Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #269 Revival Ready: Rise, Build, and Catch the Wind

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#269 Revival Ready: Rise, Build, and Catch the Wind · The OneCry Podcast

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Speaker0: And by the way, some good news, the Lord is already doing these things
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Speaker0: in our region, right? He's already doing these things
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Speaker0: in our nation, man. The wind is blowing. The work of
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Speaker0: God is advancing. The question,
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Speaker0: what measure will we stretch out the sail of our soul
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Speaker0: and catch the wind of God's work?
0:24
Speaker0: Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide
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Speaker0: call for spiritual awakening.
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Speaker1: The goal, accelerating Well,
0:40
Speaker1: hello again and welcome back to the One Cry Podcast.
0:43
Speaker1: I am Ben Dishner, and I'm so glad that you're joining us again
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Speaker1: as we continue along in the Revival Ready
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Speaker1: series with our host Kyle Reno teaching a series
0:55
Speaker1: of messages on what it takes for our life to become
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Speaker1: Revival Ready. So we're going to continue on with
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Speaker1: part 2 today, continuing to go into the life
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Speaker1: of Nehemiah and look throughout that book and see what
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Speaker1: God teaches us about surrendering to Him,
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Speaker1: about the call that He has put on our lives, the call to
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Speaker1: action, a confirmation from Him searching our hearts,
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Speaker1: surrendering to Him. And I hope you get so
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Speaker1: much out of this message. Take some notes and we'll be back
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Speaker1: at the end and we'll pray this in. So take a listen to
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Speaker1: Revival Ready Part 2.
1:38
Speaker0: Now let me catch you up, okay? Because I know it's been a couple weeks.
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Speaker0: We're breaking back into Nehemiah and we'll be here for the next several weeks
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Speaker0: together. Nehemiah starts— let me give you a little context
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Speaker0: before we jump into chapter 2. Nehemiah 1 starts with God sharing
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Speaker0: his heart with Nehemiah for a people and a place.
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Speaker0: You open the book of Nehemiah, man, the letter really in this moment,
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Speaker0: the journal entry of Nehemiah, and what you see in
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Speaker0: this moment is Nehemiah becomes aware of the condition of
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Speaker0: a people, Jerusalem, and a place, the Jewish people,
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Speaker0: his heritage, his family. And what God does in
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Speaker0: that moment is he downloads into Nehemiah's heart what's
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Speaker0: in his heart, that unfortunately the rebellion
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Speaker0: of God's people had led to the righteous judgment of
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Speaker0: God that has lingered for 70 years.
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Speaker1: That's right.
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Speaker0: some odd
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Speaker0: years. But now Nehemiah is finding himself in the rebuilding,
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Speaker0: restoration, revival moment that God had long promised.
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Speaker0: But God had to find somebody that he could share his
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Speaker0: heart with. So Nehemiah is broken. And because of his brokenness,
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Speaker0: he fasts. He prays. Not for just a moment. We get into Nehemiah
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Speaker0: chapter 2. He fasts and prays over a season of time. Many days.
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Speaker0: Many moments. for 4 months. He's carrying
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Speaker0: a burden for what God wants to do among a people.
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Speaker0: So much so— I'm giving you— I'm catching you up.
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Speaker0: So much so that the king notices that his state is
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Speaker0: saddened. By the way, which was you could not do.
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Speaker0: That you had to be jovial in the presence of the king. But the burden
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Speaker0: was so great that his body was beginning to show it.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: And so the king who has, listen to me,
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Speaker0: great thoughts toward Nehemiah because Nehemiah was a great worker,
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Speaker0: had great integrity, saw that Nehemiah was bothered.
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Speaker0: And so he asked him, hey, what's going on with you, bro? Kyle version.
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Speaker0: Hey, what's going on? I can see that the state of
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Speaker0: your soul is sad. And so the moment that Nehemiah's been
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Speaker0: prayed for for 4 months has finally arrived.
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Speaker0: And what Nehemiah says to him, how could I not be sad? The place that
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Speaker0: I come from, the people that I come from, the place
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Speaker0: where my father is buried is devastated and destroyed.
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Speaker0: So yes, my heart is heavy.
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Speaker0: And then the king does something the king does not have to do.
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Speaker0: What do you want to do about it? What's in your heart to
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Speaker0: do, Nehemiah, in this? And I love Nehemiah's response. He says,
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Speaker0: so I prayed to the God of heaven. Now he's standing in front of the
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Speaker0: king. What he didn't say to the king is, if you'll allow me a few
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Speaker0: moments, I'd like to go to my prayer closet and pray about this. No.
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Speaker0: See, Nehemiah's been planning for 4 months for a moment to
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Speaker0: finally get there. And when it comes, he goes vertical in his mind
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Speaker0: and his spirit. How many of you pray these kind of bullet prayers? Hey God,
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Speaker0: help. That's where Nehemiah was. Hey God, the moment's
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Speaker0: finally come that we've been fasting and praying and believing for.
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Speaker0: He's saying, God, we're here.
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Speaker1: Help.
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Speaker0: Then he looks to the king, says, well, since you asked, any chance
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Speaker0: that you could give me permission to leave my job, go back to
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Speaker0: Jerusalem to see restoration come to the place and
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Speaker0: the people? By the way, would you write letters giving me permission
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Speaker0: for safe travel all the way there? And hey, while I'm asking,
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Speaker0: what do you think about paying for it?
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Speaker0: How about you, out of your resources as a pagan king,
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Speaker0: give me the resources that's needed to restore the place
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Speaker0: of God and the people of God? To which the king says,
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Speaker0: go for it.
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Speaker0: Unmerited favor of God. Nothing he
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Speaker0: could earn or deserve, but the cat— like this moment's coming,
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Speaker0: this collision moment where the kingdom of God and the purposes of
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Speaker0: God, the desire of God is being displayed in the heart of this
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Speaker0: servant cupbearer. And God is allowing him
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Speaker0: to get to this. And then you get to verse 17. From there,
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Speaker0: Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem. He walks around for 3 days. He inspects
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Speaker0: the walls. He smells the smells. He feels the rubble under his
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Speaker0: feet. And now we're at the moment where it's time to do something.
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Speaker0: In verse 17, it says this. He's rallied the Jewish people.
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Speaker0: He's rallied those that's lived in this rubble for generations. And he says,
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Speaker0: verse 17, then he said to them, you see the trouble that
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Speaker0: we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins
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Speaker0: with its gates burned. Somehow Nehemiah
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Speaker0: got all God's people in a place where they could hear in such a moment
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Speaker0: this statement. Now you see something, don't you? You know, it's true.
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Speaker0: The longer we live, the easier it becomes for us to
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Speaker0: be acclimated to our brokenness.
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Speaker0: Let me tell you what was probably not true. It was probably
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Speaker0: not true that the Jewish people had this ready awareness of like,
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Speaker0: man, you know what? This is not what God intended. They had normalized
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Speaker0: living a lesser life. They had normalized
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Speaker0: living in brokenness. They had got used to ruins.
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Speaker0: When God had made them for so much more.
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Speaker1: Come on.
7:02
Speaker0: Let's be real for a second. You ever walked into a situation,
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Speaker0: maybe even walked into a home, and it was just all in disarray?
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Speaker0: You ever, you ever found yourself down a street and you thought,
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Speaker0: man, this street's a little scary? Or maybe you walked
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Speaker0: into a home and the clutter and the chaos and maybe even a level of
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Speaker0: filth, and you think to yourself, how do you live
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Speaker0: like this? You know what I'm talking about, right?
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Speaker1: Yes.
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Speaker0: For 70 years, the people of God had lived in
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Speaker0: the lesser. For 70 years. Now, the righteous
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Speaker0: judgment of God had brought them to this place because of their rebellion.
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Speaker0: But the truth is, is God had never intended his people to live like this.
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Speaker0: God had never intended for his people to live in ruin. God never intended
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Speaker0: for his people to live with the gates down and anything coming into their life
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Speaker0: and robbing them of life. And what Nehemiah is
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Speaker0: starting with is before we can see restoration, before we
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Speaker0: can see renewal, before we can see revival, we gotta see
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Speaker0: the ruins. That's right. We gotta recognize this is not
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Speaker0: it. This is not what God intended for my family. This is not
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Speaker0: what God intended for my children. This is not what God intended
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Speaker0: for a nation. This is not what God intended for generations.
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Speaker0: This is not what God intended around This is not what
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Speaker0: God intended around disunity. That you
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Speaker0: have to have a moment where you finally see what God sees.
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Speaker0: The first thing that's got to happen is you've got to have clarity about our
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Speaker0: condition. First principle of revival, man.
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Speaker0: Before you can see revival, renewal, you've got to have clarity about our
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Speaker0: condition. Like, this is not the way a society flourishes.
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Speaker0: This is not the way a family flourishes. This is not the way a marriage
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Speaker0: flourishes. This is not the way children flourish.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: This is not the way a
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Speaker0: system, a workplace flourishes.
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Speaker0: Let me tell you what I think God's doing in this moment right
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Speaker0: now. He's helping us to see finally.
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Speaker0: Let me tell you what he's wanting to do in the eyes of his sons
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Speaker0: and daughters, not just in one, but in all. I want you to see that
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Speaker0: this is a problem. This is ruin, that this is not what God intended
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Speaker0: for future generations. Now, can I be real with us in our American
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Speaker0: context? The rubble that we have is not necessarily
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Speaker0: walls that are down, or— there is levels of poverty
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Speaker0: and blight and things like that that we need to see renewed, but in this
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Speaker0: room that might not be our rubble.
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Speaker0: Our riches can be our rubble.
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Speaker1: Come on.
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Speaker0: Our greed can be the gate that's down,
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Speaker0: meaning you can have it all going on out here, but in here, ruin.
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Speaker1: Renewal.
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Speaker0: In here, the need for renewal,
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Speaker0: revival, that greed might open the
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Speaker0: door to every kind of enemy.
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Speaker0: For the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in our day, we need to
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Speaker0: look around and say, God, is this what you intended us to be? You know
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Speaker0: what God intended the church to be? Many different things, aspects to who we are,
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Speaker0: but at our best, a forever family that's making a real difference in
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Speaker0: the world. And if we're not being that,
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Speaker0: we're living a lesser than, lesser than what
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Speaker0: God intended for us. God wants
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Speaker0: to bring clarity to our condition.
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Speaker0: And by the way, before you love to throw stones and say,
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Speaker0: man, look at— that's right, Kyle. Look at the ruin they're
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Speaker0: living in. You know what I'm talking about. Don't look at me holy, right?
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Speaker0: We love to stand in judgment of somebody else's ruin.
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Speaker0: We love being a cynic. I'm gonna let you in on
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Speaker0: a secret. We got way too many self-appointed prophets that love to blog
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Speaker0: post and tell everybody else what they are doing wrong.
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Speaker1: Come on.
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Speaker0: I'm gonna just let that land for a second.
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Speaker0: When if you want to experience real revival and renewal, you say,
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Speaker0: God, show me the condition of my own heart.
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Speaker0: Show me ways that I have contributed to the societal
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Speaker0: breakdown, to there not being renewal or flourishing in our
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Speaker0: city, in our communities, in our marriages.
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Speaker0: Now, don't— I don't need to see it out there on behalf of somebody else.
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Speaker0: Let me see it in here. How have I contributed
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Speaker0: by things that I've committed, sins I've committed,
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Speaker0: or lack of care, or things I've omitted?
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Speaker0: Meaning things I haven't done, haven't cooperated with.
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Speaker0: Then Nehemiah goes from that, say, hey, we got to see our
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Speaker0: true condition too. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem that
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Speaker0: we may no longer suffer derision. So he's looking.
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Speaker0: Now we're getting to a call to action in this moment. You're starting to see
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Speaker0: something. I want you to look at it. Come, let us build the wall of
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Speaker0: Jerusalem. Now, let me tell you a secret about redemptive history.
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Speaker0: God loves— I mean, he loves to
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Speaker0: pick a person that he might impact a people.
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Speaker0: He loves— listen to me— in one moment to call out a Moses,
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Speaker0: a stuttering dude that is hiding on the other side of a mountain
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Speaker0: tending some sheep, and go, that's my guy. Nobody else
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Speaker0: is looking at Moses thinking, that's the guy. He loves to
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Speaker0: find a Ruth over here and say, I got her exactly
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Speaker0: where I need her in this moment that I might use her
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Speaker0: to bring about generational change.
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Speaker0: So God loves to use a leader. God loves to use a person, but God
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Speaker0: never stops with a person. God uses a
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Speaker0: leader to call laborers. Go back to that
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Speaker0: passage of scripture, if you don't mind, where it says, Come, let Come,
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Speaker0: let us. Come, let us. Nehemiah didn't say, come, let me.
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Speaker1: God—
13:02
Speaker0: Nehemiah didn't say, hey, y'all, come watch me. He said, come, let us
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Speaker0: build. Nehemiah's looking into their eyes, and this is what
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Speaker0: he's saying, and I'm looking into your eyes. Men and women of God, we got
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Speaker0: work to do. Men and women of God,
13:17
Speaker0: Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we got work to do.
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Speaker0: That if we're going to see a wall rebuilt, if we're going to see a
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Speaker0: society flourish, if we're going to see a generation impacted,
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Speaker0: it's going to take all of us. I say it
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Speaker0: again, it's going to take all of us.
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Speaker0: Interesting, if you go back to that passage of scripture, that we may no
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Speaker0: longer suffer derision.
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Speaker0: I mean, let me break that. Other translations, I like how it says disgrace.
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Speaker1: Disgrace.
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Speaker0: What it meant
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Speaker0: was we don't even look like the people of God anymore.
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Speaker0: What it means, like, our state of living, our engagement
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Speaker0: with God, not only are we a bad representation of the people of God,
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Speaker0: we're a bad representation of our God.
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Speaker0: That— 'cause look, I'm going to let you in on a secret. The way in
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Speaker0: which we live and engage in our culture and our community is
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Speaker0: a direct reflection of the goodness of our God.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: And in this moment, what Nehemiah is saying, there's too much at stake here.
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Speaker0: It's not just about the rebuilding of a wall. It's about renewing
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Speaker0: a right view of God. It's about cooperating
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Speaker0: with God in such a way that he renews cities,
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Speaker0: he renews streets, he renews families, he renews generations
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Speaker0: so that when people look at us, they say, our God, their God
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Speaker0: is good. Their God is powerful. Their God
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Speaker0: is in control. So you know what Nehemiah's doing? So you got clarity about our
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Speaker0: condition. Nehemiah is issuing a call to action.
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Speaker0: Hey church, do you want to be revival ready? It's not a
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Speaker0: rhetorical question. I'm going to ask again. You ready? I'll preach
15:03
Speaker0: quicker if you'll respond.
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Speaker0: You want to be— you want to be revival ready?
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Speaker1: Yes.
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Speaker0: At some point, you got to accept the call to action. You got
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Speaker0: to accept the call. Jim, you hand me that water in a second. Thank you.
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Speaker0: You got to find your part in building something. Thanks, brother.
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Speaker0: Can we thank Jim for that? There you go.
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Speaker0: I just said that so it gave me a second to drink some. All right,
15:32
Speaker0: there you go. But thanks, Jim. Cross gates.
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Speaker0: Hear me now. God is calling. It's happening
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Speaker0: right now. God is calling his
15:43
Speaker0: church to action again. God is calling
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Speaker0: his church to— listen to me— to not do religion. Don't just go through the
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Speaker0: motions, but to really engage in the work of God right
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Speaker0: now. To be a part of building something.
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Speaker0: To be a part of building something. Building something
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Speaker0: that will matter.
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Speaker1: Amen.
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Speaker0: A million years
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Speaker0: from now. Now make no mistake, what Nehemiah was calling them to
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Speaker0: would not be easy. This is not snow angels that they're going to make
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Speaker0: on the ski slopes somewhere. This is building a
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Speaker0: wall in the desert, dude.
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Speaker1: Hard work.
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Speaker0: It's going to be physically taxing. It's going to be emotionally
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Speaker0: taxing, and it is going to be an all-out spiritual dogfight.
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Speaker0: But he's issuing the call nonetheless.
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Speaker0: If you're waiting for somebody to issue the call, hear it today.
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Speaker0: The Lord is calling his church to cooperate with the building of his
16:43
Speaker0: kingdom in our day, to reach people,
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Speaker0: to serve people, to see change come to every space and
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Speaker0: place in such a way that the world would go,
16:54
Speaker0: I think God might be real.
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Speaker1: Amen.
16:57
Speaker0: I think Jesus
16:58
Speaker0: might be alive, ruling and reigning. He keeps
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Speaker0: going through the text of scripture, and I love this now. And I told them.
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Speaker0: So he's issued the call, call to action,
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Speaker0: and then he's going to give them a little confirmation here. And I told
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Speaker0: them of how the hand of my God that had been upon me for good,
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Speaker0: and also the words that the king had spoken
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Speaker0: To me. Let me tell you what Nehemiah— he's a great
17:25
Speaker0: leader. Let me tell you one of the ways that's evidenced in this moment.
17:29
Speaker0: He said, guys, I'm gonna let y'all in on a secret. This is not a
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Speaker0: Nehemiah idea. This is a God idea.
17:37
Speaker0: He said, this is not me getting a strategy. This is not me think-tanking this
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Speaker0: thing. This is not just me making a plan. God is moving
17:45
Speaker0: on our behalf. Listen to what it says again. Look at that passage of
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Speaker0: scripture. It says, and I told them of the hand of
17:53
Speaker0: my God that was upon me for good, and also of the words the king
17:56
Speaker0: he had spoken to me. He said, I got God's favor
17:59
Speaker0: on my life. I've got God's hand on my life. Let me tell you an
18:03
Speaker0: evidence of that in this moment. The pagan, little k,
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Speaker0: king gave us permission to come.
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Speaker0: Provision. Once I got here, And we can do this.
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Speaker0: Listen to me. Without fear of response from the King.
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Speaker1: Yeah.
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Speaker0: This is God,
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Speaker0: guys. That's what he's saying. Let me tell you something
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Speaker0: that you and I need to know. If you want to go about the work
18:27
Speaker0: with some confidence, you need to know that we got the confirmation of God.
18:32
Speaker0: The confirmation of God. That's a principle to be revival ready. It's the confirmation
18:38
Speaker0: of God.
18:41
Speaker0: Can I preach for a second? I don't know why I asked.
18:44
Speaker0: I'm going to anyway. I think we've forgotten some things.
18:52
Speaker0: I think we've forgotten some things.
18:55
Speaker0: God's hand is upon us. Lord Jesus— the Lord Jesus'
18:58
Speaker0: hand is upon his church.
19:01
Speaker0: God the Holy Spirit is in his people.
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Speaker0: Come on now.
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Speaker1: Amen.
19:07
Speaker0: That when you and I make
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Speaker0: up our mind to be about the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, we're not
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Speaker0: alone. Listen to me now, Church of the Lord Jesus
19:18
Speaker0: Christ, the moment that you and I decide to engage in the mission
19:22
Speaker0: of God to make Jesus known every place, you're right
19:26
Speaker0: in the will of the Father. That the moment
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Speaker0: that we decide to be a part of kingdom work that brings renewal, that brings
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Speaker0: about flourishing, that helps hurting people, we don't have to wonder, I wonder if God
19:37
Speaker0: God's going to be with us. He said, I'm with you.
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Speaker0: That if you want to be a part of seeing Jesus build his church,
19:46
Speaker0: you ain't got to wonder, God, I wonder if you're going to help us in
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Speaker0: that work. He said, I'm already there. You remember the moment
19:52
Speaker0: where Peter and Jesus was having this conversation,
19:56
Speaker0: Matthew 16:18? I love, I love this passage.
20:00
Speaker0: It's the moment where Peter finally got it right.
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Speaker1: Amen.
20:03
Speaker0: Man,
20:03
Speaker0: listen, as a guy that often talks out of turn, the moments that he actually
20:07
Speaker0: gets it right, it's very encouraging to me because he's the same guy That says
20:11
Speaker0: a lot of stupid stuff. Okay? But in this moment, when he says,
20:14
Speaker0: hey, who do people say that I am? And some say, well, some say you're
20:16
Speaker0: John the Baptist, and some say you're one of the other prophets. He said,
20:20
Speaker0: but who do you say? And Peter says, you are
20:23
Speaker0: the Christ. You're the Son of the living God.
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Speaker0: You're the one the whole world's been waiting on, watching for.
20:32
Speaker0: And Jesus says, I tell you the truth,
20:36
Speaker0: I'm as shocked as anybody. You got it right, Peter. Like,
20:41
Speaker0: I tell you the truth, you are Peter, and on this
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Speaker0: rock— and the rock's not him. The rock's the confession,
20:49
Speaker0: the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He said,
20:53
Speaker0: I will build my church and the gates of hell
20:56
Speaker0: will not prevail against it. He's saying,
21:00
Speaker0: Pete, listen to me. If you give yourself to
21:04
Speaker0: this work, nothing can prevail against you.
21:07
Speaker0: Satan's schemes, demonic forces, darkness,
21:11
Speaker0: principalities. If you give your whole life to
21:15
Speaker0: seeing— listen to me— not your kingdom built,
21:18
Speaker0: not building your brand, not building up
21:22
Speaker0: your name. Jesus is saying, if you'll give your life to building my church,
21:26
Speaker0: nothing's going to prevail against you. Come on now.
21:31
Speaker0: Church, if we're looking for the confirmation of God, we have it. It's the
21:36
Speaker0: same thing that God says to Jeremiah when he
21:40
Speaker0: found himself in exile. He said, hey man,
21:43
Speaker0: the place I sent you in exile, I want you to bless it. I want
21:46
Speaker0: you to pray for it. I'm with you in it. I want you to make
21:49
Speaker0: a difference where I've sent you. Go back to Nehemiah 2, and it keeps going.
21:52
Speaker0: So you got the confirmation of God. You got clarity about our condition. You got
21:56
Speaker0: a call to action. You got the confirmation of God.
22:00
Speaker0: And then here God's people respond.
22:03
Speaker0: And I wonder if
22:08
Speaker0: you'd allow this cry to come out of you.
22:11
Speaker0: Because the— listen, the measure to which we will see change in
22:14
Speaker0: our generation is directly tethered to
22:19
Speaker0: will this ever come out of us?
22:21
Speaker1: Amen.
22:22
Speaker0: In a way that we mean it. And they said,
22:26
Speaker0: let us rise and build.
22:30
Speaker0: So they strengthened their hand for the good
22:34
Speaker0: work. Let me tell you what this is not. This is not a hoorah moment.
22:37
Speaker0: It's not a moment where they're like, yeah, we're in. And then 5
22:41
Speaker0: minutes later they're out. This is a soul surrender.
22:45
Speaker0: This is a moment where they said, let us rise.
22:47
Speaker1: And build.
22:47
Speaker0: and build.
22:48
Speaker0: It was a genuine surrender, meaning they finally saw the rubble around
22:53
Speaker0: them. They recognized that this is not what God intended for their families,
22:57
Speaker0: for their future, for generations of the faith.
23:00
Speaker0: They heard the call to action. They heard God speaking
23:04
Speaker0: through Nehemiah saying, would you come and help me build this?
23:10
Speaker0: They saw the confirmation of God that God has given us favor. He's fulfilling his
23:14
Speaker0: 70-year-long promise that God's
23:18
Speaker0: given us favor even in the eyes of a pagan king. And their response
23:21
Speaker0: was, let's get after
23:25
Speaker0: it. Let's go to work.
23:30
Speaker0: Let's go to work. Let me tell you what's interesting. You'll see
23:34
Speaker0: this. Don't miss any of the weeks ahead. It starts in their own home.
23:37
Speaker0: Starts right in front of their own home. They find
23:41
Speaker0: their part, their place, In the work to
23:45
Speaker0: let's get up and get to work.
23:49
Speaker0: Can you imagine what would happen if 2,000+ people in
23:55
Speaker0: little old Brandon, Mississippi, in Rankin County, that the
23:59
Speaker0: Spirit of the living God were to so move upon us and we were to
24:03
Speaker0: say, each and every one of us, and mean it, Lord, we're in. Lord,
24:06
Speaker0: we're in. Let's rise and
24:09
Speaker0: build, not cross gates,
24:12
Speaker0: not a denomination, to be a part of seeing the kingdom of God
24:16
Speaker0: built. To see change come
24:19
Speaker0: to Rankin County, to see change come to the state of Mississippi,
24:23
Speaker0: to see generational change come to schools, to see change
24:27
Speaker0: come to your neighborhood, to say, God, I'm gonna pray my part.
24:31
Speaker0: I'm gonna reach the people you put in front of me. I'm gonna serve.
24:34
Speaker0: In the church that you placed me in.
24:38
Speaker0: There wouldn't merely be 200 that are doing it, but every person got in it.
24:44
Speaker0: And by the way, for some good news, the Lord is already doing these
24:48
Speaker0: things in our region, right? He's already doing these
24:51
Speaker0: things in our nation, man. The wind is blowing.
24:54
Speaker0: The work of God is advancing. The question,
24:59
Speaker0: what measure will we stretch out the sail of our soul?
25:02
Speaker1: Amen.
25:03
Speaker0: and catch the wind of God's work?
25:08
Speaker0: How many of us will be a part of it and look up 10 years
25:11
Speaker0: from now and go, did you see what God just did?
25:16
Speaker0: Changed a nation, changed a region, changed a generation.
25:22
Speaker0: I love it. It says— go back to the verse of Scripture, if you don't
25:24
Speaker0: mind. It says, and they strengthened their hand for the good work.
25:28
Speaker0: The guy part of me is like, they popped their knuckles, you know.
25:32
Speaker0: Let me tell you what the picture is, because you ready? Those hands that
25:37
Speaker0: were strengthened are soon going to carry a trowel, meaning to
25:41
Speaker0: put stuff in the brick and the block
25:45
Speaker0: of the wall. They're going to have a trowel in one hand.
25:48
Speaker0: They're going to have a sword in the other.
25:52
Speaker0: But they had to make up their mind on the front side.
25:55
Speaker0: Hands, it's time to work and war again.
25:58
Speaker1: Amen.
26:01
Speaker0: Hands, it's time to work in war again.
26:05
Speaker0: They had to have their strength renewed in their
26:09
Speaker0: hands again. And I want to say something to some discouraged believers
26:12
Speaker0: out there. You say, Kyle, I've been here before. My hands
26:16
Speaker0: are tired. Well, by the power of the Holy Spirit, strengthen your hands again.
26:22
Speaker0: I mean, hey, strengthen your hands again on behalf of your family.
26:25
Speaker1: Amen.
26:26
Speaker0: Amen. Strengthen your hands again on behalf of this church.
26:29
Speaker0: Strengthen your hands again on behalf of a city. Strengthen your hands again.
26:34
Speaker0: I know it's easy to get tired. We all do. Now's the
26:38
Speaker0: time to work. Now's the time to war again.
26:43
Speaker0: So they strengthened their hands. You know what it was?
26:47
Speaker0: It was a commitment to the call. It was a commitment
26:52
Speaker0: to the call. They heard the call to action.
26:55
Speaker0: They seen the confirmation of God, and then they made a commitment
26:59
Speaker0: to the call. Let me tell you something that's awesome. I'm going to be done
27:02
Speaker0: in just a second. Miss Laura, you can go ahead and come.
27:06
Speaker0: It doesn't mean I'm that close to being done though. Okay?
27:10
Speaker0: I just like the music. Let me tell you what
27:14
Speaker0: they didn't know. Guys, listen to this. You know what they didn't know?
27:17
Speaker1: What?
27:19
Speaker0: Once they made this commitment, they didn't know what we know.
27:24
Speaker0: What we know, 52 days
27:27
Speaker0: after that commitment, the wall was going to be completed.
27:32
Speaker0: Come on! Nobody thought that was
27:35
Speaker0: possible.
27:38
Speaker0: 52 days after that commitment,
27:42
Speaker0: God had changed the future for the
27:46
Speaker0: generations to come.
27:51
Speaker0: Have your eyes for just a second. You have
27:54
Speaker0: no idea what kind of change is on
27:58
Speaker0: the other side of your commitment. Your wholehearted surrender,
28:02
Speaker0: man, saying, God, I want to be a part of your work. I want to
28:04
Speaker0: be a part of you advancing your kingdom here. I want to be a part
28:07
Speaker0: of you building your church, Jesus, here. I want to be a part of you
28:10
Speaker0: bringing change to generations.
28:12
Speaker1: Yes.
28:13
Speaker0: Here,
28:14
Speaker0: 52 days later, the world
28:18
Speaker0: had literally been changed.
28:21
Speaker0: Now, let me let you in on a secret.
28:25
Speaker0: On the other side of them putting their work gloves on, making a commitment,
28:30
Speaker0: it was not sunshine and rainbows from there. The literal
28:35
Speaker0: next verse. I want you to think about it. They hear this compelling vision.
28:38
Speaker0: They hear this call to action. They make their commitment
28:42
Speaker0: to it. And then verse 19, But when Sanballat— that guy—
28:48
Speaker0: the Horonite, and Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arab heard
28:52
Speaker0: of it, they jeered at us,
28:55
Speaker0: despised us, and said, what is this thing you're doing?
28:59
Speaker0: Are you rebelling against the king? They barely got their
29:03
Speaker0: work gloves on. And the enemy's already putting words in
29:07
Speaker0: their mind. Anybody ever been there before? Come on. I'm gonna follow
29:12
Speaker0: Jesus with all my heart. I'm gonna make disciples. I'm gonna serve. I'm gonna pray.
29:15
Speaker0: And then on the other side, you hear the whisper, who are you?
29:19
Speaker0: Anybody ever heard that before? The hiss of the enemy?
29:22
Speaker0: Well, God can't use you.
29:25
Speaker0: You're too big a mess. You made too many mistakes.
29:30
Speaker0: You gotta leave that for the spiritually elite.
29:32
Speaker1: Amen.
29:34
Speaker0: And let me tell you what the enemy does. He even levels the crosshairs.
29:36
Speaker0: The confirmation God had given them is that that little k king had
29:41
Speaker0: given them the provision. And what does the enemy do? The hiss.
29:45
Speaker0: What are you rebelling against the king? Tried to make them afraid. You wait
29:49
Speaker0: till we tell the king that this is about rebelling against him. That's not been
29:53
Speaker0: one statement of rebellion.
29:57
Speaker0: I'm gonna let you in on a secret. If you get serious about Following the
30:01
Speaker0: Lord Jesus Christ. You get serious about the work of God, the enemy's going to
30:04
Speaker0: get serious about you. And hear me, if you want to be a part
30:08
Speaker0: of this kind of work, truth, conflict is coming.
30:13
Speaker0: I feel it this morning. I've been warring and
30:17
Speaker0: working and believing, and I feel it.
30:22
Speaker0: I feel the enemy like, ah, ain't gonna work.
30:25
Speaker1: Amen.
30:26
Speaker0: Ah, it's just— hey, you just thinking stuff. Ah, you know what?
30:30
Speaker0: Go easy. The enemy's going to come whatever
30:34
Speaker0: way that you might believe. Let me tell you something
30:37
Speaker0: about the enemy. He's been lying a long time.
30:42
Speaker0: He's got some good ones.
30:47
Speaker0: Let me tell you what I love about Nehemiah. This is at the vertical.
30:51
Speaker0: Man, the vertical demeanor of Nehemiah.
30:56
Speaker0: I think God had to birth this in that 4 months of seeking him,
30:59
Speaker0: fasting, and praying, that when that horizontal
31:03
Speaker0: accusation came, he went straight vertical.
31:07
Speaker0: He said, then I replied to them, the God of heaven
31:12
Speaker0: will make us prosper,
31:16
Speaker0: and we his servants will arise and build. But you make
31:20
Speaker0: no mistake about this, Sanballat,
31:24
Speaker0: Tobiah, Geshem. You make no mistake about this, but you'll
31:28
Speaker0: have no portion, right, or claim in Jerusalem.
31:33
Speaker0: God's work is going to be so established here, it's going to run you out.
31:37
Speaker0: Come on now. You talk about bold as a lion.
31:41
Speaker0: He goes, but the God of heaven is going to make us prosper.
31:45
Speaker0: We're going to cooperate. You're going to lose.
31:52
Speaker0: God's gonna help us see a city established. God's gonna help us see generations
31:58
Speaker0: redeemed. God's gonna help us prosper in such a way that his church
32:01
Speaker0: flourishes. We, we're gonna do our part. We're gonna pray.
32:07
Speaker0: We're gonna pray. We're gonna live on the edge of mission. We're gonna go after
32:11
Speaker0: people that are far from God. That are broken. That are hurting. We're gonna try
32:14
Speaker0: to help them find hope.
32:14
Speaker1: Amen.
32:15
Speaker0: We're gonna serve in this church.
32:18
Speaker0: Nobody's gonna have to shame me to serve in kids ministry.
32:21
Speaker0: Nobody's gonna have to shame us to park way over here. By the way,
32:25
Speaker0: you killed it today. Nobody's gonna have to shame us.
32:28
Speaker0: Listen, nobody's gonna have to shame us to this because I'm a part of this
32:31
Speaker0: work. I'm gonna find a team to
32:35
Speaker0: serve on. I'm gonna live on the edge of mission 'cause
32:41
Speaker0: I got work gloves on.
32:41
Speaker1: Amen.
32:44
Speaker1: Amen.
32:45
Speaker0: And by the way, enemy, you'll have no port—
32:48
Speaker0: no part, portion, or claim.
32:53
Speaker0: That's the last thing if you want to be revival ready. It's the courage
32:56
Speaker0: to keep going. It's the courage to keep going.
33:01
Speaker0: So I wonder, church, what's God saying to us this morning? I want to encourage
33:06
Speaker0: you, don't miss any of the weeks ahead because this is It's just going to
33:09
Speaker0: get better and better. It's going to get better and better. But what today
33:13
Speaker0: do you hear the Lord saying to you, man?
33:19
Speaker1: What a great message and what a great focus on orienting
33:23
Speaker1: our lives, continuing to set our sails toward what God wants
33:28
Speaker1: to do in and through us in revival and spiritual awakening.
33:31
Speaker1: It starts in our hearts. And so,
33:35
Speaker1: as we pray in what we've heard today, let's ask God
33:39
Speaker1: to continue the work that He has begun in us. Let's ask God to
33:43
Speaker1: continue to work through us and do whatever He wants to do
33:47
Speaker1: inside of us so that He can do whatever He wants to do through
33:50
Speaker1: our lives. And let's pray for God to awaken not only our
33:55
Speaker1: heart, but our families, our circles around
33:59
Speaker1: us, our community, Our church, that He would continue to move in amazing
34:03
Speaker1: ways like only He can, and that we might
34:06
Speaker1: have courage to persist no matter what, to keep
34:12
Speaker1: pursuing God, to keep pursuing what He desires.
34:15
Speaker1: So take some time, pray this in,
34:19
Speaker1: and then we hope to see you back next week.
34:23
Speaker1: God bless you. Have a wonderful week.