Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I got a new smart
watch. And I got one for my wife. And I like
it during worship because every time I hit the
keyboard or clap my hands, it counts as another
step. So Cammie and I can challenge each other
on how many steps we take. And all I got to do
is play a couple songs on the keyboard and I
win. Praise God. Everything's a competition.
You know that, don't you? But I want to, I just
have this in my heart this morning. There are
no shortcuts. That's a shortcut, isn't it? There
are no shortcuts in the kingdom of God. There
are no shortcuts to growing in Christ. There
are no shortcuts to getting closer to God. And
if you expect it to be different for you than
it is for everybody else, it isn't going to work
that way. We've got to give ourselves to the
things of God, right? We've got to do what God's
called us to do. We're not saved because of those
things, but we grow because of those things.
We give ourselves to God, and he helps us to
move forward in Christ. How many of you want
to move forward in Christ? Amen. Now, I'm believing
this morning that... the altars are going to
be filled when I'm done preaching, that the altars
are going to be filled with people that are rededicating
their lives to Christ. Are you ready to rededicate
your life to Christ this morning? Amen. Praise
God. Turn with me to Nehemiah chapter 13. Nehemiah
chapter 13. And we're going to spend some time.
in Nehemiah chapter 13. Today's an incredibly
special day. Today is a day that America has
chosen to rededicate this nation back to God.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is a, I believe,
across our country, a solemn day. We are rededicating
our life not to a God, not to just a God, whichever
God you choose. No, today we are rededicating
America back to the God of the Bible. We are
rededicating America back to Jesus. Hallelujah.
And across this nation, at courthouses and counties
all over, people are gathering for prayer. I
know that the time three o 'clock has been mentioned.
If you want to make your way to the courthouse
at three o 'clock, I will be traveling at that
time. But I would love for as many of you as
possible on the courthouse grounds to gather
and say, Lord, we dedicate this nation back to
you. Amen. Praise God. And so, Lord, as this
nation dedicates itself back to you, I pray that
you would hear the cry of your people, that you
would hear the heartbeat of the United States
of America, that, Lord, of all of our shortcomings
and failures, we turn back to you. In its 250th
birthday, Lord, we turn back to you. And we acknowledge
you as the sovereign over the United States of
America. And all God's people said, Amen. Amen.
Now throughout the history of Israel, there have
been great reformers in the Old Testament. Thinking
of Moses. Thinking of David. Thinking later of
King Josiah, King Hezekiah. All the judges that
God raised up to bring the nation back to God.
Aren't you thankful for the voices that turn
the nation back to God? And Nehemiah is one such
person that God used to rebuild the walls around
Jerusalem and bring the nation back to God. Before
we read this passage, let me give you just a
little history on Nehemiah. He was not a king.
He was not a priest. Nehemiah was a cupbearer
to a secular king, King Artaxerxes. He was a
cupbearer. He was the one that tasted the food
and drank the wine before the king to test it.
To make sure it wasn't poisoned. Because the
king has enemies. And not anybody, not just anybody
can work in the cook of the president in the
kitchen. Not anybody can do that. And the cup
bearer was the one that protected the king. Would
take that cup in his hand and before the king
drank it, would drink it himself. So that if
there was any poison in it, the king would know.
Can I tell you? It's very much like the cross.
It's very much like the cross of Calvary. Jesus
drank the cup on our behalf so that the wrath
of God would not touch you and I. So that the
poison of sin would be removed. so that you and
I would be protected. Nehemiah was a cupbearer.
But his position in Israel was to bring the people
back to God. So as you read the book of Nehemiah,
he rebuilds the wall of Jerusalem, and it's an
incredible story. But he comes back at the end,
and in chapter 13, Nehemiah brings reformation
to the people on another level. And we'll see
how much of this we get to in the next 20 minutes
or so. On that day they read from the book of
Moses in the hearing of the people, and it was
found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should
ever come into the assembly of God, because they
had not met the children of Israel with bread
and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse
them. However, our God turned the curse into
a blessing. So it was when they heard the law
that they separated all the mixed multitude of
Israel. Now this chapter is going to sound harsh.
It's Old Testament. It's not the testament of
grace, but it is a testament that God called
his people to obey. And so, verse 4. Now before
this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over
the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied
with Tobiah. And he had prepared for him a large
room. where previously they had stored the grain
offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the
tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which
were commanded to be given to the Levites and
singers and gatekeepers and the offerings for
the priests. But during all this, I was not in
Jerusalem, for in the thirty -second year of
Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I had returned to
the king, and after certain days I obtained leave
from the king, and I came to Jerusalem and discovered
the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in
preparing a room for him in the courts of the
house of our God, and it grieved me bitterly.
Therefore, I threw all the household goods of
Tobiah out of the room. I commanded them to cleanse
the rooms and I brought back into them the articles
of the house of God with the grain offering and
the frankincense. This Nehemiah, he's got some
fortitude, doesn't he? He's got some grit. I'm
believing God in 2026 for some people with some
spiritual grit inside of them that will walk
with God. Now you need to understand something
about Eliashib. He was the high priest. He was
the one that was supposed to be leading the way
in the things of the law, in the things that
God had commanded them to do. But here he had...
cleaned out a room that was designated by God
for the offerings of God's people. And he had
cleared out this room and said, hey, Tobiah,
you can live here. Whenever you're in town, here's
a room for you. Now you need to understand some
things about Tobiah. Because Tobiah was not just
any other person. If you flip back in your Bible
or you scroll back on your phone to Nehemiah
2 and verse 10, you are introduced to the character
of Tobiah. And it says in verse 10, when Sanballat
the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official,
when they heard of what... they were doing rebuilding
the wall, they were deeply disturbed that a man
had come to seek the well -being of the children
of Israel. This Tobiah was not only an Ammonite,
he was a leader of the Ammonites. He was joined
together with Sanballat, who spent the next two
or three chapters taunting the Israelites, telling
them they should not rebuild the wall. This Tobiah
the Ammonite was a leader among his people and
Eliashib thought it was more important to maintain
a back -channel relationship with Tobiah than
it was to obey the word of God. And so the high
priest of Israel had invited Tobiah the Ammonite
to dwell. in the temple of God. This is an evil,
evil, evil thing that is taking place. But I
ask the question today, as we rededicate our
lives to the Lord, you know, it doesn't make
sense for America to rededicate herself to the
Lord if the believers in America do not rededicate
themselves to the Lord. It's got to come down
to the church. It's got to come down to individuals
in the house of God saying, I'm going to rededicate
my life to the Lord. But how many of us have
back channel relationships with things that God
has once delivered us from? We have back channel
relationships, friendships with the world. And
it's time for us to say, we're going to clear
out our storehouses and make room for God and
what he wants to do. Jesus said, put your hand
to the plow and do not look back. Amen? Do not
look back. In 2 Peter chapter 2. Peter says something
very sobering. He says, for if they, after they
have escaped the pollutions of the world, through
the knowledge of the Lord, our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in the
things of the world and are overcome by them,
the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
It would have been better for them not to have
known the way of righteousness than having known
it to turn from the holy commandment delivered
to them. But it has happened to them according
to the true proverb, a dog returns to his vomit
and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the
mire. Friends, I want to call you to... Keep
yourself in the deliverance that God has made
for you. Amen? Galatians chapter 5. That was
Peter in 2 Peter. Here's Paul. He said, Stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ
has made us free. And do not be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Hallelujah. Now, you
might say, well, I've been a Christian for a
while, Pastor. I don't need to hear that. But
can I remind you how quickly, after Moses went
up the mountain and he was gone, they had been
delivered from the hand of Pharaoh. They had
walked across on dry ground. They had seen the
miraculous hand of God work. They had watched
the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by
day. They had it with them. But as soon as Moses
went up the mountain, what did they do? Hey,
let's make a golden calf. Let's bow down to it.
And all the nation committed idolatry. We're
fickle people, aren't we? We're very temperamental
people. And we need God to constantly remind
us, don't go back to the things I once delivered
you from. And if you're here this morning and
you're saying, you know what? I've gone back
to some of those things. I've opened the door
back to some of those things. I recognize this
morning that I need to shut that door. When you
rededicate your life to the Lord this morning,
you're saying, I am shutting the door on the
things that entangle me and that keep me from
living for God. I'm kicking Tobiah out of my
house. In Jesus' name. We need to be like Nehemiah
and rededicate ourselves to Christ. Amen? Is
that good stuff this morning? Praise God. Okay,
I'm going to move quicker through the rest of
these. The second thing Nehemiah did, the next
verse, verse 10. I also realized that the portions
for the Levites had not been given to them for
each of the Levites and the singers. Everybody
say, and the singers. Who did the work had gone
back to his field. They had gone back to his
field. In rededicating Israel to the Lord, Nehemiah,
restored worship. He restored worship. The musicians
and singers, they were Levites. They relied on
the offerings that the rest of the nation brought.
And when the rest of the nation under the leadership
of Eliashib, they quit giving. They quit. They
quit bringing offerings. And so the musicians
and the singers and the worshipers, do you know
what they did? They said, well, how are we going
to eat? And they had to choose eating over fulfilling
their calling. And they went back to the fields.
And the worship that was supposed to be offered
by the people to the Lord, the singers that were
supposed to stand in the place of worship, they
were gone. They were no more. Friends, if we're
going to rededicate our lives back to God, we
have got to come back to the place of worship.
We've got to protect the place of worship. We've
got to... come out of the field and we've got
to say these these singers you know they they
wanted to eat And so some might say, well, it's
not their fault, but they had a mandate from
God and they abandoned their mandate. You know,
can I tell you something? If they would have
stayed and they would have said, you know what?
It doesn't matter what Eliashib says. Eliashib
is not my provider. I'm going to fulfill the
call that God has on my life. Can I tell you
something? God would have come through for every
single one of them. Can I encourage you? Do not
abandon your call for the sake of money, for
the sake of provision. Trust in the name of the
Lord our God. Trust in Him in Jesus' name. Hallelujah.
Some of the people that we have met with and
talked with about marriage, one of the difficulties
in our society, is that if you stay unmarried,
you get more money from the government than if
you marry. This is a very real thing. The question
is this. Are we going to trust in the government?
Or are we going to trust in the name of the Lord
our God? And I want to declare over every one
of us today to don't be afraid. Do not be afraid
to take the steps that you need to take to trust
in the Lord our God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
And Nehemiah said, this isn't going to happen
on my watch. On my watch, we're going to have
worship in the house. On my watch, we're going
to have musicians on the house. On my watch,
we're going to have singers in the house. Hallelujah.
You know, pastors come to me and they say, Darren,
you know, if you cut your service time down to
55 minutes, your church will grow. You know what?
Based upon all the evidence of all the other
churches, it's true. The church will grow. But
what will we sacrifice? Because our number one
priority, I mean, how many of you like it when
the house is full? I like it. I believe we're
going to have this house jam -packed. I believe
the day is coming where if you don't come early,
it's going to be hard to find a seat. But I refuse
to make that my number one priority. My number
one priority is not to pack the house with people.
My number one priority is not even to win the
lost. It's high on my list of priorities. But
there's something that is higher still. And that
is this. We are gathered in this place to worship
God. We are gathered in this place to lift Him
high. We are gathered in this place to give Him
what is due His name. Hallelujah. And I love
it. I love it, church, that we lingered in worship.
For an hour and ten minutes this morning. I love
it that we did that. I'm kind of racing through
my message because of that. But we gave Jesus
the worship that he is worthy of. Hallelujah.
He is worthy of the worship. Glory to God. Glory
to God. He's worthy of the worship. And before
everything else. He's worthy. Do you know the
number one reason we do missions? We do missions
because we care about people. Jesus cares about
people. The Father's not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance.
His heart is for the nations. His heart is for
the lost. His heart is toward the people. But
you know the number one reason why we want to
reach people? Because our God is worthy of...
Their worship. Our God is worthy. Of another
one. Coming to give him praise. Our God is worthy.
Of more. Than what we have right now. He's worthy
of it all. We do missions. Because our God is
worthy. We want the nations. To sing and lift
him up. And see. He's worthy. That's why we witness.
That's why we reach the lost. We reach the lost
for their sake as well. Because we love people
like God does. But friends, the restoration of
worship is... is the priority of rededication.
I'm believing that America will once again be
a center of worship for God. I'm believing that
our nation will be known again because of its
worship. We are here to worship the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords. I believe that worship
is going to grow in this house. I believe that
we're going to add opportunities for worship
in the coming 12 months. We're going to see God
expand worship in central Illinois, across this
land. I believe it with my whole heart. Are you
hungry? Are you hungry to see God lifted high?
Hallelujah. Praise the name of the Lord. And
so Paul, he said that one of the signs that you
are filled with the Holy Spirit went beyond tongues,
went beyond the gifts of the Spirit that are
powerful and good. He said, do not be drunk with
wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with
the Spirit of God. And if you're filled with
the Spirit of God, you're going to speak to one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
If you're filled with the Spirit of God, you're
going to sing and you're going to make melody
in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always
for all things to God the Father in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Worship.
Worship. Make worship bigger in your home. Make
worship bigger in your car. Make worship bigger
when you're by yourself. Make worship bigger
when you're here in this place. Don't just tolerate
worship in this house to get to the good part,
the preaching. We want the preaching to get better
and better, but friends, do not skip. The worship.
Give yourself to worship. Give yourself to worship.
When we rededicate our lives to the Lord this
morning. If you come down to this altar. You're
saying God I want to be a vessel of worship.
I may not sing great. I may not any of those
things. But I want to be a vessel of worship.
The restoration of. The temple, the restoration
of worship, and the restoration of giving. The
commands under Moses was for the nation to bring
the tithe to the temple so that the work of the
ministry could happen. The whole nation was neglecting
their responsibility, but this rededication involved
a revival. Of giving. I personally believe. That
the tithe. One tenth of your income. Belongs
to the Lord. It's the beginning place. Of giving.
To position yourself. For spiritual. Blessing.
Some of you wonder why. Ends never. meet. It
could be because you are neglecting giving. When
you as an individual or a family begin to tithe
God will begin to prove himself to you in ways
that you never thought possible. And the question
that I want to ask is will you trust God with
your finances? Bring all the tithes into the
storehouse that there may be food in my house.
Try me now in this, says the Lord, if I will
not open for you the windows of heaven and pour
out for you such blessing that there will not
be room enough to receive it. This is the one
promise where God says it's okay to test him
in. All throughout the Scriptures, the Word says,
do not test the Lord your God. But here, God
invites you to test Him. Financial miracles released
into the church and into the families of the
church happen when we rededicate our lives to
the Lord. These Israelites under Nehemiah, they
had gotten used to not giving. They had gotten
used to not bringing the sacrifice of worship
through financial means. And we are rededicating
our lives to God, trusting Him with everything.
This is a revival of giving. be deceived. God
is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that shall
he reap. 1 Corinthians 16. On the first day of
the week, let each one of you lay something aside,
storing up as he may prosper to the church. This
is Paul. I bear witness, he said in 2 Corinthians
8, that according to their ability, yes, and
beyond their ability, they were freely willing,
imploring us with much urgency that we would
receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering
to the saints. Hallelujah. And so this morning,
We are rededicating our lives to God, saying,
Lord, we trust you with everything. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. I feel the anointing of the Lord
in this house right now. Rededicating our lives
to God. Number four, the restoration. of the
Sabbath. Nehemiah 13, 15. I saw people in Judah
treading wine presses on the Sabbath. bringing
in sheaves, loading donkeys with wine, grapes,
figs, all kinds of burdens which they brought
into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned
them about the day on which they were selling
provisions. Men of Tyre dwelt there also who
brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold
them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah
and in Jerusalem. And I contended with the nobles
of Judah and said to them, What evil thing is
this that you do by profaning the Sabbath day?
Did not your fathers do thus? And did not our
God bring all this disaster on us and all this
city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by
profaning the Sabbath. So it was at the gates
of Jerusalem as it began to be dark before the
Sabbath. I commanded the gates to be shut. I
charged that they must not be open till after
the Sabbath. I posted some of my servants at
the gates so no burdens would be brought in on
the Sabbath day. And the merchants and sellers
of all kinds of wares lodged. outside Jerusalem
once or twice and I warned them and I said to
them, why do you spend the night outside the
wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on
you. Oh, I love Nehemiah. That was not in a good
way. He was laying hands on people. From that
time on, they came no more on the Sabbath and
I commanded that the Levites, that they should
cleanse themselves and they should go and guard
the gates to sanctify. The Sabbath day. The Sabbath
was a commandment, the fourth of the ten commandments
in Exodus chapter 20 and Deuteronomy chapter
5. God himself set in order the Sabbath by resting
on the seventh day. Nehemiah saw that they weren't
even making an attempt to follow it and he said
it right. Then in the years that were to come,
the leaders of Israel turned the Sabbath into
legalism. Adding rule after rule that made it
more of a burden than a blessing. Jesus brought
the Sabbath back to its intention. In Mark 2
.23, he said this, listen. Man was not made for
the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man. Did
you know that God's intention for the Sabbath,
God's intention is to give you rest? Did you
know that in the New Testament, there is not
a legalistic single day that you have to keep
by law? is the Sabbath day. And he said in Matthew
11, come to me all you are weary and I will give
you rest. His intention is that you pay attention
to the rest that you have in Jesus Christ. I'm
cutting this short a little bit. But some of
you are neglecting to come to Jesus Christ for
restoration. And you have to come back to him.
Now I believe that you ought to take a day off
once a week. I'm going to say that again. Because
it felt good. I believe that you ought to take
a day off once a week. I believe that you ought
to rest. Do you know it's similar to the tithe?
When you tithe, you're saying, God, I'm trusting
you. I'm not trusting myself. Because in myself,
it makes more sense that 100 % would pay more
bills than 90%. But I'm giving you the 10 % because
I trust in you. And guess what? God's blessing
on the 90 % will go way farther than your ability
to manipulate 100%. I guarantee you that. Because
you're expressing trust in God. And the same
is true when you rest. I'm trusting in God that
in six days, He can help me get more done with
his blessing than I can get done in seven days
on my own. Jesus is our Sabbath rest, Hebrews
teaches us. Some of you need to learn the Sabbath
rest in Christ. If you're frazzled and weary
all the time, you are missing something. Now
this doesn't mean you don't work hard. Six days
thou shalt work. But it means that we trust in
the Lord. I take Fridays off. I rarely answer
my phone. Now sometimes things happen. Sometimes
we have ministry on Fridays. I get that. It's
not a legalism thing. But I take Fridays off.
I do not prepare sermons on Friday. I will answer
a text if it's an emergency. If I don't answer
the phone when you call and it's an emergency,
text me. I will reply to you. I want to. But
I take a day off. Why? Because I trust in God.
Because He loves me. Because he pours rest into
me. Some of you in rededicating your lives to
God when you do this, you're going to shed weariness.
You're going to say, God, I trust you with the
rest. And finally, the restoration of separation.
Now you need to hear this last part. Verse 23.
I love Nehemiah. I love him more and more the
more I read this chapter. In those days I also
saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon,
and Moab. And half of their children spoke the
language of Ashdod and could not even speak the
language of Judah. But spoke according to the
language of Judah. Of one or the other people.
So I contended with them. And cursed them. And
struck some of them. And pulled out their hair.
And made them swear by God. Saying you shall
not give your daughters as wives to their sons.
Nor take their daughters for your sons for yourselves.
And here's why. Did not Solomon, king of Israel,
sin by these things? Yet among many nations there
was no king like them who was beloved of his
God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless,
pagan women caused even him to sin. Should we
then hear of your doing all this great evil,
transgressing against our God by marrying pagan
women? One of the sons of Joiada. The son of
Eliashib the high priest. We already said that
Eliashib had Tobiah in the temple. Now Eliashib,
we find out, was his son, was a son -in -law
of Sanballat the Horonite. gave his children
to Sanballat. The problem in the Old Testament
with marrying other races was not that it was
in itself a sin to cross into another culture,
but that what would happen is that they would
bring their gods into the relationship. And they
would cause Israel to stumble just like Solomon.
And so the command today in the New Testament,
us Gentile church, is not that you can't marry
outside of your race or that's a sin. That is
not the truth. The lesson is not that you cannot...
Mary because of social status or because of this
or that. None of that is true. But the New Testament
principle is this, that we have got to separate
ourselves from the world. In 2 Corinthians 6,
Paul said, do not be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness
with lawlessness? What communion has light with
darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial?
Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
And what agreement has the temple of God with
idols? For you are the temple of the living God.
As God has said, I will dwell in them. I will
walk among them. I will be their God and they
shall be my people. Look, pat yourself on your
chest right now. Come on. This right here. is
the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, the Son
of God, lives inside of me. Hallelujah. I am
separated. I am separated unto God. And I shall
not take what is holy and washed in the blood
of Jesus and bought with... with the Son of God
on the cross. I will not take that and unify
it with an idol. I will not unify it with something
that is not of God. I will not be unequally yoked.
I will not be unequally yoked. Come out from
among them and be separate, says the Lord. If
the only difference between you and the world
is that you spend two hours in church on Sunday,
you need to separate yourself unto the Lord.
I'm rededicating my life to God. I'm rededicating
my life to God. Do you not know that friendship
with the world is enmity with God? Whoever loves
the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Wow. Dedicating themselves back to God. In holiness.
And saying here I am God. I belong to you. I
belong to you. I've preached long enough. I'm
going to ask the worship team to come. And I'm
believing that for one of these reasons or another.
That these altars are going to be full. We're
going to just sing that song, Here I am to worship.
Here I am to bow down. That you will say, God,
I'm joining with America. I'm joining with Faith
Church. And I am rededicating my life. I had
a dream last night. I was in a house. It wasn't
a house I've ever been in before, but it was
mine. And there was a bunch of people there,
and we were having a party. And it was a very
real dream, and I looked out the window, and
planes were flying overhead, and then I saw bombs
dropping. And about a mile away, one exploded.
And I was trying to get the people to look out
the window and to pay attention. We needed to
do something. But nobody would listen. They just
kept eating their hot dogs. And I was trying
to get the people to see that bombs were dropping.
And I woke up. I forgot. I woke up and just started
getting ready. I didn't even remember that I
dreamed that. And when we got here, when I got
here this morning, I paused a minute and I remembered
having that dream. These are not the days, church.
To be asleep. There is war in the heavenlies.
Over our nation. You know that. Over your family.
Over your sons and daughters. Over your own soul.
Nehemiah realized it in his generation. He shook
the people. I'm not going to come out of the
aisle and pull your hair out today. But how many
of you will say, God, I want to rededicate my
life to you this morning. I want to say, here
I am. Here I am. Here I am. I give myself to
you. It's why we live, Lord. I don't want this
to be emotion -driven, although I feel emotion
right now. I don't want it to be just because
everybody else is doing it. What I want to know
is if you in your own heart of hearts want to
say, God, here I am. I rededicate my life to
you. Here I am. Here I am. And if that's you
this morning, while we sing this song, here I
am to worship you, God. I want you to just get
up out of your seat and I want you to present
yourself before the Lord. And say, Lord, here
I am. I know I'm not perfect, God. But Lord,
I rededicate my life to you. Along with this
nation. Here I am, Lord. I worship you.