What's "Just Rubbish" to You?
by Pastor Phil Cavanaugh
Phil Cavanaugh is the pastor of Northwest Bible Baptist Church and president of Providence Baptist College in Elgin, Illinois.
Nehemiah chapter four, what a great portion of scripture -- verse number two says this, “And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?”
Now it’s important to understand that this man, Nehemiah, chapter one tells us that he was the king’s cupbearer. This is not an individual that had an official title or rank, he was just someone who was burdened for his people. The Bible tells us that this burden caused him to do some thing, to put his burden into action, and that’s what we need today. We need more Nehemiahs.
If you get anything today, please notice that you don’t have a God called preacher here, but you have a man who was willing to do something for God and His people because he saw a great need. I try to start most messages where we get everybody focused on the same thought, on the same page. But all of us have the ability to discern that there are a whole lot of problems in this world, Amen! So we need problem solvers, we need more Nehemiah’s. There’s not anyone in this auditorium or on this property anywhere that doesn’t have the ability to be a Nehemiah. We need Mr. Nehemiahs and we need Mrs. Nehemiahs! People that are willing to see a need and not just see the need, but get involved and do something about the need.
Nehemiah was a man of action. He didn’t just hear of the problem and forget about it. He went and did something to solve the problem. You know, it really doesn’t take much brain power to analyze, scrutinize, or criticize. That is something that can happen very easily, all of us have that ability, especially when you have some truth in you from the Word of God. We don’t need people that talk more. We need people to talk less and DO MORE, start doing something with their life.
Nehemiah was a man of action, but also, Nehemiah was a man of prayer. In chapter one verse six it says, “Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.” Nehemiah chapter one verse six should really be an implemented prayer in all of our lives. It really should be in our prayer journals because what it is, is a prayer of accountability, it’s a prayer of ownership. We are very quick to analyze, scrutinize and criticize someone else’s sin but we are awful slow when it comes to our own sin to have this kind of prayer in our life.
Nehemiah was a man of action. Nehemiah was a man of prayer. But all of that comes back to this, he was a man of concern. In chapter one verse two you see, “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.” Now this was a group of individuals that had been taken captive into Babylon and Nehemiah still had a heart for his people. We understand that Jerusalem had been destroyed and that there were a lot of problems in Jerusalem and the people were discouraged and downtrodden, the walls had been leveled. There was so much decay, there was so much abuse, there were so many problems. You see here, not only was Nehemiah a man of action, and a man of prayer, but he was a man of concern.
When the men came back from Jerusalem to Babylon, when they arrived, Nehemiah’s heart was so tuned to the homeland and the people there, that he wanted news of what was going on. “Hey, tell me about home.” It’s just like you and I would say if you pick up the phone. I’ll call home, and home is where mom is, right? I’ll call home and say, “Mom, what’s going on? What’s the latest news? Who got shot in Philadelphia this week?” You know that’s reality, the sad part of it. But the point is, what’s going on in your neighborhood, what’s going on with your old friends and acquaintances? You talk about those sorts of things. But in reality you will only ask about what you are truly concerned about. If you’re not concerned about anything, then you’re not going to ask about it. We talk about what we are concerned about. So you see here a man of prayer, a man of concern, and a man of action and we need that today more than we ever have.
“Preacher, they have been preaching that for thousands of years.” And they are exactly right. It’s as relevant as it was two thousand years ago and in 2024, we need people of action. We’ve got enough pew sitters folks. We can go around Elgin this morning and find hundreds if not thousands of people that might be sitting in a pew, but we don’t need more people to sit and do nothing. We need people to stand up, stand on the Word of God and do something with what Jesus Christ has done in your life and in my life. If you have a true biblical salvation in your life it will burden you inside and out, it will affect your walk, it will affect your talk, it will cause you to be a person of action. We need people of action today!
Oh we have people with action today with their fingers on cellphones, we got action with entertainment in our lounge chairs, we got action with our remote controls. But we need action with the Bible and obedience to God. We need spirit filled Christians that will light the lamp of fire so that it doesn’t go out. May it never be said that Ichabod is written on this church because the light has gone out. We don’t need to allow the light to go out. We need the light to stay on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. We need that light to keep on shining and that’s what a lighthouse is for. That is what the church house is for -- to prevent the shipwreck and heartache of so many people that are destined to destruction without God’s people doing something about the job they have been given.
I want to preach on this thought, “What is the rubbish to you?” Nehemiah was asked, “…will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?” (Nehemiah 4:2) “What is the rubbish to you?” Rubbish is defined as waste or litter. Rubbish is defined as something that is useless, something that is perceived as not valuable, even worthless, just a fragment, just a shell or part of what it was intended to be. America has a whole lot of rubbish, doesn’t it? We really produce a whole lot of rubbish, even with what we eat. You can go to countries today and folks will dive in dumpsters, they will be at the landfill, entire families have their tents staked at the landfill to go through the trash just to find something to eat. Most of us will leave and go find a nice place to eat today and many of us will leave something on our plate that will be put in a trash bag and sent off to the dump. Rubbish, rubbish.
Nehemiah saw and heard about the rubbish. The difference between Nehemiah and many of us today, Nehemiah was willing to do something about the rubbish. He was challenged, concerned, prayerful. A man of action. I’m going to give you a couple thoughts about the rubbish.
Number one. There is plenty of rubbish. Plenty. In verse ten it says, “And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is MUCH RUBBISH; so that we are not able to build the wall.” There was so much rubbish in Jerusalem that they didn’t even know where to start. As a matter of fact, back in chapter two verse fourteen it says, “Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.” Nehemiah was saying, “I rode upon a beast but there was so much rubbish I had to get off because the animal couldn’t even traverse around Jerusalem because of how much rubbish there actually was.”
I think there are two ways that you and I can look at rubbish.. You and I, no doubt, know there is plenty of rubbish in Elgin, plenty of rubbish in the state of Illinois, there’s plenty of rubbish in our country and around the world. It may look like waste and litter. It may smell and act like waste and litter. Yet there is still a purpose for the rubbish. If you and I don’t see it then we will be messed up in our mindset and become exclusive in our living and self-centered to where we have been recipients of the greatest gift known to man, the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, but we don’t care about getting the Gospel message to anyone else. We’ve become very selfish about not sharing it because of the rubbish that is out there. Perhaps you think the rubbish stands in your way. You could be overwhelmed to the point where you do nothing about the rubbish or you could be motivated to make changes where possible. You can make a difference.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king and had an opportunity. He heard of a need, he saw a need, and he followed a biblical pattern of faith to success. He wasn’t the boss, the guy at the top. He had every excuse as a slave to sit there and say, “There’s nothing I can do about this, let somebody else do the job.”
You know this country was not built on individuals who were unwilling to help out a brother or a neighbor. By the way, don’t buy into this revisionist history nonsense going on today. There are a whole lot of people who want to control the narrative of the past because if they can control the past they will control the present and they can control the future. You just stick with the Word of God if you want a History book. Let me tell you there was a whole lot of hard work and sacrifice that went into this country to have what we have. I’m not saying it’s a perfect country but I tell you what, this country was built on people that cared about someone else and they cared about their neighbor. They cared about principles of right and wrong. Now we don’t care anything about our neighbors. We whip out our cellphones to video it so we can go viral on the internet as opposed to putting the dumb phone down and intervene for somebody’s safety and their very life. That’s how sick we’ve become. There’s so much rubbish today and we’d rather video the rubbish than do something to change it. It’s true today. There is plenty of rubbish.
It wasn’t Nehemiah’s job. He was just a worker. He became a worker and a planner with courage, perseverance and faith because he understood there was plenty of rubbish. It doesn’t take the brain of a child to figure out how much rubbish is going on today. There’s so much rubbish all over the place. I’m not talking about litter on the side of the road. I’m talking about people that were created in the image of God. They are a body, soul and spirit. Individuals that have been given life, created in the image of God for His purpose. But it hinges on and is determined by their willingness to hear and obey the truth or not.
We need Christians to understand what we are looking at. Understand we can be motivated or we can be overwhelmed by what we see before us. We could be motivated and say, “We’ve got to do something.” Or we can be overwhelmed and say, “The problem is so huge, what difference could I possibly make?”
Do you think we are putting $400 for one tank of gas in those diesel buses week after week after week because we don’t care? It’s all for the sake of souls, for boys and girls who would never hear the truth of the Bible if nobody ever came and knocked on their door and invited them to come to Sunday School. Oh, we could have put that in a fund and become a very rich church and hang fancy chandeliers in here. You could walk in here and be impressed or we can just have simple lights that work and pews that make you a little bit uncomfortable and sometimes we put you to sleep. But keep those old buses going because that’s not rubbish, that is souls that need Jesus Christ. Now they are up there working, but what are you doing? They’re out there running those buses, but what are you doing for Jesus Christ?
Are you motivated by the rubbish or are you overwhelmed with the rubbish? That’s what we’ve got today, “Well you can think whatever Pastor, you’re stuck.” I was saying it way before I became a pastor and by the grace of God I’ll still be saying it for the rest of my life. Go ahead and run to another state because you feel like there is more freedom in that state but there is rubbish in Illinois and there is great need here and as long as God wants me here, preaching right here, I’m going to be preaching among the rubbish.
I’m looking for people who will join in and say, “Hey there’s rubbish and need in Illinois, you can go ahead and go to a state that protects 2nd amendment, but how about the souls of humanity that need to hear the message of the Gospel shared with them around here today? You can depart for some place that might or might not be more pleasant, and maybe that is God’s will for where you need to serve Him, you can go get your little easy spot, but I’m telling you that there are people in this county and in this state that are surrounded by the rubbish and they need the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ to transform their lives.” There’s a freight train leaving out of this area, and a whole lot of people looking for red states, but thank God for the red blood of Jesus Christ!
You know what I’m looking for out knocking on doors? I’m knocking on doors trying to find those that need Jesus Christ. People have been moving for a long time, as they are moving then empty houses pop up and there are new people filling those homes that need to hear about Jesus Christ. How do you feel about the rubbish today? What are your thoughts on the rubbish?
The second thing I want to show you this is this: there is still value in the rubbish. Man! There is so much rubbish. A few months back I preached a message entitled “Miracles live on in the fragments.” That word rubbish right there if you look it up in Webster 1828 dictionary it will come up with the word “fragment.” Jesus Christ at the feeding of the 5,000 said this, “…unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” (John 6:12) Jesus cared about the fragments, Jesus cared about the rubbish. Nehemiah cared about the rubbish. The whole point of my message is to get Christians to start caring about the rubbish. I’m glad Jesus Christ didn’t look at you and me as so much rubbish. I’m glad He came all the way down to earth to die for the rubbish. I’m glad He reached way, way, way down for you and me. I’m glad He is still reaching way, way down for people, still reaching down for the rubbish.
If you do not see yourself as rubbish, then you’ll never admit you need the Saviour. Looking at Him causes me to see the hopelessness of me. There is nothing good about me except the Lord Jesus Christ in me. I’m glad He saved us, changed us, guides us, protects us and I’m surely glad He loves us. He still cares! We still have a God that cares about the rubbish.
We need to understand that there is still value in the rubbish. Man, it’s so easy to be discouraged by all the terrible news that is on every headline everywhere, it’s discouraging. It will be discouraging when you feed yourself with a constant diet of that day in and day out. But if you have the right perspective, the right biblical lens, you’ll see that and say, “No, that’s all opportunity! Tragedy is opportunity, sickness is opportunity, hurt is opportunity as along as you deal with it according to the Word of God.” There’s a pattern to help the rubbish. We need Christians to get a glimpse of that pattern.
Thirdly, there’s a responsibility with the rubbish. This is where we don’t like the word “responsibility” today. Let me give you the definition. Responsibility is the state of being accountable or answerable for a trust or office, or for a debt. See in America today we can point to so many people in leadership that are not trustworthy. We tend to like that because, when they are not trustworthy then we feel like we don’t have to be accountable, because who am I going to be accountable to? So the more man fails the more we become relaxed with what we do in our lifestyle because we ultimately think, “Hey, who am I going to be accountable to, who am I going to answer to, whenever everyone else has failed? They’re just men. Judge not.”
You know who we will be judged by? By God! Do you know who will hold us accountable? We don’t want to be answerable today, we don’t want to be responsible, we don’t want accountability. Yet everything in the Word of God teaches us that we have responsibility. We are going to be responsible for what we did with the rubbish in 2024. If you and I could say, “Pastor there’s rubbish all over the place. It’s a mess.” Then what are we doing about it? Listen, this is not my words, this is the Bible. We are going to give an account about the rubbish.
I can look back and see the sad state of affairs because of previous generations. Maybe previous pastors or ministries across America and around the world that have washed their hands of the responsibility with the rubbish. I can decide that’s why we are in this mess, but at the end of the day that’s not going to change the situation with the rubbish that is in front of you, and in front of me.
So what do we do? We roll up our sleeves and ask God to help us and we head neck deep into the rubbish piles. Could you imagine if Nehemiah came riding in on his little donkey coming up to Jerusalem from Babylon. As he’s coming to town he looks at all the rubbish and says, “Whoa donkey, we’re going back to slavery. We’re going back to Babylon. There’s just too much rubbish to deal with here.” Have you ever driven by Route 20 right here by Randall Road, and you look to the left and right and its littered with trash? Just unbelievable amounts of trash, especially after winter after they plow all that snow and then the snow melts and its all piled up right there in the spring time. You look at that and say, “Man, I would hate to have that job.” There is so much of it and it’s like, “Where do we even begin?”
You know what Nehemiah did? He went as far as he could on that beast and then he got off the beast and went farther on foot, and he made a plan and he encouraged the people. Then they started dealing with the rubbish one piece at a time, one piece at a time, one piece at a time to rebuild. Because it wasn’t just a bunch of useless rubbish; it was something God could still do something with. God intended to use what they reclaimed from the rubbish as the ruins were rebuilt.
Friend, we’re to be responsible. Nehemiah looked to the right and to the left and nobody else was doing anything. So what did he say? He said, “Okay, I’ll do it then.” And what did he do? He recruited other people to help because many hands make light work. You know what I’m trying to do? I’m trying to motivate a church where it’s not just 10% or 20% of the people who are carrying the workload. Not just 30% or 40% of the people. How about 100% of the people that are looking out at the wrecked rubbish in this world?
Friend, understand that we are going to give an account. You can’t control when you were born in this world, you can’t control the fact that this was the time God wanted you to exist. “I wish I was born here in this location and I wish I was born there in that time period.” God had you born when you were born and you are here right now. So do something about the rubbish because, ultimately, we all will be accountable and we all will answer to God one day.
There are many supposed Christians who have been barking at Bible believers who stand on the Word of God because they would rather be comfortable and conformed to the world than opposed to the world’s carnality. Now within just a few miles of here you go up the street to Target, and they are already promoting Sodomite month, they have their full display. You can buy lingerie and swimsuits for men, you can buy dresses for little boys, you can buy all kinds of T shirts and stuff proclaiming that you stand for that twisted, immoral ungodliness. You don’t have to go far. Who would have ever thought in the United States of America we would be so messed up in the head that we would justify the heathenness that the Word of God warned us about? Who would have ever thought our major stores would be promoting feminine, girlie clothes for men? It’s absolutely despicable. It’s right there in your face. They have hijacked the rainbow, a symbol of promise from God. Everything good is desecrated by the lust of filthy minds.
There is nothing funny about what I just said, by the way, nothing funny at all. I’ve been watching and there have been a few individuals laughing like it’s funny. I don’t say much, but I’m telling you right now, I’m done and it’s not going to happen. I’m very patient, but I promise you, you’re not going to come to God’s house and me answer to God for your behavior here. Accountability, if I’m going to answer to God as the shepherd of this place according to the Bible, then some things are not going to happen. Listen, we need to understand we are going to answer to God. I don’t like that at all. We are talking about the most devastating effects on our children’s innocence, so this is not a joke.
I want to land on this point and I’ll be done. There’s Revival waiting for the rubbish. Listen, if I put on the screen this morning the absolute wickedness, I couldn’t even show it in a mixed audience, I couldn’t even show it this morning what they are doing to our children, it just rips my heart out. The most innocent among us, kids that don’t even know the alphabet yet, I can’t even go there, it’s terrible.
But you know what resets that emotion? Is that God is not done and there is still an opportunity for revival from the rubbish. You see the rubbish depicted in the book of Nehemiah there, it’s something that is functional, but damaged. This rubbish was burned, this rubbish was busted, this rubbish had been through a lot. It’s exactly what we have in America today. We’ve come to the point that what is “normal” is just so far away from where we’ve come. It wasn’t long ago that you would say, “Well, this is normal and that is normal.” Things about marriage and the home and morality. That old devil is wicked and has hijacked everything. It’s so bad that we don’t even know what normal is anymore.
We are living in a world that is upside down and inside out. We look at this and if we are not careful you will be discouraged to the point you will just want to grab your kids and run and bury yourself in some hole in the ground. God has not called us to go out and find some desert place and bury ourselves in the ground. God has called us to witness to the rubbish, God has called us to prepare for revival among the rubbish. But if you and I don’t experience revival in our own hearts and in our own lives then all this rubbish is never going to experience revival. We can look at this world and all the rebellion and the anti Christ antics of individuals, or we can look at this and see souls in need of the Savior. We can see potential for God to do a great work in hearts and lives. That’s the point. What is the rubbish to you? If you and I don’t understand that revival can still happen to the rubbish, then we will give up.
You know, in 52 days they took all that rubbish, they took those stones that were broken and scattered, they took those stones that were burnt all the way to the ground and they reshaped them and reformed them. That’s what Jesus Christ wants to do, He wants to reshape and reform and build something stronger, rebuild something for the cause and glory of Christ. He wants to build something in Elgin and in the state of Illinois and around the world.
God is still looking for that, but if you and I just look at that rubbish and say, “It’s just rubbish anyway and it gets what it deserves,” then you and I will get what we deserve as well, living in this cesspool of a city where we think it can’t get worse, but it keeps on getting worse.
God still wants to send a revival but the problem is that Christians today are too cold, too calculated. We are too worried about what people are going to think about us as opposed to what God already knows about us. We need to step up. We need to have personal revival before that rubbish can ever have revival. We need to be on our knees, crying out to God. We need to be out there on their doorsteps, telling them that the Gospel of salvation is the only hope. The problem is, we don’t want personal revival because it might cost us something, so we’d rather just cross our arms and sit back and look at the rubbish of this world and say, “My, my, my, oh how bad it is. My, my, my it’s a terrible place.”
If we ever would just look in the mirror and look in the Book, then we’d say, “Oh me!” We’ll say “Oh me” about their sin but we won’t say that about our own sin and complacency. Until you and I have personal revival, that old rubbish out there is never going to have revival. By the way, it’s happening, rubbish is having revival. I can tell you story after story after story, not just those sitting in the auditorium today, but in our state and in our country. Places around the world that are experiencing revival, revival is happening. It’s just whether or not you and I are wanting revival, It’s dependent on whether you and I really care.
What is the rubbish to you? “As long as it’s not in my neighborhood, then it’s not a big deal.” As long as it doesn’t affect my 401k and bank account, it’s not a big deal.” “As long as I have a job it’s no big deal.” Oh, so you’re one of those?
You know what a local church is here in this city for? To have a heart for the rubbish. A local church is not a gathering place for a bunch of snooty self-righteous people. A church house is full of broken people who know that, if it wasn’t for the grace of God, there would all of us go into the same place. We take that grace of God and we look out there at the rubbish and we say, “Oh, man, I was just as hopeless and messed up as that, in fact, I was worse than that, and thank God He saved me.” You look up and thank God for what He’s done in your life. You roll up your sleeves and say, “Come on, rubbish, there is hope for you. Come on, rubbish, there can be revival.”
Some rubbish may look at you and say, “No, I like being in the rubbish, I like the hog pen, I’d rather remain the rubbish.” You can’t do anything about that, if they don’t want to come out of the rubbish, but you can preach to them. You can share the gospel of Christ with them. You can be an example to them and show them that there is a better way, there’s a Bible pattern, a better life to live. Show them there is a church of people who care. But you and I will never be motivated until we have a personal revival in our own life. Revival is not just one thing of knowing that there’s a problem; it’s repenting and removing and it is having a recollection of the problem and saying, “I’m done with that, God.” Where we have the humility to care about society, but the problem is that Christians are too comfortable today. We don’t want to be inconvenienced today, no we don’t want any of that inconvenience stuff. “God, I’ll pray for the rubbish as long as you don’t call me to go back and deal with it personally.”
Is that what Nehemiah said? No, his concern was on the rubbish. He cared about the people God cared about who were downtrodden and oppressed and needing hope and help.
Do you understand that just having a downcast and sad expression before the King would be enough for you to die in that culture and position? When the King saw Nehemiah and saw his countenance was sad, the kings in those days would point and motion for them to be put to death, because they didn’t want to be around sad people. They would want someone who was enjoyable to be around, give me someone that smiles all the time. God in His mercy looked at it as He has done so many years. The king looked at Nehemiah and said, “What’s wrong, why is your countenance fallen?”
Nehemiah said, “How can it not be, for my people are in distress.” Notice that God used the people that were holding him captive to pay for the rebuilding of the wall and revival! But Nehemiah was willing to risk his neck for something that he believed in, to the point where God used the enemy to fund the project. By the way, God is still using the enemy to fund the project. Thousand of years later, still doing it!
There’s revival still waiting for the rubbish. The fragments of the walls of Jerusalem lay everywhere, burnt, smashed, heaps of perceived messes, but that rubbish was rebuilt. I don’t have time for it but the rest of the story is where Ezra comes on the scene, they rebuild the wall, then the man of God shows up, the prophet Ezra and he opens up the law and he starts reading the Word of God and it set the city on fire again except it didn’t burn timber or walls. It burned within the heart of the people and the people started throwing away their sin and smashing their sin and turning from their sin and getting right with God. God caused an unbelievable revival to happen because there were people who not only had the walls rebuilt, but because they valued the rubbish, they valued the rubbish that was within them that God wanted to help them get out.
Revival can happen in all our lives if we will say, “No more” but the problem is we say, “More” to sin instead of no more. As long as we are saying more to sin and saying, “It’s not that bad,” and “No big deal” instead of letting it go and saying, “God, this is what your Book says, I’ll stick to your Word.” We can not experience revival or help others come to the Lord.
Listen church, if we are going to have a proper heart toward the rubbish we are going to have to make sure we have revival. It starts with us recognizing, confessing, and removing sin from our lives. Humbling ourselves. Praying. A whole lot of rubbish is waiting for revival. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray...” (II Chronicles 7:14)
This closing thought, true revival must result in reform, otherwise it is just an emotion. See I can preach, I can obey God. That message was from God. It’s been burning in my heart all week long. ‘Hey Cav, what’s the rubbish to you? What’s the rubbish to you?’ That’s what God has been telling me all week long.
What is the rubbish to you? But revival without reform is just an emotion. I can preach for 40 minutes and you can say, “Yes the rubbish has got to go.” But if we walk out of here and there’s no follow-through, if there is no reforming in hearts, then anything we experience for 40 minutes of preaching is just an emotion. You may feel good about yourself, “Oh man, Pastor Cavanaugh will lay it straight out there.” I didn’t preach to impress you, I don’t preach to please you, I preach to obey and honor God and His Word. It gives us all an opportunity to examine our hearts.
So when you see trash blowing down the side of the road and you look and say, “Someone needs to pick that up.” See I had a father (I’ve told you a million times) you would step over the trash and dad would just sit there and call a family meeting. He would say, “I watched a billion times you kids just walk over the trash and wouldn’t pick it up.” You know, God is waiting in Heaven for us so someone to bend over and pick it up. God is waiting for someone to notice and care about the rubbish.
God is looking for someone who isn’t selfish with their time, talent and treasure to say, “Hey, I’ve got one life and I want to live it for God, I want to live for God and care about the rubbish.” If it wasn’t for God caring about me, where would I be today? And if nothing else where would we go. You can sit around and sulk about your own problems or you can step it up and start caring about the rubbish that is in this world. Listen, true revival must result in action, otherwise its just an emotion. There are no triumphs in life without trials, there are no triumphs in life without rubbish.
God used Nehemiah because he made himself available. He cared about the things and the people that God cared about. Do we? What is the rubbish to you?
Now it’s important to understand that this man, Nehemiah, chapter one tells us that he was the king’s cupbearer. This is not an individual that had an official title or rank, he was just someone who was burdened for his people. The Bible tells us that this burden caused him to do some thing, to put his burden into action, and that’s what we need today. We need more Nehemiahs.
If you get anything today, please notice that you don’t have a God called preacher here, but you have a man who was willing to do something for God and His people because he saw a great need. I try to start most messages where we get everybody focused on the same thought, on the same page. But all of us have the ability to discern that there are a whole lot of problems in this world, Amen! So we need problem solvers, we need more Nehemiah’s. There’s not anyone in this auditorium or on this property anywhere that doesn’t have the ability to be a Nehemiah. We need Mr. Nehemiahs and we need Mrs. Nehemiahs! People that are willing to see a need and not just see the need, but get involved and do something about the need.
Nehemiah was a man of action. He didn’t just hear of the problem and forget about it. He went and did something to solve the problem. You know, it really doesn’t take much brain power to analyze, scrutinize, or criticize. That is something that can happen very easily, all of us have that ability, especially when you have some truth in you from the Word of God. We don’t need people that talk more. We need people to talk less and DO MORE, start doing something with their life.
Nehemiah was a man of action, but also, Nehemiah was a man of prayer. In chapter one verse six it says, “Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.” Nehemiah chapter one verse six should really be an implemented prayer in all of our lives. It really should be in our prayer journals because what it is, is a prayer of accountability, it’s a prayer of ownership. We are very quick to analyze, scrutinize and criticize someone else’s sin but we are awful slow when it comes to our own sin to have this kind of prayer in our life.
Nehemiah was a man of action. Nehemiah was a man of prayer. But all of that comes back to this, he was a man of concern. In chapter one verse two you see, “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.” Now this was a group of individuals that had been taken captive into Babylon and Nehemiah still had a heart for his people. We understand that Jerusalem had been destroyed and that there were a lot of problems in Jerusalem and the people were discouraged and downtrodden, the walls had been leveled. There was so much decay, there was so much abuse, there were so many problems. You see here, not only was Nehemiah a man of action, and a man of prayer, but he was a man of concern.
When the men came back from Jerusalem to Babylon, when they arrived, Nehemiah’s heart was so tuned to the homeland and the people there, that he wanted news of what was going on. “Hey, tell me about home.” It’s just like you and I would say if you pick up the phone. I’ll call home, and home is where mom is, right? I’ll call home and say, “Mom, what’s going on? What’s the latest news? Who got shot in Philadelphia this week?” You know that’s reality, the sad part of it. But the point is, what’s going on in your neighborhood, what’s going on with your old friends and acquaintances? You talk about those sorts of things. But in reality you will only ask about what you are truly concerned about. If you’re not concerned about anything, then you’re not going to ask about it. We talk about what we are concerned about. So you see here a man of prayer, a man of concern, and a man of action and we need that today more than we ever have.
“Preacher, they have been preaching that for thousands of years.” And they are exactly right. It’s as relevant as it was two thousand years ago and in 2024, we need people of action. We’ve got enough pew sitters folks. We can go around Elgin this morning and find hundreds if not thousands of people that might be sitting in a pew, but we don’t need more people to sit and do nothing. We need people to stand up, stand on the Word of God and do something with what Jesus Christ has done in your life and in my life. If you have a true biblical salvation in your life it will burden you inside and out, it will affect your walk, it will affect your talk, it will cause you to be a person of action. We need people of action today!
Oh we have people with action today with their fingers on cellphones, we got action with entertainment in our lounge chairs, we got action with our remote controls. But we need action with the Bible and obedience to God. We need spirit filled Christians that will light the lamp of fire so that it doesn’t go out. May it never be said that Ichabod is written on this church because the light has gone out. We don’t need to allow the light to go out. We need the light to stay on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. We need that light to keep on shining and that’s what a lighthouse is for. That is what the church house is for -- to prevent the shipwreck and heartache of so many people that are destined to destruction without God’s people doing something about the job they have been given.
I want to preach on this thought, “What is the rubbish to you?” Nehemiah was asked, “…will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?” (Nehemiah 4:2) “What is the rubbish to you?” Rubbish is defined as waste or litter. Rubbish is defined as something that is useless, something that is perceived as not valuable, even worthless, just a fragment, just a shell or part of what it was intended to be. America has a whole lot of rubbish, doesn’t it? We really produce a whole lot of rubbish, even with what we eat. You can go to countries today and folks will dive in dumpsters, they will be at the landfill, entire families have their tents staked at the landfill to go through the trash just to find something to eat. Most of us will leave and go find a nice place to eat today and many of us will leave something on our plate that will be put in a trash bag and sent off to the dump. Rubbish, rubbish.
Nehemiah saw and heard about the rubbish. The difference between Nehemiah and many of us today, Nehemiah was willing to do something about the rubbish. He was challenged, concerned, prayerful. A man of action. I’m going to give you a couple thoughts about the rubbish.
Number one. There is plenty of rubbish. Plenty. In verse ten it says, “And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is MUCH RUBBISH; so that we are not able to build the wall.” There was so much rubbish in Jerusalem that they didn’t even know where to start. As a matter of fact, back in chapter two verse fourteen it says, “Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.” Nehemiah was saying, “I rode upon a beast but there was so much rubbish I had to get off because the animal couldn’t even traverse around Jerusalem because of how much rubbish there actually was.”
I think there are two ways that you and I can look at rubbish.. You and I, no doubt, know there is plenty of rubbish in Elgin, plenty of rubbish in the state of Illinois, there’s plenty of rubbish in our country and around the world. It may look like waste and litter. It may smell and act like waste and litter. Yet there is still a purpose for the rubbish. If you and I don’t see it then we will be messed up in our mindset and become exclusive in our living and self-centered to where we have been recipients of the greatest gift known to man, the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, but we don’t care about getting the Gospel message to anyone else. We’ve become very selfish about not sharing it because of the rubbish that is out there. Perhaps you think the rubbish stands in your way. You could be overwhelmed to the point where you do nothing about the rubbish or you could be motivated to make changes where possible. You can make a difference.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king and had an opportunity. He heard of a need, he saw a need, and he followed a biblical pattern of faith to success. He wasn’t the boss, the guy at the top. He had every excuse as a slave to sit there and say, “There’s nothing I can do about this, let somebody else do the job.”
You know this country was not built on individuals who were unwilling to help out a brother or a neighbor. By the way, don’t buy into this revisionist history nonsense going on today. There are a whole lot of people who want to control the narrative of the past because if they can control the past they will control the present and they can control the future. You just stick with the Word of God if you want a History book. Let me tell you there was a whole lot of hard work and sacrifice that went into this country to have what we have. I’m not saying it’s a perfect country but I tell you what, this country was built on people that cared about someone else and they cared about their neighbor. They cared about principles of right and wrong. Now we don’t care anything about our neighbors. We whip out our cellphones to video it so we can go viral on the internet as opposed to putting the dumb phone down and intervene for somebody’s safety and their very life. That’s how sick we’ve become. There’s so much rubbish today and we’d rather video the rubbish than do something to change it. It’s true today. There is plenty of rubbish.
It wasn’t Nehemiah’s job. He was just a worker. He became a worker and a planner with courage, perseverance and faith because he understood there was plenty of rubbish. It doesn’t take the brain of a child to figure out how much rubbish is going on today. There’s so much rubbish all over the place. I’m not talking about litter on the side of the road. I’m talking about people that were created in the image of God. They are a body, soul and spirit. Individuals that have been given life, created in the image of God for His purpose. But it hinges on and is determined by their willingness to hear and obey the truth or not.
We need Christians to understand what we are looking at. Understand we can be motivated or we can be overwhelmed by what we see before us. We could be motivated and say, “We’ve got to do something.” Or we can be overwhelmed and say, “The problem is so huge, what difference could I possibly make?”
Do you think we are putting $400 for one tank of gas in those diesel buses week after week after week because we don’t care? It’s all for the sake of souls, for boys and girls who would never hear the truth of the Bible if nobody ever came and knocked on their door and invited them to come to Sunday School. Oh, we could have put that in a fund and become a very rich church and hang fancy chandeliers in here. You could walk in here and be impressed or we can just have simple lights that work and pews that make you a little bit uncomfortable and sometimes we put you to sleep. But keep those old buses going because that’s not rubbish, that is souls that need Jesus Christ. Now they are up there working, but what are you doing? They’re out there running those buses, but what are you doing for Jesus Christ?
Are you motivated by the rubbish or are you overwhelmed with the rubbish? That’s what we’ve got today, “Well you can think whatever Pastor, you’re stuck.” I was saying it way before I became a pastor and by the grace of God I’ll still be saying it for the rest of my life. Go ahead and run to another state because you feel like there is more freedom in that state but there is rubbish in Illinois and there is great need here and as long as God wants me here, preaching right here, I’m going to be preaching among the rubbish.
I’m looking for people who will join in and say, “Hey there’s rubbish and need in Illinois, you can go ahead and go to a state that protects 2nd amendment, but how about the souls of humanity that need to hear the message of the Gospel shared with them around here today? You can depart for some place that might or might not be more pleasant, and maybe that is God’s will for where you need to serve Him, you can go get your little easy spot, but I’m telling you that there are people in this county and in this state that are surrounded by the rubbish and they need the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ to transform their lives.” There’s a freight train leaving out of this area, and a whole lot of people looking for red states, but thank God for the red blood of Jesus Christ!
You know what I’m looking for out knocking on doors? I’m knocking on doors trying to find those that need Jesus Christ. People have been moving for a long time, as they are moving then empty houses pop up and there are new people filling those homes that need to hear about Jesus Christ. How do you feel about the rubbish today? What are your thoughts on the rubbish?
The second thing I want to show you this is this: there is still value in the rubbish. Man! There is so much rubbish. A few months back I preached a message entitled “Miracles live on in the fragments.” That word rubbish right there if you look it up in Webster 1828 dictionary it will come up with the word “fragment.” Jesus Christ at the feeding of the 5,000 said this, “…unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” (John 6:12) Jesus cared about the fragments, Jesus cared about the rubbish. Nehemiah cared about the rubbish. The whole point of my message is to get Christians to start caring about the rubbish. I’m glad Jesus Christ didn’t look at you and me as so much rubbish. I’m glad He came all the way down to earth to die for the rubbish. I’m glad He reached way, way, way down for you and me. I’m glad He is still reaching way, way down for people, still reaching down for the rubbish.
If you do not see yourself as rubbish, then you’ll never admit you need the Saviour. Looking at Him causes me to see the hopelessness of me. There is nothing good about me except the Lord Jesus Christ in me. I’m glad He saved us, changed us, guides us, protects us and I’m surely glad He loves us. He still cares! We still have a God that cares about the rubbish.
We need to understand that there is still value in the rubbish. Man, it’s so easy to be discouraged by all the terrible news that is on every headline everywhere, it’s discouraging. It will be discouraging when you feed yourself with a constant diet of that day in and day out. But if you have the right perspective, the right biblical lens, you’ll see that and say, “No, that’s all opportunity! Tragedy is opportunity, sickness is opportunity, hurt is opportunity as along as you deal with it according to the Word of God.” There’s a pattern to help the rubbish. We need Christians to get a glimpse of that pattern.
Thirdly, there’s a responsibility with the rubbish. This is where we don’t like the word “responsibility” today. Let me give you the definition. Responsibility is the state of being accountable or answerable for a trust or office, or for a debt. See in America today we can point to so many people in leadership that are not trustworthy. We tend to like that because, when they are not trustworthy then we feel like we don’t have to be accountable, because who am I going to be accountable to? So the more man fails the more we become relaxed with what we do in our lifestyle because we ultimately think, “Hey, who am I going to be accountable to, who am I going to answer to, whenever everyone else has failed? They’re just men. Judge not.”
You know who we will be judged by? By God! Do you know who will hold us accountable? We don’t want to be answerable today, we don’t want to be responsible, we don’t want accountability. Yet everything in the Word of God teaches us that we have responsibility. We are going to be responsible for what we did with the rubbish in 2024. If you and I could say, “Pastor there’s rubbish all over the place. It’s a mess.” Then what are we doing about it? Listen, this is not my words, this is the Bible. We are going to give an account about the rubbish.
I can look back and see the sad state of affairs because of previous generations. Maybe previous pastors or ministries across America and around the world that have washed their hands of the responsibility with the rubbish. I can decide that’s why we are in this mess, but at the end of the day that’s not going to change the situation with the rubbish that is in front of you, and in front of me.
So what do we do? We roll up our sleeves and ask God to help us and we head neck deep into the rubbish piles. Could you imagine if Nehemiah came riding in on his little donkey coming up to Jerusalem from Babylon. As he’s coming to town he looks at all the rubbish and says, “Whoa donkey, we’re going back to slavery. We’re going back to Babylon. There’s just too much rubbish to deal with here.” Have you ever driven by Route 20 right here by Randall Road, and you look to the left and right and its littered with trash? Just unbelievable amounts of trash, especially after winter after they plow all that snow and then the snow melts and its all piled up right there in the spring time. You look at that and say, “Man, I would hate to have that job.” There is so much of it and it’s like, “Where do we even begin?”
You know what Nehemiah did? He went as far as he could on that beast and then he got off the beast and went farther on foot, and he made a plan and he encouraged the people. Then they started dealing with the rubbish one piece at a time, one piece at a time, one piece at a time to rebuild. Because it wasn’t just a bunch of useless rubbish; it was something God could still do something with. God intended to use what they reclaimed from the rubbish as the ruins were rebuilt.
Friend, we’re to be responsible. Nehemiah looked to the right and to the left and nobody else was doing anything. So what did he say? He said, “Okay, I’ll do it then.” And what did he do? He recruited other people to help because many hands make light work. You know what I’m trying to do? I’m trying to motivate a church where it’s not just 10% or 20% of the people who are carrying the workload. Not just 30% or 40% of the people. How about 100% of the people that are looking out at the wrecked rubbish in this world?
Friend, understand that we are going to give an account. You can’t control when you were born in this world, you can’t control the fact that this was the time God wanted you to exist. “I wish I was born here in this location and I wish I was born there in that time period.” God had you born when you were born and you are here right now. So do something about the rubbish because, ultimately, we all will be accountable and we all will answer to God one day.
There are many supposed Christians who have been barking at Bible believers who stand on the Word of God because they would rather be comfortable and conformed to the world than opposed to the world’s carnality. Now within just a few miles of here you go up the street to Target, and they are already promoting Sodomite month, they have their full display. You can buy lingerie and swimsuits for men, you can buy dresses for little boys, you can buy all kinds of T shirts and stuff proclaiming that you stand for that twisted, immoral ungodliness. You don’t have to go far. Who would have ever thought in the United States of America we would be so messed up in the head that we would justify the heathenness that the Word of God warned us about? Who would have ever thought our major stores would be promoting feminine, girlie clothes for men? It’s absolutely despicable. It’s right there in your face. They have hijacked the rainbow, a symbol of promise from God. Everything good is desecrated by the lust of filthy minds.
There is nothing funny about what I just said, by the way, nothing funny at all. I’ve been watching and there have been a few individuals laughing like it’s funny. I don’t say much, but I’m telling you right now, I’m done and it’s not going to happen. I’m very patient, but I promise you, you’re not going to come to God’s house and me answer to God for your behavior here. Accountability, if I’m going to answer to God as the shepherd of this place according to the Bible, then some things are not going to happen. Listen, we need to understand we are going to answer to God. I don’t like that at all. We are talking about the most devastating effects on our children’s innocence, so this is not a joke.
I want to land on this point and I’ll be done. There’s Revival waiting for the rubbish. Listen, if I put on the screen this morning the absolute wickedness, I couldn’t even show it in a mixed audience, I couldn’t even show it this morning what they are doing to our children, it just rips my heart out. The most innocent among us, kids that don’t even know the alphabet yet, I can’t even go there, it’s terrible.
But you know what resets that emotion? Is that God is not done and there is still an opportunity for revival from the rubbish. You see the rubbish depicted in the book of Nehemiah there, it’s something that is functional, but damaged. This rubbish was burned, this rubbish was busted, this rubbish had been through a lot. It’s exactly what we have in America today. We’ve come to the point that what is “normal” is just so far away from where we’ve come. It wasn’t long ago that you would say, “Well, this is normal and that is normal.” Things about marriage and the home and morality. That old devil is wicked and has hijacked everything. It’s so bad that we don’t even know what normal is anymore.
We are living in a world that is upside down and inside out. We look at this and if we are not careful you will be discouraged to the point you will just want to grab your kids and run and bury yourself in some hole in the ground. God has not called us to go out and find some desert place and bury ourselves in the ground. God has called us to witness to the rubbish, God has called us to prepare for revival among the rubbish. But if you and I don’t experience revival in our own hearts and in our own lives then all this rubbish is never going to experience revival. We can look at this world and all the rebellion and the anti Christ antics of individuals, or we can look at this and see souls in need of the Savior. We can see potential for God to do a great work in hearts and lives. That’s the point. What is the rubbish to you? If you and I don’t understand that revival can still happen to the rubbish, then we will give up.
You know, in 52 days they took all that rubbish, they took those stones that were broken and scattered, they took those stones that were burnt all the way to the ground and they reshaped them and reformed them. That’s what Jesus Christ wants to do, He wants to reshape and reform and build something stronger, rebuild something for the cause and glory of Christ. He wants to build something in Elgin and in the state of Illinois and around the world.
God is still looking for that, but if you and I just look at that rubbish and say, “It’s just rubbish anyway and it gets what it deserves,” then you and I will get what we deserve as well, living in this cesspool of a city where we think it can’t get worse, but it keeps on getting worse.
God still wants to send a revival but the problem is that Christians today are too cold, too calculated. We are too worried about what people are going to think about us as opposed to what God already knows about us. We need to step up. We need to have personal revival before that rubbish can ever have revival. We need to be on our knees, crying out to God. We need to be out there on their doorsteps, telling them that the Gospel of salvation is the only hope. The problem is, we don’t want personal revival because it might cost us something, so we’d rather just cross our arms and sit back and look at the rubbish of this world and say, “My, my, my, oh how bad it is. My, my, my it’s a terrible place.”
If we ever would just look in the mirror and look in the Book, then we’d say, “Oh me!” We’ll say “Oh me” about their sin but we won’t say that about our own sin and complacency. Until you and I have personal revival, that old rubbish out there is never going to have revival. By the way, it’s happening, rubbish is having revival. I can tell you story after story after story, not just those sitting in the auditorium today, but in our state and in our country. Places around the world that are experiencing revival, revival is happening. It’s just whether or not you and I are wanting revival, It’s dependent on whether you and I really care.
What is the rubbish to you? “As long as it’s not in my neighborhood, then it’s not a big deal.” As long as it doesn’t affect my 401k and bank account, it’s not a big deal.” “As long as I have a job it’s no big deal.” Oh, so you’re one of those?
You know what a local church is here in this city for? To have a heart for the rubbish. A local church is not a gathering place for a bunch of snooty self-righteous people. A church house is full of broken people who know that, if it wasn’t for the grace of God, there would all of us go into the same place. We take that grace of God and we look out there at the rubbish and we say, “Oh, man, I was just as hopeless and messed up as that, in fact, I was worse than that, and thank God He saved me.” You look up and thank God for what He’s done in your life. You roll up your sleeves and say, “Come on, rubbish, there is hope for you. Come on, rubbish, there can be revival.”
Some rubbish may look at you and say, “No, I like being in the rubbish, I like the hog pen, I’d rather remain the rubbish.” You can’t do anything about that, if they don’t want to come out of the rubbish, but you can preach to them. You can share the gospel of Christ with them. You can be an example to them and show them that there is a better way, there’s a Bible pattern, a better life to live. Show them there is a church of people who care. But you and I will never be motivated until we have a personal revival in our own life. Revival is not just one thing of knowing that there’s a problem; it’s repenting and removing and it is having a recollection of the problem and saying, “I’m done with that, God.” Where we have the humility to care about society, but the problem is that Christians are too comfortable today. We don’t want to be inconvenienced today, no we don’t want any of that inconvenience stuff. “God, I’ll pray for the rubbish as long as you don’t call me to go back and deal with it personally.”
Is that what Nehemiah said? No, his concern was on the rubbish. He cared about the people God cared about who were downtrodden and oppressed and needing hope and help.
Do you understand that just having a downcast and sad expression before the King would be enough for you to die in that culture and position? When the King saw Nehemiah and saw his countenance was sad, the kings in those days would point and motion for them to be put to death, because they didn’t want to be around sad people. They would want someone who was enjoyable to be around, give me someone that smiles all the time. God in His mercy looked at it as He has done so many years. The king looked at Nehemiah and said, “What’s wrong, why is your countenance fallen?”
Nehemiah said, “How can it not be, for my people are in distress.” Notice that God used the people that were holding him captive to pay for the rebuilding of the wall and revival! But Nehemiah was willing to risk his neck for something that he believed in, to the point where God used the enemy to fund the project. By the way, God is still using the enemy to fund the project. Thousand of years later, still doing it!
There’s revival still waiting for the rubbish. The fragments of the walls of Jerusalem lay everywhere, burnt, smashed, heaps of perceived messes, but that rubbish was rebuilt. I don’t have time for it but the rest of the story is where Ezra comes on the scene, they rebuild the wall, then the man of God shows up, the prophet Ezra and he opens up the law and he starts reading the Word of God and it set the city on fire again except it didn’t burn timber or walls. It burned within the heart of the people and the people started throwing away their sin and smashing their sin and turning from their sin and getting right with God. God caused an unbelievable revival to happen because there were people who not only had the walls rebuilt, but because they valued the rubbish, they valued the rubbish that was within them that God wanted to help them get out.
Revival can happen in all our lives if we will say, “No more” but the problem is we say, “More” to sin instead of no more. As long as we are saying more to sin and saying, “It’s not that bad,” and “No big deal” instead of letting it go and saying, “God, this is what your Book says, I’ll stick to your Word.” We can not experience revival or help others come to the Lord.
Listen church, if we are going to have a proper heart toward the rubbish we are going to have to make sure we have revival. It starts with us recognizing, confessing, and removing sin from our lives. Humbling ourselves. Praying. A whole lot of rubbish is waiting for revival. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray...” (II Chronicles 7:14)
This closing thought, true revival must result in reform, otherwise it is just an emotion. See I can preach, I can obey God. That message was from God. It’s been burning in my heart all week long. ‘Hey Cav, what’s the rubbish to you? What’s the rubbish to you?’ That’s what God has been telling me all week long.
What is the rubbish to you? But revival without reform is just an emotion. I can preach for 40 minutes and you can say, “Yes the rubbish has got to go.” But if we walk out of here and there’s no follow-through, if there is no reforming in hearts, then anything we experience for 40 minutes of preaching is just an emotion. You may feel good about yourself, “Oh man, Pastor Cavanaugh will lay it straight out there.” I didn’t preach to impress you, I don’t preach to please you, I preach to obey and honor God and His Word. It gives us all an opportunity to examine our hearts.
So when you see trash blowing down the side of the road and you look and say, “Someone needs to pick that up.” See I had a father (I’ve told you a million times) you would step over the trash and dad would just sit there and call a family meeting. He would say, “I watched a billion times you kids just walk over the trash and wouldn’t pick it up.” You know, God is waiting in Heaven for us so someone to bend over and pick it up. God is waiting for someone to notice and care about the rubbish.
God is looking for someone who isn’t selfish with their time, talent and treasure to say, “Hey, I’ve got one life and I want to live it for God, I want to live for God and care about the rubbish.” If it wasn’t for God caring about me, where would I be today? And if nothing else where would we go. You can sit around and sulk about your own problems or you can step it up and start caring about the rubbish that is in this world. Listen, true revival must result in action, otherwise its just an emotion. There are no triumphs in life without trials, there are no triumphs in life without rubbish.
God used Nehemiah because he made himself available. He cared about the things and the people that God cared about. Do we? What is the rubbish to you?