Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #272 Revival Ready: When the Enemy Strikes the Heart of the Church

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#272 Revival Ready: When the Enemy Strikes the Heart of the Church · The OneCry Podcast

0:04
Speaker0: Half doesn't work. 90% doesn't work.
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Speaker0: You can't say, I love God, but I
0:12
Speaker0: think this action is okay, even when God calls it sin.
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Speaker0: Following Jesus requires 100%,
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Speaker0: all in. Welcome to
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Speaker0: the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
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Speaker0: The goal, Accelerating the movement
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Speaker0: of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
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Speaker1: Well, hello and welcome again to the One Cry Podcast. My name is Ben
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Speaker1: Dishner. I'm the Global Ministries Director for One Cry,
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Speaker1: and I am so glad to introduce again another
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Speaker1: episode within the Revival Ready series.
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Speaker1: This week, another staff member from Crossgates
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Speaker1: Church, another pastor named Ben Boyd, is sharing how we can Respond
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Speaker1: rightly in times of crisis, in times
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Speaker1: of trouble. And so we go into Nehemiah chapter 5,
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Speaker1: and we are seeing a response to a very
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Speaker1: crucial time when a lot of crisis comes against God's
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Speaker1: people. What we see here also is that God
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Speaker1: begins pointing out some things in hearts that need to be dealt with.
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Speaker1: And we talk about how we should rightly respond.
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Speaker1: when God convicts us. So listen to this wonderful
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Speaker1: episode, and we look forward to seeing you in just a few minutes.
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Speaker0: So Nehemiah chapter 5, and I'm just gonna say,
1:46
Speaker0: uh, it's, it's such an interesting chapter.
1:49
Speaker0: If you've never read it, you're about to, but if you've read it before,
1:53
Speaker0: it's just really, uh, you hit a turning point in a story,
1:57
Speaker0: you know, but it's not the turning point that you would think. I mean,
2:00
Speaker0: last week in the weeks prior, you know, we were in chapter 4
2:04
Speaker0: and man, we got to the part where the wall was connected. You know,
2:07
Speaker0: we got to the part where chapter 4 says that the wall was built
2:12
Speaker0: to half its height. So, so real progress is being
2:16
Speaker0: made with keeping the outside enemy at
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Speaker0: bay. And I can just imagine the relief
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Speaker0: of the Jewish people. I can imagine the accomplishment they
2:29
Speaker0: must have felt to be doing this in such a short period
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Speaker0: of time. I can't imagine the enthusiasm. I mean,
2:36
Speaker0: coming together just to get a big win, you know, the grit to
2:41
Speaker0: build every day, and then the grit to
2:44
Speaker0: battle in the midst of building, you know, when they have their swords ready
2:49
Speaker0: to go, but simultaneously their hammers are just hammering away at
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Speaker0: a wall. And all of this is so short-lived
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Speaker0: according to Nehemiah 5. Because in chapter
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Speaker0: 5, another enemy comes
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Speaker0: out of nowhere. Now, this would be a great time
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Speaker0: for me to stop and tell you that I hate snakes.
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Speaker0: Um, I'm— many of you by that, uh, probably shares the
3:17
Speaker0: same thing. Uh, but literally just the other week I was, I was, um,
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Speaker0: in my yard weed eating, minding my own business.
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Speaker0: You know, and then I look down and a snake just
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Speaker0: slithers right in between my feet. It was a king snake.
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Speaker0: It still scared me. You know, I felt like I died and I went to
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Speaker0: heaven. And then God was like, you got to go back. You're not done weed
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Speaker0: eating. But, but that snake just went through me and
3:46
Speaker0: my blood pressure, like, just went through the roof. And it made
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Speaker0: me think of this snake repellent stuff that you can buy
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Speaker0: at a store. And apparently it's this stuff that you can put around
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Speaker0: the external— your property,
4:01
Speaker0: I guess, and you put it out and they say that snakes won't come in.
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Speaker0: And I've never even considered buying that stuff
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Speaker0: because what if you put that stuff out and there's snakes
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Speaker0: inside the barrier? And I've
4:18
Speaker0: never given it another look because if there's a snake or snakes inside of that
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Speaker0: barrier and they're having babies, I mean, you talk about Snakes on a Plane all
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Speaker0: over again. In your yard. I don't want
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Speaker0: anything to do with that. And I know that's silly,
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Speaker0: but at the same time, though, that's exactly what's happening in Nehemiah
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Speaker0: 5. In the midst of rebuilding this wall around Jerusalem
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Speaker0: to protect them from an outside enemy, an inside
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Speaker0: enemy reveals itself within the family of God,
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Speaker0: and it's the family of God. It's,
4:53
Speaker0: it's the family of God. And so there's something that I
4:57
Speaker0: want you to write down. I have this wrote down in my Bible underneath Nehemiah
5:02
Speaker0: 5, and it's this truth: when the enemy fails in
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Speaker0: his attacks from the outside, he will attack the
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Speaker0: inside. That's just a fact. And one of
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Speaker0: the main ways, one of his favorite weapons is
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Speaker0: selfishness. and greed.
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Speaker0: And we are about to see that here in Nehemiah. Now I want
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Speaker0: you to think about this for a second. I mean, up to this point in
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Speaker0: the story, there's been a unity of purpose.
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Speaker0: There's been a harmony. There's been a camaraderie among God's
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Speaker0: people that is the coals to the engine to this
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Speaker0: massive project. And the enemy knew that if he could
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Speaker0: get God's people disunited, If the enemy could
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Speaker0: figure out a way to get God's people angry and at war with
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Speaker0: one another, it would, it would be just as effective way
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Speaker0: of shutting the project down from an outside enemy.
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Speaker0: Listen, the enemy is going to win by no means. That's the mindset
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Speaker0: of the enemy. And so God's people always has to be
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Speaker0: prepared for that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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Speaker0: And one of the things that we need to know here about this passage
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Speaker0: is that this is not something new.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: You know,
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Speaker0: Paul reminds us in Acts chapter 20 that
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Speaker0: the same things have happened across biblical history.
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Speaker0: As a matter of fact, in Acts 20, he says this to the
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Speaker0: people. Look at the screen or look at your Bible. So guard yourselves and
6:37
Speaker0: God's people. Feed and shepherd God's
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Speaker0: flock, his church, Purchased with
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Speaker0: his own blood, over which the Holy Spirit
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Speaker0: has appointed you as leaders. I know that
6:52
Speaker0: false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among
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Speaker0: you after I leave, not sparing the
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Speaker0: flock. And get verse 30. Even some
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Speaker0: men from your own group will rise up
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Speaker0: and distort the truth, in order to draw a following.
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Speaker0: So throughout biblical history and church history,
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Speaker0: when we see God's people begin
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Speaker0: to do God's work in God's
7:25
Speaker0: way, you better expect opposition.
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Speaker0: Sometimes the opposition is blatantly obvious,
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Speaker0: and then other times the opposition comes from unexpected
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Speaker0: sources, as we are about to see this morning. And so let's read
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Speaker0: together the first 5 chapters— first 5, not 5 chapters, first 5 verses.
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Speaker0: We'd be here all day, guys. The first 5 verses
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Speaker0: of Nehemiah 1 through 5. And I just want you to put yourself here for
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Speaker0: a moment. Okay, so let's read these together.
8:00
Speaker0: About this time, some of the men and their wives
8:04
Speaker0: raised a cry of protest
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Speaker0: Against their fellow Jews. They were saying, we have such large families,
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Speaker0: we need more food to survive. Others said,
8:17
Speaker0: we've mortgaged our fields, our vineyards, and homes to
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Speaker0: get food during the famine. And others said, we have
8:26
Speaker0: had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our
8:30
Speaker0: taxes. We belong to the same family,
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Speaker0: As those who are wealthy, and our children are just like
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Speaker0: theirs. Yet we must sell our children
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Speaker0: into slavery just to get enough money to live.
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Speaker0: We have already sold some of our daughters,
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Speaker0: and we are helpless to do anything about
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Speaker0: it, for our fields and vineyards are already
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Speaker0: mortgaged To others. That's a problem.
9:05
Speaker0: Now, I don't know about you, but when
9:08
Speaker0: I read this, it almost sounds like
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Speaker0: this problem predates the beginning of the wall,
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Speaker0: the beginning of the whole wall project, because you're going to find out in a
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Speaker0: couple of chapters that it only took 52 days to do this wall,
9:25
Speaker0: which is amazing. And so this is a problem
9:29
Speaker0: that has been festering. This is a problem that has
9:32
Speaker0: been slowly being built up, and it comes to the surface
9:36
Speaker0: in this instance recorded in chapter 5. And so I kind
9:40
Speaker0: of look at those first 5 verses as the straw that breaks the camel's back.
9:44
Speaker0: Like, this has been going on for a minute, and it makes
9:47
Speaker0: sense that it's been going on for a minute because the Israelites
9:52
Speaker0: and the Jews They've only been 90 or so years out of
9:56
Speaker0: the Babylonian exile. All right, so they've been there,
10:00
Speaker0: they've been getting back to their life, and it's plenty of time to
10:04
Speaker0: fall back into old habits. And I'm gonna tell you, we know through
10:08
Speaker0: scripture that that is so easy to do. If you don't believe me,
10:11
Speaker0: go read the book of Judges, all right? It's just this cycle of Israel falling
10:15
Speaker0: back into their old way over and over and over again.
10:19
Speaker0: And so there's plenty of time for this to become a major problem.
10:23
Speaker0: And to compound that, we can't forget that in the scriptures it
10:27
Speaker0: just said that there was a famine going on. There's existing economic struggles.
10:32
Speaker0: And all of these people were enduring this, not to mention the wall project,
10:36
Speaker0: because they're building a wall, which means you're not working as much in
10:40
Speaker0: the grain fields. All right. You're building a wall and now you have
10:44
Speaker0: to deal with an external enemy. And so if you're keeping watch all night,
10:47
Speaker0: well, then you couldn't get an extra job to get some extra money. for your
10:51
Speaker0: family. And so it's just not good.
10:55
Speaker0: And then the cherry on top is that now you're at war with Sanballat and
10:58
Speaker0: Tobiah. And when you're at war, naturally,
11:02
Speaker0: in the surrounding area, your trading plans
11:05
Speaker0: and all of your trading goods is dramatically changed.
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Speaker0: And so the people are outraged, not at the wall,
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Speaker0: not at Nehemiah, But their own family.
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Speaker0: And they see Nehemiah as the safe haven to get this problem
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Speaker0: corrected. And I mean, they get to this
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Speaker0: place here in these first 5 verses where they're essentially saying,
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Speaker0: Nehemiah, do you know how many times I've had to go to the pawn shop
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Speaker0: in the past months? Like, I'm literally going here and I'm
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Speaker0: taking all of my stuff and I'm telling my fellow brothers that I'll
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Speaker0: give you this if you give me cash so that I
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Speaker0: can buy the grain with my cash to support and feed the
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Speaker0: mouths of my family. And then on top of that,
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Speaker0: verse 4, it says, well, we've also had to pay the king's tax.
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Speaker0: You have a bunch of people that come in and say, well, we've had to
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Speaker0: pay the king's tax as well on fields and vineyards that aren't producing.
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Speaker0: And listen, the king's tax isn't like our tax
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Speaker0: today where our tax dollars go and you'll see a road being repaved.
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Speaker0: No, The king's tax went to the king for
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Speaker0: him and him alone. And if you remember, Samuel warned
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Speaker0: the Israelites of this back in, uh, uh, 1 Samuel when
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Speaker0: he's telling, well, if you want a king like the rest of the nations,
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Speaker0: this is what they're going to do. And they're still doing it right here in
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Speaker0: Nehemiah. And so not only do they have to give the king's tax
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Speaker0: on fields and vineyards that aren't producing, well then in verse 5 it gets worse.
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Speaker0: The people of God are, you know, someone else in the crowd that's
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Speaker0: expressing their frustration to
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Speaker0: Nehemiah, not at Nehemiah. They said, well, I've had to force my
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Speaker0: child into slavery because we don't have enough money.
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Speaker0: I've had to force my child into slavery based on finance,
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Speaker0: and we're of the same family of God.
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Speaker0: Nehemiah, this, this isn't right.
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Speaker0: My child is just as valuable as theirs. Our children
13:13
Speaker0: are playing in the street every day and we are suffocating
13:17
Speaker0: financially because they won't give
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Speaker0: us— our own family will not give us any relief. What are
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Speaker0: we going to do? And so God's people
13:30
Speaker0: who are a part of God's project are just absolutely
13:34
Speaker0: ripping each other off and it is
13:38
Speaker0: creating this spiral within the walls that is just
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Speaker0: getting out of control and
13:45
Speaker0: the people just get to this desperate place where they're like,
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Speaker0: Nehemiah, this isn't right. And essentially,
13:52
Speaker0: can you help us? And when I
13:56
Speaker0: was studying this this week, the even crazier element to this story
14:01
Speaker0: is that the greed and the selfishness that's happening within
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Speaker0: the family of God is one of the main sins that the prophets
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Speaker0: warned Israel to repent from before they went
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Speaker0: into Babylonian captivity. Isaiah warned
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Speaker0: them to stop it. Jeremiah warned them to stop
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Speaker0: it. Amos warned them to stop it, and they
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Speaker0: wouldn't do it. So there is a genuine
14:28
Speaker0: powerlessness in
14:32
Speaker0: the family of the poor, and the bankers
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Speaker0: who are repossessing all of their stuff are
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Speaker0: their own flesh and blood.
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Speaker0: And they're just like, Nehemiah, this isn't right.
14:48
Speaker0: And I just want to stop and say this from a practical standpoint.
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Speaker0: God has a special concern
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Speaker0: for the poor and the needy in our world.
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Speaker0: The Bible supports that truth. It is everywhere.
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Speaker0: God has a special concern for the poor and
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Speaker0: the needy, and those who take advantage of the poor
15:13
Speaker0: and the needy will stand guilty before God.
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Speaker0: And that's just a fact. And so Nehemiah
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Speaker0: was their only safe haven to get out from under the thumb of
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Speaker0: some extremely selfish and extremely greedy
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Speaker0: people. I am so thankful that
15:34
Speaker0: I am a part of a church that has a mission
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Speaker0: team like Scott Ross and Brady Lowry and Sydney Charlton
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Speaker0: and an army of weekly volunteers.
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Speaker0: that tend to the poor and the needy in this surrounding
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Speaker0: area, and you should be too. It is
15:53
Speaker0: such a cool thought when I, when I drive in on a Thursday morning
15:57
Speaker0: and there are vehicles surrounding this property waiting to
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Speaker0: get their, their needs tended to, both physical and spiritual,
16:06
Speaker0: with food or benevolence or what have
16:09
Speaker0: you. Guys, we are their safe haven.
16:15
Speaker0: And we should not only be thankful for that, we should take that personally,
16:18
Speaker0: that that mindset should never change. Just like
16:22
Speaker0: Nehemiah was their safe haven, in a lot of ways,
16:25
Speaker0: by the grace of God, he's entrusted us to a portion of a
16:29
Speaker0: community that is needy, and we are meeting that need.
16:33
Speaker0: And so I am so thankful to be a part of a church that
16:38
Speaker0: takes that so serious. And so the people, they have
16:42
Speaker0: expressed their concern to Nehemiah in absolute desperation.
16:46
Speaker0: And so let's just read Nehemiah's response. He says,
16:50
Speaker0: when I heard their complaints, I was very angry.
16:54
Speaker0: And boy, you're going to see Nehemiah angry later in these stories in the
16:58
Speaker0: coming weeks. He says, I was very angry, but after
17:02
Speaker0: thinking it over— boy, that's a message right there.
17:05
Speaker0: That I do not have time for, but that's a message nonetheless.
17:09
Speaker0: When I heard this, I was very angry, but I thought
17:14
Speaker0: it over. I slept on it. I didn't immediately react.
17:18
Speaker0: I slept on it. He says, I spoke out
17:22
Speaker0: against the nobles and the officials. I told them,
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Speaker0: you are hurting your own relatives by charging
17:31
Speaker0: interest when they borrow money.
17:34
Speaker0: Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem.
17:39
Speaker0: At the meeting, I said to them, we are doing all
17:42
Speaker0: we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell
17:46
Speaker0: themselves to pagan foreigners,
17:50
Speaker0: but you're selling them back into slavery again.
17:53
Speaker0: How often must we redeem them? And they
17:57
Speaker0: had nothing to say in their defense. Then I pressed further,
18:02
Speaker0: what you are doing is not right.
18:07
Speaker0: Should you not walk in the fear of our God
18:12
Speaker0: in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations?
18:16
Speaker0: I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers, have been lending
18:21
Speaker0: the people money and grain, but now let us stop
18:25
Speaker0: this business of charging interest. You must
18:29
Speaker0: restore their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, their homes
18:32
Speaker0: to them this very day. Not when the paperwork
18:36
Speaker0: is finished. This very day you will give it back and
18:41
Speaker0: you will repay the interest you charged when
18:44
Speaker0: you lent them money, grain, new wine,
18:47
Speaker0: and olive oil. They replied,
18:50
Speaker0: we'll give it back. We'll give back everything and
18:54
Speaker0: demand nothing more from the people. We will do as you say.
18:58
Speaker0: Then I called the priest and made the nobles and officials swear
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Speaker0: to do what they promised.
19:06
Speaker0: Wow, such a, such a shameful part
19:10
Speaker0: of this story. And it's shameful because
19:14
Speaker0: Nehemiah had to force God's people
19:18
Speaker0: to be generous. Nehemiah had to look
19:22
Speaker0: at them square in their soul and say, you will
19:26
Speaker0: not do this. And you will give back
19:30
Speaker0: to God's people so they can get out from under
19:34
Speaker0: the thumb of being absolutely powerless and poor
19:37
Speaker0: to a situation that you're adding a fire to.
19:42
Speaker0: But Nehemiah had to force them to be generous.
19:46
Speaker0: And I just want to say this, guys, generosity should not
19:51
Speaker0: have to be forced in the family of God.
19:54
Speaker1: Amen.
19:54
Speaker0: That is just something we do.
19:57
Speaker0: That is just something we do. Generosity should never
20:01
Speaker0: have to be forced. It should be just a natural
20:05
Speaker0: outpouring of who we are in Christ.
20:10
Speaker0: And so I have this that I want you to notice. When we understand
20:16
Speaker0: how generously God has treated us,
20:22
Speaker0: Generosity should become our natural response to one another.
20:30
Speaker0: That's the crazy thing about this, this whole story here,
20:34
Speaker0: because the added layer to this story, if you didn't notice,
20:38
Speaker0: is that we find out that Nehemiah is one of the wealthy,
20:41
Speaker0: probably the wealthiest member of this community because he's
20:45
Speaker0: coming from a— from, from being cupbearer to a king.
20:50
Speaker0: And he was a wealthy man.
20:53
Speaker0: And so the added layer to this story, and it's really a great time
20:57
Speaker0: to point it out because he's lending, but he's not charging
21:00
Speaker0: interest. He's lending and really not expecting a payback
21:05
Speaker0: from the people that he is trying to help through his own resources.
21:09
Speaker0: And so I put a note here that this is a great time to point
21:13
Speaker0: out That it is not the existence of wealth that's the issue.
21:17
Speaker0: It's the way it's used or abused.
21:21
Speaker0: Okay, listen, there's no problem having
21:24
Speaker0: stuff, but when the stuff has you,
21:28
Speaker0: it becomes problematic. That's when idols
21:31
Speaker0: begin to form in your life.
21:36
Speaker0: It's not a problem of having stuff. It's just when the stuff has us.
21:42
Speaker0: And that's why believers, man, we should reject
21:46
Speaker0: this notion of being selfish because generosity
21:50
Speaker0: is just something that we do. Because, because the Bible says
21:54
Speaker0: it's like what I just put on the screen, like our natural response
21:59
Speaker0: should be generosity. Because when we think about our generosity
22:03
Speaker0: in terms of what Christ has done for you and I, You can't
22:06
Speaker0: outgive that. In 2
22:10
Speaker0: Corinthians 8:9, Paul says, you know the
22:14
Speaker0: generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich,
22:19
Speaker0: yet for your sake he became poor
22:24
Speaker0: so that by his poverty he could make you
22:28
Speaker0: rich. Listen to me, when our generosity
22:33
Speaker0: begins right here with the cross,
22:37
Speaker0: it can never end because you can't outgive
22:42
Speaker0: that level of generosity.
22:45
Speaker0: You just can't do it. And so just take
22:48
Speaker0: a quick inventory of your life for
22:52
Speaker0: a moment. Like, is there this undercurrent
22:57
Speaker0: of greed and selfishness that's present? Maybe you don't even realize
23:01
Speaker0: it yet, But that undercurrent of greed and selfishness
23:04
Speaker0: is always there in every season of life.
23:07
Speaker0: Wrestling with it with a 5-year-old right now.
23:11
Speaker0: That undercurrent of selfishness and greed is always there.
23:15
Speaker0: How many newlyweds we got in the house this morning? You know, within a year,
23:19
Speaker0: man, you move under the same roof with somebody,
23:23
Speaker0: you start learning real quick. Well, I didn't do it that way. We're going to
23:28
Speaker0: do it my way. And when Stacy and I got married,
23:31
Speaker0: she put the toilet paper going under and not over.
23:36
Speaker0: I said, that's a problem. That selfishness came
23:40
Speaker0: up. That selfishness came
23:44
Speaker0: up. And if that's, if that's being considered selfish, let's just
23:48
Speaker0: be real. I don't want to be selfless with toilet paper. I'm kidding. So But
23:54
Speaker0: listen to me. There's always an undercurrent
23:58
Speaker0: of greed and selfishness that always is ready
24:02
Speaker0: to come to light. All right? It's no different
24:06
Speaker0: than when God told Cain before
24:10
Speaker0: he killed Abel, sin is crouching at your door. Okay?
24:14
Speaker0: He's always crouching. He's always ready to create problems inward.
24:19
Speaker0: So, so here are a couple of things about selfishness in this chapter
24:22
Speaker0: that I just want to help you with. Okay? First, thing is this: selfishness
24:26
Speaker0: gets exposed when life gets hard. I mean, think about the
24:31
Speaker0: situation that we just read about in Nehemiah.
24:34
Speaker0: Selfishness gets exposed when life gets hard.
24:37
Speaker0: You see, the wall didn't create selfishness. The pressure revealed
24:42
Speaker0: the selfishness. All right, there's famine,
24:46
Speaker0: there's taxes, there's interest, there's debt, there's long hours,
24:50
Speaker0: there's danger, There's stress, and then suddenly what's
24:54
Speaker0: inside the people come out.
24:59
Speaker0: And then the people that are most equipped to respond
25:03
Speaker0: in a desperate time of need, their immediate response
25:07
Speaker0: to crisis was, how can I get ahead?
25:12
Speaker0: How can I get ahead? And so,
25:16
Speaker0: church, Hear me. It is— it's
25:20
Speaker0: easy to be generous when everything is going well.
25:24
Speaker0: It's easy to be married when you make the
25:28
Speaker0: covenant of for better or worse because you're in the better at
25:33
Speaker0: the moment of those vows.
25:37
Speaker0: It's easy to serve when you have plenty of time.
25:42
Speaker0: It's easy to be patient when nobody is
25:46
Speaker0: frustrating you, but the moment
25:50
Speaker0: you put pressure on somebody, you find
25:54
Speaker0: out what's really happening in their heart. And that's
25:59
Speaker0: what pressure does. It just simply reveals.
26:03
Speaker0: I mean, think about your marriage for a moment. You don't really know how selfish,
26:06
Speaker0: self-centered
26:10
Speaker0: selfless a marriage is until you're exhausted,
26:14
Speaker0: until your kids are being difficult and their
26:18
Speaker0: schedule has you going all sorts of directions.
26:21
Speaker0: Your calendar on your iPhone looks like a spider web and you don't know whether
26:25
Speaker0: you're coming or going. You really don't know how selfless of a
26:29
Speaker0: marriage you have until money gets tight, until work is stressful, until somebody
26:33
Speaker0: gets sick or plans fall apart. Pressure doesn't
26:38
Speaker0: always produce what's in us.
26:43
Speaker0: Sometimes pressure simply reveals
26:47
Speaker0: what's been there the whole time.
26:52
Speaker0: Pressure just reveals.
26:56
Speaker0: And that's really the funny thing about this passage. That's why
27:00
Speaker0: it just comes off a little different than the first 4 chapters.
27:03
Speaker0: Because up to this point, we've spent all this
27:07
Speaker0: time talking about a wall and building a wall for
27:11
Speaker0: the sake of God's people, and rightly so. It's the mission.
27:15
Speaker0: Okay, so that's why we've been talking about it. But Nehemiah 5, when you
27:19
Speaker0: read it and you read it slow, Nehemiah 5 asks a totally different question.
27:23
Speaker0: Nehemiah 5 asks the question of what's happening inside
27:27
Speaker0: the wall. What's happening inside the wall?
27:30
Speaker0: And that's what being revival ready is all
27:34
Speaker0: about, is what's happening here
27:37
Speaker0: first. And you see, when God starts stirring people,
27:42
Speaker0: it becomes an overflow of
27:46
Speaker0: living water that sparks in a church, that sparks in
27:50
Speaker0: a community, that sparks in a state, and so forth.
27:54
Speaker0: And so we can be doing wonderful things for God. We can
27:57
Speaker0: be building walls that are going up and it looks great.
28:01
Speaker0: And simultaneously, your heart is slowly stopping beating and
28:06
Speaker0: it is just going down. You can look like
28:10
Speaker0: to the world that you are doing great
28:13
Speaker0: on the outside while selfishness, pride,
28:16
Speaker0: bitterness, greed, resentment, or unforgiveness
28:20
Speaker0: is just quietly eating away at you on the inside.
28:27
Speaker0: Listen to me. God cares deeply about
28:31
Speaker0: the mission of God continuing to advance and going up,
28:35
Speaker0: but he cares just as much about the heart behind it.
28:42
Speaker0: And that's what creates unhealthiness in churches,
28:46
Speaker0: in church members, in families. You know, I think that's
28:50
Speaker0: why you and I get so shocked When we find out
28:53
Speaker0: people that we love and our friends just all of a sudden up and divorce
28:57
Speaker0: because last week on Facebook they posted the perfect family vacation.
29:02
Speaker0: But meantime, the building is burning down.
29:06
Speaker0: Take inventory of your heart right now.
29:10
Speaker0: What is happening in here? God can be doing great things
29:15
Speaker0: and your heart is just dying. So Nehemiah
29:18
Speaker0: 5 challenges us to take inventory.
29:21
Speaker0: So I just want to ask 3 questions this morning
29:25
Speaker0: pertaining to that. Where has selfishness taken root
29:29
Speaker0: in your heart? Where has selfishness taken
29:33
Speaker0: root? Maybe it's money. I don't know.
29:37
Speaker0: Maybe it is your marriage. Maybe it's parenting or a lack thereof.
29:42
Speaker0: Maybe it's your time. Here's a good one. Maybe it's your
29:46
Speaker0: rights.
29:51
Speaker0: Maybe it's just simply the attitude of just, what about me?
29:55
Speaker0: Me, me, me. What about me? What about me? Why does
29:58
Speaker0: this affect me?
30:04
Speaker0: So where has selfishness taken root in your heart? And I'm just asking
30:07
Speaker0: you, if the Holy Spirit put his thumb on it this morning,
30:11
Speaker0: Let's deal with it today. So let's find freedom.
30:14
Speaker0: Okay. Second question.
30:19
Speaker0: Who have I been hurting because I've been putting myself first?
30:24
Speaker0: Who have I been hurting? Because that's
30:28
Speaker0: particularly Nehemiah 5, not just God,
30:31
Speaker0: forgive me for being selfish, but God, would you show me who my
30:35
Speaker0: selfishness has affected? And give me the strength to make
30:39
Speaker0: it right today. That's the heart behind Nehemiah
30:43
Speaker0: 5. You saw the urgency that Nehemiah dealt with. He was angry.
30:47
Speaker0: He slept on it. And then he went to those nobles
30:51
Speaker0: and looked at them in their soul and said, you will not do this and
30:53
Speaker0: you will stop right now. You know, Nehemiah could
30:58
Speaker0: have looked like a bodybuilder. And then they were like, yes, sir, we'll do it
31:01
Speaker0: right now. Immediately. I don't know. But at minimum,
31:04
Speaker0: he was carrying the authority of God.
31:08
Speaker0: And at maximum, God honored that and fixed the problem for Nehemiah.
31:14
Speaker0: And so it's more than just asking, Lord, forgive me for being selfish,
31:17
Speaker0: but it's, but it's who is my selfish, my selfish
31:21
Speaker0: attitude? God, show me who that has affected and
31:27
Speaker0: then give me the boldness and the strength to make it right. And here
31:31
Speaker0: is question number 3. What do I need to make
31:35
Speaker0: it right? What do I need
31:39
Speaker0: to make it right? And if you don't get anything out of
31:42
Speaker0: this morning, I really need you to get this because Nehemiah
31:46
Speaker0: gives us the answer to this question. In verse 15,
31:51
Speaker0: when he's given a recount of this situation in the past,
31:55
Speaker0: this is what he says. The former governors, in contrast,
31:59
Speaker0: They laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding a daily ration
32:04
Speaker0: of food and wine besides 40 pieces of silver.
32:08
Speaker0: Even their assistants took advantage of the people.
32:12
Speaker0: But here's the line: But because I
32:17
Speaker0: feared God, I did
32:20
Speaker0: not act that way. But because
32:24
Speaker0: I feared God, I did not act that way. Nehemiah had a
32:28
Speaker0: healthy fear of God. fear of
32:32
Speaker0: the Lord, and then challenged his people to do
32:36
Speaker0: the same. He says, then I pressed further, what you are doing is
32:39
Speaker0: not right. Should you not walk in the fear of
32:42
Speaker0: God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy
32:46
Speaker0: nations? So let me ask you this morning,
32:50
Speaker0: do you have a healthy fear of the Lord that spurs
32:55
Speaker0: on your righteousness? I'm not— fear
32:59
Speaker0: of the Lord is not being scared of God or
33:03
Speaker0: running away from God. That is not what Scripture teaches. The fear of the
33:07
Speaker0: Lord is having a reverent, holy fear that
33:11
Speaker0: you live in a daily awe that this
33:15
Speaker0: is the God of the universe.
33:18
Speaker0: Do you have this in your heart? Because it's
33:21
Speaker0: the only way. It's the only path towards righteousness.
33:25
Speaker1: Amen.
33:26
Speaker0: And here's where I think the church messes up in 2026,
33:29
Speaker0: that we take the idea of the fear of
33:33
Speaker0: the Lord and we categorize that just to the Old Testament
33:37
Speaker0: because we think Old Testament God, mad,
33:41
Speaker0: New Testament Jesus, friend. And that
33:45
Speaker0: is an easy misconception. But that is not what the Bible
33:49
Speaker0: teaches from COVID to cover. And we cannot
33:54
Speaker0: believe that lie. The enemy would love nothing more than for
33:58
Speaker0: you and I to believe that lie. But listen to what Paul says in 2
34:01
Speaker0: Corinthians 7:1. He says, because we have these
34:05
Speaker0: promises— he's talking about the promises of the cross,
34:09
Speaker0: the promises of what the blood of Jesus accomplishes for your
34:12
Speaker0: life for all eternity, to where nothing can pluck you out of
34:16
Speaker0: the Father's hand. He's talking about those promises. And he says,
34:19
Speaker0: dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can
34:23
Speaker0: defile our body or spirit. Did he say some things?
34:27
Speaker0: No, he said everything. And let us work
34:31
Speaker0: towards complete holiness. Why?
34:35
Speaker0: Because we fear God.
34:39
Speaker0: Okay, this is a hard truth, but it is a
34:42
Speaker0: right truth. Being a friend of
34:46
Speaker0: God Is fearing him.
34:51
Speaker0: Because listen to me, when we fear God, we take
34:55
Speaker0: on his heart. Okay? It's that awesomeness that
34:59
Speaker0: pushes us toward his heart. So when we fear God,
35:03
Speaker0: we take on his heart. We love what
35:06
Speaker0: he loves. We hate what he
35:11
Speaker0: hates.
35:11
Speaker1: Amen.
35:13
Speaker0: What's important to God
35:15
Speaker0: becomes important to us, and what's not
35:18
Speaker0: important to God becomes not so important to
35:22
Speaker0: us. It is total alignment.
35:27
Speaker0: Total alignment. And that's the only way that
35:31
Speaker0: this thing works, church. And I know you know that.
35:36
Speaker0: It's the only way it works. Half doesn't work. 90% doesn't
35:40
Speaker0: work. You can't say, I love God,
35:44
Speaker0: But I think this action is okay even
35:47
Speaker0: when God calls it sin. You can't
35:51
Speaker0: do that. You can't say, I love God, but I don't
35:55
Speaker0: want to be a faithful member of a church. You can't say, I love God,
35:58
Speaker0: but I don't want to be held accountable. You can't do
36:02
Speaker0: that because that is called being your own god.
36:09
Speaker0: Following Jesus requires 100% 100%.
36:14
Speaker0: 100%. All in.
36:19
Speaker0: And if there are things in the Christian life that's absent from
36:23
Speaker0: your life, I promise you this, it's not because there's something
36:27
Speaker0: wrong with Christianity. There's something wrong with your version
36:32
Speaker0: of it. And so
36:35
Speaker0: if we just honestly and humbly Just
36:40
Speaker0: seek the Lord through this book. I'm telling you,
36:44
Speaker0: sometimes it's not easy, but he'll make your path straight.
36:49
Speaker0: Who doesn't love clear direction?
36:53
Speaker0: How many people stay frustrated at work because you can't get a clear answer
36:57
Speaker0: from exactly how the boss wants it? Here you get clear
37:01
Speaker0: direction, and I've said it from this pulpit
37:05
Speaker0: before, the main things are the plain things.
37:09
Speaker0: And so God gives us clear direction.
37:12
Speaker0: John Bevere has this statement in his book, The Awe of God, which is
37:16
Speaker0: a fantastic book if you do not have it on your shelf.
37:20
Speaker0: But this is essentially the driving force behind Nehemiah.
37:23
Speaker0: But John says this, he says, the person who fears God doesn't say
37:27
Speaker0: within themselves, how close can I get to the line
37:32
Speaker0: and not fall in? How close can I get to the line and not fall
37:32
Speaker0: in?
37:33
Speaker1: Amen.
37:34
Speaker0: No, he or she says,
37:37
Speaker0: I want to be so close to God and
37:41
Speaker0: so far away from that line that I can't
37:45
Speaker0: even see it. And so
37:48
Speaker0: you see, to fear God is to hate sin.
37:52
Speaker0: It's to hate social injustice, like in chapter 5.
37:55
Speaker0: It's to fear God is to walk in humility before God
37:59
Speaker0: and man. It's to give him praise and adoration that we do
38:03
Speaker0: on Sunday mornings. To fear the God is to give his
38:06
Speaker0: word and presence our full attention every
38:10
Speaker0: day. To fear God is to obey him.
38:13
Speaker0: It's the beginning of wisdom for you. To fear God is to
38:17
Speaker0: live with the understanding that living apart from God will result
38:21
Speaker0: in you living in a Christless hell in torment for
38:25
Speaker0: all eternity. No takebacks.
38:30
Speaker0: But there is so much fruit that comes from a life living in
38:34
Speaker0: the fear of the Lord. And one of those fruits is that you have a
38:37
Speaker0: Savior that calls you friend,
38:43
Speaker0: that he calls you friend. And he says, come tell me all that is
38:46
Speaker0: on your heart. There's fruits from having a genuine
38:51
Speaker0: fear of the Lord. You have an eternal, secure,
38:54
Speaker0: legacy that the Father— that this enemy
38:58
Speaker0: or this world cannot pluck out of the Father's hand, that you
39:02
Speaker0: have an identity that's different from this world. God gives you eyes
39:05
Speaker0: for this world that this world doesn't have, where you do see
39:09
Speaker0: the poor, you do see the needy, you do see the spiritually dry, and you
39:13
Speaker0: can fill the gap and hold the rope for those people. So the
39:17
Speaker0: fear of the Lord has tremendous benefits, and I just want to ask you this
39:21
Speaker0: morning, do you know this God?
39:26
Speaker0: Do you know this God? Because Nehemiah did, and his fear
39:30
Speaker0: of the Lord gave him all that he needed to
39:33
Speaker0: overcome the travesty of chapter 5.
39:37
Speaker0: But listen to me, if the Holy Spirit this morning has, has put
39:41
Speaker0: his finger on an area of your life, in your heart today,
39:45
Speaker0: this morning, I want you to respond to him.
39:50
Speaker1: Okay.
39:51
Speaker0: So would you just pray with me right now? Heavenly Father,
39:54
Speaker0: Lord, I just ask that right now that,
39:58
Speaker0: Lord, I'm thankful for a chapter 5 that just, that just opens
40:02
Speaker0: up the eyes of our heart. And Lord,
40:05
Speaker0: I just pray that the people in here would just take inventory.
40:12
Speaker0: And if the Holy Spirit If the Spirit has put His finger on something
40:17
Speaker0: in your heart right now, we have prayer leaders that are coming to this
40:20
Speaker0: front right now that
40:24
Speaker0: would be honored to pray with you
40:29
Speaker0: and to find freedom. Maybe it is something in your marriage.
40:32
Speaker0: I don't know. Maybe it's a genuine lack of the fear of the Lord in
40:36
Speaker0: your life, which is why you keep spiraling and you can't figure out
40:40
Speaker0: Why you can't stop.
40:45
Speaker0: Maybe it is something between you and your kids. Maybe it's someone
40:49
Speaker0: you've taken advantage of, or maybe, just maybe, you've never even
40:52
Speaker0: surrendered your life to Jesus, knowing that that is where freedom is
40:56
Speaker0: found. Whatever it is this morning,
41:00
Speaker0: I'm just asking you, don't ignore what
41:03
Speaker0: God is showing you.
41:05
Speaker1: Okay.
41:06
Speaker0: Don't ignore
41:07
Speaker0: it. Imagine if Nehemiah ignored the people's
41:11
Speaker0: cry in chapter 5, the long-term damage that
41:16
Speaker0: that would have caused the people and the project.
41:20
Speaker0: And I want you to think about the long-term damage in your own life if
41:26
Speaker0: you continue to ignore what God is continuously
41:30
Speaker0: revealing you and showing you.
41:33
Speaker1: Amen.
41:34
Speaker0: And so right now, just ask the Lord,
41:37
Speaker0: Lord, what is happening in
41:41
Speaker0: my wall?
41:46
Speaker0: And then all you have to do is say, Jesus, would you make my heart
41:49
Speaker0: look like yours? And I
41:54
Speaker0: can promise you this, He will not look at you with condemnation.
41:58
Speaker0: As a matter of fact, our Savior will look at you and
42:04
Speaker0: He will call you friend.
42:09
Speaker1: Well, that was a great message by Pastor Ben Boyd at Crossgates
42:13
Speaker1: and continuing in the line of being revival ready.
42:17
Speaker1: So how is God pointing out things in your heart?
42:20
Speaker1: What is something He has shown to you and how are you
42:24
Speaker1: going to respond? There were some questions for examination that, that were brought up,
42:27
Speaker1: and one One is, has there been any
42:31
Speaker1: selfishness or anything sinful that has taken root in your
42:35
Speaker1: heart or in your life? And how have you been hurting
42:38
Speaker1: yourself and others by putting
42:42
Speaker1: yourself first? And then the last
42:47
Speaker1: question would be, Lord, what do I need to make right? And so
42:50
Speaker1: those are some right questions to ask God as He works
42:53
Speaker1: on us in this process of sanctification.
42:57
Speaker1: Just remember, that stress and pressure
43:02
Speaker1: and frustrations, they just bring to the surface things that have
43:06
Speaker1: already taken root. So when we respond out of stress
43:10
Speaker1: or we respond in a way that is not right,
43:13
Speaker1: in an offensive way, that's showing that there's an issue
43:16
Speaker1: there. So let's take inventory in our own hearts and
43:21
Speaker1: ask God, just as in Psalm 139, it says,
43:24
Speaker1: search me, O God, know my heart. Test me and
43:28
Speaker1: know my thoughts. See if there's any offensive way,
43:31
Speaker1: any wicked way in me, and lead me in Your everlasting way.
43:35
Speaker1: Let's make that a prayer to the Lord and ask Him to move
43:39
Speaker1: in and through us and to revive us afresh and
43:42
Speaker1: anew. Hey, thanks for joining us again for
43:46
Speaker1: the Revival Ready series. And we're so glad that you join us each
43:50
Speaker1: week for the One Cry Podcast. Would you share this podcast with
43:54
Speaker1: friends? And also, would you let us know if this podcast
43:58
Speaker1: Yes. If God has touched your life, if God has blessed, has moved in your
43:59
Speaker1: heart, or if God has done something through this message,
44:04
Speaker1: would you email us at info@wannacry.com
44:08
Speaker1: and let us know what God has done so we can share it with others?
44:11
Speaker1: Hope you have a great week, and we'll see you again next week.
44:14
Speaker1: God bless you.