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#273 Revival Ready: Standing Firm When the Enemy Changes Tactics · The OneCry Podcast

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Speaker0: God is building His Kingdom through my family. God is building His
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Speaker0: Kingdom through this city. God is bringing— building His Kingdom through
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Speaker0: this church, man. That God is building His Kingdom through the way that I
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Speaker0: work. God is building His Kingdom in the way that I neighbor. God is building
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Speaker0: His Kingdom in the way that I grandparent and I parent. God is building His
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Speaker0: Kingdom in the way that I pray. God is building His Kingdom through the way
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Speaker0: that I worship, and I'm not coming down! Welcome to the world of faith.
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Speaker0: The One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual
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Speaker0: awakening. The goal: accelerating the movement of God through sharing
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Speaker0: revival truth, stories, and reports.
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Speaker1: Well, hello and welcome back to The One Cry Podcast. I'm Ben Dishner,
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Speaker1: and we are so glad to continue our series this
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Speaker1: week as we are going through being revival ready
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Speaker1: from the book of Nehemiah. This week, Pastor Kyle Reno explores Nehemiah chapter 7.
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Speaker1: And talks about the things that often come against us when
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Speaker1: God calls us to a work. So in the
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Speaker1: focus of revival and spiritual awakening, when God calls us to
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Speaker1: extraordinary prayer, when He calls us to repentance, when He calls us to
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Speaker1: join with others and unite with a cry for Him
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Speaker1: to move, the devil will come against us. And so
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Speaker1: let's listen to this message and hear some insights
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Speaker1: as to What happens and how we respond.
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Speaker1: Listen in.
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Speaker0: Now we've been in a journey through
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Speaker0: the book of Nehemiah. Man, Ben killed it last week with a great word in
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Speaker0: Nehemiah chapter 5. If you missed any of those messages, they're always online for
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Speaker0: us. This morning we're going to see the enemy changes
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Speaker0: his strategy and attack. I want to
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Speaker0: say something to you. If you get serious about God's work in you,
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Speaker0: and if you get serious about God's work through you, the enemy's going to get
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Speaker0: serious about you. And the enemy, man, he is slithery!
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Speaker0: That he changes his strategy in light of maybe failed
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Speaker0: ways that it didn't work in the past, and we're going to see that in
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Speaker0: the text today. Verse 1, it says, Now when Sanballat, Tobiah,
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Speaker0: and Geshem the Arab— Now they're flesh and blood people,
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Speaker0: but on the other side of them, you got to see more than flesh and
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Speaker0: blood. You got to see Satan. You got to see demonic forces, us as a
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Speaker0: New Covenant people. You got to see the strategy of the enemy to try to
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Speaker0: thwart the work of God. It says, And the rest of their enemies
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Speaker0: heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left
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Speaker0: in it, although up to that time I had not set up the doors and
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Speaker0: the gates. I want you to make no mistake this morning, the enemy is aware
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Speaker0: of God's work in you. I'll say it again, the enemy is
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Speaker0: aware of God's work in you. He's aware of when the Spirit of God
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Speaker0: is moving in such a way to draw you to new places, and your relationship
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Speaker0: with Jesus Christ, the enemy becomes aware of God's
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Speaker0: work, maybe in your family. Maybe you're trying to get serious about the faith,
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Speaker0: you're getting serious about following Christ. You want to be a family that is marked
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Speaker0: by the presence and the power of, of God. If you get serious about
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Speaker0: leaning into God's kingdom activity in your life, the enemy is going
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Speaker0: to become aware of that. By the way, the enemy is aware of the work
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Speaker0: of the church. If the enemy sees a Jesus-exalting
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Speaker0: church getting serious about the mission of God in the world,
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Speaker0: he becomes aware of that. He sees the light of God. He sees
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Speaker0: the activity of God. He sees the presence of God. The enemy is aware of
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Speaker0: God's work in a region. The enemy is aware of God's work in a
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Speaker0: nation. And newsflash, Jesus is working in our nation!
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Speaker0: I got the privilege of standing with 500 brothers in San Diego preaching
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Speaker0: the Gospel last weekend, and guess what?
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Speaker0: Jesus is being glorified on the West Coast! Alright?
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Speaker0: Jesus is getting His name and His fame out there, and when the enemy sees
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Speaker0: that, he's infuriated by it! He's infuriated
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Speaker0: by God's work in you. He's infuriated by the power of the gospel in you,
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Speaker0: and he sees that there's moments like he's losing time.
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Speaker0: In this moment, Nehemiah's— they got the wall up, but they're not quite finished
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Speaker0: yet. The gates are going in, and what the enemy
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Speaker0: knows is this, if they get the gates up, it's going to be hard for
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Speaker0: the enemy to get through the wall.
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Speaker0: So it's a now or never moment. I'm gonna let you in on something.
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Speaker0: You might be real close to a breakthrough. God might be about to establish something
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Speaker0: in your family. God might be about to establish something
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Speaker0: in your faith. He's about to establish your effectiveness
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Speaker0: for the gospel, and the enemy's looking at it going, man, if I don't get
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Speaker0: a stronghold, or a foothold, or if I don't keep that door
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Speaker0: open, I could lose them!
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Speaker0: enemy hates that idea! Hates it!
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Speaker0: So he'll get desperate, he'll change the strategy. Look what he does here,
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Speaker0: verse 2, Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying,
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Speaker0: come, let us meet together at that place. Somebody say, at that place. At that
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Speaker0: place. That's how you do that! There you go! Just taught you something,
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Speaker0: right? I know how to say it, but I just don't want to act,
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Speaker0: you know, all super scholarly right now, so.
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Speaker0: In the plain of Ono. That's where Yoko's from.
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Speaker0: But they— that's funny,
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Speaker0: but I'm in a good mood. But they intended to do me harm.
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Speaker0: A few things that we know is this, the enemy doesn't care
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Speaker0: how he stops the work, just as long as he can stop
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Speaker0: the work. New strategy. You know what the enemy tried at the beginning of
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Speaker0: Nehemiah? He jeered at them. Remember, he ridiculed
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Speaker0: them. He mocked them, saying, what, do you believe that God can actually rebuild this
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Speaker0: wall through your feeble efforts? Remember, he mocked They mocked and said, man,
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Speaker0: if a fox runs across that, it's going to topple! Now it ain't toppling,
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Speaker0: the wall's established! So the enemy doesn't come to ridicule,
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Speaker0: the enemy doesn't come in this moment to say, you'll never be enough, you could
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Speaker0: never accomplish this. The enemy comes this time and says, you know what?
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Speaker0: Let's just sit down and talk for a minute. I got an
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Speaker0: idea, Nehemiah. Let's have us a meeting.
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Speaker0: Why don't you leave the work? Why don't you take a little retreat? I know
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Speaker0: you're tired, you're 50-some-odd days into this thing. Why don't we get away? Why don't
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Speaker0: we get away? and let's just talk. What the enemy
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Speaker0: offers this time, listen to me, is not hostility. The enemy
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Speaker0: offers friendship.
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Speaker0: Got a promise for you. After the enemy gets done
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Speaker0: condemning you, after the enemy gets through mocking you,
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Speaker0: and maybe you don't pay attention to that, he'll come to you and
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Speaker0: say, why don't we cooperate? Why don't we
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Speaker0: make a subtle compromise? They didn't want to meeting, they had
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Speaker0: planned a murder. They wanted to get Nehemiah away from the army
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Speaker0: to a specific place so that they could take him out physically.
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Speaker0: Now, I'm going to go out, step out on a limb,
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Speaker0: and I hope there's not any plots to physically murder you. If there are,
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Speaker0: come talk to us, all right? I'd love to know about that.
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Speaker0: I'm going to pray in the authority of Jesus' name, and then we're going to
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Speaker0: call the police, all right? So if that's going on
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Speaker0: in your life, I really mean that, all right? So Let us know! Let us
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Speaker0: know! But the enemy is still out to destroy you.
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Speaker0: It might not be physically taking your life, but it might be to take your
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Speaker0: purpose, to take your significance. The enemy
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Speaker0: of your soul is trying to lure you away to secluded places.
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Speaker0: Eyes for a second. The enemy's after your effectiveness,
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Speaker0: Let me tell you what the enemy might say to you today, and he's saying
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Speaker0: to many here, hey, why— listen to me, you're working real hard. Why don't you
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Speaker0: get away to a secluded place to take some time for yourself? How about this?
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Speaker0: Find some solace in a screen somewhere and
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Speaker0: just doomsday scroll, man.
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Speaker1: Death scroll.
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Speaker0: Listen to me, maybe just get away by
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Speaker0: yourself long enough and just open this link, and before you know it, you're in
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Speaker0: bondage. And then the enemy just
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Speaker0: lures you away a little bit. Maybe you're lured away through— and I'm just going
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Speaker0: to put it out there— through social media, and you see how everybody else's life
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Speaker0: is up and to the right, and you covet some life that ain't real anyway.
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Speaker0: He's just luring us away, saying, man, why don't
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Speaker0: you waste your life looking at
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Speaker0: something that's a facade anyway?
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Speaker0: They can only be bondage at best. Maybe he lures us away by
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Speaker0: tempting us to use our weekends like everybody else uses their weekends,
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Speaker0: and we can't regularly be at the house of God. I know I'm preaching to
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Speaker0: the choir because you're here. We can't regularly serve the Lord
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Speaker0: Jesus Christ because we're just too busy.
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Speaker0: Just too busy, man. I got too much going on. I'm gonna let you in
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Speaker0: on a secret. If the enemy can't physically kill you, he will fill your
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Speaker0: schedule. Lure you away, to distract you from a life that will matter
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Speaker0: a million years from now.
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Speaker0: And in this moment, I feel what Paul felt when he was writing to
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Speaker0: the church in Corinth, for the church at Crossgates.
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Speaker0: Similar kind of moment that Nehemiah
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Speaker0: had, Paul recognized in the church in Corinth. 2 Corinthians 11:3, but I
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Speaker0: am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts
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Speaker0: will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion
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Speaker0: The enemy was trying to lure Nehemiah away. The enemy's trying to lure
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Speaker0: you away, your thoughts away from a sincere devotion to Christ, a passion
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Speaker0: for Jesus, a passion for the work of His kingdom here
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Speaker0: and now. Warren Wiersbe said this, Satan comes either as a serpent
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Speaker0: who deceives, or a lion who devours. But make no mistake,
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Speaker0: he comes.
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Speaker0: If we had our spiritual antennas up, we could hear the hiss of the enemy
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Speaker0: every time he lures us away.
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Speaker0: Much like Nehemiah, that's why we need something. I want you to write this down.
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Speaker0: We need the Holy Spirit to help us discern
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Speaker0: the tactics of the enemy in every season of our life.
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Speaker0: We need the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit of God. So let me tell
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Speaker0: you what the Spirit of God's going to do right now in the room.
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Speaker0: He's going to start making us aware, aware personally, He's going
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Speaker0: to start making us aware for our families. He's going to start making us aware
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Speaker0: in light of our businesses. How is the enemy trying to lure you away?
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Speaker0: Lure your family away from a sincere,
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Speaker0: wholehearted devotion to Christ? Where I'm a person that
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Speaker0: stands for the name and fame of Jesus. We're a family that's set apart
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Speaker0: for Jesus Christ. We're part of a church in the work of the kingdom in
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Speaker0: the world. How is he trying to lure you away?
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Speaker0: You're going to need unusual discernment. Supernatural discernment.
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Speaker0: What that looks like. Continue on. He said, and I sent messengers
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Speaker0: to them. 4 times they come, they're going to ask for this.
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Speaker0: I sent messengers to them saying,
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Speaker0: I am doing a great work. Somebody say, hallelujah!
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Speaker0: Hallelujah! Right? I am doing a great
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Speaker0: work. Nehemiah's response to them, hey, let's have this retreat, let's have this powwow,
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Speaker0: I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down.
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Speaker0: Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to
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Speaker0: you? And they sent to me 4 times in this way,
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Speaker0: and I answered them in the same manner. Let me tell you what Nehemiah
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Speaker0: knew. Your meeting is too small.
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Speaker0: This work is too great. My calling is too clear
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Speaker0: to come down. This meeting is
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Speaker0: too small. This work is too great!
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Speaker0: My calling is too clear to come
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Speaker0: down! Let's bring it to our town!
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Speaker0: Let's bring it to our time! Businessman, woman of
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Speaker0: God, you're in the workplace. Listen, this work's too great to come down
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Speaker0: to cater on the integrity line! You say,
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Speaker0: well, Kyle, everybody cuts corners! Yeah, we ain't everybody!
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Speaker0: Amen! We're the people of God! We're sons and daughters of
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Speaker0: a King and a kingdom, so when they come down, we rise
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Speaker0: up! You say, Kyle, it's going to cost me. Let it cost you!
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Speaker0: Because in that, listen to me, great is your reward.
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Speaker0: You say, yeah, Kyle, not in the real world. I am talking about the real
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Speaker0: world! The kingdom of God is the real
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Speaker0: world! This right here is all going to pass
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Speaker0: away! But there's something about that name.
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Speaker0: Something about His kingdom in the here
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Speaker0: and now. That's why the coach, man, when he realizes it
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Speaker0: in the midst of that work— I know that because I was impacted by a
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Speaker0: coach. Got to literally see and be with a coach that played the part in
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Speaker0: me coming to know Christ. When the coach realizes— I'm just giving you illustrations—
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Speaker0: that it's more— it's about more than wins and losses.
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Speaker0: It's about raising a generation.
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Speaker0: that I'm impacting future generations. I'm gonna give myself to
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Speaker0: that fully, wholeheartedly. Parents,
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Speaker0: that's not coming down to cater
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Speaker0: with— to what all the other parents do. I don't
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Speaker0: care what all the other parents do.
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Speaker0: What does it mean for me to raise my children in light of the truths
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Speaker0: of the kingdom? And we don't come down.
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Speaker0: You say, well, the pressure that is out there, man, they— we look different.
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Speaker0: Hallelujah! We look distinct! We look
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Speaker0: distinct in this moment! We're not religious about it, we don't get rigid about it,
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Speaker0: but we hold the line!
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Speaker0: I don't care how many times you get asked, I don't care how many times
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Speaker0: the pressure gets turned up, we don't come down! This work's too important!
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Speaker0: You know the thing about Nehemiah's work? It wouldn't booze you, man!
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Speaker0: They're putting blocks in place! Yes! It's mortar,
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Speaker0: it's a trowel, it's a sword, it's hard work
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Speaker0: every day! But something's getting— something
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Speaker0: is being built. Something is being established.
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Speaker0: Hear me now. Hard work doesn't always
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Speaker0: seem worth it in the moment, but man,
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Speaker0: there's moments when you stand upon it. Hallelujah!
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Speaker0: There's moments where you see that God is building His
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Speaker0: kingdom through my family. God is building His kingdom through the city.
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Speaker0: God is building His kingdom through this church, man.
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Speaker0: That God is building His kingdom through the way that I work. God is
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Speaker0: building His kingdom in the way that I neighbor. God is building His kingdom
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Speaker0: in the way that I grandparent and I parent. God is building His kingdom
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Speaker0: in the way that I pray. God is building His kingdom through the way that
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Speaker0: I worship, and I'm not coming down! Amen!
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Speaker0: Wherever God has placed you, whatever kind of work that you do,
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Speaker0: whoever you do it with impacts greatly
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Speaker0: the effectiveness and the advancement of God's kingdom!
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Speaker0: So don't come down now! Don't come down
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Speaker0: ever!
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Speaker0: But the truth is, we'll all have moments and opportunities to
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Speaker0: come down. That's why— here's something to write down. Write it down. Every season we
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Speaker0: need to make a decision to keep doing kingdom work.
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Speaker0: Every season. Anybody else ever been discouraged? Holla!
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Speaker0: Come on! Don't look at me holy, I ain't impressed,
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Speaker0: right? Anybody, anybody ever else? Anybody else ever been
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Speaker0: distracted? Yes! Word!
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Speaker0: Anybody else ever had a season where you, hey, were deceived?
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Speaker0: You know, the hardest part about being deceived?
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Speaker0: You don't know it!
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Speaker0: Mmm! The worst part about the enemy's lies is they're very believable.
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Speaker0: They're very believable. I've never met a believer that didn't have a season where they
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Speaker0: were distracted. Never had a— I don't know a believer that didn't have a moment
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Speaker0: where they were discouraged in the work. I don't— I've never known
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Speaker0: a believer that didn't have a season where they had to stop and go,
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Speaker0: I'm going to I'm a little disoriented here, like I think I got off track.
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Speaker0: I think I lost sight of a greater mission. I think I lost sight of
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Speaker0: what it means to follow Jesus in this. Let me tell you what I love
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Speaker0: about the Holy Spirit. He's like the great GPS. He gets you back on track.
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Speaker0: Y'all remember back in the day recalculating?
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Speaker0: Come on, right? I'm telling you, I love cultivating
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Speaker0: my relationship with God the Holy Spirit because I sense Him a lot of times.
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Speaker0: He's like, come here, This way! This way! Where are
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Speaker0: you going? But lovingly, He'll get you back
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Speaker0: on the wall. Some of you this morning, if you're honest spiritually,
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Speaker0: you've been off the wall for a long time. Let's be
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Speaker0: real about it. You've been out of the Word for a long time, and you've
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Speaker0: been distracted, you've been confused, you've been disoriented, and you
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Speaker0: think you just showed up this Sunday morning maybe for a child, and you
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Speaker0: know, a baby, a parent-child dedication, whatever we call it. You may have just wandered
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Speaker0: in the room. This is the Sunday you came, and what God is looking saying,
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Speaker0: no, I want to establish you again! I want you to be sure-footed like a
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Speaker0: deer! I want you to stand on the work of God! I want you to
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Speaker0: stand on the Word of God! I want you to know the purposes of God!
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Speaker0: I don't want you to waste your
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Speaker0: life on a work that will crumble one day! Wood!
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Speaker0: Hay! Stubble!
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Speaker0: Get a moment where you get back on the work because it really matters.
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Speaker0: Amen. Everyone gets distracted at some point. Everyone gets discouraged.
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Speaker0: All of us are easily deceived, but maybe
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Speaker0: today is a fresh decision. In this next season,
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Speaker0: I want to cooperate, God, with Your work. I want to cooperate with Your work
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Speaker0: in my life, in my family. I want to cooperate with Your work in this
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Speaker0: city. I want to cooperate with Your work in this church. I want to cooperate
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Speaker0: with Your work in this state. 4 times
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Speaker0: they do it, and he shuts them down flat and goes to verse 5.
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Speaker0: I'm not going to finish the sermon, I'm going to tell you right now.
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Speaker0: In the same way, Sanballat for the 5th time
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Speaker0: sent his servant to me with an open letter in
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Speaker0: his hand. It is written, it is reported
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Speaker0: among the nations, and Geshem also says that you and the Jews
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Speaker0: intend to rebel. That's why you're building the wall, and according to these reports,
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Speaker0: you wish to become their king, And you have also set up prophets
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Speaker0: to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, there's a king in Judah, and now the king
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Speaker0: will hear these reports. So now come and let us take counsel
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Speaker0: together. New strategy. Okay, 4 times they
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Speaker0: send a letter personally addressed, sealed to Nehemiah just
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Speaker0: for him. Here you go, Nehemiah, delivered first class. Hey dude, why don't you just
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Speaker0: come? You know, after a lot of thought, let's just get together. Let's talk it
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Speaker0: out. Open letter. Open letter, which meant it
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Speaker0: was read publicly, which meant it was open for anybody
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Speaker0: to see. So this is what we hear, Nehemiah. This is all about you,
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Speaker0: Nehemiah. This is all about you becoming a king. This is all about
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Speaker0: you establishing a kingdom. You've actually done some evil things.
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Speaker0: You put some prophets out there to prophesy in such a way that it personally
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Speaker0: benefits you. It— hey, many reports out there spread
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Speaker0: it. Now, no sources, no cites, just a
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Speaker0: lie. Hey, the bigger you make the
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Speaker0: lie doesn't mean that it's true.
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Speaker0: Spread it. Let me tell you what they did in our day. They tweeted it,
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Speaker0: posted it, blogged it, pinned it. I don't know any of these things, but something
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Speaker0: like that. They put it out there for the whole world
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Speaker0: to see! Thinking Nehemiah will see this and he'll come running
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Speaker0: to us, say, stop, stop, stop! You're ruining my reputation!
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Speaker0: You're ruining my name! Let me
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Speaker0: tell you what they thought. Ben alluded to this last week.
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Speaker0: They thought, he'll fear man more than
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Speaker0: he'll fear God, and he'll come running to us.
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Speaker0: Wrong guy! I love it! You know,
20:35
Speaker0: picked the wrong dude! it. They put it out there in the
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Speaker0: street, and He couldn't care less.
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Speaker0: So He responds to them powerfully. Before that, by the way,
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Speaker0: I'm gonna give you something. I don't know where— I tried to find where this
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Speaker0: quote comes from. Anybody you send to me, don't worry, it's somebody else's
20:54
Speaker0: secondary. This is a great quote that somebody said somewhere,
20:57
Speaker0: and everybody's repeated it, but we don't know who.
21:00
Speaker0: If we take care of our character, God will take care of our reputation.
21:04
Speaker0: Bro, that's solid! We take care of our
21:08
Speaker0: character, God will take care of our reputation. Tell you what Nehemiah knew, Nehemiah knew
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Speaker0: what was true. So he didn't give a rip what these evil
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Speaker0: men said. He knew what was true, so he was going
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Speaker0: to trust that God would take care of his reputation.
21:21
Speaker0: Listen to what it goes on in verse 8, says, Then I sent to them
21:23
Speaker0: saying, no such thing as you say have
21:27
Speaker0: been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.
21:30
Speaker0: That's all Awesome! Like, dude, you're such a liar,
21:34
Speaker0: and all you're spewing is lies! Do you know that the enemy is the father
21:38
Speaker0: of lies? He's always lying. It's one thing he's always
21:42
Speaker0: done real well. He's the father of lies.
21:45
Speaker0: Let me tell you what Nehemiah does in this moment. He doesn't
21:49
Speaker0: get into a back and forth. Eyes for a second. Too many of us in
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Speaker0: this room are getting into too many back and forths with the enemy.
21:57
Speaker0: Y'all hear me? Too many conversations with the evil one.
22:02
Speaker0: Too many conversations even with people at times that might be ridiculing you, or trying
22:06
Speaker0: to thwart God's work in you. Listen to me, our war is not against flesh
22:09
Speaker0: and blood. When they try to go horizontal,
22:12
Speaker0: we go vertical, baby! When they try to get us
22:17
Speaker0: bogged down in this thing here,
22:21
Speaker0: we simply rebuke them in the name of Jesus, and go back to work.
22:24
Speaker0: Here's a principle, a few words to the enemy, and faithful work for the Lord
22:28
Speaker0: is how we finish well. That's a lot said right
22:32
Speaker0: there in one statement. A few words to the enemy. When the enemy comes and
22:36
Speaker0: lies to you and says, listen to me, you'll never be the kind of guy,
22:39
Speaker0: you'll never be that kind of woman, you'll never be that kind of mom,
22:42
Speaker0: you'll never be that kind of dad, you'll never be that kind of businessman,
22:45
Speaker0: you'll never— you got too much, you're too dirty!
22:50
Speaker0: You got too much stuff in the closet, man! You got too many things that
22:53
Speaker0: if they really knew— By the way, can I let you in on a secret?
22:56
Speaker0: Jesus already knows! Yes! Hence why He
23:00
Speaker0: came and died! You will never surprise Jesus with your
23:03
Speaker0: sinfulness! Somebody say, amen! Right?
23:08
Speaker0: And yet died for us anyway! Set us apart in Christ,
23:11
Speaker0: and then says, I only use broken people!
23:15
Speaker0: Come on! The only kind of kids Jesus
23:19
Speaker0: has got is broken ones! That's good news!
23:24
Speaker0: loves us. I told somebody, I preached last weekend in
23:28
Speaker0: San Diego, and I was preaching Love and Protect God's Woman, and a lot of
23:32
Speaker0: being a husband. I said, a lot of times you think, man,
23:35
Speaker0: I married crazy. The reason I'm in trouble is, hey, Collin, just a secret,
23:39
Speaker0: I married crazy, right? Like, I didn't know what I was getting into. And I
23:43
Speaker0: said, you know, the only problem with thinking that way is the only one that
23:46
Speaker0: could ever truly say that is Jesus, because we're the
23:49
Speaker0: bridegroom, right? Right. We're the bride, he's the bridegroom. Jesus stood at the altar
23:53
Speaker0: and he married crazy. Because He married you! Because He married us!
23:57
Speaker0: That's funny right there. And still, look,
24:01
Speaker0: and still stands and says, I love you!
24:05
Speaker0: Still stands and says, I'm in covenant with you! Still stands and
24:09
Speaker0: says, Let's build something together!
24:13
Speaker0: A few words to the enemy and faithful work for the Lord is how we
24:17
Speaker0: finish well. So Nehemiah's response, verse 9, For all they wanted
24:21
Speaker0: For all they wanted— for they all wanted to frighten
24:25
Speaker0: us, thinking their hands will drop from the work
24:29
Speaker0: and it will not be done. It's a spirit of fear.
24:34
Speaker0: But now, O God, strengthen my
24:38
Speaker0: hands. Tell you what the enemy wants to
24:42
Speaker0: do in this room, what he wants to do in this season. He wants to
24:44
Speaker0: make you afraid. The enemy wants
24:47
Speaker0: to make you afraid afraid of being a failure.
24:53
Speaker0: The enemy's saying, listen, if you try again, you're just going to fail.
24:57
Speaker0: The enemy wants to make you afraid of what it might cost you.
25:00
Speaker0: The enemy wants to make you afraid of what it might mean to be
25:04
Speaker0: somebody that's sold out to the work of the kingdom. The enemy wants
25:07
Speaker0: to make you afraid of standing on truth. The enemy
25:11
Speaker0: wants to make you afraid of the transformation that will come if you get
25:15
Speaker0: serious. The enemy wants to make you afraid of God's work in you, God's work
25:19
Speaker0: through you, and what God wants to do is actually give you the power
25:23
Speaker0: to be a part. I love what he says.
25:26
Speaker0: You should go back to the end of that verse. But now, O God,
25:30
Speaker0: strengthen my hands. Let me tell you
25:33
Speaker0: what I sense the Spirit of God wants to do in this room today.
25:37
Speaker0: He wants to give us strength to reapply our grip.
25:41
Speaker0: To put your hand back to the work of God again.
25:45
Speaker0: To cooperate with God's work in you again, to cooperate with God's work
25:49
Speaker0: through you again, to cooperate with God's work in this church again, to cooperate
25:54
Speaker0: with God's work in the city again, to cooperate with God's work through your workplace
25:58
Speaker0: again, to cooperate with God's work in your family again. You say, but Kyle,
26:01
Speaker0: my hands are tired! I understand!
26:05
Speaker0: I get weary in the fight, in the fray too, but I know a God
26:09
Speaker0: who is the source of strength! Is anybody willing
26:12
Speaker0: to let out a cry, God, strengthen my hands again!
26:16
Speaker0: God, give me strength in these fingers again to lay a hold of
26:20
Speaker0: the work of God! To believe again for the work of the
26:24
Speaker0: kingdom of God! To confess your weariness,
26:27
Speaker0: and to come to the one that can give you strength!
26:30
Speaker0: Here's the principle, keep praying for strength to keep going. Keep praying for strength to
26:35
Speaker0: keep going. Keep praying for strength to keep going. Keep praying for
26:38
Speaker0: strength to keep going one more season, one more step, one more movement, one more
26:42
Speaker0: moment. Now I want to at least give us this last section here.
26:46
Speaker0: Miss Laura, you can go ahead and come.
26:50
Speaker0: Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delilah,
26:55
Speaker0: the son of that guy, who was confined to his home,
27:00
Speaker0: he said, Let us
27:04
Speaker0: meet together in the house of God, within the temple. New strategy, new person.
27:12
Speaker0: Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you.
27:16
Speaker0: They are coming to kill you by night. And I said, should such
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Speaker0: a man as I run away? And what man such as I
27:24
Speaker0: should go into the temple and live? I will not go in.
27:28
Speaker0: And I understood and saw that God had not
27:33
Speaker0: sent him, but that he had pronounced
27:37
Speaker0: the prophecy against me because of Tobiah and Saballat had hired him for this
27:40
Speaker0: purpose. He was hired that I should be afraid and act
27:44
Speaker0: in this way in sin, and so they could give me a bad name in
27:47
Speaker0: order to taunt me. Remember Tobiah and Saballat? Oh my God!
27:51
Speaker0: According to these things that they did, and the prophetess Noadiah,
27:55
Speaker0: and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
27:59
Speaker0: Let me tell you what's going on in this moment right here.
28:03
Speaker0: Let you in on a secret. In this moment right here,
28:08
Speaker0: now it's not some outsider, again, it's an insider.
28:11
Speaker0: This guy's a priest. Most likely was someone that could
28:16
Speaker0: have even been a personal friend to Nehemiah. Eyes for a second,
28:19
Speaker0: imagine this. Yes. And Nehemiah does go to where
28:23
Speaker0: he is because he's hiding out. Most likely Shemaiah at
28:26
Speaker0: some point had been threatened because he had cooperated with the work
28:30
Speaker0: that was going on, and he's catered.
28:34
Speaker0: Now he's in the pocket of Sanballat,
28:38
Speaker0: Tobiah, and Geshem. So now
28:41
Speaker0: Nehemiah's used
28:44
Speaker0: to be friend, His new enemy,
28:49
Speaker0: and comes to him and says, hey man, you know what? Let's do
28:52
Speaker0: something. They're trying to kill you, they're trying to kill me, let's go hide in
28:56
Speaker0: the temple.
29:00
Speaker0: Only problem with that, Nehemiah's not allowed in the temple.
29:06
Speaker0: There's rules around how you walk into the temple. Let me tell you what they
29:10
Speaker0: knew, if we can get Nehemiah to go in, he'll break the law.
29:14
Speaker0: And we can stone him! We can
29:17
Speaker0: kill him! The only thing that
29:21
Speaker0: saved Nehemiah's life in this moment is he knew the Word!
29:26
Speaker0: Come on! Come on! He knew the Word! And so
29:29
Speaker0: when someone that could have been considered even a trusted friend came
29:33
Speaker0: with something that was contrary to the Word, he goes, you're not from the
29:37
Speaker0: Lord! God hasn't sent you because God doesn't
29:41
Speaker0: contradict His Word! So if you're telling me something that's contrary
29:45
Speaker0: to this, I'm going with this every time! I don't care who you
29:49
Speaker0: are— prophet, priest, prophetess— if it's contrary to this,
29:53
Speaker0: it's not my Father! That's the hiss of the enemy! That's not
29:56
Speaker0: the voice of the Father!
30:02
Speaker0: Some of us are believing lies, and we've been lured away
30:06
Speaker0: by things that are just contrary to God's Word.
30:10
Speaker0: Here's the truth, when you know the Word, you'll have wisdom in
30:13
Speaker0: the war. When you know this— guys,
30:17
Speaker0: this ain't just merely Bible reading plan, okay? Y'all hear me? This is wartime strategy!
30:22
Speaker0: There's no way— it's a lamp unto my feet, it's a
30:26
Speaker0: light unto my path. There's no way to walk through this dark world, demonic forces
30:30
Speaker0: around us, there's no way to win, there's no way to keep going in the
30:34
Speaker0: kingdom work if you don't have this sword! That's right! Amen.
30:37
Speaker0: If you don't have the Spirit of God showing
30:41
Speaker0: you through the Word of God— my kids listen to an artist,
30:45
Speaker0: Josiah Queen, and it's cool music.
30:49
Speaker0: It ain't my jam, but it's cool, alright? But one day I
30:54
Speaker0: was listening to it with Abel, and this quote was in it, and I was
30:56
Speaker0: like, shut your mouth! That's good right there!
31:01
Speaker0: He said, we got dust on our Bibles and brand new iPhones, and we
31:05
Speaker0: wonder why we feel this way.
31:13
Speaker0: Ben made a really good point. We were praying this morning. He said,
31:16
Speaker0: you know, we got a lost and found for Bibles. He said, we never have
31:19
Speaker0: to worry about having a lost and found for iPhones.
31:32
Speaker0: Yet that's the only way forward.
31:37
Speaker0: And some of us have come down way
31:41
Speaker0: too long, or have never learned how to stand on
31:45
Speaker0: it. And if you've never learned how to stand on it, we'd love to be
31:47
Speaker0: a part of that. Love to.
31:51
Speaker0: I want us to do this. Let's stand together. Our prayer leader's
31:55
Speaker0: going to come. I want to honor your time and make sure we make enough
31:58
Speaker0: time for people to come out— come in from the next service.
32:02
Speaker0: But no, it's not the time to leave. It gets— the war gets real heavy
32:06
Speaker0: in here. I'm gonna let y'all in on a secret. The war
32:10
Speaker0: gets real heavy in here because what the enemy wants to do is pluck this
32:12
Speaker0: seed up, and I just stand against that in the authority of Jesus Christ
32:16
Speaker0: right now. So I want you to turn your face
32:20
Speaker0: heavenward for a second. Would you turn your face heavenward? Heavenward.
32:25
Speaker0: Maybe you want to ask, maybe you want to open your hands, for sure open
32:28
Speaker0: your heart and say, God, would you put me back on the wall again?
32:31
Speaker0: Would you put me back on the work again? Maybe there's
32:35
Speaker0: ways the enemy's deceived you and you need Him to show you that.
32:41
Speaker0: What a great message from the book of Nehemiah and reminding us
32:46
Speaker0: that the enemy is always changing his tactics. He's looking
32:49
Speaker0: for a weak spot in our armor. He's looking for a weak spot in our
32:52
Speaker0: faith. our plan, and he's trying to distract
32:57
Speaker0: us constantly. So he will change his approach. The enemy will
33:01
Speaker0: find any way he can, whether it's to get us busy, whether it's
33:05
Speaker0: to get us wrapped up in some other side quest or
33:09
Speaker0: some other thing where we feel like we are being threatened. If we
33:13
Speaker0: can— if he can get us to turn our attention inward toward
33:18
Speaker0: ourselves rather than toward God and what he's called us to,
33:22
Speaker0: then he can sideline us. So the emphasis is to
33:26
Speaker0: Continue on, to press forward in this great
33:30
Speaker0: work principle that Kyle addressed in
33:34
Speaker0: this passage of the fact that we never need to abandon the
33:38
Speaker0: tasks that we've been called to, but to press in and
33:41
Speaker0: to honor God and to allow His Spirit to work through
33:45
Speaker0: us. He is the one who empowers us. So let
33:49
Speaker0: me encourage you to continue to dig into the Word
33:52
Speaker0: when you feel like the enemy is coming against you to sideline you
33:56
Speaker0: from what He's called you to do. Amen. When you have been called to
34:00
Speaker0: seek God in a stronger way, when you've been called to unite
34:04
Speaker0: His people, to equip them for
34:08
Speaker0: greater service, do not allow yourself to be sidelined.
34:11
Speaker0: When God calls you to a task, He provides through His Holy
34:16
Speaker0: Spirit. He provides the strength. He has given us power to be
34:20
Speaker0: His witnesses. He also provides in every other way so
34:24
Speaker0: that we can do what He's called us to do. So let me encourage
34:28
Speaker0: you to pray this in, spend some time And thank the Lord
34:32
Speaker0: that He is there. He is our rock. He is our shelter and
34:36
Speaker0: our strength, and He will carry us through to completion.
34:40
Speaker0: He who began a good work in you is able
34:44
Speaker0: and faithful to bring that unto completion.
34:47
Speaker0: Thank you, Lord, for that. Thank you again for joining us
34:50
Speaker0: on the One Cry Podcast, and we hope you come back and listen again.
34:54
Speaker0: Share this podcast with others, and even would you share
34:57
Speaker0: with us? Yes. At info@onecry.com
35:01
Speaker0: how God has been working in your life through these messages.
35:06
Speaker0: Maybe God has stirred up something in you and He's calling
35:10
Speaker0: you to the next level. Would you join Him in
35:13
Speaker0: the activity He's calling you to? God bless you.
35:17
Speaker0: Have a wonderful week.