More than a paper house

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to "Try Jesus!" If this is your first time joining us, it’s great to have you with us. I would like to thank all the new members for joining "Try Jesus."

I would also like to welcome those in Minnesota, Virginia, Washington DC, Texas, Utah, Nebraska, and North Carolina. It is a pleasure to have you with us today. The Lord continues to expand his word!

"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD."  (Psalm 122:1 KJV). The Lord is indescribable and uncontainable. We gather to seek him above all today. He is an amazing God!

Our Lord continues to pave the way for the righteous. Authentic born-again believers shall not be moved from his mighty guiding hand! The Lord is our rock and our salvation this morning! He is our defense against ungodliness.

How many of you were able to have your tongue freed up since last week's message? With school back in session and many parents attending scholastic and sporting events, shouting comes easy, doesn't it?

Shouldn't that same love be extended for someone who saved your soul from being separated from God's eternal love forever? How much more should we be thankful and express our appreciation with raised voices? 🎵 Shout to the Lord!

Let's pray. "Heavenly Father, we come together to give glory and honor that is due your name. We thank you for the amazing way you extend your gracious love and presence that's shed abroad in the hearts of this who love you today.

Thank you for your many abundant blessings you have poured out on those who love you. Thank you for being faithful even if we fail to acknowledge your goodness to us. You continue to be an amazing God! Lord, we love you!

As was last week's prayer, Lord, you are the only Savior who mends the brokenhearted. Holy Spirit, please tug on curious hearts this morning. Father, cause those with the measure of faith they have, to cry out for your help.

Once again, thank you, for drawing searching hearts to "Try Jesus" this morning. As we prayed last week, Lord, you still reign from your heavenly throne above all nations of the earth. You have defeated all powers of the enemy.

Lord Jesus, thank you for guiding visitors to this digital doorstep today. May your deep peace quiet any stress, anxiety, noise, or worry in their heart right now. Lord, open eyes to see your great love, in Jesus name, Amen."

Have you ever tried to build a house with a deck of cards? Growing up in a family with siblings gave us time to be engaged in all sorts of projects. Even playing with our parents’ cards. I never knew what they were for.

However, I knew what discipline was if I lost some of their cards when my parents’ adult friends came over to play and some of my parents’ cards were missing or damaged. Ok, back to the building ordeal.

I was terrible at trying to get the cards to stand. My parents’ table was well kept and was always glistening with a shine, you could almost see a reflection. I guess it made it more difficult to build the house.

When you look at the cards, you see they are thin, flimsy, and hold no weight. But with enough patience, you can lean them against each other. You can build walls, levels, and towers. From a distance, a house of cards looks great.

That is, until some sibling walks by and accidentally sneezes or bumps the table. Yeah, just an accident. Keep loving your siblings everyone. (Smile). But when you’re able to finish building your house of cards, they look great.

They can have this intricate, impressive, and beautifully engineered appearance. And no, you should never use glue to permanently keep that look because you place yourself under the investigative eyes of your parents.

Remember, these are the very special deck of cards they used when adult friends came over. It seems glue has a harder time of removing when you are trying to get rid of evidence. (Smile). But let’s focus on the cards, not me. (LOL).

When you are able to complete building a house of cards (after many attempts), all these cards have a fatal flaw; they have no foundation. The cards are just leaning on each other’s fragile frames. There is no mortar. There is no bedrock.

There's no Flintstones living in this house. Ok, I know, not funny. This house exists in a state of constant, trembling vulnerability. A heavy breath, a slammed door, or a sudden draft, and the entire structure folds instantly into a chaotic pile of paper.

This is what one biblical individual tried to avoid happening after he saw everything broken down in a chaotic pile of destruction and tried to rectify the situation. His name was Nehemiah. He led the rebuilding of Jerusalem's ruined walls.

He successfully achieved this in just 52 days, despite facing intense mockery, political opposition, and internal economic strife. These negative interactions came just like those I mentioned above approaching a house of cards on a table.

But instead of trying to do the impossible on his, Nehemiah went to the greatest source he knew after hearing such heartbreaking news, he went before the God of heaven. Let's look at this powerful prayer.

2} "That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

3} And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

4} And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven" (Nehemiah 1:2-4 KJV).

And Nehemiah wasn't finished after verse 4. Please read the rest of the verses aloud into your spirit, family, or study group. This is vitally important because many of you may be living in communities, cities, or states where this is happening.

You need to cry out to the God of heaven because the state of your community, city, or state looks desolate. It looks like a gutted-out house. Yes, it's standing, but inwardly it is broken and in need of repair.

Notice how Nehemiah approached the situation to God. It's also important to notice that Nehemiah didn't point blame at others for the condition Jerusalem was in. He blamed himself and his household. (Nehemiah 1:6).

The word "Beseech" in the Hebrew language is to proclaim speech of begging or pleading. It means to implore, entreat, or beg for grace and mercy. To press someone urgently or make an insistent request.

You this desperate plea also by someone in (Luke 18:1-8). When things are difficult, you need to go to the original manufacturer of broken lives before things can be fixed.

When your community, city, state, or nation resembles a flimsy deck of cards, you won't be able to build without his foundation or his strong right hand. (Isaiah 41:10; Psalm 147:2). To get things going, after prayer, Nehemiah went to work.

Upon arriving secretly at night, he inspected the broken walls, rallied the demoralized residents, organized the community into synchronized building groups, and armed the laborers to defend against sudden attacks.

First, Nehemiah did an inspection. Similar to how you have to get your cars annual inspection to make sure nothing is wrong. Sometimes things that you cannot see that are causing problems with your car could cause it to fail the inspection.

Our communities, cities, and states, spiritually go through the same experiences. Satan has set up demonic powers of different destructive actions to demoralizing results.

But then the so-called leaders try to fix the problem by rebuilding with flimsy house of card remedies. Nehemiah did things the right way in orderly fashion. He inspected, (Nehemiah 2:13). He made a call-to-action verse 17.

His strategy involved work and holding the enemy back from hindering the work. The people were encouraged and had a mind to work because of his prayer-soaked plan (Nehemiah 4:6-18). Nehemiah consulted God always.

Here are prayers Nehemiah used during the process of rebuilding. (Nehemiah 2:4; 4:4-5, 9; 5:19; 6:9,14). Nehemiah defused opposition from local governors. Sounds like what needs to take place today with many governors in our nation.

Instead of the being distracted by whimsical false failing ideas (sounds like the oppressive policies many are tricked into in our nation today), Nehemiah refused time wasted distractions. (Nehemiah 6:3).

Nehemiah took the work seriously because he loved the people and loved Jerusalem. Do you love your community, city, state, and nation? Is God truly honored in your area? Is your area morally upstanding?

Or do you believe, "If it feels good in our community, we do it, good and evil!" Everything goes in our area; we reject biblical common-sense ideas!" I would respond by saying, "Your places will eventually become Uninhabitable and desolate.

All you have to do is look not to far in front of your eyes. Many places that are falling apart around us are through crime, moral failures, doing Frankenstein operations on our children, and other deplorable lifestyles.

They have made many places resemble failed places we see in the Bible. In our society today, we have fallen for the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" unrealistic utopian sounds of "Whistle while you work in cleaning the cottage.

You see beloved, if all the programs, social engineering, and all the money that keeps sky rocketing, could fix the broken lives of people, then why are the people not getting any better. Giving needles to help an addiction will never work.

It reminds me of the people Jesus came along to at the pool of Bethesda where people sought healing in the stirred water and instead healed a paralyzed man directly by his powerful living words. (John 5:2-9).

You see beloved, without Jesus, our nations people will always turn to a fragile substitute paper house fixation that will not stand under adverse conditions. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy what's precious to God, us.

This is exactly why Jesus came. He loves us more dearly than our minds can comprehend. You see beloved, our lives are the playing deck of cards that Satan deceives us into thinking that everything we build on is stable.

Jesus describes this kind of foundation in two ways at the end of his Sermon on the Mount. Please read the following verses aloud into your spirit. The words of Jesus will outlive the life of this world, and what it stands on.

24} "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25} And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26} And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27} And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

28} And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29} For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." (Matthew 7:24-29 KJV).

Jesus is describing