It's Your Door

0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.040 Hey there. Before we jump into the amazing message today, 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:05.640 we wanted to let you know about our upcoming tour, 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:08.520 the starting end just a few days. We're heading out 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.240 in the month of August with our friends Carry Joe 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.680 and Codycarnes, and we're coming to a city near you. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.799 We're gonna have an amazing time in the presence of God. 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.520 Every single time we gather, He's faithful to meet with 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.600 us and do something new and fresh in our hearts. 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:25.799 So we hope you'll join us. Yes, we're gonna be 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:30.400 in Dallas, San Antonio, Omaha, We're gonna be in Toledo, Dayton. 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:33.400 We're coming to you Knoxville, Huntsville. Yes, we're also going 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:37.080 to be in Louisville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York. 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.960 So come out join us, bring your friends, bring your family. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:44.640 Everything you need tickets and information is at Elevation Worship 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.800 dot Com. We'll see you. See all right, how many 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:52.760 are excited about God's work going into your heart right now? 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.640 That's what has to happen, y'all. The Word of God 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:03.320 has to get in your heart. Up here in your head, 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.160 you just got a history lesson. Oh no, maybe you 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:11.319 got a little motivational saying, if it gets in your heart, 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.920 it goes home with you. If it goes home with you, 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.720 it can help you in your real life, not your 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:23.200 church life, not this little time we share together, but 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.880 the whole expense of your existence as a human being. 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.520 And that's what I'm after, and I believe that's what 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.680 God is after today. So may he speak something life 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:34.959 changing in this place. I'm gonna let you be seated. 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.920 I've got a few different scriptures to read, so go 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:42.720 ahead and take your seat. Man, it gets hard to 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:44.760 hold these sermons all week while I wait for you 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:49.000 to get here. Really does I feel like I got 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.520 these boxes keep coming and I can't hold all of them. 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.720 So that's what's been like this week with the scriptures. 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.600 But one scripture that I want to make sure we 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:02.960 look at today is from nami chapter six, Verses one 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.480 through four and Neamiah chapter seven, Versus one through three. 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:11.280 And some of y'all might have post traumatic stress disorder. 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.400 When I say Namiyah, don't worry. I'm not starting a 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.280 building project for the church today. It's about the only 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.799 time Neamiyah gets to come to church when they're raising 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.240 money for a fellowship, Paul or something pend me another brick. 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:30.680 But not to be corny about it, but I believe 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:36.600 God is building something in each of us, and that 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:40.200 God's construction project in your life related to your character, 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.840 your contentment. That's what I mean when I say the 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.480 hard work of happiness. Holly mentioned it when she made 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.040 the announcements. That's what I've been working on in my 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.680 own life, realizing that, man, there's an easy way to 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.840 get high and feel happy, not necessarily just off of drugs. 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:02.440 You know. It could be food, could be gossip, be 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.320 a lot of different drugs, you know what I mean. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:07.520 You just have your own little pill bottle. But it 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:11.000 might not be something physical, It might be something might 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.959 be something very internal. And then to realize that to 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.600 truly in a sustainable way know the joy of the Lord, 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.000 well that's going to take work. So not to bore 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:21.760 you with all the details of how I got here, 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:24.959 but in the Amiah chapter six, verse one through four, 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.440 I want to share with you just just a really 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.760 brief glimpse into something that I think it's going to 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:36.640 be so simple that some of y'all won't listen. Some 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.560 of y'all won't listen. It'll be so simple that some 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.360 of you are gonna shut me out right now. But 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:50.480 sometimes we need practical strategies for spiritual battles. Sometimes we 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.680 do go name in and dip into Jordan. What in 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.000 the world does that have to do with my skin? 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.240 What in the world does what in the world does 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.440 launching a fishing net on the other side of the 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.720 boat have to do with me and the disciples? But 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.160 the Lord will give you something practical sometimes everybody say practical. 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.360 By the way, I hadn't even greeted the e fam yet. 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:13.960 Hello to our epam all over the world less thank 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:19.039 God for him right here from Valentine, quick question in 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.800 the chat. What state, what city? What state? What city? 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.000 If you're in the United States, shout out to our 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.599 pop up church in California today. Where are they in 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:33.760 California today? Riverside? Y'all make some noise for Riverside pop 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:39.520 up praise party in Riverside. Amen. So good, so good, 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:41.120 so good. So let me know the city and state 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:43.800 that you're in right now as we go to the 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.679 Word of God. Namiyah chapter six. All right, the Lord's 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.120 going to shift something in your life today. Niamia chapter six, 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:55.480 verse one, when word came to Sandballot, to Baya Geesham, 0:04:55.560 --> 0:05:00.279 the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.640 had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.920 in it. He's not bragging, but I mean he's been 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:08.760 through a lot to get to this point. This was 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:13.200 a hard project. Here's how hard it was. They couldn't 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:17.400 do it for eighty years until Nehemiah got there. They 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:21.120 kept trying and it would stop, and they'd get discouraged, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.039 and they'd stop and they'd be opposed. They're trying to 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:28.520 rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, right, because they've been in exile. Right, 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:30.839 I'll take a little history lesson real quick, just real quick, 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.000 just real quick, just real quick. I will not stay 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.360 in this very long. But the background is they've been 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:40.080 in Babylon, about fifty thousand of them. The Jewish people 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.839 came back to Jerusalem, but the city was in bad 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:47.880 shape because it was still ravaged, so it came in waves. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.440 Zir rub A Bell took a group back and he 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.400 helped to rebuild the temple. And then after Zor rub 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:55.520 A Beel and you can always remember that he's the 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.480 one who built the temple because zorrubb a beel rubble. 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.120 He had to work with the that he had and 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.719 build what he could, but he couldn't do everything. It 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.200 came in waves. God sent Ezra after Zorobabel had been 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.400 there a little while, and Ezra started preparing the people's hearts. 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.320 Now that the temple was in position, he had to 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:17.120 get the people ready. Okay, quick principle. In the Old Testament, 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.920 God had a temple for his people. In the New Testament, 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:27.000 God has a people for his temple. He lives in you. Now. 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.000 The challenge of Bible application is we don't want to 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:34.520 make it entirely external or entirely internal. If I just 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.960 take this text and start talking to you and make 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.080 it mean whatever I want, we can come to some 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:41.680 pretty crazy conclusions, as i'll show you in a minute. 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:43.919 But at the same time, if I just tell you 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.880 about Zorobabel and Ezra and meah my in five thirty 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.760 six BC and all of these things, you're like, what 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:53.000 did I did? I did I really get up this 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:57.560 morning for history? I got my diploma in nineteen eighty three, 0:06:57.640 --> 0:06:59.599 so I didn't have to learn any of this anymore. 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:01.919 And you'll be totally checked out and that's not the 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.160 point of the Bible anyway. All of this is written 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.320 for examples. It's the living Word of God. It is 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.320 not a dead history of a people who happen to 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.080 live in a certain place that we can study from afar. 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:14.600 It is meant to get inside of it. That's my 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.840 challenge for Bible preaching, because I've got to get you 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.960 to see that while they are rebuilding the city, God 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:28.200 is rebuilding your soul. Your soul is like a city. 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:32.320 And this brings up a question. If your soul is 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:38.960 a city, what's the crime rate your soul, your mind, 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.680 your will, your emotions. Now your spirit. That's perfect. That's 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:46.160 what Jesus. When Jesus saves you, he gives you the 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.480 Holy Spirit. There's nothing wrong with the Holy Spirit. The 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.920 Holy Spirit doesn't need upgrades. The Holy Spirit doesn't have 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.680 bugs and glitches, the Holy Spirit doesn't buffer. The truest 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.120 part of you, if you belong to Jesus is light 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.760 and truth, and it is the incorruptible seed of the 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.840 Word of God. So that's your new nature. When you 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.520 do something crazy and say I'm just keeping it real, 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.320 no you're not. Actually, that's not the real you. At all, 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.680 that's the you that you remember. But to really learn 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.600 this new way of thinking requires that God does some 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:25.760 work not in our spirit, but in our soul. If 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.360 your soul was a city, just putting this out there 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:38.960 before we read all of this, how's the economy? Is 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:44.040 it a lot of poverty of compassion? Are you in 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:50.920 compassion fatigue? That would be poverty of compassion. If you 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.160 have a poverty of empathy, only can see things how 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.800 you can see things. So, if your soul is a city, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.479 God has given you charge over it. You are elected 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:05.840 as the mayor of the city of your soul to 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:12.680 develop and defend what God gives you. Hey, man, pastor Steven, 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:14.560 you are on fire today. You only read a half 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.760 a verse, but you are preaching. You are preaching. I 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.680 have to encourage myself. I cannot rely on y'all to 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:23.760 know when I'm preaching good, but I'm saying something. Give 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.520 them Proverbs the Proverbs verse. This will make it clear 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.880 the writer of Proverbs. Most people believe Solomon wrote the 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.400 majority of the Proverbs. You got it like a city 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:38.240 whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:45.440 self control? Did that scripture feel like it should have 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:49.040 had your name by it, or you're doing real good. 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:56.640 If your soul is a city, what's going on inside? 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:02.040 I see your sneakers, I see your smile, I see 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.760 all of that, But I'm asking about the city of 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:10.800 your soul. That stuff. Yeah, only God really sees that. 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.000 And if Solomon did write proverbs, he would be the 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.920 perfect one to tell us that when you don't have 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:19.360 self control, you're like a city with no walls. Just 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.560 anything can get in anytime, because that's exactly what he 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.040 let happen, not only to his own heart, but to 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.960 the nation. You remember, Saul was the first king of Israel. 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:34.920 David came after him. Solomon, David's son took the throne next, 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:37.920 and the Bible says he was the wisest man who 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:41.000 ever lived. The only time I can find a sort 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.880 of contradiction in the Bible is that if he's the 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.720 wisest man to ever live, how did he have seven 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.280 hundred wives? So to me, I'm still working on that. 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.880 That's the mystery of God right there for me. But 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:59.600 the Bible says that he did something crazy. He'd let 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:04.000 the influence of the foreign women that he loved turn 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.800 his heart just the literal language of it tecon King's Limba. 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.320 It says he let them turn his heart from the Lord, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:15.040 so he started to let things come in, not directly attention, 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:20.719 but indirectly. He did not turn toward those gods. He 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.679 turned toward those people, and those people turned him toward 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:30.200 those gods. We are far more easily influenced than we realize. 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:36.040 And like a city without walls, just anybody, anything, any thought, 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:40.080 any feeling, any impulse, anything you want to do, anything 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.320 you want to say, anything you want to look at, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.800 anything you want to watch, anything you want. Anything can 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:49.000 get in when you do not see your soul as 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:54.200 a city and realize that you have the responsibility to 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.840 defend it. Now, I wish I could tell you different. 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.440 I wish I could tell you that when you turn 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.199 twenty five, somebody's gonna come in your life and make 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.240 you happy, and they will help you deal with all 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.920 of your dysfunctions, and you will meet the right person 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.200 and they will make you whole. But if you are 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:12.800 half and they come into your life and you are half, 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:14.960 then they will make you watch this. They will not 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.440 make you whole. They will make you go through a 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.760 living hell as you realize that what you thought was 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.040 in another person could only be found in God. I 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.280 gotta work on my city. I gotta work on myself. 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.760 I gotta work on what's within. I gotta work. Let's 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:37.240 go back to the Amiah, because now I think you're ready, 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.199 he said. When we got the wall built, they did 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.320 it in fifty two days with the help of their God. 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:44.840 So this is something to celebrate, and there was not 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:49.160 a gap left in it. Verse one six. Though up 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.360 to that time I had not set the doors in 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:58.480 the gates. Sanballat and Gusham sent me this message, Come 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:03.960 let us meet together in one of the villages on 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.440 the plane of oh No. But they were scheming to 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:12.000 harm me, Theamiyah says, so I sent messengers to them 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.640 with this reply. And y'all, I'm glad Niamiyah was skilled 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.839 as a builder because he did not have the gift 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.319 of a preacher. Because he missed the most obvious layup 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.120 in the history. Watch this, come meet with us on 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.960 the planes of oh No. And them, I said, I 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:30.920 am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:37.960 Why wouldn't you start the response with oh no missed? 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.280 Come on, y'all, like my humor. You didn't pay anything. 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:48.800 It's not like you need a refund for the ticket. 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:51.439 So they say need the planes of Oh no, he says, 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.400 oh no, he didn't say it. I'm putting it in there. 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.320 You should have said it. I am carrying on a 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:03.320 great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop? Well, 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.000 I leave it and go down to you. Now this 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.040 is the part I like, because this gives me an indication. 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:12.080 You don't just fight spiritual battles once and they go away. 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.240 Look at verse four. Four times they sent the same message, 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.760 and each time I gave the same answer. So he's 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:25.240 persistent about this because he has priorities. And we'll come 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.320 back to priorities in just a moment. But skip over 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.920 to Neamiah seven, verse one. They keep trying to get 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:34.600 him to come. He won't come. They give him a 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:36.480 false prophecy. They try to get him to go in 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:38.240 the temple and close the doors. They're like, hey, come, 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:39.920 somebody's get killing. You need to hide in the temple. 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:41.880 He's like, if I hide, I lose my credibility. I 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:43.080 know what you're trying to do to me. Why should 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:44.920 a man like me run and hide after God? Brought 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.720 me this far. If God enabled me through letters from 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:49.720 Artis Zerxes to come here and rebuild this wall, and 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.440 help me do it in spite of all this opposition. 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.280 You think I'm gonna go run and hide in somebody's 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:57.760 house right now. Not me. Oh no, you wouldn't do it. 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.960 I wouldn't quit. So now look at chapter seven, verse one. 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.920 And I never heard anybody preach chapter seven, because it 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:07.200 lists a bunch of names of everybody who came back 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.760 after the Babylon captivity. And so this is like a skip. 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.120 Most of the time in the book of Neomiah, just 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.360 read right past it. But I saw something so important 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.880 that I thought we should spend this entire sermon on it. 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.400 Neamiah seven, verse one. After the wall had been rebuilt 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.720 and I'd set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, musicians 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.520 and levites were appointed, and I put in charge of 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.280 Jerusalem my brother hand and I along with Han and 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:35.240 I are the commander of the citadel. Because he was 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:40.120 a man of integrity, that doesn't mean he's perfect. That 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:45.520 means he's one person everywhere, same person here as the 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:50.200 same person there, whole integer in math. You remember that 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.560 that's what he's saying he had integrity and he feared 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:57.120 God more than most people. I kind of liked the 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:02.600 shade of meaning behind that more than most people, Like 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.520 he's better than all these other bombs, So I picked him. 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.240 But really, when he says he's a man of integrity, 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:12.360 we realize that he is appointed because of his character. 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:14.680 And look at verse three. It says I said to 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:18.280 them the gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:21.640 until the sun is hot, while the gatekeepers are still 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.640 on duty, had them shut the doors and bar them. 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.960 Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.760 post and some near their own houses. Y'all, if I 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:34.800 could call this study what I want to call it, 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:37.320 what I really want to call it, I would call 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:47.920 it self awareness as a form of spiritual warfare. But 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:49.880 the more I thought about that, I thought, they will 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.640 never remember that when they leave. I don't hardly even 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.760 remember it. And I just said it's so clunky. So instead, 0:16:57.800 --> 0:16:59.160 I'm going to call it and I want you to 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:00.680 look at the person that you and tell them the 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.520 title that I think you probably can't remember. Say, it's 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:11.439 your door, it's your door, it's your door, and I 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:15.280 need your prayers as always because God continues to have 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:21.240 to help me to focus my priorities. I am constantly 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:26.080 having to deal with the Holy Spirit about my priorities. 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.080 It's almost like a bath or brushing your teeth. It's like, 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.080 if I don't do it a couple times a day, 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:40.520 I start to notice in my attitude, in my thoughts, 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:45.679 in my conversations, and I can be the pettiest person. 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.840 Last week, I told you that I'm very protective as 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:50.639 a father. When my kids are in the ocean, I 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:55.160 turn into safety Steve. You know, y'all come in. You're 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.240 too deep. It's really annoying, and I know it while 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.199 I'm doing it, but I'm just scared because I just 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.960 don't want I'm just I don't know I'm getting old. 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.320 I know I'm getting old because Elijah went to get 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.520 five napkins last night and I freaked out just last night. 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.399 This is recent, but see, even that goes back because 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:17.520 my dad used to tear the paper towel in half 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:19.440 and say, you don't need a whole paper towel. Half 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:20.840 a paper towel is all you need. Was in the 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:22.520 world you need With a whole paper towel, you need 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:24.600 to learn how to manage me. Had a whole system 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:26.480 for folding it and getting through with half paper towel. 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.919 But he grew up poor. So now you carry all 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.199 these things into your adulthood. I don't know where this 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:34.040 one came from. I can almost hear my mom's voice 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:39.199 in my head. But somewhere along the line, my children 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.360 all had a meeting and decided relatively recently that none 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.840 of them was ever going to close a door in 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:52.160 the house ever. Again, not a door to a bedroom, 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.960 not a door to a pantry, definitely not a door 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.359 going outside. I mean, I'm just walking through the house 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.159 all day and I hear my mom's voice. That's the 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:04.439 craziest part about it. I hear my mom's voice, you 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:09.080 are cooling off the outside, and then she used to yell, uh, 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:13.200 you know, she would yell. She would yell, you're letting 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:17.199 the cool out. You're letting the cool out. Shut the door, 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:19.399 you're letting the cool out. Or if it wasn't that, 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.400 shut the door, you're letting the flies in. So I'm 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.919 either letting the flies in or the cool out. And 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.439 I am so petty. I was walking through the house 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.720 just the other day and there's a door, and there's 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:36.240 a door, and there's a door, and I'm closing the doors, 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:39.160 and I'm doing a little speech under my breath. That's fine. 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.080 I'll just be the official door closer around here. I 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:44.600 got nothing better to do. It's not like I lead 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.640 a global ministry. I got nothing better to do. Then 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:50.960 follow y'all and close the doors so that the dumb 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.919 dog that y'all made me buy won't get out and 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.320 get hit by a car. That's what I would love 0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:01.720 to do today, is close the doors behind y'all, And 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:05.879 I promise when the Lord speaks to me, sometimes it 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.000 is so basic, he said, this is like I don't 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:10.280 know if it was the Lord. It was a thought 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.840 that went through my mind. Wonder what would happen if 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:23.480 you were as concerned about what you let in your heart? No, no, no, 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.320 I didn't get to the best part yet. Here you're 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:30.800 talking about I'm letting the I'm letting the flies in, okay, 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:36.080 but you let the fear in. Don't seem to be 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:40.400 very concerned about that. So I wonder what would happen 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.400 if you would be as concerned about what you let 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:47.320 in your heart as what's getting in this house? Because 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:51.239 the door is open. I wonder what would happen if 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.200 you were as concerned about what you let in your heart. 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:55.520 And this is the one that got me and what 0:20:55.600 --> 0:21:08.080 you let out of your mouth. So, uh, everybody do this. 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:15.040 We're going to talk about that in a minute. Because 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:22.200 that's your door, whether you realize it or not, that's 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:30.800 your door. And that's your door, y'all with me, And 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:38.440 that's your door. And that big old elephant sized brain 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.199 that you're carrying around up there, that knows all of 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:49.240 that math and science, that's your door. Because Neiamiah builds 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:53.399 the wall, and they've got the structure, and the city 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.080 is spacious and large, but the people aren't back yet. 0:21:57.240 --> 0:21:59.440 I don't know if you notice the detail, but it 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.160 is pretty significant if God put it in the Bible. 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:06.040 Anything God put in the Bible, I'm like, Lord, that 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.080 seems random, but it must not be revealed to me 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:12.320 what's in it. And he said in chapter six, verse one, 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:18.240 that when his enemies everybody say enemy, when they heard 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:23.000 that I had rebuilt the wall, the whole thing and 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:26.080 didn't leave the gap in it. But look at verse 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:29.720 two or verse one part be excuse me, though up 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:34.240 to that time I had not set the doors in 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:37.359 the gates, So we got two things happening. In the scripture, 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:43.639 Nehemiah is making progress for God and he receives an 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:48.960 invitation from his enemy. All at the same time he 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:52.240 is making progress for God. He's getting this wall. Bill. 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:54.119 If we could get a wall, we can get an 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:56.640 educational system. If we can get a wall, we can 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:58.680 worship without being worried that they're going to come and 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:00.800 get us. If we can get a war all built. Ah, 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:04.320 But he said after the wall was built, that was 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:08.280 the first wave. Now I had to set the doors 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:12.800 in place so that in the daily comings and goings 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:17.040 we could have assurance of protection, so that when we 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:19.959 did what we did in the course of our lives, 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.920 whether worship or work, we would be protected. I've got 0:23:23.960 --> 0:23:26.920 to get these doors in place. If I don't get 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:29.639 these doors in place, this wall isn't going to do 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:31.840 me any good. Because if I get a wall but 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:34.560 no doors, nobody can go out. But if I have 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:38.000 a wall without doors, anybody can just get in. So 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:40.359 I got to have a wall, and I gotta have 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:44.360 some doors. Because I'm making progress for God. But I'm 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:47.840 receiving an invitation from the enemy. So this is the question. 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:50.520 I'm bringing it right to twenty twenty two. What do 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:54.359 you do when you are making progress for God but 0:23:54.480 --> 0:24:01.560 you receive an invitation from an enemy? And invitation from 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:05.240 the enemy not a physical enemy. Remember, we don't wrestle 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:08.880 against fresh and flesh and blood. So sand ballot, he's 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:12.439 over Samaria in the north, and Tobiah is over the 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:14.919 Ammonites to the east, and Gsham is over the Arabs 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.080 to the south. But we're not talking about geography here 0:24:17.119 --> 0:24:20.600 are we. We're talking about psychology, theology. We're talking about 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:28.359 your sand ballots of self pity, your tobias of temptation, 0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:35.800 your Gusham's of what starts with the g gluttony. We're 0:24:35.840 --> 0:24:38.480 not supposed to preach about that sin in church. No, 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:40.359 that's that a mess the whole. How about we go 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:46.040 with grumbling. I like grumbling. He said it was an enemy, 0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:50.560 and they asked me for a meeting. The enemy didn't 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:54.000 ask Neamiah, can we come in and destroy your credibility? 0:24:54.920 --> 0:24:57.720 Why would the enemy do that? You would say? No, 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:03.280 he said, let's talk. I'm hearing the rumors about what 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:10.560 you build. Let's talk. It's an invitation let's talk. Hey, 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:12.680 get that situation on your mind that you don't see 0:25:12.680 --> 0:25:15.440 any way out of, and play out every hypothetical scenario 0:25:15.560 --> 0:25:17.879 of how it could go worse than you ever possibly thought. 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:22.399 Let's talk, Hey, count up everybody in your mind who 0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:24.199 ever left your life and they were supposed to be 0:25:24.240 --> 0:25:26.000 there for you and they're not, and think about how 0:25:26.040 --> 0:25:28.360 they failed you, mistreated you. And think about the fact 0:25:28.400 --> 0:25:31.080 that they're probably off somewhere right now on an island, 0:25:31.119 --> 0:25:36.120 happy without you, driving a Ferrari. Let's talk. Think about 0:25:36.160 --> 0:25:37.879 the fact of everything that you don't have, and I 0:25:37.920 --> 0:25:39.679 want you to go look at everybody else who has 0:25:39.720 --> 0:25:41.000 everything you don't have. And I want you to put 0:25:41.040 --> 0:25:43.000 together a perfect conglomerate of all the people that in 0:25:43.040 --> 0:25:45.040 your imagination have something that you don't have, and then 0:25:45.080 --> 0:25:47.720 compare your image of them to your reality of yourself. 0:25:48.760 --> 0:25:55.240 Let's talk. And Neamiah is like, oh, no, which gave 0:25:55.280 --> 0:25:59.960 me a lesson? When the enemy speaks to me, say 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:06.640 and doesn't get to give me a command, He can 0:26:06.720 --> 0:26:13.560 only make a suggestion. So I see it like this. 0:26:14.000 --> 0:26:17.000 A lot of us in making progress in our walk 0:26:17.040 --> 0:26:19.240 with God, or in the ways that God is working 0:26:19.320 --> 0:26:22.240 in us. The ways that God is working in us. 0:26:22.800 --> 0:26:25.159 I hear a lot of sermons by the way about 0:26:25.440 --> 0:26:29.159 God will work it out. Those are great sermons for 0:26:29.280 --> 0:26:33.160 shouting and clapping and celebrating. But what about what God 0:26:33.200 --> 0:26:37.000 is working in It is Him that works in you 0:26:37.680 --> 0:26:39.840 to will and to do according to His good pleasure. 0:26:40.280 --> 0:26:44.119 So when God is working in you and actually making progress, 0:26:44.840 --> 0:26:47.600 and then you received that invitation from the enemy, what 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:49.479 do you do with it? The first thing is to 0:26:49.520 --> 0:26:53.840 realize that just because he invites you doesn't mean you 0:26:53.880 --> 0:27:01.760 have to go. Now you don't belong to Jesus, then 0:27:01.800 --> 0:27:04.600 you've got to go because you're a slave to sin. 0:27:05.760 --> 0:27:08.879 So the enemy can just lob any accusation at you 0:27:08.920 --> 0:27:11.640 that he wants to bring you down, pull you down, 0:27:11.640 --> 0:27:14.960 and beat you to dead. But if you belong to Jesus, 0:27:17.200 --> 0:27:20.320 if you belong to Jesus, you are not under the 0:27:20.400 --> 0:27:26.600 jurisdiction of Sambalat or Tobiah or Guessham or any of 0:27:26.640 --> 0:27:30.439 the enemies that threaten the stability of your soul. What 0:27:30.520 --> 0:27:33.480 I'm trying to say is if he purchased you with 0:27:33.600 --> 0:27:37.399 his blood, Jesus, that is, Satan just doesn't get to 0:27:37.560 --> 0:27:42.040 invite you out of that state of being seated with Jesus, 0:27:42.080 --> 0:27:45.920 into a state of feeling sorry for yourself. You don't 0:27:45.960 --> 0:27:50.120 have to go feel a spirit of Oh no coming 0:27:50.160 --> 0:27:59.080 on me today. Oh no, it's your door, it's your decision. 0:27:59.320 --> 0:28:02.600 Heynam i yea. They want to meet with you. No, neamyah, 0:28:02.600 --> 0:28:04.720 they want to meet with you. No, Neiamyah. They want 0:28:04.760 --> 0:28:06.840 to meet with you. No, Niamiyah they want to meet 0:28:06.840 --> 0:28:09.919 with you. No. Four times no, because I got something greater, 0:28:10.040 --> 0:28:13.200 because I got something higher, because I'm working on something important. 0:28:13.400 --> 0:28:15.520 Because if I come down and talk to you, it 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:19.119 will invite me into the sabotage of the self destructive 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:23.640 patterns that this conversation will initiate. I'll be discouraged, I'll 0:28:23.640 --> 0:28:30.520 be discredited. How well do you know yourself in order 0:28:30.560 --> 0:28:36.720 to realize, oh, this is an invitation from the enemy. 0:28:37.320 --> 0:28:39.240 How many of you got an invitation from the enemy 0:28:39.280 --> 0:28:44.239 this week and the rest of you just got an 0:28:44.240 --> 0:28:50.360 invitation from the enemy to lie in church. I hate 0:28:50.360 --> 0:28:53.400 it when they do that. I don't know. I've actually 0:28:53.440 --> 0:28:57.200 been praising him this week and rejoicing in him. He 0:28:57.400 --> 0:29:04.920 is my rock, and I get these invitations at the 0:29:04.960 --> 0:29:09.960 strangest times when I'm making progress. When I get the 0:29:10.000 --> 0:29:13.480 wall built, get the wall belt, get a little win, 0:29:13.640 --> 0:29:17.400 you know, feeling pretty good, getting ready to go forward. Okay, 0:29:17.440 --> 0:29:24.600 maybe I will forgive them and then I see them. 0:29:24.760 --> 0:29:27.600 I noticed that all through scripture, you know, right when 0:29:27.640 --> 0:29:29.520 they get to the Red Sea. Pharaoh's like, I'm not 0:29:29.560 --> 0:29:32.040 so sure I want to let them go. That's because 0:29:32.120 --> 0:29:38.440 they are all most gone. Sometimes when the enemy starts 0:29:38.480 --> 0:29:43.200 talking to you, crazy stuff, discouraging stuff, workless stuff, distracting stuff, 0:29:43.480 --> 0:29:49.360 that's how close you are. And yeah, yeah, yeah, that's 0:29:49.360 --> 0:29:54.040 how close you are that he's inviting you back. Look, 0:29:54.160 --> 0:29:57.320 the wall is built, so sand balletnos. If they get 0:29:57.360 --> 0:29:59.480 the wall built, all the trade is going to start 0:29:59.520 --> 0:30:02.640 going through Rusalem, not through Samaria. I'm gonna lose money 0:30:02.680 --> 0:30:06.160 if I let them go. Huh, come on down and 0:30:06.200 --> 0:30:08.320 talk to me a little bit. Let's just talk about it, 0:30:08.480 --> 0:30:10.640 No big deal. Just talk a little bit about it. 0:30:10.720 --> 0:30:13.000 Because the devil isn't dumb enough to show off your 0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:15.840 door with face paint on, looking like the Joker, laughing 0:30:15.880 --> 0:30:19.800 all crazy to talk to you about destroying your life 0:30:21.440 --> 0:30:27.880 just to get you to crack the door. Hmm. I 0:30:27.920 --> 0:30:30.160 don't know if I want to hear this today, Pastor Stephen, 0:30:30.160 --> 0:30:34.760 because when you said the door, I thought you were 0:30:34.800 --> 0:30:37.360 saying about like the door of the opportunities that God 0:30:37.400 --> 0:30:40.560 has for me, Like you know, like God has shut 0:30:40.720 --> 0:30:43.160 to open the door that nobody can shut. I'm looking 0:30:43.200 --> 0:30:45.320 for God to open the door for me because you know, 0:30:45.360 --> 0:30:48.760 I'm an entrepreneur, is what it is. And I just 0:30:48.920 --> 0:30:50.840 need the Lord to open the door for me, because 0:30:50.960 --> 0:30:53.800 you know, people don't really see my giftedness and our work. 0:30:54.040 --> 0:30:56.880 They really don't understand what I'm capable of. But you know, 0:30:56.960 --> 0:31:02.360 I'm anointed. I'm anointed, I'm it. I'm annoying it. I'm 0:31:02.440 --> 0:31:04.360 annoying from the top of my head to the soles 0:31:04.400 --> 0:31:06.200 of my feet. But nobody, I just need the Lord 0:31:06.200 --> 0:31:08.360 to open the door. I just need the opportunity. I've 0:31:08.360 --> 0:31:10.600 been wanting to sing up there on that stage, Pastor Steven, 0:31:10.840 --> 0:31:12.520 but I need a place to try out, because I 0:31:12.560 --> 0:31:14.200 really am a good singer, better than some man the 0:31:14.200 --> 0:31:15.640 people you have up there. Right now, I'll tell you 0:31:15.680 --> 0:31:17.600 that right now, I'm Pastor you and I just get 0:31:17.600 --> 0:31:19.200 an open door. If I just get a chance, I 0:31:19.360 --> 0:31:23.480 just get meeting. Okay, that's fine. God God opens doors, Okay, 0:31:23.560 --> 0:31:25.400 let's all shot real quick that God opens doors. Let's 0:31:25.400 --> 0:31:28.560 get it out of our system. God opens doors, now, 0:31:28.640 --> 0:31:37.480 shout about it. Y'all are the most episcopal, non denominational 0:31:37.600 --> 0:31:41.440 church I've ever appreciated in my life. Y'all are Presbyterian today. 0:31:41.800 --> 0:31:44.720 I'll know. Sometimes I think y'all meet in the lobby today. 0:31:44.800 --> 0:31:48.959 Let's give him Pentecostal today, Presbyterian. We're gonna be Catholic today. 0:31:49.080 --> 0:31:53.640 I don't know what y'all do out there. And watch this, 0:31:53.720 --> 0:31:57.600 watch this, watch this. Because you belong to the light, 0:31:58.840 --> 0:32:04.120 not the darkness. When the enemy invites you, you don't 0:32:04.160 --> 0:32:09.200 have to go. You don't have to go. If you 0:32:09.320 --> 0:32:12.880 belong to Jesus. There are some scriptures that apply to 0:32:12.920 --> 0:32:15.680 you that do not apply to those who don't call 0:32:15.720 --> 0:32:21.120 on his name. So you get to say, greater that 0:32:21.320 --> 0:32:26.040 is than he. So the devil says, come on down here, 0:32:26.040 --> 0:32:28.400 and let's talk about how weak you are. Oh, no, 0:32:29.040 --> 0:32:33.720 greater is he that is in me? Then I'm doing 0:32:33.760 --> 0:32:37.080 a great work for God. God's doing a great work 0:32:37.120 --> 0:32:41.240 in me. I can't be distracted right now by that. 0:32:43.080 --> 0:32:46.840 You have got power because of the spirit, not your 0:32:46.840 --> 0:32:51.600 own self power, self will none of that I'm not 0:32:51.680 --> 0:32:54.720 talking about that that will put you in the fetal position, 0:32:54.920 --> 0:32:58.160 sucking your thumb eating macaroni and cheese for the next 0:32:58.200 --> 0:33:03.000 sixteen days. I'm talking about what Neemiah knew. I'm doing 0:33:03.000 --> 0:33:06.320 a great work for God. I'm doing a great work 0:33:06.360 --> 0:33:08.600 for God, and God is doing a great work in me. 0:33:10.600 --> 0:33:14.920 So the enemy's invitation one way. The Lord showed it 0:33:14.960 --> 0:33:22.800 to me. He said, it's an invitation, not a subpoena. 0:33:23.040 --> 0:33:26.800 Satan can't subpoena you. He can't tell you you have 0:33:26.880 --> 0:33:30.920 to do anything. The devil made me do it. I 0:33:30.960 --> 0:33:33.640 don't think he did. I think you went to Trader Joe's. 0:33:33.960 --> 0:33:36.120 I think you bought the chips. I think you bought 0:33:36.160 --> 0:33:38.280 two bags. I think you ate both of them. I 0:33:38.280 --> 0:33:40.600 didn't see the devil put anything in the cart or 0:33:40.680 --> 0:33:48.520 pay for it. I'm keeping it PG. That's why I'm 0:33:48.560 --> 0:33:51.320 talking about food. We could go way deeper with this 0:33:51.360 --> 0:33:56.640 if this was a men's conference, Okay, Delilah, we could 0:33:56.640 --> 0:33:58.920 talk about all kinds of stuff if it was a 0:33:58.960 --> 0:34:01.240 men's conference early in the morning for me to do 0:34:01.280 --> 0:34:05.520 that kind of stuff. But think about it. Think about it. 0:34:05.840 --> 0:34:09.640 While he's making progress for God. The enemy gives him 0:34:09.640 --> 0:34:13.400 an invitation, and the way he responds to that invitation, 0:34:14.160 --> 0:34:17.520 not reacts to his feelings, is going to be the 0:34:17.560 --> 0:34:21.439 most important thing about what happens next, because remember, he's 0:34:21.440 --> 0:34:25.719 built the wall, but there's no doors. The Lord said, 0:34:25.760 --> 0:34:28.200 I was going to be speaking to somebody today who 0:34:28.280 --> 0:34:33.480 loves Jesus making progress. You've seen some freedom in your 0:34:33.560 --> 0:34:37.400 life when you came to Jesus. You gave up the 0:34:37.400 --> 0:34:39.640 things that you didn't like, and now he's working on 0:34:39.680 --> 0:34:49.239 the stuff that you do. But you keep waiting on 0:34:49.360 --> 0:34:53.440 God to take struggles away out of your life, any addiction, 0:34:54.440 --> 0:34:58.279 any pattern that's between you and God. I won't sit 0:34:58.320 --> 0:35:01.640 here and name everything start listing it, but I want 0:35:01.640 --> 0:35:06.160 to show you today what Nehemiah did at a vulnerable time. Now, 0:35:07.760 --> 0:35:16.000 nothing is vulnerable unless it's valuable. When did they start 0:35:16.000 --> 0:35:19.919 the attacks when the wall started going up. Nobody messed 0:35:19.960 --> 0:35:22.960 with Jerusalem when it was lying in ruins. And the 0:35:23.040 --> 0:35:24.879 devil will never mess with you as long as you're 0:35:24.880 --> 0:35:31.120 serving him. He brings you water. The devil will rub 0:35:31.160 --> 0:35:32.840 the sunscreen on you if you go out there and 0:35:32.880 --> 0:35:39.640 serve him. Hm oh no, oh, yes he will, Yeah, 0:35:39.719 --> 0:35:43.080 he absolutely will. The devil won't tell you. No, the 0:35:43.080 --> 0:35:45.239 devil won't tell your flesh. No, the devil won't the 0:35:45.239 --> 0:35:48.000 devil won't mess with you at all. But as the 0:35:48.080 --> 0:35:51.919 resistance kicks in in your life, when you really start 0:35:51.920 --> 0:35:54.240 getting to a different level, and you really start pursuing 0:35:54.239 --> 0:35:57.000 something different than just satisfying your own flesh, that's when 0:35:57.040 --> 0:36:00.680 it kicks in progress. For God, all this built, but 0:36:00.760 --> 0:36:04.800 the doors aren't in yet, he said, I was vulnerable 0:36:04.840 --> 0:36:09.400 to the attack in that moment because the doors weren't there. 0:36:10.480 --> 0:36:17.360 How about your doors? How about your doors? Wide open, 0:36:19.440 --> 0:36:23.400 tightly shut door, the doors of your heart. What you 0:36:23.480 --> 0:36:26.640 let in, what you let out. I'm gonna need to 0:36:26.640 --> 0:36:29.360 move this from the metaphorical level. How about your social 0:36:29.400 --> 0:36:35.880 media intake levels? Wide open, tightly shut. Give me a visual. 0:36:36.040 --> 0:36:39.040 This is whide open, this is tightly shut. How you 0:36:39.040 --> 0:36:40.520 doing with the doors? Me? Show me how you're doing 0:36:40.600 --> 0:36:43.040 in your doors. We'll start with the social media doors. 0:36:43.040 --> 0:36:46.239 All right, all right, let's do the diet doors. The 0:36:46.239 --> 0:36:51.480 diet doors. How's the diet doors? How's it doing? All right? 0:36:51.520 --> 0:36:54.200 All right? All right, all right, all right? How about 0:36:54.800 --> 0:36:58.000 how about the judge not less ev also judge doors. 0:36:58.040 --> 0:37:02.359 How's how's those doors doing. I had a weird door 0:37:02.480 --> 0:37:04.040 the other day that the Lord was dealing with me about. 0:37:04.080 --> 0:37:07.560 Ever I say doors, I'm talking about doors. I know 0:37:07.680 --> 0:37:11.600 it sounds so boring, but some of the biggest breakthroughs 0:37:11.640 --> 0:37:13.680 in your life will be from boring stuff that you 0:37:13.680 --> 0:37:18.839 don't want to do. I could pick five thousand scriptures 0:37:18.840 --> 0:37:20.640 that people would shout over when I read them, and 0:37:20.680 --> 0:37:22.760 Niemiah seven isn't one of them because I was preaching 0:37:22.800 --> 0:37:26.920 about doors. Nobody ever shouted over a door. But if 0:37:26.920 --> 0:37:30.040 I preached on the walls of Jericho and they shouted 0:37:30.480 --> 0:37:33.920 and they fell, we would all shout over walls that 0:37:34.000 --> 0:37:36.600 fall down. But what do I do after they fall? 0:37:36.800 --> 0:37:42.240 I still gotta fight. We shout over all the wrong stuff. 0:37:43.480 --> 0:37:45.680 You should be shouting. If they got the doors in, 0:37:47.800 --> 0:37:54.680 shout conse they got the doors in, because you are 0:37:54.800 --> 0:37:58.640 gonna be so happy when you get your doors in place. 0:37:58.880 --> 0:38:01.360 I could almost see it this week when I was praying, 0:38:01.480 --> 0:38:04.480 I wasn't just studying with books. I was praying, God, 0:38:04.640 --> 0:38:06.880 show me why these people are so vulnerable to the 0:38:06.960 --> 0:38:09.799 enemy's attack. Show me why I am, he said, because 0:38:09.840 --> 0:38:12.760 you always focus on the attack. You never do anything 0:38:12.760 --> 0:38:21.880 about it before it comes. You have no doors, no priorities, 0:38:22.920 --> 0:38:26.040 no order, everything is important. Want to go to church today? 0:38:26.080 --> 0:38:28.120 While yeah, I guess so. The boat's in the shop 0:38:28.160 --> 0:38:30.840 and there's no kids having any games, and the weather's 0:38:30.880 --> 0:38:33.440 kind of like too hot to be outside, or weather's 0:38:33.440 --> 0:38:35.520 too cold to be The weather has to be like 0:38:35.800 --> 0:38:38.160 perfectly mediocre to get people in the South to come 0:38:38.200 --> 0:38:42.719 to church. No priority to it, no priority to it. 0:38:42.840 --> 0:38:45.480 I'm not fussing, Yes I am. I'm fussing at you 0:38:45.719 --> 0:38:49.080 because I am tired of the devil just coming in, 0:38:49.400 --> 0:38:53.279 picking off you, picking off your kids, just stripping you 0:38:53.400 --> 0:38:56.920 of everything God gave you. Cause you let the door 0:38:57.040 --> 0:39:00.920 all backed because you don't know what time it is. 0:39:01.400 --> 0:39:03.960 Couse you don't know what you've got inside of you. 0:39:04.200 --> 0:39:07.200 Guse you don't know how valuable it is. Couse you 0:39:07.280 --> 0:39:10.640 don't know who you are, how doing a great work. 0:39:15.200 --> 0:39:19.120 I love to preach Beddie. I'm gonna help somebody to dead. 0:39:19.400 --> 0:39:22.879 It's the doors. It's not the devil. It's the same 0:39:22.960 --> 0:39:26.920 devil that somebody else isn't giving into same devil, but 0:39:26.960 --> 0:39:32.960 they have doors. I asked her one time, how do 0:39:33.040 --> 0:39:36.560 you not be so negative? Amy? I said, how you 0:39:36.560 --> 0:39:38.279 not be negative. I need to learn, now how do 0:39:38.320 --> 0:39:40.000 you do it? And Chunk says like she just doesn't 0:39:40.000 --> 0:39:44.560 pay any attention to anybody else is doing. Huh, that's 0:39:44.640 --> 0:39:49.200 kind of cool. So she has like a closed door 0:39:49.360 --> 0:39:53.480 policy on judging what somebody else ought to be doing 0:39:53.480 --> 0:40:00.600 with their life. Well that might help me, Holly the 0:40:00.640 --> 0:40:05.760 other day, in a moment of vulnerability, something that I needed, 0:40:06.280 --> 0:40:08.960 not from her. She's amazing something that I felt like 0:40:09.000 --> 0:40:14.960 I needed from God. This woman is so bold. Oh man, 0:40:15.560 --> 0:40:18.120 Now she's always saying nice stuff. She was always saying 0:40:18.120 --> 0:40:20.080 stuff like this. I wouldn't be able to hear it, 0:40:20.120 --> 0:40:22.520 but it was just like a different tone. She just 0:40:22.600 --> 0:40:25.600 shifted the tone all of a sudden. She said, well, 0:40:25.600 --> 0:40:27.520 if God gave you that, you wouldn't do anything with it. 0:40:31.560 --> 0:40:42.640 Now before I could close my heart in that moment, 0:40:42.680 --> 0:40:47.440 or I can realize she is so exactly right that 0:40:47.520 --> 0:40:51.320 the way I received this correction, or I could say, 0:40:51.600 --> 0:40:54.560 get behind me, sand Ballet to Baya and Geesham, I'm 0:40:54.600 --> 0:40:56.960 doing a great work. What good is that going to 0:40:57.200 --> 0:41:00.360 just close the door on the person who's closed to me, 0:41:00.400 --> 0:41:03.080 who's telling me, I'm watching your life and you got 0:41:03.120 --> 0:41:05.200 a pattern and you're not going to get any power 0:41:05.280 --> 0:41:12.319 till you change the pattern. So I tested it. You 0:41:12.320 --> 0:41:14.120 ever read it about Gideon in the Bible. He put 0:41:14.160 --> 0:41:15.960 a fleece out before the Lord. He said, Lord, it 0:41:16.000 --> 0:41:18.320 is really you, and he put it through a series 0:41:18.320 --> 0:41:22.319 of tests. They call it fleecing the Lord fleece test 0:41:22.400 --> 0:41:24.080 and see if this is really God or not. So 0:41:24.160 --> 0:41:26.080 I'll put out a fleece, I said, give me an 0:41:26.120 --> 0:41:29.239 example of one time I had the chance to do that. 0:41:29.719 --> 0:41:31.239 You're like, you're being really obscure. We don't know what 0:41:31.280 --> 0:41:35.120 you're talking about exactly. It's personal, she said. I said, 0:41:35.120 --> 0:41:38.680 give me example. She said, the exact one that had 0:41:38.719 --> 0:41:42.320 just happened the day before. Okay, I'll tell you what 0:41:42.400 --> 0:41:46.080 it was, not specifically, but enough where you can get 0:41:46.080 --> 0:41:48.960 the taste of it. It was letting new people in 0:41:49.000 --> 0:41:55.880 my life. I don't trust anybody. I got a closed 0:41:55.880 --> 0:41:59.480 door policy from anybody that I didn't know back when 0:41:59.600 --> 0:42:03.960 my hair was platinum blonde or buzzed off. That's what 0:42:03.960 --> 0:42:06.759 we were talking about. She said. You know, you keep 0:42:06.800 --> 0:42:08.680 asking this and that God to show you new things 0:42:08.680 --> 0:42:10.759 and do new things. Even if God sent them, you 0:42:10.760 --> 0:42:15.799 wouldn't trust them and let them in She's saying, it's 0:42:15.880 --> 0:42:20.959 your door is locked so tight that God can send 0:42:21.000 --> 0:42:27.239 answers and you won't open. It's your door, I said. 0:42:27.280 --> 0:42:30.000 Give me an example. She named the person that had 0:42:30.000 --> 0:42:32.319 texted me the day before that I didn't text back 0:42:32.400 --> 0:42:35.680 because I don't trust them. Yet she named them. She 0:42:35.680 --> 0:42:37.600 didn't know they texted me. I don't think she went 0:42:37.600 --> 0:42:39.440 through my phone and found it. She just said it 0:42:39.480 --> 0:42:43.520 like a prophet. But you see what I'm saying, is 0:42:43.600 --> 0:42:47.000 your door. It's not that God didn't give the opportunity. 0:42:47.000 --> 0:42:50.920 I didn't open the door to it. And that happens. 0:42:52.120 --> 0:42:55.200 And God works in waves. See, first came back some 0:42:55.320 --> 0:42:58.960 Rubb a Belle, then came Ezra, then came Nearmiah. He 0:42:59.000 --> 0:43:01.920 did all these things in ways. He works in waves 0:43:01.920 --> 0:43:04.200 in your life. And you have to be open to 0:43:04.239 --> 0:43:09.799 what God is doing now. You have to. But at 0:43:09.800 --> 0:43:14.240 the same time that Neamiah is celebrating this awesome victory 0:43:14.280 --> 0:43:16.920 with the exiles that have come back, I mean even 0:43:16.960 --> 0:43:20.239 that he could have been so discouraged that only ten 0:43:20.320 --> 0:43:23.520 percent of the people came back from Babylon. I don't 0:43:23.520 --> 0:43:24.960 know if you knew that or not. They didn't all 0:43:25.000 --> 0:43:28.400 come back after seventy years, some died, some had already 0:43:28.400 --> 0:43:30.960 built nice homes. Some of them had never even really 0:43:31.000 --> 0:43:33.799 heard that much about Jerusalem. So now he's working with 0:43:33.880 --> 0:43:36.880 the remnant of what's left. But he's not discouraged. He builds. 0:43:37.000 --> 0:43:40.239 He's attacked, but he's not discouraged. He builds. He refuses 0:43:40.320 --> 0:43:44.400 to let the door of discouragement lead him into the 0:43:44.400 --> 0:43:48.680 depths of despair. And I think the way he was 0:43:48.840 --> 0:43:52.680 able to do that is in chapter seven, verse one 0:43:52.719 --> 0:43:57.200 through three, very clearly enunciated. He calls a meeting. He's like, 0:43:57.400 --> 0:44:01.200 let me tell you what we're gonna do. Sambalot, Tobia Gosham. 0:44:01.360 --> 0:44:03.759 They're not going to stop. And I say that over you. 0:44:04.120 --> 0:44:08.520 These thoughts of insecurity, these pangs of worry, these problems 0:44:08.520 --> 0:44:10.960 that go on in your head, they are not going 0:44:11.040 --> 0:44:16.799 to stop. Okay, they will. They will daily, sometimes in 0:44:16.880 --> 0:44:20.640 certain seasons, sometimes in your high moments, sometimes when in 0:44:20.680 --> 0:44:23.120 your low moments. What I'm basically trying to say is 0:44:23.360 --> 0:44:26.640 that the enemy is going to attack you at all times. 0:44:26.840 --> 0:44:29.319 You're not gonna make it through the season. I'm just 0:44:29.360 --> 0:44:31.440 going through an attack right now. Well, I knew that 0:44:31.719 --> 0:44:33.839 because you're breathing, you know how I knew you were 0:44:33.880 --> 0:44:36.799 under attack. You are above ground. We are not at 0:44:36.800 --> 0:44:40.600 your funeral, So I assume the attack. But the question is, 0:44:40.840 --> 0:44:43.640 what are you doing about the attack to make sure 0:44:43.680 --> 0:44:46.080 that you don't have to fight the devil hand to hand. 0:44:48.920 --> 0:44:51.480 It's harder to fight him once you let him right 0:44:51.520 --> 0:44:55.000 there in your living room. It's harder to fight him 0:44:55.120 --> 0:44:57.480 once you let him so close. I'm telling you, the 0:44:57.520 --> 0:44:59.880 devil is a grappler. That's what he wants is to 0:44:59.880 --> 0:45:01.960 get at you, bite your throat. That's what he wants 0:45:02.000 --> 0:45:04.240 us to get you an isolation, that's what he wants 0:45:04.280 --> 0:45:06.960 us to get you, saying, well, I just do church online. Now. 0:45:06.960 --> 0:45:09.000 I don't go anymore because you know, cyber stopp going 0:45:09.040 --> 0:45:10.920 in pandemic, and I really don't pay attention while he's 0:45:10.920 --> 0:45:12.480 on there because there's fifty things going on. But I 0:45:12.520 --> 0:45:15.240 don't come anymore. Everybody who came to church physically clap. 0:45:15.560 --> 0:45:23.240 I am applauding you for being there me and Mayah 0:45:23.320 --> 0:45:29.120 was like, look, can I come down here? Can I? Okay, 0:45:29.440 --> 0:45:31.000 I don't want to make sure I won't scare y'all 0:45:31.760 --> 0:45:35.759 come over here? Can I? Y'all not used to seeing me? 0:45:35.800 --> 0:45:40.200 That's close? I look shorter like this, don't I look 0:45:40.239 --> 0:45:45.439 bigger on the screen, that's for sure. Hey, I'm going 0:45:45.480 --> 0:45:49.360 to these doors real quick. Come on, come with me, 0:45:49.400 --> 0:45:52.560 you mighty man of God. Come with me, mighty man 0:45:52.560 --> 0:45:55.520 of God. You be yeah, yeah, come on, doctor g 0:45:55.640 --> 0:45:59.640 come on. I need han I and Hanna and Aya 0:46:00.040 --> 0:46:03.120 hann and I and hanan Andayah. That's in neamyah. Yeah, 0:46:03.160 --> 0:46:04.919 this is gonna be good. I got the right guys. 0:46:04.960 --> 0:46:07.040 You think I got the right guys. You think I 0:46:07.120 --> 0:46:08.919 got the right guy? You got me. If they mess 0:46:08.960 --> 0:46:12.440 this illustration up, I'll come back for you. Put up 0:46:12.480 --> 0:46:14.279 Neamijah seven one through three, because this is what we 0:46:14.320 --> 0:46:18.120 gotta do. The Bible says, guard your heart. Everything you 0:46:18.160 --> 0:46:20.560 do flows from it above all else. Guard your heart 0:46:21.560 --> 0:46:27.480 above all else. So here's the door, and we'll just 0:46:27.560 --> 0:46:34.040 use it to illustrate. Hanna and I Han and Iyah 0:46:34.160 --> 0:46:38.239 Hanna and I Han and iyah Nia. Maiah said, look, 0:46:38.600 --> 0:46:41.600 give me Niamyah seven to one. I want to illustrate this. 0:46:42.239 --> 0:46:44.080 I don't know why I picked the door farthest away 0:46:44.120 --> 0:46:45.480 for us to come all the way up too. That's 0:46:45.480 --> 0:46:48.160 just the one up there that was kind of dumb. 0:46:48.239 --> 0:46:51.319 But here we are. How y'all doing. Did I come 0:46:51.360 --> 0:46:53.880 to the right side of the church. How's your doors? 0:46:54.760 --> 0:46:57.680 Has the devil been knocking at your door trying to 0:46:57.680 --> 0:47:02.359 discourage you to tell you ain't crap? But he says 0:47:02.400 --> 0:47:04.440 it's stronger than that. But if I said what he 0:47:04.480 --> 0:47:07.160 really said in church, you wouldn't. You would turn it off? 0:47:09.320 --> 0:47:13.400 Is that it come on meet with us on the 0:47:13.400 --> 0:47:17.279 planes of Oh no sa and keep you from doing 0:47:17.320 --> 0:47:19.120 what you're gonna do. So I could keep you from 0:47:19.200 --> 0:47:24.239 raising your daughter because you keep thinking you can't. That's 0:47:24.239 --> 0:47:28.000 an invitation from the enemy. And you got the wall built. 0:47:29.080 --> 0:47:32.040 But I just got to wonder about your doors. The 0:47:32.080 --> 0:47:36.399 Lord has been speaking to me about my doors. He said, 0:47:36.400 --> 0:47:40.200 it's your doors that's the issue. And look me, am, 0:47:40.200 --> 0:47:45.360 I said, I got the gatekeepers, the musicians, and the Levites. 0:47:45.480 --> 0:47:52.200 Are you a singer? Okay, that's good, that's self awareness, right, 0:47:53.480 --> 0:47:56.520 he knows his doors. He's like, uh uh, this door 0:47:56.600 --> 0:48:00.160 right here. You don't want to hear me saying you 0:48:00.200 --> 0:48:02.359 one thing though, the Levites go back to Verse one, 0:48:02.400 --> 0:48:05.680 show us real quick, enter his gates with thanksgiving, enter 0:48:05.680 --> 0:48:10.879 his courts with praise. So this is a unique move 0:48:10.920 --> 0:48:13.080 that I kind of like you up here with y'all. 0:48:13.280 --> 0:48:15.279 This is a unique This is a now always look 0:48:15.320 --> 0:48:16.799 at them down there, and this is kind of fun, 0:48:16.840 --> 0:48:19.080 you know, change it up. This is a unique move 0:48:19.160 --> 0:48:21.360 because the Levites were supposed to sing in front of 0:48:21.400 --> 0:48:26.440 the temple. But drastic times call for drastic measures, and 0:48:26.480 --> 0:48:29.880 the Amiah knows we're very vulnerable right now. So the 0:48:29.960 --> 0:48:32.880 Levites who led the praise service, who led the people 0:48:32.920 --> 0:48:35.759 in praise, he moved them out to the gates of 0:48:35.800 --> 0:48:40.479 the city to set a tone that we need God's help, 0:48:41.719 --> 0:48:45.000 that we need God's glory, that we need God's protection, 0:48:45.120 --> 0:48:50.160 we need God's wisdom, we need God's prospecta. So he 0:48:50.200 --> 0:48:53.720 moves the Levites out. He's like, I know y'all normally 0:48:53.760 --> 0:48:55.959 sing at the temple, but for now, I need y'all 0:48:55.960 --> 0:48:58.640 at the gate. And you have to set praise at 0:48:58.719 --> 0:49:02.560 the gate in your life sometime to just get up 0:49:02.680 --> 0:49:05.359 and almost if you even have to fake it, fake it. 0:49:06.680 --> 0:49:09.560 If you have to fake it, fake it. Sometimes driving 0:49:09.560 --> 0:49:11.759 to church, it's real early when I get here, and 0:49:11.800 --> 0:49:14.600 I won't feel my sermon, but I'll just start driving 0:49:14.640 --> 0:49:16.920 down the road like I do. I'm thinking about my sermon. 0:49:16.960 --> 0:49:21.320 I'm not feeling it, I'll just start going whoa, whoa, whoap. 0:49:22.080 --> 0:49:24.239 And my car's not self driving, so I'm taking my 0:49:24.239 --> 0:49:26.120 hands off the wheel every time I clap, So I 0:49:26.120 --> 0:49:28.719 gotta be careful start slapping my leg or something. But 0:49:28.760 --> 0:49:31.719 I have to put the levites or the praise at 0:49:31.719 --> 0:49:35.799 the gate because I can't get here and wait to 0:49:35.840 --> 0:49:38.719 see how y'all feel, to see how I'm going to 0:49:38.800 --> 0:49:42.360 preach and do my job. So I gotta put praise 0:49:42.520 --> 0:49:46.080 at the gate enterest dates to see what I'm saying. 0:49:49.560 --> 0:49:54.560 But these these guys weren't weren't levites, these were guards. 0:49:55.560 --> 0:49:56.920 And he didn't just put him at the gate. He 0:49:56.960 --> 0:50:01.640 gave instructions. Look at verse two so powerful. Wow. Never 0:50:01.680 --> 0:50:05.920 saw me a Maya seven before I put Hanna and 0:50:05.960 --> 0:50:12.320 I and Han Andaya because you had integrity and fear God. 0:50:13.120 --> 0:50:16.680 Verse three says I told them the gates are not 0:50:16.800 --> 0:50:23.359 to be opened until the sun is high. That's unorthodox, 0:50:23.400 --> 0:50:26.319 because you're supposed to open the gates when the sun 0:50:26.400 --> 0:50:31.600 comes up. He said, we're under attack right now, so 0:50:31.719 --> 0:50:35.000 I need you to keep the gates shut until we 0:50:35.080 --> 0:50:41.800 have full light and until everybody is wide awake, because 0:50:41.840 --> 0:50:45.439 I know we we're vulnerable, and I can't just open 0:50:45.480 --> 0:50:47.879 the gates right now because the enemies are threatened because 0:50:47.880 --> 0:50:52.840 we're making progress. Hear me, Your enemy is threatened because 0:50:52.840 --> 0:50:58.400 you're making progress. It's threatened. That's what the attack is about. 0:50:59.800 --> 0:51:04.120 What it's been about. Oh, that's just picking on me. No, 0:51:04.160 --> 0:51:08.360 he's not just picking on you. He has actually studied you. 0:51:09.560 --> 0:51:11.760 He is more aware of you than you are aware 0:51:11.760 --> 0:51:15.680 of you. Your proclivities, your patterns, your past. He knows 0:51:15.760 --> 0:51:19.239 all of that because he is after your purpose. If 0:51:19.280 --> 0:51:21.879 the wall isn't built, he doesn't come to wage war. 0:51:22.320 --> 0:51:25.040 That's what it's been about. Listen to me. That's what 0:51:25.200 --> 0:51:29.560 this is about. That's what the attack is about. So 0:51:29.680 --> 0:51:32.879 ni Amayah is like, Okay, this is an unusual time. 0:51:32.880 --> 0:51:35.360 We're going to do an unusual thing. Keep these gates 0:51:35.360 --> 0:51:39.360 shut until the sun is hot, until it's hot, basically 0:51:39.400 --> 0:51:42.760 saying until noon, keep the gates shut, keep him shut 0:51:43.000 --> 0:51:45.320 a little while longer. So let me ask you something. 0:51:45.440 --> 0:51:48.280 In this season of your life where you've been struggling 0:51:48.280 --> 0:51:51.239 with depression, some of you been having panic attacks, some 0:51:51.280 --> 0:51:53.799 of you been having waves of anxiety. I mean, who 0:51:53.840 --> 0:51:56.839 doesn't some of you have been having suicidal thoughts. Some 0:51:56.920 --> 0:51:59.920 of you not suicidal, but it's just like hard to explain. 0:52:00.239 --> 0:52:03.520 It's like a low flying, low grade sense that you 0:52:03.520 --> 0:52:06.279 can't get any victory and sustain it. So I want 0:52:06.320 --> 0:52:08.680 to tell you something you can do. Keep the door 0:52:08.800 --> 0:52:15.640 shut while it's dark. Keep the door shut while it's dark. 0:52:20.080 --> 0:52:22.960 Put a time frame on it. I don't care seven days. 0:52:23.239 --> 0:52:26.080 I'm not looking at anything on social media till I 0:52:26.080 --> 0:52:34.000 read a scripture. All the applause, just talk. Y'all. Act 0:52:34.040 --> 0:52:36.080 like I told y'all to go on a pilgrimage to 0:52:36.160 --> 0:52:38.239 Jerusalem to the whole. You act like I told you 0:52:38.320 --> 0:52:39.840 to die on the cross. I'm not talking about a 0:52:39.840 --> 0:52:42.440 crown of thorns. I'm talking about keeping the gates shut 0:52:44.360 --> 0:52:48.239 until you have liked. That's why you gotta start your 0:52:48.320 --> 0:52:55.000 day with God. That's your door. I don't care how 0:52:55.000 --> 0:52:57.120 many of y'all wake up at crazy times of the 0:52:57.200 --> 0:53:01.280 night thinking crazy thoughts. What a sermon on your phone 0:53:01.280 --> 0:53:02.839 and put it in your ear till you go back 0:53:02.880 --> 0:53:07.399 to sleep. Keep the doors closed in the dark. That's 0:53:07.440 --> 0:53:09.600 not the time for you to be alone. You don't 0:53:09.600 --> 0:53:12.279 even have to. I will preach to you. I will 0:53:12.320 --> 0:53:15.840 do pillow talk with you. Through the phone, through the phone, 0:53:15.880 --> 0:53:20.000 through the app on YouTube. I'll talk you through it, 0:53:20.239 --> 0:53:23.000 or another preacher that you like better, who doesn't scream 0:53:23.120 --> 0:53:30.800 so much. But keep the door shut when it starts. 0:53:31.040 --> 0:53:35.879 You need light to fight the enemy. Holly, you hear 0:53:35.920 --> 0:53:40.840 me down there, baby, I'm telling them it's the door. 0:53:41.680 --> 0:53:44.680 Your thoughts are the door, your eyes are the door, 0:53:45.000 --> 0:53:49.600 your ears are the door. Dude. I do not just 0:53:49.760 --> 0:53:53.880 let anybody talk to me about anything. I don't rebuke them, 0:53:53.960 --> 0:53:57.680 but I pivot. People always want to come up to 0:53:57.719 --> 0:54:00.600 me and talk about other churches and other men and 0:54:00.640 --> 0:54:02.880 how this person fell in that and the other. And 0:54:02.880 --> 0:54:06.640 I'm like, hold up, man, look at me, Amia seven three, 0:54:06.760 --> 0:54:09.200 this is me, he said. Put some of them on 0:54:09.239 --> 0:54:11.160 the post and look at the end of the verse, 0:54:11.360 --> 0:54:18.439 and some near their own houses. That's my verse, that's 0:54:18.480 --> 0:54:21.680 my verse. I gotta guard my own house. I gotta 0:54:21.880 --> 0:54:25.160 guard my own heart. I'm not letting that door come in. 0:54:25.480 --> 0:54:28.719 You know, the door to feeling really horrible about yourself 0:54:28.880 --> 0:54:32.799 is through judging others, because now you're going to become 0:54:32.800 --> 0:54:38.000 a victim of your own judgments. Can y'all handle a 0:54:38.040 --> 0:54:43.480 little bit more? I mean, here's the door you gotta go, 0:54:43.600 --> 0:54:45.879 and you just gotta go. You gotta go through hand 0:54:45.880 --> 0:54:49.319 and eye and hand and I. But you, I think 0:54:49.320 --> 0:54:51.560 we should put some real bodyguards at the doors for 0:54:51.560 --> 0:54:56.200 people who leave in the invitation of my sermon. I mean, 0:54:56.239 --> 0:55:05.480 some real bodyguards who are barely saved leave during my invitation. 0:55:07.000 --> 0:55:10.080 But think about this door, and this may not be 0:55:10.120 --> 0:55:12.200 the best store to do it. But I'll ask you 0:55:12.239 --> 0:55:22.520 a question. Is this door closed? Is it open? Hen 0:55:22.640 --> 0:55:31.040 and I? He said, it's cracked and cracked? Isn't closed? Cracked? 0:55:31.120 --> 0:55:35.359 Isn't closed? For the season you're in right now. Look, 0:55:35.400 --> 0:55:37.960 I'm not telling you go home and only watch Disney movies. 0:55:38.000 --> 0:55:41.920 That's not what I'm preaching about today. But I'm saying 0:55:41.960 --> 0:55:45.120 for some of the attacks you've been under, the ones 0:55:45.160 --> 0:55:49.120 that really matter, because they concern your purpose. He said, 0:55:49.200 --> 0:55:51.840 make sure not only that they don't open the doors 0:55:52.960 --> 0:55:54.799 until it's noon, so we can fight in the light, 0:55:54.920 --> 0:55:56.879 not in the darkness. Because the enemy wants to fight 0:55:56.920 --> 0:55:59.960 you in the darkness. He wants to fight your loaning one, 0:56:00.160 --> 0:56:01.719 to fight you in ignorance, He wants to fight you 0:56:01.760 --> 0:56:04.400 in despair. But look at verse three. It also says, 0:56:04.480 --> 0:56:08.000 before the guards go off, duty. Okay, fell us, before 0:56:08.000 --> 0:56:12.200 you go off duty, have them shut the doors and 0:56:12.400 --> 0:56:15.640 bar them. And to bar them means put your hand 0:56:15.680 --> 0:56:21.480 on it and make sure it's shut. Make sure it's shut. 0:56:23.920 --> 0:56:26.960 God is going to put some of you in a 0:56:27.080 --> 0:56:40.560 season of shut up. I probably shouldn't say that, but 0:56:40.640 --> 0:56:43.279 I was reading Joshua six one when they went in 0:56:43.320 --> 0:56:46.000 the walls of Jericho. And look what Joshua six one 0:56:46.040 --> 0:56:50.160 said in the King James English. Now, the city of 0:56:50.239 --> 0:56:57.000 Jericho was straightly shut up. Come on, pastor, that's not 0:56:57.040 --> 0:56:59.359 what it means. It means that nobody was coming and going. 0:56:59.360 --> 0:57:01.239 I know. But look at verse ten what Joshua told 0:57:01.280 --> 0:57:04.280 them to do. While they marched around those walls. Joshua 0:57:04.320 --> 0:57:08.200 commanded the people, saying, you shall not shout nor make 0:57:08.320 --> 0:57:12.360 any noise with your voice. Neither shall any word proceed 0:57:12.400 --> 0:57:14.759 out of your mouth until the day I bid you shop, 0:57:14.880 --> 0:57:19.760 then shall you shall. Because I'm concerned if you just 0:57:19.840 --> 0:57:23.080 say what you feel in this season, you are going 0:57:23.160 --> 0:57:34.600 to speak yourself right into Satan's attack. I'm in a 0:57:34.720 --> 0:57:39.080 season of shut up because what God has for me 0:57:39.200 --> 0:57:41.440 is too great. Right. He brought me to Jericho. This 0:57:41.480 --> 0:57:43.520 is the first city of the promised Land, and God said, 0:57:43.880 --> 0:57:46.640 I need you to just take a sabbatical right now 0:57:46.680 --> 0:57:50.040 from other people's opinions. That's your door. You can't stop 0:57:50.080 --> 0:57:52.880 them from posting, you can't stop them from talking, you 0:57:52.920 --> 0:57:55.960 can't stop them from hating, you can't stop them from disliking. 0:57:56.160 --> 0:58:00.560 You can't stop them from being idiots. But it's your 0:58:00.600 --> 0:58:04.520 door that lets their voice in. Even if they talk 0:58:04.560 --> 0:58:06.920 around you, it doesn't have to get in you. Come on. 0:58:07.000 --> 0:58:10.520 You know I'm preaching the truth. This is why you're quiet. Okay, 0:58:10.600 --> 0:58:13.960 let's do it. Let's do it. Don't shout, Just everybody 0:58:14.080 --> 0:58:18.560 close your door. You know how many times I had 0:58:18.560 --> 0:58:20.440 to do this this week while the Holy Spirit was 0:58:20.440 --> 0:58:23.640 giving me this message. I mean, I start to complain 0:58:23.840 --> 0:58:26.520 and I'm just letting it out right. No, you're letting 0:58:26.560 --> 0:58:32.400 it in because your words have power. And you keep 0:58:32.400 --> 0:58:36.720 describing the same problem, these stupid walls of Jericho, all 0:58:36.840 --> 0:58:41.920 this stupid situation, all this inflation, all these gas prices. 0:58:42.200 --> 0:58:45.560 That's a good icebreaker for like three weeks. But come on, 0:58:45.920 --> 0:58:48.439 is that all we're ever gonna talk to each other 0:58:48.560 --> 0:58:51.720 about is what's wrong? Maybe God wants to put you 0:58:51.840 --> 0:58:58.640 in a season of shut up so he can bring 0:58:58.640 --> 0:59:14.440 you into a season of shouting. Listen, it's not the 0:59:14.440 --> 0:59:17.720 devil defeating you. He doesn't have any power over you 0:59:17.840 --> 0:59:20.400 that you don't give him, not with Jesus inside of you. 0:59:21.720 --> 0:59:23.680 So we've got to get serious about our joy. We 0:59:23.760 --> 0:59:25.120 got to get serious about our peace. We got to 0:59:25.120 --> 0:59:27.120 get serious about our mind. We've got to get serious 0:59:27.160 --> 0:59:29.240 about our sanity. We've got to get serious about our 0:59:29.240 --> 0:59:33.000 mental health. We got to get serious about all this stuff. 0:59:33.160 --> 0:59:36.600 And God is bringing a prophet to you today. Like 0:59:36.640 --> 0:59:39.160 Holly said to me, what would you do with it? 0:59:39.720 --> 0:59:42.800 Even if God gave it to you? If God gave 0:59:42.840 --> 0:59:47.440 you peace, would you protect it? If God gave you 0:59:47.520 --> 0:59:53.720 a relationship, would you defend it? How is the city 0:59:53.800 --> 0:59:58.720 of your soul? I'm walking around today just wondering, how's 0:59:58.760 --> 1:00:02.000 it going in there? You got those doors up yet? 1:00:03.120 --> 1:00:05.160 I want to see you next week. Next week. I'll 1:00:05.160 --> 1:00:07.120 probably be here next week, how about you? And I 1:00:07.280 --> 1:00:09.800 just want to be like, where did you close the 1:00:09.840 --> 1:00:12.880 door this week? And just go like, you know what, man, 1:00:13.000 --> 1:00:15.480 you don't even have to offend anybody. You do not 1:00:15.720 --> 1:00:17.680 need to go up to people. This week. It's love 1:00:17.720 --> 1:00:20.400 week for crying out loud don't go up to people like, nah, 1:00:20.400 --> 1:00:22.480 I'm sorry, I'm in the season is shut up? You 1:00:22.480 --> 1:00:24.640 shut up, and I can't talk to you anymore. You're toxic. 1:00:26.360 --> 1:00:31.160 But I'm saying, are we praying for God to deliver 1:00:31.360 --> 1:00:35.080 us from devils that he has given us the power 1:00:35.160 --> 1:00:45.600 to defend ourselves from It's your door, And I wonder 1:00:45.600 --> 1:00:49.080 if I was this concerned about what's getting in and 1:00:49.160 --> 1:00:52.720 coming out, would I be having to pray to God 1:00:52.720 --> 1:00:57.680 about half the stuff I'm praying to him about. Stand up, 1:00:57.760 --> 1:01:04.040 I'm done, those hands. Give God praise? Was that good 1:01:04.080 --> 1:01:12.080 teaching today? Did you receive something? Huh? Come on? If 1:01:12.080 --> 1:01:14.360 God spoke to you, give him a praise, don't praise me. 1:01:15.000 --> 1:01:16.920 If he brought you a word, that was him not 1:01:17.120 --> 1:01:26.120 being and then all right. So I want us to 1:01:26.160 --> 1:01:27.960 get I want us to get better about one thing 1:01:27.960 --> 1:01:29.600 in this church. I think this is the most amazing 1:01:29.680 --> 1:01:32.120 church in the world. I love being your pastor. One 1:01:32.160 --> 1:01:33.840 thing I want you all to stop doing so much 1:01:34.680 --> 1:01:37.240 is running like right when I get ready to dismiss, 1:01:37.520 --> 1:01:41.640 like it's over. If the sermon doesn't even make it 1:01:41.680 --> 1:01:44.320 out this door, it is not going to give you 1:01:44.400 --> 1:01:51.560 victory in your life. This week, So every location, you 1:01:51.600 --> 1:01:53.960 gotta stop where you are, just stand up for a minute. 1:01:54.440 --> 1:01:57.440 Let me pray with you. Let me pray that what 1:01:57.520 --> 1:01:59.960 you heard today, because the Holy Spirit was speaking to you. 1:02:00.360 --> 1:02:03.000 I could see it in some of your eyes. You 1:02:03.000 --> 1:02:05.040 look like a deer in the headlights of the Word 1:02:05.080 --> 1:02:09.200 of God, like you're looking at your spouse. Did you 1:02:09.240 --> 1:02:11.120 talk to Pastor Stephen this week and tell him what 1:02:11.160 --> 1:02:14.640 I was doing? Get a restraining order on this preacher. 1:02:14.680 --> 1:02:16.320 I think he's been sneaking around my house. I think 1:02:16.360 --> 1:02:19.520 he's got some cameras up. That's my new goal. I 1:02:19.520 --> 1:02:21.360 want to preach so full of the Holy Spirit that 1:02:21.400 --> 1:02:23.240 you put a restraining order on me because you think 1:02:23.240 --> 1:02:32.040 I'm stalking you during the week. But how cool will 1:02:32.080 --> 1:02:35.040 it be that you will have a reminder of this 1:02:35.160 --> 1:02:39.840 sermon even when you leave today. You go through a door, 1:02:40.840 --> 1:02:43.800 and then through another door, and then you get in 1:02:43.880 --> 1:02:46.640 a car. I guess I don't think you're getting on 1:02:46.680 --> 1:02:52.080 a camel. This is in Jerusalem, this is the city 1:02:52.120 --> 1:02:55.000 of your soul. And every door that you open and 1:02:55.040 --> 1:02:56.840 every door that you close, I want you to begin 1:02:56.880 --> 1:02:59.920 to think about how you're defending what God gave you. 1:03:01.640 --> 1:03:03.560 I want you to do for the city of your 1:03:03.600 --> 1:03:06.160 soul what Neamiah did for the city of Jerusalem. He said, 1:03:06.200 --> 1:03:08.520 I put the doors in place, and I gave orders. 1:03:09.520 --> 1:03:11.520 I didn't just assume we're going to be okay, because 1:03:11.560 --> 1:03:14.680 God is with us. I put the doors in place, 1:03:15.520 --> 1:03:17.479 and I said you can open them. Then you can't 1:03:17.480 --> 1:03:20.640 open them now, y'all. Even in my daily disciplines, I 1:03:20.680 --> 1:03:25.960 am so unfocused. I am so unfocused when I go 1:03:26.040 --> 1:03:29.120 to do a physical workout. I can't take my phone 1:03:29.120 --> 1:03:32.240 in the room to do a workout. I know myself. 1:03:32.880 --> 1:03:35.080 I have to put my phone in another room. And 1:03:35.120 --> 1:03:38.200 did y'all know the new iPhone has an off button. Anyway, 1:03:39.240 --> 1:03:43.280 that's a special feature. I'll show you how to use it. 1:03:43.320 --> 1:03:47.200 Sometimes it's amazing. And then a lot of times, watch 1:03:47.720 --> 1:03:50.360 when I shut that off and just do my workout 1:03:50.400 --> 1:03:53.280 and focus, the Lord will give me my sermon because 1:03:53.280 --> 1:03:56.360 I closed the door. Could just give it to me, 1:03:57.960 --> 1:04:00.080 but just give it to me, But you got I 1:04:00.120 --> 1:04:02.880 close the door. What did Jesus say when you pray, 1:04:03.040 --> 1:04:08.600 Matthew sixty six, go in and close the door. You 1:04:08.640 --> 1:04:11.120 can't pray and ask God to defend you from the 1:04:11.120 --> 1:04:13.560 devil for stuff that you left the door wide open 1:04:13.600 --> 1:04:18.640 to He'll help you. He'll give you grace. But don't 1:04:18.680 --> 1:04:25.520 you want victory too. I want victory and grace. I do. 1:04:25.640 --> 1:04:28.680 And so one way we let God in we just 1:04:28.720 --> 1:04:32.520 lift our hands. So do that right now. That's not 1:04:32.560 --> 1:04:37.240 a charismatic thing. Stop it. People do that. People do 1:04:37.280 --> 1:04:40.280 that at football games when they're excited. People do it 1:04:40.320 --> 1:04:43.240 in a war when they surrender. So you could throw 1:04:43.240 --> 1:04:48.960 your hands up, and I love what. Revelation three twenty 1:04:49.040 --> 1:04:51.560 said that Jesus was speaking to the church and he said, here, 1:04:51.600 --> 1:04:54.360 I am a stand at the door and knock, and 1:04:54.400 --> 1:04:56.680 if you hear my voice and open it, I'll come 1:04:56.760 --> 1:05:01.960 in and eat with you. You've been sitting at the 1:05:01.960 --> 1:05:05.840 wrong table all week. You've been sitting feasting on the 1:05:05.880 --> 1:05:10.440 wrong thoughts, worrying about the wrong stuff. For some of 1:05:10.520 --> 1:05:17.400 us is obsessively checking our bank balance. Yeah, doesn't always 1:05:17.440 --> 1:05:20.560 come through something that's so evil. But once we open 1:05:20.600 --> 1:05:24.360 that door, the devil just has his way. But not today, Lord, 1:05:25.840 --> 1:05:27.840 Today we hear your voice, and we hear your knock, 1:05:27.880 --> 1:05:31.840 and we're opening the door to you. Come, Lord Jesus, 1:05:33.080 --> 1:05:37.800 into every heart that's open to you. Some hearts are hardened. 1:05:37.840 --> 1:05:40.480 But a lot of these hearts today, Lord, they're really serious. 1:05:40.720 --> 1:05:43.920 They're since here. They want your presence. So come Lord, 1:05:45.280 --> 1:05:46.920 just say it. If you mean it, say come Lord. 1:05:47.960 --> 1:05:50.680 He will hear that invitation. He'll respond to that invitation. 1:05:51.040 --> 1:05:54.600 Say it again, say come Lord, Come Lord, Jesus, the 1:05:54.680 --> 1:05:58.120 door of our hearts are open to you. We invite 1:05:58.160 --> 1:06:02.760 your presence, your peace, your joy, wisdom show us this 1:06:02.840 --> 1:06:06.160 week where we need to put our hand on the 1:06:06.160 --> 1:06:09.400 door and make sure it's shut. Conversations. We need to 1:06:09.400 --> 1:06:13.640 have conversations. We need to discontinue. We want to be 1:06:13.720 --> 1:06:15.760 right with you. We want to be in a peaceful place. 1:06:16.440 --> 1:06:18.120 I bless you and I thank you for the privilege 1:06:18.120 --> 1:06:20.720 of sharing your word today. I thank you that it 1:06:20.760 --> 1:06:22.800 won't return void. It will accomplish that what you sent 1:06:22.880 --> 1:06:28.320 it to do in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you 1:06:28.400 --> 1:06:31.120 enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love 1:06:31.160 --> 1:06:34.280 for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and 1:06:34.480 --> 1:06:37.560 review this podcast. You can also help us reach others 1:06:37.560 --> 1:06:41.600 by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash give and 1:06:41.640 --> 1:06:44.320 thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.