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Nehemiah 6:2-3 “That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?”

Nehemiah 12:27 “And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.”

Nehemiah 12:43 “Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.”

Making progress for God will come with opposition. You will face obstacles in whatever you are doing for Him to bid, buy, or build. God is encouraging you to press on regardless of the challenges.

Nehemiah and his colleagues saw their own share of opposition. They endured mockery, ridicule, anger, and threats of violence. They were bombarded with discouragement, deception, and distraction. Yet they pressed on!

In the end, they resisted, and then rejoiced, and rejoiced, and rejoiced. Their expressions of joy were so powerful that their testimony was recognized throughout the surrounding area.

As you bid, buy, or build for God, expect opposition. Yet press on for Him! And when you successfully resist, then rejoice, and rejoice, and rejoice. The testimony in doing so will be recognized throughout your surrounding area.

It is a formula that follows the leadership of our spiritual forefathers. It also matches the pattern of our national forefathers as we rejoice during our nation’s semiquincentennial for what God has done for us!

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO ENDURE CHALLENGES AS WE BID, BUY, OR BUILD FOR THE LORD. AND WHENEVER WE SEE SUCCESS, LET US REJOICE, REJOICE, AND REJOICE.

Galatians 6:3-4 “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

II Corinthians 10:12-13 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.”

Philippians 3:13-14 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

The University of Massachusetts football team recently finished a dismal season. They finished without a win and ended at the very bottom of the power rankings. Yet, they weren’t above celebrating small victories.

Towards the end of the game against Northern Illinois, when they were losing 45-0, they successfully kicked a field goal. And they celebrated!

The stadium launched a barrage of fireworks to recognize their accomplishment, the band played their fight song as if they had just won the national championship, and a section of guys took off their shirts and waved them around in the November night sky (see my previous post). No doubt there was a healthy dose of sarcasm in their response, but it does teach us a few things that are worth remembering.

It is okay to celebrate our victories, particularly when they align with God’s will and are free of superficial comparisons. Consistent bits of small and steady progress are typically more impactful than inconsistent and erratic surges of success.

Yet, there is an important caveat contained in the sentences above – we must consistently align with the Lord, never growing complacent or satisfied in anything other than perfectly meeting His standards.

Doing so requires vigilance. Doing so requires yieldedness. Doing so requires humble determination and heavenly focus, realizing that we will never arrive at our destination this side of heaven.

Doing so requires a lifetime of pressing toward the mark for the high calling of God in Jesus Christ, never letting up but celebrating victories along the way.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO CELEBRATE FAITHFUL SUCCESS WITHOUT EVER LETTING UP IN OUR PRESS TOWARD THE MARK. Field goals, fireworks, and fight songs are nice, but the real touchdown is only in consistently pleasing Him!

Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”

Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

I Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: nether can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

With us deep into the NCAA college football playoff, the next two posts are going to feed off that energy to share some recent football metaphors and illustrations. Enjoy!

Most of you probably don’t know the name Trent Eaton. Yet, there is a very good chance that you’ve seen a video of him that went viral three months ago at an Oklahoma State football game against Houston. In the midst of another dismal loss, Trent’s sister offered him $10 to go over to an empty section of the stadium, take off his shirt, and wave it over his head. Needing the money and appreciating the challenge, he did!

A few minutes later, a few others randomly joined him. Several minutes later, the entire section with filled with hundreds of boys and men doing the exact same thing. Though they lost that game 39 – 17, and didn’t win another football game for the rest of the season, it was a viral moment. In the end, they may have broken a record for the most shirtless guys in one section of a football stadium and they launched a cultural phenomenon.

A large number of people followed Trent, even though there was no real reason to do so. He wasn’t attractive nor loud; he wasn’t gregarious nor charismatic. It just became the thing to do, and people mindlessly followed him.

In this case, it was a harmless way to turn a looming football loss into a bit of fun and frivolity. But, it’s a stark reminder that we must be careful in following the cultural trends that are all around us, especially in a society that has flip-flopped good and evil, light and darkness, bitter and sweet.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO BE EAGER TO FOLLOW CHRIST AND CAUTIOUS AND DISCERNING BEFORE FOLLOWING ANYTHING FROM THE WORLD AROUND US. There are plenty who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Yet, we must carefully examine them to decide if they are right, and good, and godly before we join them in any previously empty section of a stadium.

Haggai 1:2-7 “Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built. Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”

Matthew 6:19-21 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

In Haggai’s day, God’s people were too interested in other things to finish God’s work. They claimed that it was not yet time to be faithful. They were busy making themselves comfortable instead of making God’s work complete. As a result, their hard work lacked results. It was as if they were trying to fill a bag with holes.

In this New Year and during the year of our nation’s semiquincentennial, where are we too interested in other things to finish God’s work? Where are we too busy making ourselves comfortable instead of making God’s work complete? Meanwhile, why should we wonder why our hard work lacks results? It’s as if we are trying to fill a bag with holes.

The Lord brackets Haggai 1:6 with the same admonition – “Consider your ways.” He would likely admonish us with the same. We have been busy seeking our own prosperity, our own security, and our own stability. Meanwhile, we have less prosperity, security, and stability than we had in the past. We have been filling a bag with holes.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS IN 2026 WOULD FOCUS ON GOD, HIS WAYS, HIS WILL, AND HIS WORKS. This year and always, we must carefully consider our ways, and align them with God’s ways. If we do, then we should see results instead of regrets.

Exodus 6:5-6 “And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments”

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

It is said that conviction from Exodus 6 provided the compelling moral justification that prompted President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Like the nation’s Founders a century before, Lincoln may have seen the escape of the Israelites from the bonds of Egyptian slavery as an analogy to America’s journey towards the Promised Land of liberty. It is a journey we are still on today as we enter the year of our nation’s 250^th birthday and as we collectively strive toward the loftiest of goals – to “form a more perfect union.”

The Emancipation Proclamation, in part, stated the following:

“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

In an instant as the calendar turned to 1863, up to four million image-bearers of the Lord our God, who had been denied the liberty that they had deserved as a part of God’s creation, were declared permanently and forever free. It was a freedom to be maintained by the full power of the federal government. Yet, the ultimate moral justification for such a claim comes from a power far greater than that – a God who declares that we are all created in His image (Genesis 1:27).

Such a claim is amplified through another powerful, revolutionary, and righteous proclamation in His Word and through His Son. At the moment we accept Christ as our Saviour, we are reconciled to Him and made permanently and forever free. Once we embrace that freedom, it is recognized and maintained by the full power of an amazing Lord.

PLEASE PRAY THAT IN THIS YEAR OF CELEBRATION FOR OUR GREAT NATION, THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD AMPLIFY THE TRUTHS OF THE ULTIMATE EMANCIPATION. We are redeemed and made forever free by the power of his stretched-out arm and great judgment.