[0:00] Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to the book of Nehemiah chapter 13. Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 24. Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 24.
[0:11] What are you teaching your children? So we're in the book of Nehemiah. We are coming to the end of the book of Nehemiah. You would think by now that everything was really working out. The wall has been put together. They've been worshiping God. And Nehemiah leaves town for about a year and goes back to where he used to work as a cupbearer in Babylon. And while he's gone, the people rapidly return to their wicked ways. And the next thing you know, they're intermarrying with people that worship false gods. We've talked about that. And when he gets back, he says, what in the world?
[0:47] Your children don't even speak Hebrew. Your children don't know how to talk about our God. They're talking about another God. Half their speech is worldly speech. I cannot believe you have so quickly allowed this to happen. You made big promises to God, but you hadn't been keeping them. You have turned back from where you were. I really think this is very relevant to you and me today. I think we get in trouble. I think we need God and we make promises to God. And I think God begins to bless us based on his goodness and his desire to bless us when we're doing right.
[1:28] But it doesn't take long for us to shift right back to where we were, right back to what we were doing. We seem to go back to that. So today I pray God would deal with our hearts that we would say, I'm going to do right. I'm going to lead my family. I'm going to honor God and I'm going to do the right thing. Let me read with you Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 6 and I want to have a word of prayer.
[1:54] And then we'll work our way through this chapter. The Bible says in Nehemiah 13 6, but in all this time was I not at Jerusalem. For in the 32nd year of Artaxia's king of Babylon came I unto the king and after certain days I obtained leave of the king. Father in heaven, I desperately need you this morning. I want to explain your word. I want to help it be clear.
[2:20] I want it to touch our hearts. I want to ask you to grow your people. I want to ask you to mature your people. God, I can't do it. They'll not hear me. They'll not listen to me. They'll see it as my opinion versus their opinion. But if your Holy Spirit would work this morning and convict people and work in their hearts, then God, they'd be changed. So I come to you and I ask you to work. I ask you to help us to be spirit-filled listeners, to open our hearts and to be ready to hear your word.
[2:56] And I'll give you praise for all you do. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. What are you teaching your kids? Our serious questions I know how to ask you.
[3:09] You skip church for the dumbest reasons. You leave your Bible at home on vacation. You don't honor God with your money. You don't honor God with your time.
[3:25] You say you love Jesus. You talk all the right language. You sound like a good Christian. But your kids know what's really going on. They know you.
[3:40] You're not willing to honor God with money, but you're willing to honor a sport with it. You're not willing to honor God with your money, but you're willing to honor your pastime with it.
[3:50] And your kids are learning from you. By the grace of God, this is a young church. By the grace of God, most of you are young families, which is a great thing. We can still save our families.
[4:06] If you're not careful, your children will not serve God. And if you're not careful, your children will go to the devil himself. In almost every church you go to around America, it's all a bunch of old white-headed people.
[4:24] I can say that. I am one. I often go to churches to preach, and I'm a young man in my 60s.
[4:35] And I look around the room, and I'm like, where are they? They lost their kids. It'd be wonderful if their kids were in somebody else's church, but then somebody else's kids would be in their church, wouldn't they? But they're gone.
[4:49] So I want you to go through the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 13 with me, and I want you to pay honest attention to what's happening and bring it down to real in your life.
[5:00] The first thing that happens in this chapter is the leader's gone. The leader is gone. He's not even the pastor, by the way. I think you need to know Nehemiah's not a preacher.
[5:10] Nehemiah's not a pastor. He's more like a governor. He's more like the mayor. He's more like the county sheriff. He's more like a political leader than he is a priest or a preacher.
[5:23] But he is the most spiritual leader they seem to have in town. I mean, the preachers in this book are like willy-nilly cowards, led about by whatever the lay people want them to do, and there's only one guy that stands up and says, bless God, we're going to do the right thing.
[5:41] And his name is Nehemiah. In Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 6, he's been gone from Jerusalem. You ought to underline that in verse 6, all this time was I not in Jerusalem. The lack of spiritual leadership in the city of Jerusalem is very obvious.
[5:55] He spent 12 years there, and while he was there for those 12 years, things were flying along. But he's been gone about a year, and now the people have reneged on their promises to God.
[6:06] And without spiritual leadership, they have gone astray. And you need to understand, in Acts chapter 20 and verse 28, the apostle Paul warned the early church just like that.
[6:17] He said, you guys need to be really careful. Acts chapter 20 and verse 28 says, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
[6:33] For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. He said, as soon as I'm gone, you can mark it down, some wicked people gonna come in here and get you away from serving Jesus.
[6:48] And he said in verse 30, and some of them are gonna be part of you guys. Some of your own people in this room are gonna rise up and speak perverse things and get people to quit following Jesus.
[6:59] In verse 31, he said, watch. Keep your eyes open. Be on guard. Remember, I have warned you for three years to do the right thing, and now I give you over to God.
[7:12] A church needs spiritual leadership to keep everyone in the Bible. Our natural tendency is for a family life center. Our natural tendency is upward basketball.
[7:25] Nothing wrong with either one of those. Our natural tendency is activity. Our least natural activity is get in the Bible, find out what God has to say, and obey the word of God.
[7:36] A church needs spiritual leadership. A family needs spiritual leadership. Dad, why don't you grow up? Why don't you stand up and say to your family, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
[7:52] And come Sunday morning when they want to go to the ball game or come weekday when they want to go out and get a party going, you ought to say to them, we chose to serve God, and I will lead this home.
[8:04] Truth must be constantly repeated and meditated on. That's the truth of this whole chapter. First promise they broke was they didn't separate from sin.
[8:16] Look with me, if you would, in Nehemiah chapter 10 and verse 28. If you don't separate from sin, you're going right back to it. You can't just stop. You got to get away from it.
[8:27] You can't just say, I don't worship devils. You got to get away from people that worship devils. You can't say, I don't do this wicked sin. You got to get away from that. We separate from people that don't love God.
[8:42] Do you hear that? We separate from people that don't love God. In Nehemiah chapter 10 and verse 28, the Bible says that they separated themselves from the people of the land.
[8:53] You need to understand in verse 28, we talked about separation. Separation is always from, to, from, to. Look, if you would, in chapter 10 and verse 28, they separated themselves from the people of the land unto the law of God.
[9:08] They said, we won't do what people think is right. We'll do what God says is right. We won't go about public opinion or popular opinion. We'll find out what God says. And in chapter 10 and verse 28, three chapters ago, they made that choice.
[9:21] Verse 29, they entered into a curse. If you've been going through the Bible, you should have it underlined. They said, we'll do it or we want God to punish us. We give our word. We sign our name.
[9:31] We have made our choice. We will serve God. Verse 30, they promised what they wouldn't do. They said, we will not give our daughters to these lost people. I'm not going to let a devil worshiping lost man have my daughter.
[9:47] I say that very harshly, but let me explain to you. They looked real good. They looked real good. These devil worshipers didn't have tails and horns. They looked like a city councilman.
[9:58] They looked like a good Democrat. They looked like a good Republican. They looked like a good person in your community. They looked like somebody that belonged to one of the civic clubs. They just didn't worship God. They didn't walk around going, hiss, hiss, hiss, like a demon or a snake.
[10:11] They just didn't talk Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And he said, we won't give our daughters to them. Now go to chapter 13 and verse 1. Chapter 13, Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 1.
[10:24] They have intentionally or unwittingly married Ammonites and Moabites. In chapter 13 and verse 1, they read in the book of Moses and the audience of the people and found written that the Ammonite and the Moabites shouldn't enter into the congregation of God.
[10:40] Now if you got your Bible open, I wish you'd underline this. They read in the book. Would you just underline that? You know how to keep yourself straight? Read in the book.
[10:51] You know how to know what's right? Read in the book. Underline that in verse 1. They read in the book. They read in the book. Now how many of you are not having a habit of reading in the book?
[11:03] How many of you don't have a habit of opening this book and saying, God, I need to hear from you. I need to know what you think. And he'll say, well, read my book. And you've been reading your book. Now I want you to underline that same verse.
[11:14] He said, and they found written. It's amazing what you find when you read. You're like, I didn't know he said that. Well, you just hadn't been looking at the writing.
[11:25] Because when you look at the writing, it's right there. He found written that they shouldn't marry them. You'll find God's will and God's truth in the Bible. Ammon and Moab were the children of Lot and his incest with his daughters.
[11:42] So these are two cursed groups of people. It is a wicked daughter who went in and slept with her drunk daddy. And the next night, the other daughter did the exact same thing.
[11:53] And that's where these people come from. They are the enemies of God. It's amazing what happened when they read the Bible. Look if you would at chapter 13 and verse 3. When they heard the law, underline that, they heard the law, they separated from all Israel, from Israel, all the mixed multitude.
[12:13] I wish you'd underline they heard the law. Now you are hearing it this morning. I'm reading it to you. And as you read the Word of God and as you see it right there in front of you, you ought to be saying, I really don't care what Austin's got to say, but if it's in the book, it's for real.
[12:31] I don't care what Austin has to say, but if it's in the book, I will. And they heard the law and they separated. They realized this isn't what a man wanted to do.
[12:41] This is what God wanted them to do. Can I get an amen there? We came here today not as lost people. We came here today as born again people who want God's will.
[12:52] We came here today to say open God's book. Let's see what God has to say because I love God and I want to serve God. God had forbidden this union in Deuteronomy 23, 3 and 4.
[13:04] This group of people had hired Balaam, a wicked, idolatrous, money hungry preacher and he hired him to curse God's people and when he went up and tried to curse God's people, he said curses and out came blessings because God said, you ain't messing with my people, boy.
[13:25] And so Balaam said, well, we can't, I can't put the curse on them but here's what we can do. We can mix with them. We can mix with them and what a curse won't do, mixing with them will do.
[13:39] So if you'll just go marry their daughters and go to parties with them and hang out with them, you can teach them not to worship their God and then God won't bless them and so Balaam won in the long run.
[13:53] Unbelievers infiltrated with God's people and brought problems to God's people. How many people in this room are falling for Balaam's curse?
[14:05] How many of you are like, yeah, my best friends are Hindus. My best friends are Buddhists. You say, well, Brother Austin, shouldn't we witness to them? Yeah, but when you do, they'll either get right or get mad.
[14:19] You see, real witnessing doesn't say, hey, I'll go to your church and we'll worship your God and you'll come to my church and I'll worship my God and we'll just be buddies. We will coexist. Jesus doesn't coexist with anybody.
[14:33] He is the only one who exists and he expects it to be the way it works. So they met the children of Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 2. They hired Balaam.
[14:45] You can never imitate the world and hope for God's blessings. We can never imitate the world. So churches have the desire, man, we need more people to come to our church so let's get worldly.
[14:57] Well, churches weren't meant to get worldly. Churches were meant to get the world out of people and get Jesus into people. We can't dumb down the church enough and dumb down the word of God enough that lost people will like it. Darkness always hates light.
[15:11] Evil always runs from right and good. Those who love sin and rebellion and Satan will always hate God and submission and righteousness until they are converted.
[15:24] We want people to come to know Jesus. They had so mingled with the world that a wicked man was given lodging in the very house of God. Look at Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 4. Now you've got to understand once you start making friends with them you've got to be nice to them.
[15:39] And the priest, Eliasab, he's a buddy with Tobiah and Tobiah is the guy that all book long has been causing trouble for Nehemiah. And Nehemiah is out of town and so Eliasab chapter 13 and verse 4 allies himself.
[15:52] He intermarries. His family marries with the wicked guy's family and he's in charge. He has the oversight, look at it, of the chamber of the house of God and he's allied with them. See, when you make friends you make concessions.
[16:07] When you make friends you make concessions. If we're going to get along I won't say what offends you even if it's right and even if it's true and you won't say what offends me.
[16:19] What are you teaching your children? It was friendship over faithfulness. And so it got so bad in Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 5 that they gave him the big room.
[16:32] Now down at the church they didn't, you know, nowadays our big room for all the offerings at this church is down at the bank. And now we do it all with paper, you know, or just digits. I don't even know if there's any real paper out there.
[16:43] It's just all digits. But in their day and time when you came to church on Sunday you came in with a bunch of avocados and some grapes and some watermelons and all the food and they had this big room set aside and as the people of God came in they took that stuff and they put it in this big room and that was going to meet the needs of the preachers and the Levites and the work of God.
[17:06] But in chapter 13 and verse 5 Elias said we don't need that room anymore. We're so lined up with the world we don't even give our money to this. Our money now goes to junk. We've quit honoring God and we've started honoring ourselves.
[17:20] And so in verse 5 he prepared for him a great chamber a big room that beforehand a fourth time they had put the meat offerings and the frankincense and the vessels and the tithes and the new wine and the oil and that had been commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers and the porters and the offerings of the priest.
[17:40] He replaced obedience to God with friendship with the world. No more offerings no more obedience but we will be accepted and respected by the world.
[17:53] You know I want my lost neighbor to just think I'm a great guy. I don't want him to think I'm a fanatic. I don't want him to think I dedicate so much of my life and my time to God. I wouldn't want to come across as one of them people who gives God so much money.
[18:05] I wouldn't want to come across as one of them better than thou guys. I need to hang out with the drunkard and he needs to like me. I need to hang out with the God hater and he needs to like me. That's what ends up happening in Nehemiah.
[18:18] There's a great lesson here. You have to choose to please your family or God but you can't choose both. You see the whole Christian life is take up your cross and taking up your cross means saying no to you and no to your family and yes to God.
[18:36] I will not do what regular American people do. I will not do what regular people on this planet do. I will honor God. I know this morning they're all over the city.
[18:47] This is not even a day for God. They don't care about worship. They don't care about honoring God. They're out doing all their games and they even mock us. They drive by and say them people are wasting our money.
[18:58] Them people got tax free up there. Look at all them people just up there doing dumb stuff and you're buying into it. The priest threw away his ministry by marrying the wrong person.
[19:11] Nehemiah wasn't there providing spiritual leadership. Churches fail when men and women in leadership do not walk with God. Families fail when parents do not step up and lead their home in the word of God and obedience.
[19:26] Listen to me. Your kid's going to walk away from God because you need to stand up and say we will serve God. We will read the Bible. We will honor God. We will do what's right. If you don't do that you're teaching them another lesson.
[19:40] So Nehemiah takes a biblical stand. Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 7. Y'all mad at me yet? I mean I've really you don't know it but I'm really at the first Sunday in all the years I've been preaching I'm struggling with junk I normally struggle with so I know the devil don't like me being here so what I'm saying to you I just hope you take it.
[19:57] Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 7 Nehemiah gets back to Jerusalem. I love this verse. You gotta understand old Nehemiah he's had the money he's had the position he's worn the nice clothes he stood next to the king he's been a cupbearer to the king and he chose the cross over the cup and he's been leading these people for 12 years he's been back in Babylon and now he's come back to Jerusalem and when he gets back to Jerusalem it says in verse 7 I came to Jerusalem and I understood I figured it out I understood the evil that Eliasab did for Tobiah he says Eliasab wants to be the friend of lost people he's more concerned about what lost people feel than what God feels and he's made a compromise with them and he gave him that room he recognizes the evil the man of God has committed he sees a wicked man has been put in God's house in place of the offerings and it breaks his heart look at 13.8 in 13.8 he says man it grieved me sore
[21:05] Tennessee Hillbilly boy that burnt my backside I went what in the world this is where God's stuff's supposed to be what's this pagan doing in God's house that's what old Nehemiah's thinking you say I don't think he was that violent hang on baby he's going to be slapping him around in a minute I mean this is like the meanest spiritual leader you ever met he said then he said now look at it he said I cast forth I don't really know how that works you know how Jesus turned the tables over does this mean Nehemiah just walked in there and just walked over and said get this out of here is that what it means that's kind of it's kind of what I read there John just took a duck look at it does that know what I cast forth that's pretty strong talk he said I went in there it grieved me so I threw his junk out old Tobiah comes walking up and he's like here comes his underwear boom there comes his bed boom I know Tobiah's probably like what in the world and they look up and there's the man of God look at verse 9 he said
[22:08] I commanded and they cleaned old Nehemiah walked in there and said get that gun out of here and go in there and wash it down with soap and water and bleach and get the filth out of that room that's God's room he said then I went and said go find all God's vessels and bring them back he said you know what I noticed chapter 13 and verse 10 he said they done quit taking care of the men of God look at it verse 10 I perceived that the portions of the Levites hadn't been given them and they all ran for home see what ended up happening was the Levites were supposed to live off those offerings but now Tobiah's living in the room where their offerings come from so they've all left nobody's doing the preaching work anymore nobody's setting up the auditorium nobody's getting everything ready anymore they ran you see they didn't keep their promise to separate from sin and now they didn't keep their promise to support the work of God look at verse 11 then contended I why is the house of God forsaken why aren't y'all taking care of
[23:13] God's house that's what he says he said y'all promised you would look back to Nehemiah chapter 10 and verse 39 the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering unto the chambers and look at the last phrase of that verse we will not forsake the house of our God you can hear it can't you it was a revival meeting there were people at the altar I'll separate from sin I'll take care of the man of God I'll do what I'm supposed to do I will do right three chapters later they have forgotten all that so Nehemiah got things back in order in chapter 13 and verse 12 they started bringing their tithes back then they set up the budget at the church to make sure it wasn't a church it was a nation of Israel to make sure the men of God were taken care of 1313 I made treasurers over the treasures I found men that were counted faithful and would give the money out distribute unto their brethren y'all to underline that Nehemiah wants God to remember him what's really beautiful in this whole chapter is Nehemiah's like
[24:16] God you know these people don't even like me I've been slapping people around I've been making people do right and I'm not sure they like me but I need to know you like me read the verse to me by the way dad you don't need your kids to like you you need God to like you and when God likes you your kids will love you see you being a yes man to a bunch of brats is not manhood you ought to say to them we're going to church we don't miss doors open we're there you say well what about this what about it huh you mad yet chapter 13 verse 14 read this remember me oh my God concerning this and wipe not out my good deeds I have done for the house of my God and for the offices of God God please remember me when it's all said and done God I want to know this that you think I have shown my love for you that I have done the right thing don't forget because I'm not making decisions based on what's popular
[25:22] I'm making decisions based on what you want I get an amen right there and if God remembers you what will he remember about you will he remember you as faithful will he remember you as obedient will he remember you as taking care of his work or taking care of yourself I remind you not to get too mad right here we're in Nehemiah 13 we was in 12 last week and so if you think boy he's picking on me well actually 13 just came after 12 you say what a coincidence you're preaching on this not really we've been on this course a long time they also didn't keep their promise about honoring God's day the Sabbath in chapter 13 and verse 7 I contended with the nobles and I said what evil is this that you do in profaning the Sabbath now the Sabbath is not our day that's Saturday but the Jewish people to honor their God were to not do stuff on that day it was God's day they promised that in Nehemiah chapter 10 and verse 31 that they wouldn't buy they wouldn't do business that they would set that day aside for God just like he told them to they made that promise but they forgot you know like you did oh God I love you I'll do whatever you want me to do
[26:42] I'll honor you I'll serve you I'll be there oh sorry God I forgot I got other activities check you later you hang tight I'll be back Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 15 Nehemiah shows up he says I saw in Judah some people were treading on the wine presses on the Sabbath and they were bringing stuff into sale on the Sabbath and I testified against them that's all in verse 15 he said they were selling food they were just going about life like God's day wasn't God's day he said so I said hey I need to explain to y'all what the Bible says and he's talking to Jewish people in his Old Testament but he preached to them and then he says something really interesting what you teaching your children verse 18 he said did not your fathers do the same thing and did not our God bring evil on us and upon our city yet ye bring more wrath he said
[27:48] God stop did we not figure out in Nehemiah chapters 1 through 12 that the reason we're suffering is our parents didn't honor God and we're suffering the consequences the reason we were in Babylon for 70 years is our parents didn't obey God for 490 years and we've been slaves boy it's been rough and it was mama and daddy that brought it on us and now you're trying to bring it on your own kids can't you learn anything they'd all suffered from the consequences of their parents sins and now they're falling into the same trap how quickly we forget our promises to God how easily we slip back into the old way of life that's the old Nehemiah he stands back up and says time to take another stand here comes another one Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 19 it came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the
[28:50] Sabbath I commanded the gates be shut and they will not be open again and he said I sat by the gates and I made sure nobody was about business on that day read the verse so Nehemiah went down he said shut the gates there's gates all around that city shut the gates they're not coming in you're not doing business we're gonna honor God we made that promise and we're gonna keep it what he said and then what happened was all the merchants just came and camped out right outside the gate they just said well if he won't let us in we'll be ready for first light buddy we'll be in there so then he said chapter 13 and verse 20 nope you're leaving no camping next to the walls he said if you do verse 21 I'll lay hands on you I like this preacher I mean I picture young he's not a preacher he's a he's a businessman I mean he goes out and says no no no you don't park next to my gate you're not waiting to do wrong nope not happening leave and if you don't I'm gonna beat the slop out of you that's that's
[30:00] King Austin's translation of your King James right there I will lay hands on you I don't think he meant God bless these people as I pray over them I think he meant I'll prove it in a minute he gonna slap them around and he said to the men of God time y'all woke up and started doing your job you bunch of lazy preachers you bunch of lazy preachers chapter 13 and verse 22 I commanded I hate that I hate to think that some businessman had to walk in and say get out of bed you bunch of lazy preachers and get about doing your job but that's pretty much what I read here he said I commanded I said y'all take a bath and get holy clean up and sanctify make holy God's holy day this is a man's thing you say I'm a little offended I bet you are you ran into a real man of God old Nehemiah goodnight Nehemiah didn't have a backbone he had a railroad being back there everybody else might bend and bow old Nehemiah said I don't bend and I don't bow he wanted God to know he'd been doing right here he comes again he loves to say
[31:15] God hey God I'm out here fighting with everybody just me all by myself fighting with a lot of people please don't forget me look at Nehemiah 13 22 remember me oh my God concerning this also you know I've been fighting with them a lot spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy I go out there and I get ready to whoop them they might all try to gang up on me so God just remember I'm your guy give me power to whoop them whoop them that's Tennessee hillbilly for beat them up whip them so now he says we need to talk about the fact y'all been marrying the wrong people 13 23 in those days saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod Ammon and Moab y'all have married women from people that don't love God let's change that for you you have married women women of Hinduism Buddhism Islam and you married them you married them and he said your children have learned from your wives how to speak talk about other gods and not the real God look at chapter 13 verse 24 you got this is all
[32:33] Bible come on are you mad I'm just reading the Bible 13 24 and their children spake half the speech of Ashdod and could not speak in the Jews language you understand what he said I go in there and talk to your kid he understands how to pray to Mohammed he understands how to pray to Allah but he doesn't know how to pray to God God because your wife spends more time with the kids anyway and your wife doesn't even love the God of heaven what you teaching your kids what you teaching your kids I know you're not going to hear this at a normal church because they're not going to get into the Bible but we're just reading the Bible and church is supposed to read the Bible amen they couldn't speak the Jews language 13 24 they couldn't speak the Jews language now what's the Jews language what's Hebrew it's Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy it's Joshua and Judges and
[33:33] Ruth and first and second Samuel the first second Kings first second Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah and Ezra and Job and Psalms and all the way to Malachi 39 books that's God's talk and your kids are becoming more familiar with football terms and basketball terms and there's nothing wrong with any of that they're more familiar than they are with the his words that's your leadership sir I know how to race this car I know how to play this golf game I know how to fly this airplane and I know more about that I know about God you get to talk to them about flying an airplane they're going to get excited you get to talk to them about loving Jesus they're going to get real depressed bored's the word God's stuff bores me well that's because you got the wrong mama in this chapter because she doesn't love God in our context it might be you got the wrong mama and dad they're not teaching you y'all mad yet if you think you're mad hang on because Nehemiah is fixing to show his colors Nehemiah 1325 you have your Bibles open I'm going to go a little over today I don't do it normally so charge me next week verse 25 I contended that means I got in a fight with him argument with him I cursed now that's not like he didn't say blankety blank words he said God will not put up with this God will bring judgment on you that's what that kind of curse means you can't play this game and get away with it that's what the curse means and then he said and then I slapped a few of them can you imagine that meeting I just walk right over and grab
[35:17] John is punching one I get through punching I'm gonna get over here get Jeff and just whoop him right it's easier to whip you you're shorter you're next Josh you're small he's too big he might be too I'll whoop you I'm looking for the shortest guy in the room he smote him and then he plucked their hair out I mean I want you to he goes over by the hair head he's drunken them across the room and all of a sudden he looks down and then nobody nobody's there he just got hair in his hand this is a deacon's meeting say amen and then he made them swear and say we won't do it anymore we're sorry and when I was a kid used to play uncle y'all don't it'd be it would be bad to do this today but in the old days you'd grab your hands like this and he grabbed his hands and whoever could twist them and the kid had to go uncle when you whooped them bad enough nowadays y'all couldn't do that you your kids get in trouble for manly stuff like that but anyway he said you will say you're not going to do wrong anymore y'all gonna get it right today and then he says can I remind you that the smartest king we ever had a king like no other king he married the wrong kind of women and it messed up his life
[36:27] Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 26 did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things he married outlandish women you know what outlandish means don't you out of this land really just means he married those women that worshiped Islam he married those women that worshiped Hinduism he married those women who worshiped other gods and when you do that you bring compromise Nehemiah 13 27 he knows that they knew they could fall into the same trap he said shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil you know it's a big evil for you to want to hang out and be friends with people that don't love God when your buddies are beer guzzling sex fiends and you're hanging out birds of a feather flock together sweetie that's why some of us are in church this morning we're in church because we're looking for our own kind great evil to transgress against our God and marrying strange women in verse 13 28 one of the smart elects stood up and said something and so he just chased him out of the room you can can you see this right here I'm talking to all you people and somebody stood up right there
[37:52] Nehemiah just takes off running so I'm kick your rear if I can catch you the guy's headed for the door he said you don't see me snatching hair out of heads watch this I'm fixing to kick you and the guy's booking it out the door and then he said I hope God punishes you chapter 29 chapter 13 verse 29 remember them oh my God they defiled the priesthood they broke the covenant and so I cleaned it up verse 30 and in verse 31 he said so remember me God remember me God here's some major lessons to be learned from Nehemiah chapter 13 you need to choose spiritual blessings over material ones making money isn't as important as your walk with God and yet you'll move to another town when there's no church that preaches the book and you'll skip church for a dollar that's cheap prostitution you're not careful you will choose comfort and convenience over the cross you're called to a cross you will choose what makes you feel good over obedience you should hunger for the approval of God like Nehemiah does
[39:22] Nehemiah 13 Nehemiah kept saying hey remember me remember me hey God remember me I'm taking a stand remember me we're like I got time to I don't care what God thinks I gotta do what I like this week I'll get around to God when I'm dying on my deathbed but your kids won't be praying for you buddy they'll have learned not to pray from you I'm old enough to retire if y'all need that this is what the book says be careful what you teach your children be careful what you teach your children if you learn the language of the world then do not be surprised when they choose the world over Jesus if you learn the language of the world then do not be surprised if they choose the world over Jesus I don't mean to be ugly I don't mind being ugly just to be blunt honest that I'm in Nehemiah I mean I'm not the nicest guy you ever met I ain't hit a one of you I ain't snatched any of your hair out I ain't chased anybody out of the room but just just take what
[40:31] Nehemiah saying Nehemiah is saying stand for God yeah your kids gonna want to go to that activity yeah your wife's gonna want it yeah you're gonna want to but somewhere along the way you stand up say God first God first if you show little respect for God in his worship then your children probably will not serve God are your children learning to do what lost kids do or what God's kids do you do not know how much I want you to love me it's one of my biggest weaknesses I want people to love me but the truth is in this chapter and anybody in this church that knows the Bible knows I haven't stretched it a bit be careful who your children date and marry has long-lasting consequences how do you handle your money are you honoring God with your money see they wouldn't honor God with their money that's why they could put Tobiah in the treasury room are you taking care of the things of God or are you forsaken the house of God what are you teaching your children most important thing in my life is this God let me have four children and
[41:52] I want them to serve Jesus and when I'm laying in a casket in a few years I hope my kids walk by and say daddy loved Jesus and we do too I hope my kids walk by and say he put Jesus first and we will too I don't need a trophy I don't need a lot of money I do need Jesus where are you what are you teaching your children you