he would be protected and he knew that because of that, he did not have to live an anxious life.

1:02:42 He could set his mind to the work, know that he was prepared and and then just live within God's will.

1:02:49 Yeah, I think, I think that's a dangerous thing too, because I think you can, there are people that can look at that and say, okay, well, I'm just going to do whatever I want. I'm going to jump out of a plane because God's going to save me.

1:03:00 I'm going to be protected. And that's not, no, no, no, no, the Bible is. And I know that's not what you're saying, but I, and I think it's okay.

1:03:11 Well, read the second line on that. That's Stonewall Jackson. Yeah, yes, it's God. It's fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself with that, but that's a good point.

1:03:20 But to be always ready to, whenever it may overtake. I have faith in God and I will stand and I will fight.

1:03:26 If I die, I know where I'm going.

1:03:29 It almost, that almost brings up to me. I hear of Shane and Shane lyrics in my head from time to time where it's talking about, but even if they don't, like they're talking about.

1:03:37 Shatter at me. Shuck in a bed to go. And it's like, hey, God's going to protect us and save us.

1:03:42 But even if he doesn't, I'm not bowing down to your idol. Get out of here. I know where my bread's buttered. And it's not by you, like, get out of here.

1:03:50 But part of what all this is kind of circling the drain is vigilance. I mean, look at how they end chapter four.

1:03:57 You know, the guard followed me. None of us took off our clothes. Each kept his weapon at his right hand. They were vigilant.

1:04:03 They were ready. They were always ready. They were always ready for what could potentially befall them, not because they didn't have faith in God, but because of their faith in God, it pushed them to action.

1:04:13 And verse 15 through 23, again, to go back to this, it's a full-throated biblical defense of self-defense, but it's also a defense of preparedness and vigilance.

1:04:22 What I don't mean is psychotic preparedness, where you can still carry it now. So you walk through the Walmart parking lot. Oh, what's that sound? Oh my gosh. And you're just paranoid the entire time. Look at me, bro. Look at me.

1:04:33 Yeah. You don't want this, bro. Do you see this bulge in my pants? Not because I'm happy. Like, you know, it's not one of those types of things. It's a different thing entirely.

1:04:40 It's that you, I remember when I first started concealed carrying, you know, you're getting used to the discomfort of and all those different things, but now it's like, I need to be more vigilant than I've ever been in my entire life because I'm carrying around.

1:04:51 A tool of responsibility. And again, as anyone who's ever dealt with any firearms training or any type of thing like that, there are so the way that you're not going to shoot yourself in the leg or accidentally shoot a hole in the wall or something like that.

1:05:03 Is because you're vigilant with that firearm because you know what it's capable of. And when you wield it, you must wield it for good in a defensive type of motion.

1:05:13 And again, even extrapolating it out further, people will be like, well, so you mean we shouldn't have soldiers going down range and shooting guys before they kill them. I'm like, no, no, that's self defense.

1:05:22 Like when my buddies that were seals were going in and not, you know, blowing doors off hinges in the middle of night and shooting bad guys in the face.

1:05:28 That was because if they didn't do that, they may be at the mercy of their bombs or their rockets or their bullets within a few hours. No, so that was them performing self defense.

1:05:38 Go back to the bows. You don't, you don't use bows in hand-to-hand combat. They weren't waiting. They weren't saying, we're going to wait for you to get to us. They were saying, okay, if there's a threat and this is going to go down, we've got bows to shoot to fire, not to, not to block.

1:05:52 Right. You're not using a bow to block.

1:05:54 Like, I think too, just the fact that the way I understand it is when the enemies came up and saw that they were prepared and armed, they were sort of disarmed and left.

1:06:05 It's just like the, yeah. The mouth guard. The mouth guard. You're tugging my head or the pistol on the lap. Put the mouth guard in.

1:06:10 So the story, the story is basically, if you will take care of yourself and the people, you know, along with the people around you, I think you relieve those around you from the burden of having to care for you.

1:06:22 And it just goes so far to, I think, trying to think of the right word, just to make sure that the enemy's not coming after you. You're prepared. You're showing your idea.

1:06:31 Yeah, if you're not convicted by this and I, I'm just full transparency. And I think I, I think I said this in our text thread. Like, this has been a very encouraging study, but this has also been a very convicting study.

1:06:42 And if verse 23 doesn't convict you, then I don't know that you're reading the Bible right. Like, because they were vigilant and they all had their weapon ready to go. They were already at all times.

1:06:58 And part of that vigilance, the vigilance starts way before the weapon can even be used. And when you, when you study people that, so I've listened to some interviews before I'm trying to remember the details to describe it as accurate as possible.

1:07:10 But these people that used to be armed robbers, and they would describe how they would pick their targets. And so they were like, so the easiest thing is women that are alone.

1:07:19 That's the easiest thing whatsoever. Right. But then it was guys that were smaller and or distracted.

1:07:25 They're in their phone, kind of looking around, not painting everybody. And then the same thing is like, so who did you avoid? They were like, well, of course, if it was big guys or groups of big guys like you obviously don't want to walk up into that situation alone, whether you have a firearm or not. That's a bad situation.

1:07:41 But then they would also say some people just had that look that they weren't to be messed with. They weren't to be trifled with.

1:07:48 And so vigilance started by, you're in an unfamiliar neighborhood and you don't exactly know where you're going and you're on foot.

1:07:56 Are you scrolling Twitter as you're walking down the sidewalk? And then all of a sudden, I've literally seen videos of people that are pointing firearms at people that don't see them yet.

1:08:05 They're in the process of robbing them and they don't even know it because they're looking at their phone and then they, oh my gosh, what's happening?

1:08:12 So they have no time to respond, no time to run. They're in the thick of a conflict now. But the vigilance of comporting yourself in a way where you have that confidence in that to, to the point you were making earlier, which was a great one.

1:08:25 How about spiritual vigilance to where it's like, Satan, I know you want to get after me right now. Do you realize you lost my posture right now? Is that the posture of a victim?

1:08:36 Do I have the posture of a sheep right now? Or do I am I covered by the blood of the lamb? And do I have his legions watching over my back? Do I look like I don't know who my dad is?

1:08:44 That's a great way. Dude, there's not a better way to end it. So we're actually just going to end that there. So nicely done. Dropping that at the very beginning. But guys, there's so much more that we could talk about with Nehemiah 4, but we are going to leave it there.

1:08:55 But make sure you come back here next Sunday where we're going to dig into Nehemiah 5. So guys, make sure you read Nehemiah 5 before next week so that you are prepared.

1:09:02 And before we let you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost and adopted life. Our mission is equipping men to push back darkness with content that forges, spiritual, mental and physical resilience.

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1:10:09 I'm your host Kyle Thompson. Remember, keep pushing back darkness. Keep forging spiritual, mental and physical resilience. Keep seeking the lion of Judah.

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