Ep. 117 | Opposition While On Mission | ft. Eddie Blalock & Robert Bradow

In today's episode, Astin Kahnk is joined by Pastor Eddie Blalock and Pastor Robert Bradow for a conversation about opposition and calling. We closed out our "Called to This" sermon series on Sunday, so today we're taking a look at the series as a whole and talking about some healthy ways to handle opposition in our lives. Let's jump in!

If you have any questions about this podcast, or about The Orchard Community Church, we would love to hear from you! Visit our website at theorchardcc.org and fill out our contact form, or send us a message on Facebook (@IAmTheOrchard) or Instagram (@theorchard.cc). Until next time!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

He talked about the loss of strength. Yes. That the people lost their strength and then they lost their vision. They looked around and all they could see was the rubble. Yeah. They couldn't see that the wall was half finished. They just saw the rubble. Yeah. That's a loss of vision. They lost their courage, right? Because they knew the enemy was going to come in and take them. And ultimately they lost their confidence because they said, We're not able to do this. We're not able to finish it.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

I think Nehemiah says that in his response in chapter six, when he was called to go to Ono, the call looked good. It was like a call to diplomacy. When he says, I'm doing a great work, yeah, and I can't come down. No, I think that that's what we have to do is we've got to stay on task. We've got to live in the spirit where God has us continue to live in a life of prayer, as we see Nehemiah did that. And he trusted in the Lord that he never abandoned the work that was present in the moment.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

Welcome to Let's Talk About That, the podcast where we deep dive into Sunday's message and explore your questions. I'm your host, Aston Kank, and I'm excited to share this journey with you. Whether you're a longtime member of the Orchard or a first-time visitor, Let's Talk About That is your space to explore, reflect, and connect. Join us as we navigate the intricacies of faith, spirituality, and daily life, seeking to understand how the wisdom shared on Sundays can be applied to our modern challenges. So grab a cup of coffee, find a comfortable space, and let's dive in together. This is Let's Talk About That, where the conversation about Sunday's message never stops. Well, welcome back to Let's Talk About That, episode 117. And I am here today with Mr. Robert Bradaw and Eddie. How are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Doing good. Doing good. It's Monday. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

Perfect. Good deal.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah, as Robert said, it is Monday morning. We have to keep that in mind. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:53

Yeah. But we're here.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

We're here. We're doing it. I appreciate you guys joining me this morning. Yeah. So bold was a few weeks ago. Both of you guys went. Have you recovered from bold?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

I I'll speak for me to begin with. My job was pretty easy because I was just kind of over security. And our guys did such a great job. Man, it was good. As far as recovering, though, no, I'm I'm good. No, now, Brother Eddie, he was there for the duration.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Eddie, you recovered yet? Oh, yeah. No problem. But then again, now, in fairness, I did not stay Friday night. I did not sleep over Friday night.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

Okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

I did stay for everything on Friday night and then left. Got home late Friday night, but actually we thought we might have some shortage of beds. Sure. We had enough beds. So, you know, I took one for the team.

SPEAKER_04 2:36

I am gladly okay sleeping in my own bed.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah, I took one for the team and went home to sleep in my own bed. There you go. But then I got back eight o'clock Tuesday. I'm a Saturday morning. So yeah, I was there for most of it.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

You took a quick nap on Friday night to get back Saturday morning.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

I was good.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

A good deal. Well, what stood out to you guys most from that weekend now that you've had a week to kind of think through what you saw, hear from students, hear from parents. Is there anything specific that yeah stood out to you guys?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

I think the biggest thing that I was able to witness, and you see this when kids go to camp or something like this, is it the freedom that they have to worship? And then so they were in there, they're worshiping, you know, Lucas is leading powerfully as he always does a great job. And these kids are raising their hands, and then Chip comes in and just puts a hammer down and said, Okay, you know, are you guys are are you are you putting on a show? You know, are you are you performing or or is this is this for real? Yeah. You know, and it was just a powerful night. And then, you know, on Sunday morning to see the residual of that, the whole front row uh of Brantford location just filled with kids with bullshirts. Oh man, it was good.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Oh, that's so awesome. What about you, Ed? Anything specific stand out to you?

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Oh man, yeah, it's like what do I leave out? I think well, one thing just for fun, Chip and I did the podcast with the students. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

With a group of people, which was awesome, by the way. I really enjoyed listening to that.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah, it really did. Well, good. The the girls, they're always a little bit shy to start with, and then they get into it.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

Oh, yeah, you can hear like, hey, it's me. Hey, it's me. I was like, I love this.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah. Well, we did a sm last year we did a kind of a mix of guys and girls, and mostly I think from the Live Oak location. So this time, Chip decided to do a small group of senior high girls from the Brantford location. Okay. And so, yeah, that was really just from a fun aspect, I really enjoy that. And I guess it's a little bit of a standout because of what you hear the students say and what you hear the them taking away from this and taking away from the message that they had heard on Friday night. Because at that time they hadn't really heard all the messages. So that was big. I think the other thing, too, maybe the most big moment for me was Saturday morning. And Saturday morning's teaching time, uh, we did have a worship experience, but the worship team wasn't there. The worship team was there Friday night, and then they all got to go home and rest up a little bit for Saturday night because they came back for Saturday night. Okay. And as Robert already said, they they were incredible. I mean, they were just so good. I mean, they really are good. Yeah. That's not just a prejudiced pastor speaking. I mean, they are good. So it was that was it. But Saturday morning, I was all ready for us to not have any music, but then we had a team go up and it was all students. The whole team. Oh, really? That's awesome. Yeah, the whole team. They had Jackson Jones was leading with the guitar, and then he was accompanied by Ryland Roush and by Lauren Martin. Okay. And they they were so good. Uh, Lucas did play the um oh what is that drum, the little drum they just tap rock on. Oh, the cajon. Thank you. Yeah, the cajon. He played the cajon with them, which was great, but they led the worship. That's so cool. And the moment to me that was spectacular was seeing students lead students. Right. And, you know, from my perspective, of I've said during the series several times that I really feel like the burden for the orchard, the vision started with the burden, and the burden was for the next generation. Yeah. And so at that moment it hit me, uh, particularly at the end of the last song, Who Else is worthy? You know, we all know. We were just talking about oh so Ryland did something I was so grateful for because when she got when they got to the end of the song and it came down, the guitar stopped, the cone stopped, the backup stopped, and then Ryland pulled the microphone away from you know from a distance. So and and our worship leaders will do that occasionally. I really like that because then you can hear the church sing, you know. You can hear, in this case, the students sing, and as the students were singing and our students were leading, I thought to myself, that's the next generation, and they're ready. That's right. They're ready.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

They don't need us anymore. They don't need my generation. Yeah. You know, they don't need the generation behind me. Yeah. You know, they are ready. This is Gen Z. I love it. And they're ready to worship. So that was an incredible moment. But I will give one shout out to, you know, this year we did something a little that we haven't done the past couple of years. This year we used our guys, our pastors, teachers to be the speakers. Okay. And man, they knocked it out of the park. Every one of them. Chip led off with a powerful, powerful message on performative Christianity. Which was such a good discussion last week on the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

So that was good. And then Austin followed up. He's our student pastor and worship leader here in Lake City. And Austin did what I expected. He did an incredible job. I mean, I remembered Austin being a good teacher. Yeah. And he did he did. And actually played off of Chip's Friday night experience by talking about performative service and how sometimes we serve Jesus to perform. And then Matt, Matt did a great job closing out on Saturday night. Saturday night's always hard because you know, once those students get over the excitement of jumping up and down during the music and they sit in those chairs, it's been a long day. They hadn't had any sleep. They're tired. But Matt did a great job. Yeah. So I was proud of all our guys for doing that.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

Oh man, yeah. I know I was watching everything on social media of just what was going on. And I was, I may have had a little bit of FOMO, so I'm excited to uh be there next year when Lucy's just a little bit older. But man, it was from what I could tell in the podcast, it was one of those weeks or weekends that will mark those students forever, which is really exciting. Yeah. Awesome. Well, let's just dive right in to our last week of our sermon series called to this was yesterday. And yeah, so what has, you know, week four, we went through Nehemiah 1, 2, 3, and 4. What has stood out to you most from this sermon series, from, you know, being the teachers of this sermon series?

SPEAKER_00 8:46

I I'll begin. To me, this is this is kind of my wheelhouse because you're you're talking about uh, you know, four chapters and a book that's about a leader who is building, he's leading people to build. And that's something throughout my ministry that God has used me to do is grasping a vision, you know, birth through a burden, and then going through that building process and and watching this, I can look back and I can see a lot of the ways that God used this process in my life. But I also found a lot of ways that I failed when there were mishaps. And I was like, if I just would have read this book earlier, yeah, things would have been a lot smoother. But yeah, it was really good for me. And and I really enjoyed this. And it really yesterday hit home with me of how there's there's a great application for the community in the church, because we're talking about call to this, you know. What is your calling? Yeah, we we so focused on in the church, but yesterday it hit hard because there's so much calling or this. Maybe it begins at home, you know, in leaderships of families and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Yeah, oh that's good. About you, Eddie.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

That's hard to say. I I I think you know, when you use words like most and best, it gets hard. It's hard, yeah. But I think if I'm thinking most, not that this was a surprise to me, but it was a a standout moment. I think having so many people respond during after all four messages, really, that this is timely. Yes. This is timely in their lives, and seeing so many people trying to figure out their this. Yeah. You know, and so many people having even an aha moment. Oh, well, I think I know what my this is. Yeah. Meaning, and I guess I should clarify for somebody who hadn't heard previously, but when we talk about this is what are you called for? What are you called to? Yeah. Nehemiah was called to go build a wall. And what are you called to? What's your this? And so I think maybe certainly what this one of the bigger standouts for me was so many people discovering or seeking their this.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

Yeah. Yeah. I would say that too. And I also even heard from, you know, some moms and dads of just reminding them that wow, you know, my greatest calling is in my home first. And I think that was a good, I wouldn't say wake up call, but a good reminder to parents of some, you know, in this season, my this are the kids that I'm that are in my household right now. And I and I loved how you guys said sometimes your this is the people you influence or the people that you raise. And to me, that personally stood out to me but it's a good reminder of like, wow, that's what my, you know, this is in this season. So yeah. So was there anything that you felt that maybe God has challenged you guys to in this sermon series?

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Yeah, I'll start with all humility. I'll say this. I'm I'm a builder, I'm I'm a guy that, you know, lead, follow, get out of the way. Yeah. And in the very beginning, you know, where it says that that he prayed. Yeah. He fasted, he prayed for many days, and then we know later that that was four months. Slow down.

SPEAKER_04 11:43

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

I I go. I'm I have a history of just going tearing down walls, and you know, and sometimes I have to go back and pick up the piece and say, okay, God, I tore something out I wasn't supposed to. Please forgive me. Yeah. But I think I I really feel like God appreciates that passion, but um, you know, it's that meekness, it's passion under control, power under control.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

And uh so that that was my challenge is to slow down and enjoy that moment because I I wish that there was a segment in this book of the prayers of Nehemiah. Yeah, that would have been awesome. In that moment, you know, from this burden on his heart. Because I mean, it wasn't like he could turn on Fox News every day and see what was going on in Jerusalem or get on Instagram. But in that moment, you know, he he had this, he heard, he got word. Yeah, what takes place that I mean, I mean, most people today, they get a burden and they forget about it. But it was so hard that he fasted, he mourned and he prayed. And then we see later on, four months later, that now all of a sudden his face is still so broken. Man, the spirit was working on this man to a point that the king, you know, realized that. Yeah. So that's where I that was my challenge, is be patient, slow down, and and you know, embrace the burden and let that fuel your prayers, let that fuel your passion. Because when God gets ready to move, he's gonna do something big, and then we see the result of that.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

Yeah, that's so true. Because I think so many times, you know, just our human flesh, we just we see a problem, we want to fix it, but it's like actually taking a second to step back and be like, all right, God, you know, you have your way, but I'm just gonna take it back and pray and not just be like, oh yeah, we have to fix it. Or I even think for me to chime in. I think what's also challenged me is, you know, a lot of the times, you know, being in ministry, people will have these great ideas of, hey, I think we should do this. And so many times before I'd be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do that. But then I'm realizing that that's not necessarily my burden, but I want to equip people and to show them, hey, if that's what God has called you to, or if you have this burden, you know, kind of do what Nehemiah did. Take a second, think about it, pray about it, and let's see what doors God's gonna open for you with that.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

I feel like um, you know, when the burden first came on his heart, when he got word that, you know, the the city was in ruins, had he gone to the king on that day, the king would have said, Shut up and get back to work.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

So God was working in other people's lives that was totally out of Nehemiah's control. Yeah, that's so good. So I think that's that's the secret in this, and that was my challenge in that is you know, that while God's working in my life and then I'm going, oh, I'm ready to tear down walls, let's let's get after this. Yeah, there's other implements, other parts that God's working in their lives to bring all this together in the fullness of his time to make it work perfectly.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Yeah, that's so good. Do you have anything?

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Oh, yeah, sure. In fact, I got two areas. All right, let's go. I think the first challenge for me was I was the one tasked with with putting this series together. So we we kind of share that among our communicators. And so I was tasked with this one. So to me, the biggest challenge was where do we go with this? There's just so doggone much in Nehemiah, right? And you could talk about leadership. I mean, Nehemiah to me is one of my favorite leadership books. Okay. You know, you can talk about prayer. He prayed 11 times in the book. You know, you could you could talk about the the the vision of the people. There's just so many ways we can go. And I think that's why it stood out to me, or why I was at least deeply satisfied to hear so many people say, Oh, this is timely and this is, you know, I I want to find my what my this or I found my this. Because for me, a part of the challenge was getting to this. Yeah. Right. And so that was a challenge, I think. But personally, the challenge, and personally, maybe up the high point of the book as far as God, you know, challenging, it's I'm always challenged to prayer. And prayer always challenges me. And that's man, you would think that after being a Christian so long and a pastor for so long, you would think that I would just have that down. But the the challenge of praying is is is hard. Because I like Robert mentioned, I like to just, okay, once I catch the vision, let's go. Yeah. I'm ready. Yeah. Let's do it. And the the prayer is always a challenge. But I think the personal highlight moment for me spiritually was this week, and it's actually in chapter six, which I didn't really take a lot of time in chapter six. I referred to it a couple of times, but one of the things I did refer to was when Nehemiah was on the wall at work and the enemies came and challenged him to, hey, we need to have a meeting at Ono. And, you know, I I and and Nehemiah's response blasted me away because his response was, I can't come down.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah, I I no I got too much work going on here. Yeah. I I can't I can't stop. Yeah. I don't have time to stop for this, stop that. And I think for me, in my personal stage of life and season of life, that's a good word because sometimes I wonder, you know, if I'm honest, that you know, and transparency kicks in here. Uh sometimes I wonder, well, so am I done? You know, am I finished? I mean, my role has changed. Am I finished? Am I done? And boy, what an encouragement for old Nehemiah gave me. Uh hey, nope, can't come down. So got work to do. Yeah, got work to do. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

I love that. So yeah, so you kind of hit it, both of you guys have hit it on that Nehemiah, you know, is a book that has 13 chapters in it. And, you know, when you plan a sermon series, you can't get to all 13. I mean, you could, it would take a long time. But was there anything from the book of Nehemiah or anything in this series that you maybe wanted to share but weren't able to share from as our communicators on on Sunday mornings?

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Yeah, like Eddie, he said, you know, a few minutes ago that you could have gone on the leadership route in this. I I love and I did, I reson that resonated with me a lot as I was studying. Just look at, man, this would be so great for leadership. So great for leadership. So I tried to take the leadership portion of this where Nehemiah was leading his people and use that as a way that I would teach the people. So personally for me, you know, it was really good. It was just really good the leadership. I wish, and maybe we can do that, you know, led to this could be the next, not called to this, but led to this. Okay, yeah, hey. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

I got a sermon series idea. Part two. Part two, yeah. No, I think too. But but it's also a great way to challenge people. You know, there is so much left of the story that we didn't get to. So, you know, you you have a great foundation set up. But yeah, I would, I would challenge our listeners during your private worship time, spend some time reading. And I love what Eddie said yesterday. I'm sure you hinted to it as well, Robert, is take it verse, you know, take it verse by verse, but read it slowly. Don't just read it to check off a box because there is so much. If you do read it quickly, you'll miss out on those nuggets that God has placed in there. But yeah, I would challenge you to finish the book in Nehemiah. Because, like you said, there is so many avenues you could go. And the word is alive, it's you know, it's active. So it's, you know, you can get something different every time you read it. So I would be curious to see what people would get from it if they kind of can finish the book themselves.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Yeah, we focused on the call, you know. Um, what is your this? And and when you see the leadership qualities of Nehemiah, to me, I was so tempted each week and I had to fight it because I wanted to use this to teach our men how to lead your families. Wow. You know, that to me, that there's such a mess, if you will, in this world where where guys just aren't leading, men aren't leading. And I saw so many ways that he was just leading, great illustrations throughout. Yeah. So yeah, that's where I would have went.

SPEAKER_04 18:55

Yeah, that's so good. Anything you would have, any route you would have wanted to go, Eddie?

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Yeah, I I mean, I wrestled with five or six seven. Because there's just so much you can do. The other challenges, we had four weeks.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

You know, really should have been like a you know, two-month one, but yeah, so uh yeah, I'm I'm like, okay, because so I put in uh when we do our sermon planning, I put in the uh to go to Nehemiah. That was one of the things I wanted I I suggested, and I got it, but I only got four weeks.

SPEAKER_04 19:23

And I'm like, So on that note, so whenever you guys have ideas, do you kind of just put them all together and like think through like you you obviously suggested Nehemiah? So how does that selection, or I've gone a little bit of a rabbit show, like happen in the when you guys plan your sermon?

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Well, so we make suggestions, yes. We all come to the table with suggestions, ideas. Okay. Uh you know, suggestions maybe not is not the right word, maybe ideas is a better word. Okay. And then we kind of pitch those ideas and why we think those ideas or or suggestions would be good for us to consider and maybe slightly how we might approach it, but not completely. And then ultimately it's left up to Chip. He's our lead pastor. And you know, as our lead pastor, he really has that responsibility. That responsibility should be in his hands. And so he then comes up with the final, the the final word on what we're gonna do. Okay, but anyway, because of that, yeah, four weeks, that was a real challenge. I'm sure, I'm sure. Right. I mean, and I think the one thing that I would have gone to that I really wanted I've tried my best to get to, yeah, you know, is was it's chapter eight. See, uh chapter eight's one of my favorite chapters. Okay. And some of that's because of the preacher in me. Yeah. You know, because chapter eight, the people gather together at the square at the water gate, and uh Nehemiah asked the scribe Ezra to come and bring the book of the law, the Torah.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

And it's the story of, it's the the I shouldn't say it's a story because it's a real event. It's the account of where Ezra stands up to read the word to the people, and the people's response, you know, is is incredible because it says they stood when the word of God was. Wow. You know, what does that tell you? They respect that word, it tells you they honor that word. You know, for a long time when I first read that years ago, I would always have people stand when we read scripture at a public meeting. Yeah. We kind of have gotten away from that. Although I still do it some. Uh we kind of have gotten away from that. Yeah. It's not that I think it's something that we should do and become part of our liturgy. Yeah. I'm just saying the people had respect for the Lord and they stood. And and then it talks about how they exposited that word, exegeted that word. So it I I mean, honestly, I would have loved to have gone there. Yeah. That that wasn't where we needed to go for the series.

SPEAKER_04 21:42

Yeah. Yeah. I know that's good. So yeah, so I would love to know kind of on a personal level. You know, we've been talking about the you know, are this and specifically for you guys, you know, what God has called you to. What kind of opposition have you guys faced while you're chasing after You're this. And then kind of like a little tag side uh question. Eddie talked about the seven types of opposition um on Sunday. I think Robert, you said you mentioned it when we were talking earlier. Which one would you say would be the hardest for you guys? And then so we'll start with that and then I'll do my third question, my other follow-up question I have.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

You know, being being called to ministry, being called specifically to preach and ministry and to lead in ministry, I I knew that was my this, you know, early in doing evangelism for 12 years and uh and then becoming a youth pastor for two years. Praise God, it was only two years. And uh and then um, you know, the last 12 years being in a lead pastor role until you know coming to the orchard. So I think for me, I'm I'm not seminary trained. You know, I I entered later in life, you know, as far as being a pastor. And I think not feeling like I measured up to people, you know, that was that was a big, big distraction, I think is the best word. That was the opposition. You know, that voice says, You're not good enough, you'll never be good enough. And uh, and the secret was I've just got to stop depending on me and just depend on God. And there's such a freedom in that. But the opposition was just that inner voice is that you could have done better. Yeah. You know, nobody got anything out of that. You were just rambling words, you know.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

And uh, so that that that's the greatest opposition I've ever faced is being my own worst critic. And letting the voices in my head. Sometimes that it's funny the progressions as we go through this, because all it takes is just a little bit of ridicule from one person that says, I didn't get anything out of that today. Yeah, you know, and then maybe Satan wants to point and begin to mock you, which leads to the discouragement, fear and intimidation, you know, okay, do I even need to be why am I doing this?

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Slippery slope, the second you let one of those in, it's downhill slide.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

It's a progression, and then the distractions come in. Well, I'll just go fishing, you know. I'm like Peter, I'll just go fishing. And yeah, and then there's that internal conflict. So following this, I think that was my greatest, greatest one to this. Okay. What was the question again about it?

unknown 23:52

You're good.

SPEAKER_04 23:52

You're good. Um, so yeah, so thinking through about your this, my this. Yeah, your calling, and then what would you say? What's the hardest, I guess, one of those levels of opposition like have you faced?

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Yeah. So, you know, I feel like I've had several, I I've had several callings to this. So I I think my I don't know that I have one this. Okay. I have one major this.

SPEAKER_04 24:14

Yeah, and then the kind of other ones are yes, yeah, are related.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Yeah. But I mean, I think that, you know, several callings maybe would fall under that major calling. Obviously, and I really was hesitant to use my calling into to preach and into ministry vocation vocationally. I I was hesitant a little bit to use that as illustrations because I don't want people to think the only calling in life is to go into vocational ministry. Correct. Yes, yes. And so I I wanted to be really careful about that, but I couldn't help but go there because that's all the examples in my life. That's my experience. And so I tried to just, you know, to form that in a way that they could see. I always tried to say, no, this is my calling, but yours, yours, if you're called to be a plumber, as Chip said in one message, yeah, then that's your calling, and that's just as important. It's just I'm called to a different one. So, you know, I I look back on that and I I reflected some on that yesterday, my my initial call 54 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Yeah, wow. 54 years ago, that God really put that burden on my heart to preach the gospel. I didn't know what that looked like at the time, but I do know that it was clearly to preach, oddly enough. I I think sometimes today guys, ladies try to specify their calling a little bit too much. Yeah. And God just doesn't fill in the de He fills in the details later. Yeah. But I just knew that I that God gave me a supernatural desire to preach. And I say supernatural because I was an introvert. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

Which I find that really hard to believe.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

No, no, no. It's true. It's true. Beth will be.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

Only because I know you so well. I find that very hard to believe.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

No, Beth will verify. I was an introvert. I mean, when I gave book reports at school, I'd get sick in the morning before I'd go. Wow. I just didn't like public speaking. I didn't like to read. Okay. I you you name it. So I there was nothing in me that would want to do this. But God gave me such a deep desire that now it's like, how am I going to live my life without doing this? Yeah. You know, and I I so I suppose that he's going to let me do it until I die. Yeah. But uh anyway, uh so I think that that's big. But then this the other this is to me, you know, I feel like God gave me a s a more specific call 20 years ago when he put young people, the next generation, on my heart and gave me a deep burden for the next generation, which still carries over today, which is why I go spend a weekend at bold.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

I'm in a position I don't have to go to bold. Yeah. You know, I don't have to lose that night of sleep and my weekend, but I want to because that of that burden, that drive, that calling. So anyway, I I I will say of those seven, and actually I had ten, ten or more, because I talked in verse ten. If you may remember, Aston, you were there, but I talked also in verse 10 where he talked about the loss of strength. Yes. That the people lost their strength and then they lost their vision. They looked around and all they could see was the rubble. Yeah. They couldn't see that the wall was half finished. They just saw the rubble. Yeah. That's a loss of vision. They lost their courage, right? Because they knew the enemy was going to come in and take them. And ultimately they lost their confidence because they said, We're not able to do this. Yeah. We're not able to finish it. So all of those things, I think loss of strength, loss of vision, loss of courage, loss of conviction, uh all of those things I think are very real obstacles also. And I think those are somewhat, maybe in my mind, easier to overcome than the seven that we talked about.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

That you know, we find other places through Nehemiah and in other places in scripture. And I think it's hard for me to say which one is the hardest. I will say I did not say anything like this in the message yesterday or messages. Um, but one of our charter members at the orchard.

SPEAKER_04 28:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

He's been with us from the start and has been with us on the leadership team, our leadership from the beginning. He was on our management team and was very involved in everything we were doing at the orchard. It was funny because he came up to me after the service yesterday and he said, you know, I was thinking as you were talking, and he said, I can remember all seven of those at one time happening at the orchard. Wow, wow. Yes, sir, you're right, which is why I prefaced those seven remarks by saying I've experienced these. I know they're I know it's true. It's not just um because Robert I told him that, you know, it was AI generated. I just asked AI, okay, what what give me give me some opposition anyway, some tactics. But I said I I shared them, not because it came from Chat GPT. I shared them because I know they're right. Yeah. And I and and we have experienced all of them at the office. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

Um, so in case uh you were wondering what those seven are, they're mockery, discouragement, fear, and intimidation, distractions, internal conflict, false accusation, and weariness are the seven that we're I'm referring to. But Eddie, as you were talking, I was I had this thought come across my mind. And aren't you so glad that when God calls you to something, he doesn't show you the whole picture? Because if you saw You couldn't take it, you couldn't. No, because I was thinking like obviously, you know, yes, you see, you know, you could see the end goal, but it's like you would also see the times where you were mocked, the discouragement you face, the distractions. And I think that itself would be like the rebel that they would see. You'd be overwhelmed, be like, peace out, I'm out, like I'm not gonna do it. But the fact that we can walk in that faith. And we've talked about this briefly on the podcast when, you know, the weight of when you put your yes on that table to walk in accordance to what God has willed for your life, you're walking knowing that you're gonna face those oppositions, but by the grace of God, you don't have to face them alone.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

You know, Aston, and the next one after the distractions is the internal conflict. And I think that's one of the greatest struggles in church. You know, we were talking about what is your this on an individual basis to people because we we really want to see people get on that that onboarding ramp to discovering their this to be a part of of the community.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

But you know what's difficult is when when you talk about not your this, but our this as a church.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

Because we all have a big this.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

That's the big picture. It took all of them to build this wall. Yeah. And I was thinking, you know, once again, the personal application, not just for me, but for my family. And I go back to my calling, understanding the calling of this, and I will never forget, you know, the first time that I was going to preach. And when I got home, I was I was like bombed out. Like I bombed that. And Danelle looked at me and she said it was okay because I know I didn't marry a pastor.

SPEAKER_03 30:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

And there was this, I'm like, does she not have confidence in me? Yeah. And it just drove me that much more to be better, to try to be better. But I could not make up Danelle's mind. I just had to trust God to do that. And and she on that podcast you guys are doing, which will air later. Yep. With pastor pastors' wives. Um, she probably shared about that is that she didn't feel she was called to be a pastor's wife. And she'll tell you today that that was something that God began to grow in her and finding her specific place in that. But internal conflict is real, and that's what destroys a lot of marriages when they don't understand the community, their family, what the family's called to, what a marriage is called to, and in a church, what a church is called to. And brother Ed, that's why I'm so thankful that what we do. I hit on this yesterday is that we are about families. Yeah. And not just the kids and not just the young people, but seeing that family unit thrive in this world today. And I think we do great content to help them do that. Yeah, absolutely. That's our this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

I think, I think, Aston, I tried to dodge this question, but I I really think maybe the hardest one for me to deal with is probably false accusations. You know, I think that's probably the hardest mockery. It's tough. And by the way, you know, I sh I don't even think I brought this out yesterday in just the excitement of the moment, but you know, Jesus was tempted in all these ways also.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

I mean, all of these things well could well have come against him had he allowed them, right? The false accusations on the cross. If you're the son of God, come down off, you know, save yourself, you know, the the distractions that he met, even the intimidation. Although he couldn't be intimidated as God, he could be his man. Yeah. But anyway, I I think that those that the false accusations are tough because that attacks character. Yeah. And then that can go down into family. Absolutely. Right. And you know, you can attack me and I'm I'm pretty easygoing and I'm gonna move on and love you anyway. But you attack my wife or my children or my grandchildren, that's another story altogether. So I think that yeah, I think they're all tough. But I I think we have seen all of those things.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

And you know, asking all through these the opposition that we see in chapter four, it was all rooted down to just words.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Yeah, that's so good.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Yeah, it was just words. Yeah. I mean, there was there was no no arrows shot, you know, no swords drawn or spears thrown at that point. It was just words. And and man, how applicable is that today, specifically, Brother Eddie, you know, not just with mockery and ridicule, but with the false accusations. You know, even when you say false, sometimes people believe stuff, and and in the world that we live today, all it takes is just one Facebook post. Yeah, you know, and that that's what hurts. I know that's what you're talking about. There's something that maybe there's a just a little snippet of something that that can make you begin to believe that something is true, like in this, you know, Nehemiah, oh well, you're gonna be the king just because you're a great leader. So they took that little bit and tried to draw this great picture to accuse him. And uh, and I agree, brother Eddie, that is a tough one.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

So Yeah. So what advice would you give to someone, maybe that is walking in there this and feeling or struggling with any one of these types of opposition? What advice would you would you give them or words you would give them to just Man?

SPEAKER_00 33:59

I I think Nehemiah says that, you know, in in his response in chapter six, you know, when he was called to go to Ono, um, and and the call looked good, you know. It was like a call to diplomacy, you know, a call, hey, let's let's see what we can work out. You know, there were there was this whole feather on top of this whole mess of maybe there's something good that can come out of this when he says, I'm doing a great work, yeah, and I can't come down. And and that word down is is twice in in chapter six, you know, when he says, come down to Ono, and then he says, I can't come down. So we think about where we're at, you know. In in those those false accusations that would come right after that when they said, Oh, you just want to become a king. You know, that's what it is. No, I think that that's what we have to do is we've got to stay on task. We've got to live in the spirit where God has us continue to live in a life of prayer, as we see Nehemiah did that. And he trusted in the Lord that he never abandoned the work that was present in the moment.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

Yeah. Yeah. I would also add to that the thought that came to my mind was also sharing that burden and that calling with someone else that can keep you accountable to that. I think is all, you know, we talk about accountability, is so important. And I think that would also be another good nugget that I would add is surround yourself with people that are gonna build you up in those moments, they're gonna help work alongside you to keep you focused on that task, to pray with you because we're gonna feel weary, we're gonna feel burned out, but it's like you need those people to constantly pour into you in that regard.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Yes, that's good advice. Just remember that Solomon talks about a three-corded strand. That's right, too.

SPEAKER_04 35:26

Yeah, correct.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

And I think that that is true, but I think most of all it is the Lord and keeping our focus eyes on him is so important. And so at the risk of just preaching my sermon again, I think the response is we look up, we look back, we look around, and we look ahead.

SPEAKER_02 35:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

Meaning we look up and pray. Yeah. That's the first thing we do. If you're if if you're listening to this and you're struggling in that, as you're saying, then look up. That's your first move. Yeah. Look up, pray, begin to pray. God hasn't forsaken you, he will hear your prayer. And I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. Amen. Right? That's why I trust him. So, yeah, look up and then also look back because you know it's important that I I'm certain Nehemiah often would look back at this calling, look back at his original experience there in Susa the Palace, and look back at how God had provided so miraculously everything from permission from the king to leave to permission for materials to protection, all those things that I'm sure that as he looked back and as we look back on what God has done in our lives, and you don't have to be old to do that. Yeah, you can do that as a teenager. Absolutely. So you know where God has moved in your life and in your heart, and you look back and you draw from that. And then yeah, I think it's important also to look around to see what God is doing, where God's at work, and what the enemy's doing. Absolutely. I think that's something else here that's important. They were aware of the enemy. So they didn't put down the trowel, but they picked up a sword. Yes. You know, because they were aware of the enemy. They didn't stop, but there was an awareness there. And then finally, look ahead. I think you always have to keep your mind on the goal and keep your eye on the goal. But as to your other question, too, about God not showing you all the details, yeah. I'm pretty sure if he showed me at 19 when I first became, you know, first became interested in being a pastor or or got called to be a pastor, I'm pretty sure, or 15 when God called me into this thing. Wow. If you, if, if he would have told me I was going to pastor a church in a skating rink, a bar, and a high school auditorium, I'm pretty sure I would have not thought that was from God.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

That's hilarious. Oh my gosh. Yeah, you've been like, oh, are you sure? Are you sure you're calling me that?

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Well, this boy was raised in a very traditional Baptist church, right? So uh yeah, no.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Yeah, just to kind of end this conversation, do you guys have any last-minute thoughts for our listener for this sermon series as we're coming to a close? Anything you want to add to our discussion today?

SPEAKER_00 37:57

I'll go back to to week one and understand that this, you know, and and the last minute thought, you know, is just to reiterate taking all four uh parts of this series and bringing them down to one because people left with the question, what is my calling? Am I am I in my calling? Am I fulfilling my calling? I think that's a big question. Look at Nehemiah when it started with a burden and then from their prayer. And that would just be my challenge to people is to just spend time in prayer. As you say, read through this verse by verse, slowly. And and especially, you know, in the beginning, when we see that he mourned, he wept, and he prayed for many days. It takes time. Yeah. And while the calling, you know, is the big thing that we're focusing on, it's in those moments of prayer that God's really working in your heart. That's good.

SPEAKER_04 38:40

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Yeah, I think I would probably sum up with some encouraging thoughts. One is if you're a leader, I think you need to study this book very carefully. I I think you need to watch Nehemiah, get some other insights on Nehemiah as a leader. I think leaders need to learn from Nehemiah. If you're and and as Robert has said several times in this podcast, that I don't mean just a church leader.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Maybe none, well, none any more important than leading in your home. Absolutely. Right? I mean, you've got uh dad, you are the leader of your home. Mom, you're the leader of your children, you know, your family and your home. And uh so I think as leaders, we need to read the secondly, I would say read, and we've said this a couple times, read the whole book. Yeah, there's so much more there that we didn't have time to cover. And I I would say read the book and just keep building. Yeah. Just keep building because nobody complains, nobody criticizes until you start building.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Nobody complained about the broken wall. Nope. They just complained when they started building. Exactly. It sat there and nobody complained, nobody opposed anything until you start to build. And when you start to build your life after Jesus, building it into the image of Jesus, when you start to build your family, when you start to shape your family as followers of Christ, that's when opposition comes. Just to quote the great theologian Tom Petty. Don't back down. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

Don't back down. Too bad we don't have that song to start playing right now. Well, Eddie and Robert, thank you again for joining me this morning as we wrap up our call to this sermon series. Man, it was a good one for the listener. Thanks for tuning in today. We're praying for you. Easter is coming up in two weeks. If you don't have a home church, we would love to have you here at the Orchard Easter Sunday. All of our locations have added extra service times. So be sure to check out our website. Yeah, and find a time you can come and join us. But have a great week and we'll see you next week. Thanks for joining us for this episode of Let's Talk About That. We hope it encouraged and challenged you as we continue to grow on this journey of faith and embrace community together. If you have more questions, thoughts, or feedback, we want to hear from you. Be sure to reach out to us through our social media or visit our website to stay connected. If you found today's discussion meaningful, don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review. Until next time, we hope that this episode inspired you and will keep Sunday's message at the front of your mind. See you next week.