Rebuilding something meaningful is hard enough when the opposition comes from the outside.

But what happens when the real threat comes from within?

In Nehemiah 5, the walls of Jerusalem are rising—but the community itself begins to fracture. Economic pressure, famine, and fear lead some people to exploit their own neighbors. Families lose land. Children are forced into servitude. The rebuilding effort is suddenly at risk—not because of enemies outside the city, but because trust inside the community is breaking down.

Nehemiah refuses to ignore it.

Instead of protecting the powerful or avoiding conflict, he confronts injustice head-on. What follows is a powerful example of leadership that values integrity over comfort and unity over personal gain.

This episode explores what it looks like to rebuild when greed, pressure, and division threaten to tear things apart—and why the most important work often happens in the places we’d rather avoid.

Because sometimes the strongest walls are built when people choose courage, accountability, and compassion.

Click here to donate to the program

Click here for more sermons

OC Church of Christ

Dr. Gregg Marutzky:

2

Morning Church.

3

Welcome to One Hour Less Sleep.

4

Thank you, Sam.

5

I don't know if you felt it,

but, uh, nah, I didn't feel it.

6

Every, every night seems like I need

about one or two or three more hours.

7

Amen.

8

Amen.

9

Didn't, uh.

10

Uh, Kyle do an incredible job last week.

11

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

12

It's good to have an incredible,

great, awesome, talented, gifted

13

young campus minister in our midst.

14

I, uh, I just wanna lower

expectations, though.

15

I won't be sitting on the stage.

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I, because, you know, might not be

able to get back up, so, uh, uh.

17

That, that was pretty

cool last week though.

18

That that really is a

visual we can hold on to.

19

We're back to Nehemiah and I'm preaching

a sermon that, uh, almost wasn't, you

20

know, uh, every once in a while you

have what I call brain irregularities.

21

Anybody have, these we're just something.

22

Misfires up there.

23

You know, our brains are such a incredible

complex computers that sometimes they're

24

not always firing on every circuit.

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And, uh, you know, I had two weeks prepare

this sermon and so I felt so prepared.

26

I was so excited.

27

I was getting ready to send it in

last night, and I decided to double

28

check it and I looked it over.

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And guess what?

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This is the wrong chapter.

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Yeah.

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Nehemiah chapter six n.

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Next week's sermon's gonna be incredible.

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I can tell you that already.

35

But thankfully I had the evening

off and, uh, we were babysitting.

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So gave Kathy a little

more responsibility.

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She's just such a great grandma.

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She took care of both kids long enough

for me to, uh, work on this sermon.

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But this is a sermon

that almost wasn't, and.

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Sometimes you sort of think, oh,

Satan was involved in this, that maybe

41

Satan didn't want me to address these

things because next week it's about

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outside persecution and all these evil

people that all these bad characters

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we really hate and we can, you know,

really have a lot of fun going after.

44

But this one's about internal,

it's sort of family problems.

45

It's, it's stuff that you don't

always wanna share your dirty

46

laundry, you know what I mean?

47

It's the kind of stuff that

families keep secret, they keep

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from sharing with the outside world.

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And this is the sort of the, the

behind the curtain of God's people.

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But you know, sometimes you

need to have family time.

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You just gotta get down to it.

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You gotta look at the good,

bad, and the ugly, right?

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And so turn your Bible to the

Nehemiah chapter five, and we're

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gonna look at some internal struggles

between God's people in the midst.

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Of war in the midst of a building project,

in the midst of needing to rebuild the

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kingdom of God spiritually and physically.

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They're fussing with each other

and they're taking advantage of

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each other, and it's just wrong.

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Oh, it's so wrong.

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And Nehemiah's even gonna say that, but

we're gonna do our confession of faith.

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If you have your Bible, raise it up.

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All right.

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You can put it in your right

hand or your left hand.

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I don't care.

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Maybe we should all raise our

right hand, you know, in pledge,

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but let's say it together.

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Jesus is the Son of God.

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One more time.

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Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus is Lord.

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One more time.

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Jesus is Lord.

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That's what's called spiritual formation.

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By us saying it together as a community.

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This is the bedrock of

our faith, who Jesus is.

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We believe with all our hearts that

he's divine, that he is the son

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of God, that God sent him as the

bridge, as the communicate, as the

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one mediator, as the savior of our

souls, the savior of the world.

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We believe with all our

hearts in Jesus Christ.

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I believe that more than I

even believe my own name.

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Amen.

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You know, because.

82

Most people, I've had friends

tell me, I spell my name wrong.

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It's not M-A-R-U-T-Z-K-Y.

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It's SKI Greg, or it's SKY.

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I said, no, no, brother.

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It's ZKY.

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No, that's not a Polish spelling.

88

I know what kind of spelling.

89

It's, it's, it's Prussian, it's an

area of the world that's been Polish.

90

It's been German.

91

It's been Russian.

92

And so that way you can't

be mad at me for anything.

93

Okay?

94

You know, I'll just claim the

one you, you like, all right?

95

That's what I, anyway.

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Jesus is Lord.

97

Amen.

98

And then I gotta give you

a little bit of context.

99

It's not good to read the Bible

without a little structure.

100

You know, we're not God's

given us great brains.

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A great mind.

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And we need to use them and we need to

understand exactly where this fits in

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biblical history, and so it's so good.

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To know that this is not the Book

of Ezra, read the book of Ezra.

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It's a, it's a backdrop for Nehemiah.

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It was before Nehemiah 5 38.

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And then Haggai and Zacharia are

good books to read with along

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with this in your Quiet Times.

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That was before Nehemiah.

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And then for, for for BC is Nehemiah.

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But I think the world, and I hope

I give this to you this morning.

112

What the world needs is one big

thing right now, and I think a lot

113

of you need this one big thing.

114

You may not even know you

need it, but you need it.

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It's hope.

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Greg, that doesn't look like hope to me.

117

That looks like despair.

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What's hopeful about that?

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That isn't the right picture.

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You got this.

121

You got the wrong picture in there.

122

Well, we're gonna have to

use our imagination then.

123

All right.

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I don't know where that came from.

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That's not for me.

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All right.

127

Look it up on your phone.

128

Look up.

129

Uh.

130

In painting of by Whitaker

of, of Woman Hope.

131

Of Hope, the hopeful woman.

132

And what you'll get pulled

up there is a picture.

133

I'm gonna get that off the

screen, get the, get the Easter.

134

Off the screen please.

135

Is a picture of a woman in a tattered

green dress sitting on the globe,

136

sitting on the world, and she's

hunched over and she's blindfolded.

137

And she got her arms above

her and behind her head.

138

She's playing a harp, a liar, but there's

only one string, and she has no shoes.

139

Her feet look like they're, they've

been through a long journey.

140

They're soiled with a lot of dirt.

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And you look at this, there it is.

142

Yes.

143

Good work guys.

144

Good work.

145

And Whitaker in the 18 hundreds painted

this picture and he called it hope.

146

And when I saw it displayed at

a conference on spirituality,

147

I'm like, that's not hope.

148

That's despair, that's discouragement.

149

That's what a lot of people

in our world feel right now.

150

They don't feel hope.

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But if you think about it, it is hopeful.

152

She's hopeful at least because she

still wants to change the world and

153

she's still playing, even though

there's just one string left.

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She, that's hope.

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She believes that she can make a

difference and that she's gonna continue

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her journey of encouraging others with

her music, even if there's just one.

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String left.

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I just happened to feel, feel this

desire on Friday to call an old friend.

159

We used to work together in the ministry.

160

We were very close, our families,

and he left the ministry.

161

He got a divorce.

162

He's, he's left our church.

163

He goes to another church.

164

He's struggling, his relationship

with God, but he, he got some bad

165

news just that morning, just right

before I called him, his mother died.

166

I said, where are you going?

167

I'm going to the beach.

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I just have to walk and pray.

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And then he shared something else

I'm not gonna share because it's

170

confidential about someone in his family.

171

But it was devastating.

172

That's E even worse than his mother died.

173

And I thought, oh brother, I'm so sorry.

174

I could feel his pain.

175

And it, and it hurt me 'cause

we're, we're connected.

176

And then yesterday I took

my 4-year-old daughter.

177

I was all excited.

178

I, I got to take her to TaeKwonDo, you

know, I mean, that's how she says it.

179

T Papa.

180

Alright.

181

And she does all these things, you know.

182

And she got her little uniform,

her little white belt, you know?

183

And so I go and I'm taking her and

I, I'm watching her and, and, and I'm

184

having a lot of fun just watching the

kids, you know, I mean three, four,

185

5-year-old kids trying to be athletic.

186

Yeah.

187

And, and, and, and, and this instructor.

188

He needed just a little more grace.

189

He, he really, I think he was getting

a little tired of teaching that age.

190

Alright, I'm sorry.

191

When I make those, uh, those, uh, quick mo

movements, uh, my phone thinks I fell down

192

and Notif notifies the, the authorities.

193

So, okay.

194

I'm all right.

195

Do not call emergency.

196

I'm gonna have to take this

thing off when I preach.

197

Alright.

198

Okay.

199

Hey Sam, will you take

care of that for me, girl?

200

Alright.

201

Sam's my, he my volunteer assistant.

202

I don't pay him anything, but

he's asked to be my assistant.

203

But in the midst of

TaeKwonDo, I got a call.

204

And it was from Kathy.

205

She said, Kathy, did you,

Greg, do you see this text?

206

I said, yeah, I saw the text.

207

I was gonna answer it after TaeKwonDo.

208

She goes, well, I think

you need to answer it.

209

So I went outside and I called another

person back, another friend, another

210

person that had been in the ministry and

got out of the ministry and just, just

211

some devastating news in his family.

212

Again, so confidential, I can't

even share it with you, but.

213

We had several conversations with

him and his wife yesterday on the

214

phone, and I just, I always believed

that all these things tie together

215

that God wants me to understand how

people are feeling and thinking.

216

Whenever I get up here and preach and

there's a lot of hurting people and

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Satan's on the attack, he's trying to

destroy people I love and you love.

218

He's trying to disrupt their

lives, not just a little but a lot.

219

And we've got to hold on to hope.

220

And one thing we're gonna learn from this

sermon this morning is we've gotta be

221

united or we can give the world nothing.

222

We can give the world nothing.

223

Lemme tell you the story

before we even get into it.

224

Okay?

225

And the story of chapter five is

there's a famine in the land in

226

Israel and the poor people are hungry.

227

You know, people that are powerless

and marginalized and barely getting by.

228

They're the ones that usually suffer the

most from any kind of economic hardship.

229

And the bad thing is the rich

Jews are extorting the poor Jews.

230

They're taking advantage of the

situation, and so they're offering

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them food if they'll sign over their

lands because everybody's got land

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that's part of God's plant for people.

233

It's always supposed

to stay in the family.

234

It gets passed along and after ever gets

traded, 50 years of the year of Jubilee,

235

it's given back to the original owners.

236

All right?

237

But the rich Jews are

distorting the poor Jews.

238

The rich Jews are making indentured

servants of the children of the poor Jews.

239

They're having to give up their children

to be slaves and servants to the

240

rich Jews, and Nehemiah's ticked off.

241

We're gonna read a passage where he

says, no, and I'm sorry if my loud voice

242

bothers you, but sometimes you gotta

experience what the scripture says.

243

And he just said, no, no, this is wrong.

244

And so Nehemiah rebuked them publicly.

245

And he says, Hey, we need to be neighbors.

246

We're family, we're kin.

247

And he says, you must

pay them back in full.

248

And Nehemiah sets him an example of,

he doesn't, he uses his salary as

249

governor to feed 150 people every day.

250

And he doesn't take any

land from anyone though.

251

All the other governors had done that.

252

And he, uh.

253

Sets an example of being

righteous and spiritual.

254

So let's get into this.

255

Number one, unity is hard to maintain in

a family, in a marriage, at work, in the

256

church, in our country, in our world.

257

And now you're really dreaming, Greg.

258

But you gotta have unity.

259

But it's hard.

260

It's hard to maintain.

261

It's hard.

262

And one of the reasons is scarcity.

263

When there's famine, when things are

tight and there's economic hardship.

264

Let's read verse one.

265

Now.

266

The men and their wives raised a great

outcry against their fellow Jews.

267

Why?

268

'cause they were hurting and God

always listens to hurting people.

269

If you don't think God's been listening to

you enough, you probably are, aren't being

270

real with the depth of your emotions and

feelings, but he always listens to a cry.

271

And then in verse two, it's

because of this famine.

272

Some were saying we are our, we and

our sons and daughters are numerous.

273

For us to eat and stay

alive, we must get grain.

274

And the Bible teaches the Jews in,

in Deuteronomy 23 and Leviticus

275

25, that you charge no interest.

276

You don't take advantage of

your neighbor, that you always

277

treat your neighbor as you.

278

You would yourself do unto others

as you would have them do unto you.

279

That's the golden rule.

280

But too much of the world

practices the iron rule.

281

Do unto others before they do unto you.

282

All right, but Jesus taught

a whole different ethic.

283

One of love.

284

How many of you have ever

lived in the Midwest?

285

It is some of the most

barren land in the world.

286

I mean, it was called the dust

bow at one time in our history.

287

It is flat.

288

It gets cold in the winter.

289

The snow comes in November,

December doesn't leave until

290

March, and it gets dark early.

291

It can be dreary and the roads.

292

It is an ice, it isn't snow packed.

293

It's ice packed.

294

The first year Kathy and

I moved Tooma, Nebraska.

295

I, I I, I'm sorry to have to say this,

but I got in three auto accidents.

296

Oh, wow.

297

I have very good insurance.

298

Okay.

299

It only costs a lot, but I would slide

a whole block and bump into a car.

300

I thought I, I'm, I'm

gonna break plenty of time.

301

I'll have, and I didn't.

302

And they got out and they're so nice.

303

I'm so sorry.

304

You hit me.

305

We saw you coming.

306

I saw you in the rear view mirror.

307

I knew you were gonna hit me.

308

I was hoping you could stop, but

you know, I slid that far too.

309

But there was just no one in front of me.

310

I'm so sorry.

311

You hit me.

312

The nicest people in the

world live in the Midwest.

313

I mean, you get these three feet

snowstorms and you'd come out in the

314

morning and your driveways, snow blowing

all the, all the snow's off, and you go

315

around, you ask your neighbors, oh yeah.

316

Oh, Fred did that for

all of us this morning.

317

And so then there's a race.

318

Who gets up first to do each other's?

319

Snow and, and I bought, I bought, I

went to the store to get a snowblower,

320

and the only one left was the most

expensive, and I went ahead and bought it.

321

And first year I used it.

322

I'm like, oh, this is so worth it.

323

I would've should've bought two.

324

You know?

325

I mean, but, but in the Midwest.

326

It's cold, it's dark, it's

dreary, but people are neighbors.

327

They're neighbors.

328

And this is what Nehemiah

was so upset about.

329

You don't charge your interest.

330

Now, in America, there's people that

charge interest, especially credit

331

cards, but I don't want to get negative,

so I'm gonna just keep moving on.

332

All right.

333

But here's something we're

dealing with inflation.

334

Others were saying we are mortgaging

our fields, our vineyards, our homes

335

to get grained during the famine.

336

And unfortunately, just like it's

sometimes now, there was price gouging.

337

People were raising the price.

338

You know, I, I go a long way from

the interstate to get my gas.

339

How about you?

340

There's, I either go to Costco, it's

the cheapest, and then right across the

341

street from Guy Costco in my town is a

Sinclair and they match Costco's price.

342

So I can do either one, but you anywhere

off of one of these interstates, it's like

343

50 cents a dollar, at least 75 cents more.

344

And ooh, do I get an attitude

when I have to pay that?

345

And I only put $20 in.

346

I don't fill up my tank.

347

I always fill up my tank

at the cheap places.

348

All right.

349

But not those price gougers, but it, the

people were hurting, they were hungry.

350

They were having to eat

and do whatever they did.

351

They went into debt.

352

Verse four, still others were saying we

have had to borrow money to pay the King's

353

tax on our fields and our vineyards.

354

See this Persian king that had

given Nehemiah all these supplies,

355

he was taxing the people.

356

He was getting a return in his investment.

357

He wasn't just being a benevolent,

there isn't too many worldly leaders

358

that are that benevolent, and so people

were becoming indentured servants and

359

unfortunately, when there's scarcity.

360

Then there is in extortion, although

we are the same flesh and blood as our

361

fellow Jews, and though our children are

as good as theirs, we have to subject

362

our sons and daughters to slavery.

363

Some of our daughters have already been

enslaved, but we are powerless because our

364

fields and our vineyards belong to others.

365

And so what did Nehemiah say?

366

Verse six.

367

When I heard this outcry and these

charges, oh, I was just a little upset.

368

That's not what the Bible says.

369

I was very angry.

370

Jesus got very angry at times.

371

Oh, you shouldn't get angry.

372

Oh, never get angry.

373

No, it's an emotion.

374

It's natural.

375

Even it's used for protection at

times, you know, especially in war.

376

There's some things to get righteously

indignant about, and when the greedy

377

or exporting exploiting the poor,

and there was corruption in the

378

Jewish nation, Nia Maya was angry

and then he did something about it.

379

He was a good leader.

380

He confronted it.

381

He engaged the problem.

382

I pondered them in my mind and then

accused the nobles and officials.

383

I told them.

384

You are charging your own people interest.

385

So I called together a large meeting

to deal with them, a public meeting.

386

Some sins are public and so they

have to get dealt with publicly.

387

I don't believe in public shaming,

publicly humiliating people, but

388

sometimes it's already out in the open.

389

Everybody knows it, and

it's gotta get reconciled.

390

It's gotta get resolved, it's gotta get

confronted, and that's what Nehemiah.

391

Does.

392

He sets us an example, and then verse

eight, he says, as far as possible,

393

we have brought back our fellow Jews

who were sold to Gen, to the Gentiles.

394

Now you're selling your own people

only for them to be sold back to us.

395

They kept quiet because they

could find nothing to say.

396

When you're wrong, you're wrong.

397

Unfortunately, sometimes when we're

wrong, we don't keep quiet, do we?

398

We give an excuse, we get defensive,

we raise our voice, we fight back,

399

but thankfully, they knew what they

were doing was wrong and somebody

400

righteous needed to just confront it.

401

Do we all need accountability?

402

You're thinking.

403

Yes, we all need accountability.

404

You know, we all need some

partnership to help us to be our best.

405

We need some coaching.

406

We need some mentoring.

407

We need some discipling to be our best.

408

We have all have blind spots.

409

We all lose motivation.

410

But if you pair up two or better than

one, you know, if you have somebody

411

that encourages you in doing it.

412

Together.

413

So many weight loss things don't

work because people try to do it

414

by themselves, but if they have a

partner to exercise with, to, to

415

watch their diet together, it works.

416

But by yourself, you're

that target for Satan.

417

And so there needs to be at times

some good healthy, not abusive

418

accountability, but accountability

parents, you gotta parent.

419

You always got a parent.

420

All right.

421

Teachers gotta teach.

422

Coaches need to coach.

423

Leaders need to lead, all right?

424

Because otherwise, what happens?

425

We drift.

426

We drift.

427

And God's people we're taking

advantage of each other

428

at the same time.

429

They're trying to rebuild the

city, rebuild the wall, rebuild the

430

spirituality, provide a place to meet God.

431

And some of the Jews were

taking advantage of one another.

432

So what does he do?

433

A public rebuke.

434

So I continued.

435

What are you doing?

436

What you're doing is not right.

437

Shouldn't you walk in fear of our God to

avoid the reproach of our gentile enemies?

438

You're hurting the reputation of God.

439

You know, I am so glad

I'm in the ministry.

440

Because I'm gonna be judged more

strictly, and I, I need that.

441

I'm a very passionate person.

442

I'm a very, you know, reactive person.

443

And so by being in the ministry, I,

I, I just feel so much accountability.

444

I can't let you down.

445

I can't let my family down.

446

I can't let God down.

447

I mean, I love that accountability.

448

I need it, it makes, it

brings out the best of me.

449

Come on, Greg.

450

Come on Greg.

451

You know some people, they

don't wanna be in the mid, I

452

don't want that responsibility.

453

You know, I, I need that pressure.

454

I always rose to the pressure when I was

an athlete and practice, I'd slough off.

455

I was a receiver and a running back

half of the practices my senior year.

456

My coach made me a guard because.

457

I'd, they, I'd run past patterns and

they'd throw me the ball and I'd drop it.

458

You know, I'd do that about three times.

459

He said, Maki, you know, bill Havens,

go over there, play Greg's position.

460

Greg, you play Bill's position.

461

You just blocked today, Greg.

462

'cause you can't catch anything.

463

Oh, Phi Beta Kappa.

464

You let see, I was a smart kid,

so that was his nickname for me.

465

Five Beta Kappa.

466

I never dropped a pass in a game ever.

467

I dropped passes in practice all the

time because I wasn't paying attention.

468

I wasn't focused.

469

I was sloughing off.

470

I was tired.

471

I didn't wanna be out there.

472

You know, this is in Fruit of Colorado.

473

Right across the tracks of the football

field was a sugar beet factory.

474

It stunk.

475

You'd be out there and you'd be

smelling that and you just wanted to.

476

You know what you wanted to do.

477

You know, it was gross and there are

just some days I just didn't have it.

478

And so I got made a guard and I liked

being a guard 'cause you could hit people

479

instead of getting hit all the time.

480

And so he didn't know that.

481

He was just bringing a

dream come true for me.

482

When you're not right, you're not right.

483

Some sins are worthy of rebuke

and then repentance, you know?

484

And there's times in our history

that that's all we did was repent.

485

Repent, repent.

486

Rebuke, rebuke, rebuke.

487

I remember sitting in the audience

once and say, if he tells me to repent

488

one more time, I'm gonna scream.

489

I've repented of everything I can think

of and I can't think of anything else.

490

And so stop telling me to repent.

491

And then Kathy saw something

was going on with me and she

492

just put her hand on my knee.

493

Calm down, Greg.

494

Calm down.

495

Started reading the Psalms.

496

If you ever feel that way during one of

my sermons, just start reading the Psalms.

497

All right?

498

Just read the.

499

But sometimes the pendulums can swing and

we never engage and we never confront sin,

500

and we never hold each other accountable.

501

We gotta have that right balance, right?

502

And when we need to

repent, we should repent.

503

And then Nehemiah talks about his

own personal example, verse 10.

504

I and my brothers and my men are also

lending the people money and grain.

505

But let us stop charging interest.

506

Let's not take advantage of the

situation and of one another.

507

And then he goes on to say in verse

11, give back to them immediately.

508

Their field vineyards, olive grows

and houses and the interest you're

509

charging them 1% of the money,

grain, new wine, and olive oil.

510

The commentaries say that they

were probably charging about 12%.

511

12% in the ancient world was a lot.

512

Wow.

513

And so he's rebuking them

and he wants them to repent.

514

He wants 'em to give it back corporate

repentance, and then he wants them.

515

Not only to give it back, but he also

says, I also shook out the folds of

516

my robe and said, in this way, may

God shake out of their house and

517

possessions anyone who does not keep

this promise, so may such a person

518

be shaken out and emptied at this.

519

The whole assembly said, amen

and praise the Lord, and the

520

people did as they had promised.

521

You know what he did there?

522

He says, you keep your oath, you keep

your vow, or God's gonna curse you.

523

There are always consequences

for going against God.

524

There's always consequences.

525

Now, Greg, don't guilt people out and

don't shame people into doing right.

526

You know, sometimes we

gotta tell the truth.

527

You can either be blessed by

God by trying to be obedient

528

or you can be opposed by God.

529

And I want us to be blessed.

530

Amen.

531

I'm saying these things, not

to guilt you out and to shame

532

you, but to help you be blessed.

533

Amen.

534

Keep your oaths to God.

535

Keep even the oath we made at

the beginning of this service,

536

that Jesus is Lord of your life.

537

Don't struggle with that every day.

538

I don't know.

539

I don't know if I want Jesus to

be the Lord of my life today.

540

Today I think I'll take a

day off from Jesus's Lord.

541

No.

542

You made it.

543

It's about do it the rest of your life.

544

You'll be blessed.

545

Amen.

546

And then Nehemiah sets an example

of sacrifices servant leadership.

547

Moreover, from the 20th year of King Art

of Xerxes, when I was appointed to be

548

the governor of the land of Judah until

the 32nd year, 12 years, my brothers

549

nor I ate food allotted to the governor.

550

He earned his own keep.

551

He raised his own food.

552

He didn't take advantage of his position.

553

He was a servant leader.

554

He didn't have this entitled

mindset, verse 15, but the earlier

555

governors, those preceded me, placed

a heavy burden on the people and

556

took 40 shekels of silver from them.

557

In addition to the food and the wine.

558

Their assistance also lorded it over the

people, but out of reverence for God.

559

There's a key word.

560

I did not act like.

561

That Nehemiah was a spiritual leader.

562

He revered God.

563

He honored God, he loved God.

564

He did what was right, regardless

of what any other governor

565

or any other leader did.

566

It's between me and God.

567

You and God do what's right, always.

568

Can I get an amen?

569

Amen.

570

Yeah.

571

Yeah.

572

Because why?

573

We want to be blessed by God.

574

We don't wanna be opposed by God.

575

And he goes on He, he says He

what a sacrificial leader he was.

576

Instead, I devoted myself

to the work on this wall.

577

All my men were assembled

there for the work.

578

We did not acquire any land.

579

And so this reminded me,

this attitude of work, these

580

different brothers and sisters.

581

That I've been watching

work, work, work around here.

582

They just, I mean, Gary ridden out.

583

Gary, stand up.

584

You're in the back row.

585

I saw you.

586

He's so humbly, he, he's gonna hate

this, he's gonna hate this, but he's

587

been putting together children's

chairs and tables and helping Kathy

588

out with the children's ministry.

589

He's devoted himself to the,

to the fundraising ministry

590

and the bingo ministry.

591

What a precious brother, Stewart

Stewart, you're in the sound booth.

592

Stand up a minute.

593

Stewart Stewart's been here.

594

There's times I come here and

somebody's here, or I'm up in my

595

office and I hear noises and I'm

like, somebody's in the building.

596

And I come down and I'm looking all

over and the auditorium for some

597

reason the last place I come into and

I come in here and Stewart's in here.

598

And he's setting up the stage

and he's setting up the sound

599

and he's put so many hours in.

600

He's worked so hard.

601

DA van, he's probably out in

the hall or he is in the back.

602

Yeah.

603

Woo.

604

With the ushers.

605

He working.

606

So he's texting me all the time.

607

Greg, I need a, I need a closet

for, for, for, for the ushers.

608

I, I need some storage.

609

Greg, can we do this, Greg?

610

I said I after a while,

I think, I'm sorry, dad.

611

I think dad leave me alone.

612

But it's 'cause he is so devoted.

613

He's a worker.

614

And Charlie, did you see those beautiful

white leather chairs out front?

615

Yeah.

616

Steve and Charlie brought those.

617

You, you, they, they cost so little.

618

Some, some, uh, big doctor's office was

closing down and they, they went and

619

they got 'em for such a cheap price.

620

Money ain't gonna tell you.

621

You might think it was extortion.

622

All right.

623

And they've done so much to Beau,

Charlie and Steve have done so much.

624

Jesse.

625

What a workhorse.

626

Amen.

627

We honored him last week.

628

Michael Wooten.

629

Michael Wooten works for the LA church.

630

He doesn't work for the

Orange County Church.

631

All the work he does for the Orange

County Church is because he is a

632

member of the Orange County Church.

633

But we don't pay him.

634

The, the rest of the church is

pay him, but he does so much and

635

he's here and he's calling me and,

and Mike, I'm not gonna say it.

636

You can bug me as much as you need to.

637

'cause everything he bugs me about is

very important and that he's so devoted.

638

And Kyle.

639

Oh, we couldn't even have

service without Kyle guys.

640

Oh my goodness.

641

All that he's doing, and praise God.

642

He has a pickup too.

643

All right, Matt Stone.

644

Matt flies in, he's out

of town where he flies in.

645

He's got a day to be with his family.

646

He's here for hours, setting up the lights

and stuff and programming things for us.

647

And he gets on a plane and goes back and

he comes back and he gets got one day

648

and he spends half of it here helping us.

649

I mean, sometimes I walk out.

650

I think I'm not worthy of these people.

651

I mean, they, they're

such good Christians.

652

And Monica Lee, she's doing so she's not

just an elder's wife, she's in charge

653

of our fundraising ministry and bingo.

654

And she's done so much.

655

And Daniel Samo, he is, he, he's, he's

only part-time, but you never know

656

what he's doing more than full-time.

657

And Hailey Thomas.

658

And, and Erica Parker, they made

that, that teen lounge back there.

659

It's so beautiful.

660

And Steve and Kathy, my wife's been

here almost every day working so hard.

661

You know, she, she showed me her blister

yesterday, you know, and I'm gonna have to

662

get her some gloves, you know, but she's

been turning that screwdriver so much.

663

That she got a blister.

664

And Jasmine, she's made some, some of

the, yeah, that food you ate this morning

665

and Moses, he, he's cleaning up after us.

666

He keeps this building so beautiful.

667

And it smells good too.

668

Amen.

669

Amen.

670

And I could go on and on and I'm

sorry I can't take more time, but

671

so many great workers in verse 17.

672

A couple verses left.

673

Furthermore, 150 Jews and officials

ate at my table as well as those who

674

came to us from surrounding nations.

675

So leaders, and I'm saying this for

myself, we need to set an example

676

and you know, since I got down here,

guys, I haven't taken, I take some

677

hours off, but I don't take a day off.

678

There's been too much work to do and

I know how to pace myself and I know.

679

You know, when I need to slow

down, but I don't have that much

680

time left, so I'm gonna use as

much of it as I can for the Lord.

681

And my kids hate me,

hate it when I say that.

682

They don't hate me.

683

They hate it when I say that.

684

You know, dad, you're

gonna live a long time.

685

I, I don't know, but I wanna burn out.

686

I don't want to dry out, you know?

687

I mean, I'm gonna go out fast and hard.

688

That's, that's me.

689

All right.

690

That's me.

691

We need to set an example and then we

need to be empathetic to one another.

692

That's what bothered Nehemiah the most.

693

You're not loving each other.

694

You're not putting yourself

in each other's shoes.

695

You wouldn't enslave each other's

kids if you had the right heart.

696

He says in verse 18, each day, one ox,

six choice, sheep and some poultry were

697

prepared for me and every 10 days an

abundant supply of wine of all kinds.

698

In spite of all this, I never demanded

the food allotted to the governor because

699

the demands were heavy on these people.

700

We're not gonna burden you.

701

Folks.

702

We're gonna be treat you the

way we want to be treated.

703

Verse 19, remember me with favor.

704

And he closes with a prayer.

705

This chapter, remember me with favor?

706

God, my God, for all I

have done for these people.

707

He wasn't a politician.

708

He was a shepherd.

709

He was a spiritual leader

and he had godly motives.

710

Amen.

711

So what morals do we

learn from this story?

712

Thank you for staying with me.

713

Greed leads to extortion of people.

714

And disregards decency.

715

It just was indecent.

716

It was just wrong.

717

Some things that are wrong are wrong.

718

Price gouging and inflation destroys

security and long term solvency.

719

The inflation that our country

has gone through the last

720

couple years, it's so wrong.

721

It's so wrong.

722

I don't know all the MEChA.

723

I've studied economics, macro and

micro from one of the brightest in

724

the world, and I don't understand

what went on, but I know it was wrong.

725

I know it's wrong the way prices have

gone up, economic hardship occurs due

726

to famine, natural disasters, and.

727

Probably mostly greed, godly leadership,

de displays, anger, sometimes

728

confrontation, accountability, and rebuke.

729

Hopefully you don't have to see

that much from US leaders, but

730

if it's it needed, it's needed.

731

Godly leadership also exhibits

this, and this is what we prefer.

732

Empathy sacrifice, benevolence.

733

Service.

734

Godly leaders have motivation, motives

to glorify God, not popularity,

735

not politics, not personal gain.

736

You're not gonna hear politics from me.

737

Politics don't save the world.

738

Jesus saves the world.

739

Worldly leaders, exhort, abuse,

gouge, and practice corruption.

740

That's why I'm not for either

party right there, right?

741

I'm just gonna lay it out.

742

Neighbors help one another and never

take advantage of the situation.

743

California used to be one of the

most neighborly places I've lived

744

here four times, maybe five.

745

I always forget the time I

was in San Diego, four times

746

in la, once in San Diego.

747

Most over half of my adult life.

748

I love California.

749

It's a land of milk and

honey, it's a promised land.

750

Well, we've gotten colder.

751

I remember moving from San Diego to

Boston think, Ooh, these people are cold.

752

They're not very even friendly.

753

I like the Western people.

754

You know, I like Western United States.

755

These Easterners, man, they're the

weather's cold and they're cold, you know?

756

And I'm so glad when I came

back west, you know, and so.

757

Let's be neighbors.

758

Let's, let's, let's give

our hearts to each other.

759

You know, I've been making

friends with my neighbors.

760

I went over to a neighbor the other day

and he had this dragster in his garage,

761

and I go, what are you doing with that?

762

He goes, oh, it's just a replica.

763

I've, I've never drag raced it.

764

It, I just take it to shows.

765

It's, it's a replica of one of the

most famous dragsters in America.

766

I say, so you've never drag race?

767

Oh no.

768

You can't do that.

769

That's against the rules, against the,

the, you know, but, but, but it sounds

770

like you could go drive it like that.

771

I mean, you've made a lot of noise lately.

772

I got a baby over there sleeping,

you know, he goes, oh, I'm sorry.

773

Yeah, it's just for fun.

774

I just do it for fun, you know?

775

And then I went to the other neighbor

and he was trying to fix his truck.

776

And so I went and opened up all my

tools and tried to help him with it.

777

And you know, he, he didn't want my help.

778

I wasn't very helpful, you

know, but I was a good neighbor.

779

I was a good neighbor.

780

And I went to the other guy and, you

know, he walks his dogs and, you know,

781

he, he just, he, he just needs to talk.

782

You could just tell every time I've

stopped this guy, he talks to me

783

for, I'm late for appointments.

784

'cause he talks, you know.

785

But I don't shun him.

786

I go over and talk to him, even

though I know he is gonna make me lay.

787

'cause there's something in

his life he needs to talk.

788

Doesn't have as many

relationships as I do guys.

789

What's the point of this?

790

Hope and loving one another.

791

God bless you.

792

Amen.