uh say what a privilege it is to be here with you. Your pastors are heroes of ours and I still kind of have to pinch myself when he wants me to come and uh be a part of his world. And I’m very selfish. Yesterday I took hours of his time just asking questions. What would you do at this point? How would you think about this? What would you do at my stage? And it was just so full of wisdom and insight. And uh we’re just so appreciative for Pastor Kevin and Sheila and the Champion Center. and what you meant to our church. You guys have really been a light. Uh your pastor, the way you do life, you stand for the word, you stand for truth, you’re full of grace and mercy. Uh just such a beautiful, refreshing uh way that you guys do life, do church, and go at the things of God. And so we celebrate you, too. Thanks for allowing me to spend some time with you.

If you got your Bibles, you can turn with me to Nehemiah chapter 13. And I’m feel like I’m okay. Am I supposed to be doing something? Are they just hanging out with me like that? Do they do that the whole service? No. Oh, they’re they’re chilling. Oh, yeah. Man, you guys are so good at that. That was so good. Made me feel better. Like it made me feel like rhythmic in step. And so, yeah, I want to uh you know, I’m from Cincinnati, but we’re our main location is in Kentucky. And so I just feel like I had a really good God story that I heard a couple years ago that you should hear about because how many of you have ever heard of Kentucky Fried Chicken?

And I just want you to know that you should feel guiltfree whenever you eat Kentucky Fried Chicken that that when you hear this story, you’re never going to eat fried chicken the same way. And so just being from Kentucky, I felt like I should open up with this God story. And I heard this I’d spoke at a pastor’s conference in Louisville, Kentucky a couple years ago. And the pastor told me a true story. This is a real story about Colonel Sanders. Early on in his life, he owned a restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. And the state decided to move a main road and moved it out of the path of where his restaurant was. And as a result of moving that road, his restaurant began to decline. Uh he began to lose customers. It began to fail. And so at age 66, he began what we know as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

And what he would do is he would travel in his car to Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and he would sleep in the back of his car at night, and he would go to restaurants and he would sell a piece of fried chicken for 5 cents. and he began to go all over those states and sell his fried chicken. Well, there was a revival happening at my this this past pastor’s church. It was his dad’s church and there was a revival happening and he was in Louisville and they saw him at a stoplight and someone saw him. He’s there in his white suit, his goatee, you know, I don’t know, whatever tie thing he had going on and they saw him and they said, “Hey, you should come to our church. Come to our revival tonight.” And he did. He showed up and he sat down in that revival.

They gave the altar call. Uh Pastor Bob Rogers dad gave the altar call and Colonel Sanders walked down to an altar full dress, full suit and gave his life to Jesus Christ. And they showed me a picture in their office of how he was baptized in their church by Bob Rogers dad in 1967. And the pastor begins to tell me how he immediately, even though he was still in the beginning stages and his business wasn’t quite prospering yet, he began to tithe and his business completely exploded.

The only organization in America at that time that fed more people than Kentucky Fried Chicken would have been the United States Army. Well, several years later, he was sick in the hospital. He had polyps on his colon. And Pastor Bob Rogers dad went to the hospital and prayed for him. And God supernaturally healed Colonel Sanders in the hospital right before he went into surgery. And they told the doctor, “Listen, we feel like God has healed us.” And the doctor refused to believe it. Cut him open, went inside, and all the polyps that were were there were completely gone. That doctor went to Bob Rogers church, got saved, and attends that church to this day.

And Colonel Sanders would live to the ripal age of 92. And this is what they showed me in an autobiography written by Colonel Sanders. And this is what he said. He said, “I really believe in tithing, giving to God.” He said, “My prayers have always been those of thankfulness because God has been so good to me. Because I am a great believer in tithing, the Bible says you owe God 10%.” This is his words. I believe that even if you are a crook, you still owe 10% to the Lord. I guess Colonel Sanders can say what he wants, right?

He said, “Tithing has been a great inspiration in my life, and I’m clear proof that if you give something to the Lord, you are going to get a return.” Just before he died, he said, “I’ve always figured there was no use being the richest man in a cemetery. You cannot operate from there.” And he said, “People don’t know I’ve given most of my wealth away to kingdom causes and the local church.” Isn’t that beautiful? And so, next time you bite into a piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken, think about Colonel Sanders honoring God and you should feel guiltree. Guiltree, no calories in Jesus name.

So, Nehemiah, most of us are familiar with the story. the end of the story, the end of Nehemiah, there’s some thoughts that I want to share with you that I had ne I’ve never heard preached before. And I think that they’re extremely important for us to consider because Nehemiah is a beautiful picture of how the Holy Spirit works in our life. Of course, we would know that Nehemiah was called by God to be a builder, a rebuilder, a restorer of the torn down walls in Jerusalem. In the same way that God used him to restore those torn down walls, the Holy Spirit comes into our life. And he’s a builder.

That’s why the Bible says when you pray in the spirit, you build yourself up in your most holy faith. And that’s what the Holy Spirit does. He comes in to restore and rebuild the torn down areas of our life. And all of us have areas of our life that either are torn down or have been torn down. Uh the enemy has a way of attacking our lives. He has a way of destroying things. It could be your family. It could be a loss in your life. It could be that he’s just torn down the walls in your mind or your emotions. Maybe addiction. Maybe it’s it’s some other area of your life. But the enemy has a way of leaving us without protection, leaving us without those walls that need to be built up in our life.

And Nehemiah is such a great example of what happens when someone puts God first. When he put God first, he started to see things happen in a way that was supernatural. You know, he could have stayed in Shushan and lived a comfortable life. He could have been in the palace and been comfortable. But he said, “No, I’ve got to go to Jerusalem. I’ve got to rebuild what’s torn down.” And I love that about Nehemiah. He didn’t just talk about it. He took action.

And here’s the principle I want to share with you this morning: God honors those who put Him first. Whether it’s in your time, your money, your family, your business, your relationships, God honors those who prioritize Him. And as we look at Nehemiah chapter 13, we’re going to see that sometimes even the people of God fail to put Him first. And the question is: are we willing to correct it? Are we willing to go back and repair what’s been neglected?

Let’s look at verses 10 through 12. Nehemiah realized that the Levites had not been given their portion of the offerings, and as a result, the service of the house of God was being neglected. And I love this principle: if God’s people are not faithful to Him, it affects the ministry. If we do not honor God with our finances, with our time, with our presence, it affects the work of the kingdom. And the same thing is true today. When we neglect God, it has ripple effects in our homes, in our church, and in our communities.

So Nehemiah called them out. He reminded them of their responsibility. And I love that about Nehemiah. He didn’t coddle them. He didn’t just say, “Hey, maybe you should think about it.” He said, “This is what God expects of you, and you need to get back in line.” And as he restored that, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt stronger than ever.

And I want you to see that principle for your life. Sometimes the walls of our hearts, the walls of our marriages, the walls of our homes, the walls of our finances—they need to be rebuilt. And God is faithful to restore them if we will put Him first. And that’s the challenge for us today: to take a look at our lives, identify where God has not been first, and take intentional action to put Him back on the throne of our lives.

And Nehemiah chapter 13, verses 15 through 22, talks about another principle. Sometimes God calls us to correct sin or neglect in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our communities. And Nehemiah was willing to confront it. He was willing to speak truth, and he was willing to enforce godly standards so that the house of God would function properly. And I love that principle. We have to be willing to correct and restore what has been neglected, not just for ourselves, but for the glory of God.

And then lastly, Malachi 3:8-10 talks about the blessings of obedience. If we are faithful in our tithes, faithful in our giving, God promises to pour out a blessing so great that we won’t have room enough to receive it. And I want to encourage you today: it’s never too late to put God first. It’s never too late to restore what has been neglected. And as you do, you will see God’s hand move in your life, in your family, and in your finances.

So as we close, I just want to leave you with three practical takeaways from this message. One: put God first in every area of your life. Two: identify what needs to be restored and take action. And three: trust God to honor your obedience. When you put Him first, He will bless you, He will restore you, and He will use you to impact others.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank You for Your word today. We thank You for the examples You give us through Nehemiah and the faithful men and women in Scripture who put You first. Lord, we ask that You reveal to us the areas in our lives where we have neglected You. Help us to restore what has been torn down. Help us to put You first in our families, in our finances, in our time, and in our relationships. We thank You for Your faithfulness. We thank You for Your blessings. And we trust You to move in our lives today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.