Summer at Cherry Hills: Sounding the Trumpet - Stronger Together

hallelujah hallelujah can we give jesus praise he's the one who deserves it oh come on can we give our lord and savior a praise that is worthy and befitting of the king of kings and the lord of lords what a mighty mighty god we serve it is such a blessing to be back with you all on this labor day weekend and uh it must be a special weekend because uh have you remember gilligan's island it was supposed to be a three-hour tour that turned into a mini-series uh well that was my trip from detroit to denver when i came in i was scheduled to be here at two o'clock it was just a couple hour flight uh anyway uh the whole entire airport was shut down because of the weather the bad storm we circled for several hours and then they announced uh we're running out of gas that's not a thing to hear on an airplane and then they took us to colorado springs where they uh waited in queue with i think about 12 other flights they were also on the tarmac and we fueled up and wait so anyway it was a seven hour flight there was supposed to be a two-hour flight uh and of course the airport was packed and the car rental place was uh more time than the air flight almost and so then i found out highlands ranch had a hail storm and so anyway god must really have a special weekend planned for us together uh it's such a blessing to be here and so excited to hear what you all are doing with your serving and the way that you've rolled up your sleeves to serve those in the community near and about and excited about the next chapter as you all are leaning into and discerning the new pastor that god is bringing to this church but it's just been such an honor and privilege to uh to be here with you all in this process but also excited about the word of god so let's pray as we approach the word of god together father thank you for the worship that's been lifted to your name it has blessed us but more importantly god we pray that it blessed you we pray god that you would continue lord to allow your word to do what it does to be a lamp to our feet a light on our path we cannot be unsure about our steps in which direction we're going when your word illuminates the way holy spirit would you speak to us that we might be all that your word would transform us to be breathe on this time that we will know that we were with you and we'll be careful to give all glory and honor where it belongs and that is to you our lord and savior in jesus name we pray amen and amen if you have your bibles or if you're turning with us so grateful again for those that are viewing online nehemiah chapter four nehemiah chapter four beginning at verse six nehemiah four and six it says these words so we rebuilt the wall to all of it reached half its height for the people worked with all their heart but when sanbala tobiah the arabs and ammonites and the people of ashdod heard that the repairs to jerusalem walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed they were very angry and they all plotted together to come and fight against jerusalem and stir up trouble against it but we prayed to our god and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat meanwhile the people in judah said the strength of the laborers is giving out and there's so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall also our enemies said before they know it or see us we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work then the jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over wherever you turn they will attack us therefore i stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places posting them by families with their swords spears and bows after i looked things over i stood up and said to the nobles the officials and the rest of the people don't be afraid of them remember the lord who is great and awesome and fight for your families your sons your daughters your wives and your homes when our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that god had frustrated it we all returned to the wall each to our own work from that day on half of my men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears shields bows and armor the officers posted themselves behind all the people of judah who were building the wall those who carried materials did their work with one hand they held the weapon and with one hand and then in the other they held a weapon each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked but the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me then i said to the nobles the officials and the rest of the people the work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall wherefore you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there our god will fight for us verses 19 and 20 again then i said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people the work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall wherefore you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there our god will fight for us i want to hear from the subjects sounding the trumpet stronger together sounding the trumpet we're stronger together if there ever was a time that we see the walls of our world broken down it's now for many of us we never thought that we would live in times that we are currently in we're in a global pandemic still and with all that has happened the progresses that has been made we still find ourselves uh in the midst of new variants and challenges that are associated with that uh mass no mass mandates no mandates people that are afraid to go back to work many jobs that have been deleted and many people that are kind of replanting their lives around this global pandemic but in the midst of that you all we pray for our soldiers who've lost their life and for their families and a war that we've been in the longest war that our nation has ever fought and all of the challenges around that and many people that are still there that we're praying can be brought safely home it seems like even the walls of security and the walls of certainty even around that have been broken down our moral compass has been shifting things that we once uh held is true things that we once held as right or wrong have now been blurred uh well not with god but of course with society and so we find that the moral walls have been broken down and there's rubble but maybe not just in the world around us but maybe in your own life in your own situation you find that things that were at one point very certain very sure that some of those things are crumbling and are rubble relationships may be in rubble uh maybe your finances maybe your own health might be challenged and you find yourself in these situations where the walls that were once certain the walls that once were secure around you have been broken down well we find in this text the walls of jerusalem have been destroyed well the back story of that is that the children of israel as they obeyed god god made promises to them he would protect them he would provide for them he would keep them safe but whenever they disobeyed god god said i'm going to allow judgment to happen and i'm going to allow calamity to come your way and because of israel's disobedience the babylonians took them over and not only took them over but went to jerusalem and destroyed everything the walls were torn down and the walls were decimated well the persian kingdom took over the babylonian kingdom and found a little bit more grace towards the children of israel and said to them we will allow you to go back and to rebuild the book of ezra will give you a little bit more detail about that if any of you all want to read about how that began but in this text we see a guy by the name of nehemiah who was the cup bearer to the king he was just a regular guy not a prophet not a priest not anybody special but just someone who worked in the king's court he was the one that tasted everything before the king did so if nehemiah died the king knew i don't need to eat that and so this cupbearer to the king uh he got news that the walls of jerusalem had been torn down he was brokenhearted because the walls represented many things jerusalem is the holy city at zion it's the city of god it's where the temple was located it's where all of the people of israel would come and gather for great holy feasts it was the capital indeed of israel the walls were down the walls represented security and safety they were vulnerable to all the people that would come in to attack or to to be a threat to them but the walls were also a place where there was commerce many of you may not know but the walls were where all the business happened in cities it was at the walls of the city that people would come and buy and sell and so when the walls were torn down the economics were torn down so if now they find themselves the people of god without walls and nehemiah burdened by this i decided to go back just a regular guy a regular guy working in a secular place working in the king's palace decides to go and to rebuild the wall and we find ourselves in verse 6 seeing this action that he begins i want to talk about three things in particular today uh why and why why and what are we doing building the wall why are we building it and what are we doing secondly what are we up against when we decide to do such a great thing of rebuilding broken things and when we work and when we war we win so three things why and what are we doing together and what are we up against and when we work and when we war we win well in verse six we find out what was happening here it says so we rebuilt the wall until it reached about half of its height but he says this this next phrase which is so important it says for the people worked with all their heart these were not all uh skilled masons these were not all skilled laborers but the the work that they had done up to this point was done not because of skill alone but they had a mindset and they had a an emotion and a connection and a volition to work with all of their might you all when i look at the church of jesus christ it's often compared with israel it's often compared with the children of god in the old testament we the church are now the people of god and god asks us what's broken around us what's broken in the world around us what's broken in our own communities what's broken in our own families and how do we approach what we're doing why are we doing it well we need to rebuild it we cannot allow things that are broken to remain broken we cannot just say oh well you know that's just the way it is and that's the way it's going to be no he said no we've got to do something this unskilled guy this guy not trained in masonry none of the people were trained in that they engaged in a task bigger than themselves they had listen they attached to something greater than themselves so that the end result would be a collective blessing for all of israel well the church of jesus christ has been tasked to attach to something greater than what's just for us attach to something greater than ourselves so that when we collectively come together and rebuild the things that are broken in our society rebuild the things that are broken in our world we're able to see once again things that need to be in order placed in order it's not the job of government to rebuild everything it's not the job of secular society and and the marketplace to do all the things as far as moral compassing it is up to the church of jesus christ to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world and we cannot defer that to anyone else amen but here's the question when we approach a holy work like rebuilding broken things do we do it half-heartedly or do we do it with all that we've got it's said that these individuals who were engaged in rebuilding the temple rebuilding rather the walls they did it with all of their heart have you ever watched a sinner sin a sinner does not sin half-heartedly a sinner sins with all of their heart don't they come on now when you meet us somebody getting ready to go get a drink they don't drink half-heartedly they drink with all of their heart right people that are doing things that are not right things that are that are heinous things that are not good they often do it with all of their heart but when it comes to the church when it comes to those that are followers of god for some reason we do not approach holy things with all of our heart and for many of you i know this has become a broken record harvey why are you always so loud why are you so excited because i believe that god has been so good to me and so gracious to me and so kind to me raised me up out of hospice when the doctor said i could never walk again i said that when i get a chance to walk again i'm gonna give it all of my heart here's the question has god done something for you has god made a way for you has god opened a door for you has god done something that only he could do now here's the question since he's done everything for you are you willing to do a little for him are you willing to do all for him he says i want you to be engaged in kingdom things with all of your heart and i know for many of us it may be tiring it may be weary but but the attitude and the mindset that they had is we've got to do why are we doing it it's broken and we cannot let it be broken and what are we doing we're doing it by doing it with all of our heart i just encourage you those of you that are passive in your faith to know that a passive faith cannot change things a passive faith cannot turn this upside world right side up it will take those that do it with all of their heart but when we make a decision to do anything for god there will be opposition for many people in the room i know for some of us we're wondering why is it that when i was lost i didn't seem to have as much adversity when i didn't know jesus i didn't seem to have as much trouble as i do now what's wrong with that picture god i thought that when i came to you i'd be dancing you know do the tiptoeing through the tulips i thought that life in christ would be easy can i say this have you ever looked at the life of christ and those that want to be like christ we listen we want to be like jesus on resurrection sunday we don't want to be like jesus on good friday you cannot have resurrection sunday unless you also have good friday you cannot know him in the power of his resurrection unless we also know him in the fellowship of his suffering and many of us as christ followers we have theologies that have been dipped into some american pie in the sky thing where everything is going to be easy but i come to tell you that when you choose to follow god there will be opposition the bible says that in this world there will be you will have trials and tribulations but be of good cheer he says i've overcome the world here's the question though when you are up against trials when you're up against opposition what's your response are you questioning whether or not god is for you are you questioning whether or not god loves you i i submit that any of us that are involved in anything significant anything that's worthy of of god's hand on it there will be opposition opposition comes in two forms it comes sometimes from without and sometimes it comes from within in the text we see that the children of israel as they were rebuilding the wall they found that there was opposition that came from without look at verse seven but when sambala tobiah the arabs and the ammonites and the people of ashdod heard that the repairs to jerusalem walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed what happened they were very angry isn't that interesting as the walls are being rebuilt to the holy city as the walls are being built as the capital of israel as the walls are being rebuilt of the place where god's presence would dwell the enemies of god weren't just angry listen they were very angry at kingdom progress know one thing that when the church of jesus christ becomes actively engaged in rebuilding the broken down things of our society and our world there will be people of the world that will not just be angry but will be very angry you all i believe that even people in our government and even people in society they are angry when the church of jesus christ decides to say this is our stand this is what we believe this is what we hold to listen i don't believe any of us have the right to tell other people how to think thank god we're in a country where free speech right now still exists but can i tell you what i do know that any of us that are engaged in things of god there will be people who will not just dislike you but they will hate you some of you all are wondering why is it that now that i'm a christian people at my job i don't know what it is why do they hate me so much uh there's a story about a lady down in mississippi at the old uh baptist church there was a testimony service and she got up and gave her a testimony she said pastor i've been saved for close to 30 years and the lord has been on my side been been walking with god he's been so good to me in all those 30 years i have not encountered the devil not one time and i just want to give god praise for his goodness pastor said oh it's so wonderful for you to share that testimony would you bow your head she said sure i will he said repeat these words lord jesus come into my heart and save me she said wait a minute pastor i just told you that i'm saved he said it is impossible for you to be a christian and to be saved and have not encountered the devil you've not run against him because evidently you've been running with him listen you all win the moment the moment that you and i became followers of jesus christ you entered into the kingdom of light you entered into the kingdom of god and the kingdom of darkness the kingdom of the enemy listen is at war against you you're in a battle and you're in a fight against the forces of darkness and the enemies from without they won't be angry when you try to do kingdom things they will be very angry but but not just that they won't just be very angry look at verse eight they don't just come they they form plots around in verse eight they plotted together to come and fight against jerusalem and stir up trouble against it have you ever tried to do something good and then people tried to stir up trouble have you ever tried to do something that you knew was right and people came and fought against it and tried to stir up trouble you well i believe the good sign of knowing where you are with kingdom work is how much trouble is being stirred up for me to know that i'm on track with god i need to know that the enemy is not always pleased with what i'm going through and he's going to send things to attack it and things to fight it and trouble to be stirred up but it says in the next verse you all not only did they get angry not only did they stir up trouble you all but it says they also did look at the next verse it says they plotted together to fight against them stir up trouble uh verse 11. and our enemy said before they know it or see us we will be right there among them and will kill them and put it into their work not only are we going to be very angry not only are we going to plot but we're going to kill them now i'll tell you what that's a pretty serious progression of anger to plotting to killing and for many of us that don't even understand what it means to be killed for the things of god i want you to know that there are people around the globe at this very moment who cannot meet in person cannot open a bible and cannot say that they're followers of jesus christ because if they say that or if it's known they will be tortured they will be in prison some of them will be killed you all i don't believe that may be your story that maybe murder or death is on the other side of obedience but i can tell you this trouble will be suffering will be adversity will be and for many of us in this room who are wondering why is it that when i follow god why is it that when we decide to do what god says for us to do we encounter plotting we encounter trouble being stirred up we encounter threats and even maybe death well know one thing that the enemies from without they will come at you when you decide to rebuild what's broken the enemies that are outside will come at you but you all it's one thing to have people that are far away and on the outside attacking but doesn't it get really difficult when those that are closer and those that are from within begin to attack i can deal with someone that doesn't know me attacking me i can deal with someone that's far from me and maybe far from god that would attack me but i it gets a little bit fuzzier when someone who knows me someone that i'm in relationship with someone that i've given trust to when that person or those individuals hurt the hurt is a lot deeper look at verse 10. meanwhile the people in judah now know that judah is the other side of the kingdom at that time the kingdom of israel had been divided into two kingdoms both israel the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom and the southern kingdom sometimes we're at odds with the northern kingdom so the folk listen same people now but the people from judah came and said uh the strength of the laborers is giving out uh one translation said your people are pooped and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall so the people from within said we are tired we've been working and volunteering and serving and doing and we are worn out i don't know who i'm talking to today but have you ever found yourself at a point where you love god you love the work of god but you just get tired what happens when the volunteers those of you that serve here do the work of the lord but you find yourself week after week month after month year after year you get to the point where you just get worn out the laborers are giving out and it's endless unlike any other endeavor the church doesn't have an end product i'm from the motor city and general motors and ford and christ all those companies are there and they get an assembly line and they roll off a car done car assemble done church never done you never roll off the assembly once we get to working on you you go back and get another part at it and once you don't say it's never done and can you imagine week after week month after month year after year laboring and getting tired how do you continue to rebuild the wall when i'm tired i never forget my pastor uh when i was in chicago he asked me to be uh the youth and children's pastor uh and uh man i love being i love you but i do not like children now now for every child here it doesn't mean i don't like you personally i love kids i love children i just have a hard time leading them so i was children's pastor for two weeks and and i remember i said to the kids i said okay kids uh how many all know that god is good they're like yes i said jesus is love yes he is how do y'all want jesus in your heart your heart you want him to come into your heart and your heart to beat jesus how many we want that i said okay guess what we're going to pray a prayer and when we get through prayer guess what's going to happen jesus is going to come in your heart and he's going to stay there forever and ever and ever stay with the kids forever and then they said forever we did that for five minutes forever and ever i said how long forever when will he be there forever i said okay let's pray how many y'all want jesus in your heart they said we do and they all prayed i said how long is he in your heart kids they said forever and ever i said great next week i said to the kids how many y'all have jesus in you how many y'all have jesus in your heart none of them raised their hands i said i quit i'm done uh so there's a grace that god gives to children's ministry workers right to labor with kids developmentally who are trying to figure out what does it mean to have jesus in their heart but can you imagine doing that week after week after month after month after year after year after year i know for many of you all that come in and you see things happening this doesn't just happen these lights just don't magically appear on the stage the tech people that are helping you to see online uh it just doesn't magically appear that the scriptures come out there are people that are behind the scenes week after week month after month many times year after year laboring and sometimes the laborers get tired and so the enemies from within said look we can't we listen we can't do the work the laborers are tired and not only that it's so much rubble i'm not even sure if we can rebuild it but look at verse 12. then the jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over that just tell me one time but ten times they said these same words wherever you turn they will attack us wherever you turn they wherever you turn they will attack wherever you turn i mean ten times the other jews said they're gonna attack us the attacks came from without and the attacks came from within so we see some things happening the walls are crumbling nehemiah responds to it brings people around them to help rebuild the wall they all did it with all of their heart they did it with all of their strength but as they did it there was opposition from without there was opposition from within but finally you all i want to get to this last point what did what was their response to this look at verse 9 but we prayed to our god but we prayed you are the response to fatigue the response to broken down things the response to the enemies coming at us threatening us and sometimes even putting us in harm's way what is the response of the christian we wrestle not against flesh and blood we fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and spiritual wickedness and powers that are in heavenly places therefore take unto you the armor of god the spiritual weaponry what is our power as a church it is not by might it is not by power it is by his spirit that we do our greatest work we fight the greatest battles on our knees that is where the church wins we win in prayer [Applause] we win in prayer and listen every wednesday at noon there's an opportunity for you to join in prayer right here in the church you can come in person and those online you can also come online and join and connect in prayer well for many you say well i don't know how to pray pastor that's not true prayer is talking to god don't you let professional prayers make you feel like you don't have the ability to pray i grew up you know i'm black right i grew up in i grew up in a black baptist church and the deacons do they know how to pray father we come now in the name of jesus with our head down to the ground and we ask that you would bring fire down from heaven and change the city well if you just 10 years old you can't do that and if you're white you can't do that all right but what you can do is talk in the way you talk to people but now you're not talking to people who can't do nothing you're talking to the god the maker of heaven and earth and you're saying god our church needs your power god denver needs your power god our nation needs your power god our world needs your power holy ghost move spirit of the living god are you hearing me all you gotta do is talk to god don't complicate it and so those that are online let me just say this those that are online um god well i'll get to that in a minute so so here it is there's no excuse for us to not respond the way that they responded it says but they prayed and i love the fact that when they prayed they knew that when they prayed god would answer they posted a guard day and night to meet the threat you well i pray that there be intercessors raised up in the church who will take different watches of the day and watches of the night we'll pray for our church some of you all stay up all night and watch infomercials yeah you do you stay up all night and you're watching the stir-fry thing oh really uh you know well it's as opposed to watching about cutlery or watching about you know some airfryer why not spend that hour talking to god on behalf of the church wouldn't it be amazing 24 7 that people of god are praying and saying get me at three in the afternoon get me at two in the morning get me at 7 am i want to pray that the kingdom of god would come and the will of god would be done on earth as it is in heaven prayer changes things anybody believe that with me prayer prayer prayer prayer they prayed they prayed they prayed but watch this now verse 13 this is this i got four minutes verse 13. therefore i station some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall where in the exposed places what are the exposed places that need attention what are the places that need filling what are the gaps that need it to be filled and how what is the strategy of posting people watch this now i posted them by families you all back in the dinosaur dinosaur era that i was raised up in um families went to church together i know this is back in the yabba-dabba-doo days this is back in the fred flintstone era uh but there was a time you all that when children were in your house uh breathing the air in your house and sucking up the food out of your refrigerator and using your wi-fi that they would come to church and whether they had an attitude or not it did not matter let me just say something to you because i know it's 20 21 we have new modern days of parenting and modern days of engagement and pastor please understand i want my child to make their own decisions and i'm not going to do what my parents did to me can i say this to you i i understand you may not invite me back but i don't care listen here it is here it is here it is here it is hit your parents made you come to church and guess where you are right now can i tell you why train up a child in the way they should go and when they're all they will not depart that is a promise from the scripture and you cannot train them up by leaving them at home so my mama uh she said to me what's wrong what's wrong with your face i said nothing she said you need me to fix it i said no ma'am i was not happy to be in church i didn't like church i didn't like all them old people singing all that old stuff i don't know what they were talking about but can i tell you something my mind was not getting it but my soul was getting it we're not just well listen we're not just flesh beings we are also spirit beings and when children are subjected to the demonic in media and the demonic in music and the demonic in television and movies and film we need to bring them in spirit-filled anointed environments where they hear the word of god even if they have an attitude problem amen here's a news flash your kids are not your friends you're the parent if they don't like you so what you didn't like your parents but you turned that all right and now you're pleasing them to hell now you're pleasing them to hell so he positioned them by their families and ken can i tell you something when the fight came about the fight became different because not only am i building the wall but i'm protecting my family when i've got my son and i've got my daughter and i've got my husband and i got my wife the work that i'm doing is not some vague work the work that i'm engaged in is not some superficial or far-off work but as i engage in rebuilding the wall i'm rebuilding my daughter i'm rebuilding my son i'm rebuilding my spouse i'm rebuilding my grandkids i'm rebuilding the fabric that makes a nation and a world great and it is the family and the family is under attack and in the name of jesus christ we must reclaim the family mama daddy kid amen [Applause] fight for your families fight for your sons fight for your daughters fight for your spouse so i'm finished verse 19. then i said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people the work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall he said the work is extensive the work is spread out but not only is the work spread out but we are spread out and you all because of the pandemic we are spread out for those that are watching online let me tell you something i'm grateful to god that the sacrifice that you're making to connect with us you're doing it thank god that the energy that it takes for you to get that laptop and open it up and click onto that website and go and scroll down to watch live and click it and sit there i thank god for the energy and the effort and the sacrifice that you make week after week to do that amazing task of watching on your ipad or your iphone or your android or your tablet or your computer but can i tell you something first 20 wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there can i tell i'm done cherry hills can i tell you what the weekend services are the weekend services are the sounding of the trumpet the sounding of the trumpet says no matter where you are on the wall in the week no matter how separated we are online in person north side east side west side wherever you are no matter where you are in the metro denver area when the sound of the weekend services trumpet is made he said join us there well pastor kerry why would i join y'all there i can join you online no no no he said join us there because when you join us there our god will fight for us there's something about being in the house all right i'm gonna take my seat [Applause] i don't i don't i don't play football i don't do sports but can i tell you what doesn't happen you cannot win a game virtually you cannot score a touchdown virtually you've got to be in the stadium you've got to handle the ball you've got to touch the ground to make the play and i'm grateful for all that god has done to leverage technology especially for those that are far from god but let me say this cherry hills community church this trumpet is sounding that it's time for you from the north the south the east and the west to gather at this place and watch god fight our battles god is getting ready to rebuild this church rebuild this region rebuild this nation rebuild our world the trumpet is sounding the trumpet is sounding the trumpet is sounding and our god will fight for us [Music] hey

Channel: Cherry Hills Community Church

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Length: 38min 30sec (2310 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021