Aaa Service

By: R. AuBuchon Jr.

In the past few weeks we have been encouraged to live and work together as the body of Christ. I want to continue in that thought for a few more messages to come.

In Nehemiah chapter 2 & 3 we find the people working together. God was doing a great work in their midst. The temple had been reconstructed, and now the city wall was being rebuilt, along with the work of restoration in the lives of the people.

I believe God is doing a work in our lives that is in direct proportion to that of the days of Nehemiah.

He is desiring to reconstruct the temple for true worship …

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

He is desiring to rebuild the walls of protection to keep His Word intact and thus keep sin out of our lives … its His work of restoration.

Life and living are restored when worship and the word become elevated in our lives. But it doesn’t come without a fight.

One thing we need to be aware of … Where God is working the "Big O" comes to mess things up.

Big O = opposition to God’s work

· Satan becomes angry at God’s work. (vs.1,7)

· Satan ridicules God’s work. (vs.1b-3)

· Satan brings confusion. (vs.8)

1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

· Satan breeds fear. (vs.11-12)

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

Be assured … Satan does not have anything less in mind than to …

· Steal the Joy of God’s work

· Kill the Fervor for God’s work

· Destroy the Desire to do God’s work

John 10:10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

I shared with Robb Cox a couple weeks ago this thought … "Things are going so well as I see and sense God moving in us at TBC… but I am watching for something to go wrong."

Now some might find that "negative" thinking … but I prefer to see it as being alert to the schemes of the Devil.

2 Corinthians 2:11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Where God is working the "Big O" (opposition), Satan himself comes to try and mess things up.

So what are we to do? Call for AAA Service! Be armed for battle as we are anchored to the truth to become activated to work.

1. Armed for the Battle

Our first admonishment in the day of opposition is to be armed for the battle. We need to be like the mighty men of David … "armed and ready."

1a. Armed in Prayer (9)

"Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God …"

What a great commentary on the life and leadership of Nehemiah. His first response to the opposition was prayer.

One of the great means of arming ourselves for the battle is to first fight the battle in the trenches of prayer.

· Daniel after hearing the bad news of the day went home and prayed … as was his custom (Daniel 6:10)

It should never be said about you and I, as it is with some … "The problem with prayer is you have to have a problem to pray." We ought to be people who pray before, during and after a problem arises.

One modern day custom is "email." We spend time communicating with others through electronic mail.

I saw a T-shirt this past week with a stick figure on its knees praying with the logo saying, "Knee Mail." Let us be people who find the time to be knee mailing with God.

Isaiah 58:9-12 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ’Here I am.’ "If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.