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Speaker 1: Hey there. Before we jump into the amazing message today,

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Speaker 1: we wanted to let you know about our upcoming tour,

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Speaker 1: the starting end just a few days. We're heading out

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Speaker 1: in the month of August with our friends Carry Joe

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Speaker 1: and Codycarnes, and we're coming to a city near you.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna have an amazing time in the presence of God.

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Speaker 1: Every single time we gather, He's faithful to meet with

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Speaker 1: us and do something new and fresh in our hearts.

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Speaker 1: So we hope you'll join us. Yes, we're gonna be

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Speaker 1: in Dallas, San Antonio, Omaha, We're gonna be in Toledo, Dayton.

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Speaker 1: We're coming to you Knoxville, Huntsville. Yes, we're also going

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Speaker 1: to be in Louisville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York.

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Speaker 1: So come out join us, bring your friends, bring your family.

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Speaker 1: Everything you need tickets and information is at Elevation Worship

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Speaker 1: dot Com. We'll see you. See all right, how many

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Speaker 1: are excited about God's work going into your heart right now?

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Speaker 1: That's what has to happen, y'all. The Word of God

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Speaker 1: has to get in your heart. Up here in your head,

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Speaker 1: you just got a history lesson. Oh no, maybe you

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Speaker 1: got a little motivational saying, if it gets in your heart,

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Speaker 1: it goes home with you. If it goes home with you,

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Speaker 1: it can help you in your real life, not your

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Speaker 1: church life, not this little time we share together, but

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Speaker 1: the whole expense of your existence as a human being.

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Speaker 1: And that's what I'm after, and I believe that's what

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Speaker 1: God is after today. So may he speak something life

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Speaker 1: changing in this place. I'm gonna let you be seated.

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Speaker 1: I've got a few different scriptures to read, so go

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Speaker 1: ahead and take your seat. Man, it gets hard to

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Speaker 1: hold these sermons all week while I wait for you

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Speaker 1: to get here. Really does I feel like I got

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Speaker 1: these boxes keep coming and I can't hold all of them.

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Speaker 1: So that's what's been like this week with the scriptures.

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Speaker 1: But one scripture that I want to make sure we

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Speaker 1: look at today is from nami chapter six, Verses one

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Speaker 1: through four and Neamiah chapter seven, Versus one through three.

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Speaker 1: And some of y'all might have post traumatic stress disorder.

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Speaker 1: When I say Namiyah, don't worry. I'm not starting a

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Speaker 1: building project for the church today. It's about the only

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Speaker 1: time Neamiyah gets to come to church when they're raising

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Speaker 1: money for a fellowship, Paul or something pend me another brick.

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Speaker 1: But not to be corny about it, but I believe

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Speaker 1: God is building something in each of us, and that

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Speaker 1: God's construction project in your life related to your character,

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Speaker 1: your contentment. That's what I mean when I say the

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Speaker 1: hard work of happiness. Holly mentioned it when she made

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Speaker 1: the announcements. That's what I've been working on in my

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Speaker 1: own life, realizing that, man, there's an easy way to

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Speaker 1: get high and feel happy, not necessarily just off of drugs.

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Speaker 1: You know. It could be food, could be gossip, be

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Speaker 1: a lot of different drugs, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: You just have your own little pill bottle. But it

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Speaker 1: might not be something physical, It might be something might

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Speaker 1: be something very internal. And then to realize that to

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Speaker 1: truly in a sustainable way know the joy of the Lord,

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Speaker 1: well that's going to take work. So not to bore

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Speaker 1: you with all the details of how I got here,

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Speaker 1: but in the Amiah chapter six, verse one through four,

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Speaker 1: I want to share with you just just a really

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Speaker 1: brief glimpse into something that I think it's going to

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Speaker 1: be so simple that some of y'all won't listen. Some

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Speaker 1: of y'all won't listen. It'll be so simple that some

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Speaker 1: of you are gonna shut me out right now. But

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Speaker 1: sometimes we need practical strategies for spiritual battles. Sometimes we

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Speaker 1: do go name in and dip into Jordan. What in

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Speaker 1: the world does that have to do with my skin?

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Speaker 1: What in the world does what in the world does

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Speaker 1: launching a fishing net on the other side of the

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Speaker 1: boat have to do with me and the disciples? But

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Speaker 1: the Lord will give you something practical sometimes everybody say practical.

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Speaker 1: By the way, I hadn't even greeted the e fam yet.

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Speaker 1: Hello to our epam all over the world less thank

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Speaker 1: God for him right here from Valentine, quick question in

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Speaker 1: the chat. What state, what city? What state? What city?

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Speaker 1: If you're in the United States, shout out to our

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Speaker 1: pop up church in California today. Where are they in

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Speaker 1: California today? Riverside? Y'all make some noise for Riverside pop

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Speaker 1: up praise party in Riverside. Amen. So good, so good,

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Speaker 1: so good. So let me know the city and state

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Speaker 1: that you're in right now as we go to the

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Speaker 1: Word of God. Namiyah chapter six. All right, the Lord's

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Speaker 1: going to shift something in your life today. Niamia chapter six,

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Speaker 1: verse one, when word came to Sandballot, to Baya Geesham,

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Speaker 1: the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I

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Speaker 1: had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left

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Speaker 1: in it. He's not bragging, but I mean he's been

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Speaker 1: through a lot to get to this point. This was

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Speaker 1: a hard project. Here's how hard it was. They couldn't

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Speaker 1: do it for eighty years until Nehemiah got there. They

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Speaker 1: kept trying and it would stop, and they'd get discouraged,

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Speaker 1: and they'd stop and they'd be opposed. They're trying to

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Speaker 1: rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, right, because they've been in exile. Right,

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Speaker 1: I'll take a little history lesson real quick, just real quick,

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Speaker 1: just real quick, just real quick. I will not stay

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Speaker 1: in this very long. But the background is they've been

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Speaker 1: in Babylon, about fifty thousand of them. The Jewish people

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Speaker 1: came back to Jerusalem, but the city was in bad

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Speaker 1: shape because it was still ravaged, so it came in waves.

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Speaker 1: Zir rub A Bell took a group back and he

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Speaker 1: helped to rebuild the temple. And then after Zor rub

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Speaker 1: A Beel and you can always remember that he's the

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Speaker 1: one who built the temple because zorrubb a beel rubble.

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Speaker 1: He had to work with the that he had and

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Speaker 1: build what he could, but he couldn't do everything. It

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Speaker 1: came in waves. God sent Ezra after Zorobabel had been

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Speaker 1: there a little while, and Ezra started preparing the people's hearts.

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Speaker 1: Now that the temple was in position, he had to

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Speaker 1: get the people ready. Okay, quick principle. In the Old Testament,

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Speaker 1: God had a temple for his people. In the New Testament,

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Speaker 1: God has a people for his temple. He lives in you. Now.

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Speaker 1: The challenge of Bible application is we don't want to

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Speaker 1: make it entirely external or entirely internal. If I just

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Speaker 1: take this text and start talking to you and make

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Speaker 1: it mean whatever I want, we can come to some

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Speaker 1: pretty crazy conclusions, as i'll show you in a minute.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, if I just tell you

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Speaker 1: about Zorobabel and Ezra and meah my in five thirty

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Speaker 1: six BC and all of these things, you're like, what

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Speaker 1: did I did? I did I really get up this

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Speaker 1: morning for history? I got my diploma in nineteen eighty three,

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Speaker 1: so I didn't have to learn any of this anymore.

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Speaker 1: And you'll be totally checked out and that's not the

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Speaker 1: point of the Bible anyway. All of this is written

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Speaker 1: for examples. It's the living Word of God. It is

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Speaker 1: not a dead history of a people who happen to

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Speaker 1: live in a certain place that we can study from afar.

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Speaker 1: It is meant to get inside of it. That's my

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Speaker 1: challenge for Bible preaching, because I've got to get you

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Speaker 1: to see that while they are rebuilding the city, God

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Speaker 1: is rebuilding your soul. Your soul is like a city.

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Speaker 1: And this brings up a question. If your soul is

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Speaker 1: a city, what's the crime rate your soul, your mind,

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Speaker 1: your will, your emotions. Now your spirit. That's perfect. That's

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Speaker 1: what Jesus. When Jesus saves you, he gives you the

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. There's nothing wrong with the Holy Spirit. The

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit doesn't need upgrades. The Holy Spirit doesn't have

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Speaker 1: bugs and glitches, the Holy Spirit doesn't buffer. The truest

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Speaker 1: part of you, if you belong to Jesus is light

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Speaker 1: and truth, and it is the incorruptible seed of the

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Speaker 1: Word of God. So that's your new nature. When you

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Speaker 1: do something crazy and say I'm just keeping it real,

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Speaker 1: no you're not. Actually, that's not the real you. At all,

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Speaker 1: that's the you that you remember. But to really learn

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Speaker 1: this new way of thinking requires that God does some

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Speaker 1: work not in our spirit, but in our soul. If

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Speaker 1: your soul was a city, just putting this out there

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Speaker 1: before we read all of this, how's the economy? Is

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Speaker 1: it a lot of poverty of compassion? Are you in

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Speaker 1: compassion fatigue? That would be poverty of compassion. If you

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Speaker 1: have a poverty of empathy, only can see things how

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Speaker 1: you can see things. So, if your soul is a city,

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Speaker 1: God has given you charge over it. You are elected

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Speaker 1: as the mayor of the city of your soul to

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Speaker 1: develop and defend what God gives you. Hey, man, pastor Steven,

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Speaker 1: you are on fire today. You only read a half

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Speaker 1: a verse, but you are preaching. You are preaching. I

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Speaker 1: have to encourage myself. I cannot rely on y'all to

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Speaker 1: know when I'm preaching good, but I'm saying something. Give

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Speaker 1: them Proverbs the Proverbs verse. This will make it clear

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Speaker 1: the writer of Proverbs. Most people believe Solomon wrote the

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Speaker 1: majority of the Proverbs. You got it like a city

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Speaker 1: whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks

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Speaker 1: self control? Did that scripture feel like it should have

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Speaker 1: had your name by it, or you're doing real good.

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Speaker 1: If your soul is a city, what's going on inside?

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Speaker 1: I see your sneakers, I see your smile, I see

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Speaker 1: all of that, But I'm asking about the city of

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Speaker 1: your soul. That stuff. Yeah, only God really sees that.

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Speaker 1: And if Solomon did write proverbs, he would be the

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Speaker 1: perfect one to tell us that when you don't have

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Speaker 1: self control, you're like a city with no walls. Just

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Speaker 1: anything can get in anytime, because that's exactly what he

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Speaker 1: let happen, not only to his own heart, but to

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Speaker 1: the nation. You remember, Saul was the first king of Israel.

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Speaker 1: David came after him. Solomon, David's son took the throne next,

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Speaker 1: and the Bible says he was the wisest man who

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Speaker 1: ever lived. The only time I can find a sort

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Speaker 1: of contradiction in the Bible is that if he's the

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Speaker 1: wisest man to ever live, how did he have seven

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Speaker 1: hundred wives? So to me, I'm still working on that.

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Speaker 1: That's the mystery of God right there for me. But

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Speaker 1: the Bible says that he did something crazy. He'd let

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Speaker 1: the influence of the foreign women that he loved turn

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Speaker 1: his heart just the literal language of it tecon King's Limba.

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Speaker 1: It says he let them turn his heart from the Lord,

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Speaker 1: so he started to let things come in, not directly attention,

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Speaker 1: but indirectly. He did not turn toward those gods. He

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Speaker 1: turned toward those people, and those people turned him toward

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Speaker 1: those gods. We are far more easily influenced than we realize.

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Speaker 1: And like a city without walls, just anybody, anything, any thought,

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Speaker 1: any feeling, any impulse, anything you want to do, anything

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Speaker 1: you want to say, anything you want to look at,

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Speaker 1: anything you want to watch, anything you want. Anything can

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Speaker 1: get in when you do not see your soul as

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Speaker 1: a city and realize that you have the responsibility to

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Speaker 1: defend it. Now, I wish I could tell you different.

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Speaker 1: I wish I could tell you that when you turn

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Speaker 1: twenty five, somebody's gonna come in your life and make

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Speaker 1: you happy, and they will help you deal with all

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Speaker 1: of your dysfunctions, and you will meet the right person

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Speaker 1: and they will make you whole. But if you are

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Speaker 1: half and they come into your life and you are half,

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Speaker 1: then they will make you watch this. They will not

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Speaker 1: make you whole. They will make you go through a

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Speaker 1: living hell as you realize that what you thought was

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Speaker 1: in another person could only be found in God. I

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Speaker 1: gotta work on my city. I gotta work on myself.

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Speaker 1: I gotta work on what's within. I gotta work. Let's

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Speaker 1: go back to the Amiah, because now I think you're ready,

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Speaker 1: he said. When we got the wall built, they did

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Speaker 1: it in fifty two days with the help of their God.

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Speaker 1: So this is something to celebrate, and there was not

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Speaker 1: a gap left in it. Verse one six. Though up

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Speaker 1: to that time I had not set the doors in

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Speaker 1: the gates. Sanballat and Gusham sent me this message, Come

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Speaker 1: let us meet together in one of the villages on

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Speaker 1: the plane of oh No. But they were scheming to

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Speaker 1: harm me, Theamiyah says, so I sent messengers to them

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Speaker 1: with this reply. And y'all, I'm glad Niamiyah was skilled

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Speaker 1: as a builder because he did not have the gift

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Speaker 1: of a preacher. Because he missed the most obvious layup

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Speaker 1: in the history. Watch this, come meet with us on

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Speaker 1: the planes of oh No. And them, I said, I

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Speaker 1: am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.

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Speaker 1: Why wouldn't you start the response with oh no missed?

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Speaker 1: Come on, y'all, like my humor. You didn't pay anything.

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Speaker 1: It's not like you need a refund for the ticket.

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Speaker 1: So they say need the planes of Oh no, he says,

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Speaker 1: oh no, he didn't say it. I'm putting it in there.

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Speaker 1: You should have said it. I am carrying on a

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Speaker 1: great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop? Well,

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Speaker 1: I leave it and go down to you. Now this

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Speaker 1: is the part I like, because this gives me an indication.

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Speaker 1: You don't just fight spiritual battles once and they go away.

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Speaker 1: Look at verse four. Four times they sent the same message,

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Speaker 1: and each time I gave the same answer. So he's

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Speaker 1: persistent about this because he has priorities. And we'll come

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Speaker 1: back to priorities in just a moment. But skip over

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Speaker 1: to Neamiah seven, verse one. They keep trying to get

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Speaker 1: him to come. He won't come. They give him a

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Speaker 1: false prophecy. They try to get him to go in

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Speaker 1: the temple and close the doors. They're like, hey, come,

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Speaker 1: somebody's get killing. You need to hide in the temple.

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Speaker 1: He's like, if I hide, I lose my credibility. I

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Speaker 1: know what you're trying to do to me. Why should

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Speaker 1: a man like me run and hide after God? Brought

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Speaker 1: me this far. If God enabled me through letters from

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Speaker 1: Artis Zerxes to come here and rebuild this wall, and

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Speaker 1: help me do it in spite of all this opposition.

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Speaker 1: You think I'm gonna go run and hide in somebody's

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Speaker 1: house right now. Not me. Oh no, you wouldn't do it.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't quit. So now look at chapter seven, verse one.

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Speaker 1: And I never heard anybody preach chapter seven, because it

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Speaker 1: lists a bunch of names of everybody who came back

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Speaker 1: after the Babylon captivity. And so this is like a skip.

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Speaker 1: Most of the time in the book of Neomiah, just

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Speaker 1: read right past it. But I saw something so important

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Speaker 1: that I thought we should spend this entire sermon on it.

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Speaker 1: Neamiah seven, verse one. After the wall had been rebuilt

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Speaker 1: and I'd set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, musicians

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Speaker 1: and levites were appointed, and I put in charge of

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Speaker 1: Jerusalem my brother hand and I along with Han and

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Speaker 1: I are the commander of the citadel. Because he was

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Speaker 1: a man of integrity, that doesn't mean he's perfect. That

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Speaker 1: means he's one person everywhere, same person here as the

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Speaker 1: same person there, whole integer in math. You remember that

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Speaker 1: that's what he's saying he had integrity and he feared

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Speaker 1: God more than most people. I kind of liked the

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Speaker 1: shade of meaning behind that more than most people, Like

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Speaker 1: he's better than all these other bombs, So I picked him.

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Speaker 1: But really, when he says he's a man of integrity,

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Speaker 1: we realize that he is appointed because of his character.

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Speaker 1: And look at verse three. It says I said to

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Speaker 1: them the gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened

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Speaker 1: until the sun is hot, while the gatekeepers are still

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Speaker 1: on duty, had them shut the doors and bar them.

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Speaker 1: Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their

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Speaker 1: post and some near their own houses. Y'all, if I

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Speaker 1: could call this study what I want to call it,

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Speaker 1: what I really want to call it, I would call

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Speaker 1: it self awareness as a form of spiritual warfare. But

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Speaker 1: the more I thought about that, I thought, they will

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Speaker 1: never remember that when they leave. I don't hardly even

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Speaker 1: remember it. And I just said it's so clunky. So instead,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to call it and I want you to

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Speaker 1: look at the person that you and tell them the

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Speaker 1: title that I think you probably can't remember. Say, it's

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Speaker 1: your door, it's your door, it's your door, and I

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Speaker 1: need your prayers as always because God continues to have

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Speaker 1: to help me to focus my priorities. I am constantly

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Speaker 1: having to deal with the Holy Spirit about my priorities.

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Speaker 1: It's almost like a bath or brushing your teeth. It's like,

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Speaker 1: if I don't do it a couple times a day,

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Speaker 1: I start to notice in my attitude, in my thoughts,

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Speaker 1: in my conversations, and I can be the pettiest person.

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Speaker 1: Last week, I told you that I'm very protective as

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Speaker 1: a father. When my kids are in the ocean, I

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Speaker 1: turn into safety Steve. You know, y'all come in. You're

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Speaker 1: too deep. It's really annoying, and I know it while

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Speaker 1: I'm doing it, but I'm just scared because I just

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Speaker 1: don't want I'm just I don't know I'm getting old.

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Speaker 1: I know I'm getting old because Elijah went to get

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Speaker 1: five napkins last night and I freaked out just last night.

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Speaker 1: This is recent, but see, even that goes back because

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Speaker 1: my dad used to tear the paper towel in half

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Speaker 1: and say, you don't need a whole paper towel. Half

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Speaker 1: a paper towel is all you need. Was in the

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Speaker 1: world you need With a whole paper towel, you need

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Speaker 1: to learn how to manage me. Had a whole system

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Speaker 1: for folding it and getting through with half paper towel.

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Speaker 1: But he grew up poor. So now you carry all

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Speaker 1: these things into your adulthood. I don't know where this

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Speaker 1: one came from. I can almost hear my mom's voice

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Speaker 1: in my head. But somewhere along the line, my children

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Speaker 1: all had a meeting and decided relatively recently that none

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Speaker 1: of them was ever going to close a door in

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Speaker 1: the house ever. Again, not a door to a bedroom,

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Speaker 1: not a door to a pantry, definitely not a door

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Speaker 1: going outside. I mean, I'm just walking through the house

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Speaker 1: all day and I hear my mom's voice. That's the

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Speaker 1: craziest part about it. I hear my mom's voice, you

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Speaker 1: are cooling off the outside, and then she used to yell, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, she would yell. She would yell, you're letting

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Speaker 1: the cool out. You're letting the cool out. Shut the door,

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Speaker 1: you're letting the cool out. Or if it wasn't that,

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Speaker 1: shut the door, you're letting the flies in. So I'm

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Speaker 1: either letting the flies in or the cool out. And

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Speaker 1: I am so petty. I was walking through the house

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Speaker 1: just the other day and there's a door, and there's

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Speaker 1: a door, and there's a door, and I'm closing the doors,

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Speaker 1: and I'm doing a little speech under my breath. That's fine.

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Speaker 1: I'll just be the official door closer around here. I

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Speaker 1: got nothing better to do. It's not like I lead

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Speaker 1: a global ministry. I got nothing better to do. Then

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Speaker 1: follow y'all and close the doors so that the dumb

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Speaker 1: dog that y'all made me buy won't get out and

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Speaker 1: get hit by a car. That's what I would love

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Speaker 1: to do today, is close the doors behind y'all, And

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Speaker 1: I promise when the Lord speaks to me, sometimes it

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Speaker 1: is so basic, he said, this is like I don't

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Speaker 1: know if it was the Lord. It was a thought

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Speaker 1: that went through my mind. Wonder what would happen if

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Speaker 1: you were as concerned about what you let in your heart? No, no, no,

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Speaker 1: I didn't get to the best part yet. Here you're

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Speaker 1: talking about I'm letting the I'm letting the flies in, okay,

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Speaker 1: but you let the fear in. Don't seem to be

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Speaker 1: very concerned about that. So I wonder what would happen

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Speaker 1: if you would be as concerned about what you let

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Speaker 1: in your heart as what's getting in this house? Because

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Speaker 1: the door is open. I wonder what would happen if

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Speaker 1: you were as concerned about what you let in your heart.

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Speaker 1: And this is the one that got me and what

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Speaker 1: you let out of your mouth. So, uh, everybody do this.

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Speaker 1: We're going to talk about that in a minute. Because

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Speaker 1: that's your door, whether you realize it or not, that's

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Speaker 1: your door. And that's your door, y'all with me, And

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Speaker 1: that's your door. And that big old elephant sized brain

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Speaker 1: that you're carrying around up there, that knows all of

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Speaker 1: that math and science, that's your door. Because Neiamiah builds

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Speaker 1: the wall, and they've got the structure, and the city

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Speaker 1: is spacious and large, but the people aren't back yet.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if you notice the detail, but it

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Speaker 1: is pretty significant if God put it in the Bible.

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Speaker 1: Anything God put in the Bible, I'm like, Lord, that

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Speaker 1: seems random, but it must not be revealed to me

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Speaker 1: what's in it. And he said in chapter six, verse one,

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Speaker 1: that when his enemies everybody say enemy, when they heard

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Speaker 1: that I had rebuilt the wall, the whole thing and

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Speaker 1: didn't leave the gap in it. But look at verse

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Speaker 1: two or verse one part be excuse me, though up

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Speaker 1: to that time I had not set the doors in

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Speaker 1: the gates, So we got two things happening. In the scripture,

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Speaker 1: Nehemiah is making progress for God and he receives an

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Speaker 1: invitation from his enemy. All at the same time he

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Speaker 1: is making progress for God. He's getting this wall. Bill.

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Speaker 1: If we could get a wall, we can get an

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Speaker 1: educational system. If we can get a wall, we can

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Speaker 1: worship without being worried that they're going to come and

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Speaker 1: get us. If we can get a war all built. Ah,

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Speaker 1: But he said after the wall was built, that was

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Speaker 1: the first wave. Now I had to set the doors

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Speaker 1: in place so that in the daily comings and goings

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Speaker 1: we could have assurance of protection, so that when we

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Speaker 1: did what we did in the course of our lives,

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Speaker 1: whether worship or work, we would be protected. I've got

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Speaker 1: to get these doors in place. If I don't get

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Speaker 1: these doors in place, this wall isn't going to do

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Speaker 1: me any good. Because if I get a wall but

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Speaker 1: no doors, nobody can go out. But if I have

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Speaker 1: a wall without doors, anybody can just get in. So

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Speaker 1: I got to have a wall, and I gotta have

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Speaker 1: some doors. Because I'm making progress for God. But I'm

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Speaker 1: receiving an invitation from the enemy. So this is the question.

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Speaker 1: I'm bringing it right to twenty twenty two. What do

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Speaker 1: you do when you are making progress for God but

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Speaker 1: you receive an invitation from an enemy? And invitation from

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Speaker 1: the enemy not a physical enemy. Remember, we don't wrestle

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Speaker 1: against fresh and flesh and blood. So sand ballot, he's

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Speaker 1: over Samaria in the north, and Tobiah is over the

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Speaker 1: Ammonites to the east, and Gsham is over the Arabs

401
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Speaker 1: to the south. But we're not talking about geography here

402
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Speaker 1: are we. We're talking about psychology, theology. We're talking about

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Speaker 1: your sand ballots of self pity, your tobias of temptation,

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Speaker 1: your Gusham's of what starts with the g gluttony. We're

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Speaker 1: not supposed to preach about that sin in church. No,

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Speaker 1: that's that a mess the whole. How about we go

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Speaker 1: with grumbling. I like grumbling. He said it was an enemy,

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Speaker 1: and they asked me for a meeting. The enemy didn't

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Speaker 1: ask Neamiah, can we come in and destroy your credibility?

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Speaker 1: Why would the enemy do that? You would say? No,

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Speaker 1: he said, let's talk. I'm hearing the rumors about what

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Speaker 1: you build. Let's talk. It's an invitation let's talk. Hey,

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Speaker 1: get that situation on your mind that you don't see

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Speaker 1: any way out of, and play out every hypothetical scenario

415
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Speaker 1: of how it could go worse than you ever possibly thought.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk, Hey, count up everybody in your mind who

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Speaker 1: ever left your life and they were supposed to be

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Speaker 1: there for you and they're not, and think about how

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Speaker 1: they failed you, mistreated you. And think about the fact

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Speaker 1: that they're probably off somewhere right now on an island,

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Speaker 1: happy without you, driving a Ferrari. Let's talk. Think about

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Speaker 1: the fact of everything that you don't have, and I

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Speaker 1: want you to go look at everybody else who has

424
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: everything you don't have. And I want you to put

425
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 1: together a perfect conglomerate of all the people that in

426
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 1: your imagination have something that you don't have, and then

427
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 1: compare your image of them to your reality of yourself.

428
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:55,240
Speaker 1: Let's talk. And Neamiah is like, oh, no, which gave

429
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 1: me a lesson? When the enemy speaks to me, say

430
00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:06,640
Speaker 1: and doesn't get to give me a command, He can

431
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 1: only make a suggestion. So I see it like this.

432
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,000
Speaker 1: A lot of us in making progress in our walk

433
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 1: with God, or in the ways that God is working

434
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: in us. The ways that God is working in us.

435
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,159
Speaker 1: I hear a lot of sermons by the way about

436
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,159
Speaker 1: God will work it out. Those are great sermons for

437
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:33,160
Speaker 1: shouting and clapping and celebrating. But what about what God

438
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:37,000
Speaker 1: is working in It is Him that works in you

439
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 1: to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

440
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 1: So when God is working in you and actually making progress,

441
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,600
Speaker 1: and then you received that invitation from the enemy, what

442
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:49,479
Speaker 1: do you do with it? The first thing is to

443
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: realize that just because he invites you doesn't mean you

444
00:26:53,880 --> 00:27:01,760
Speaker 1: have to go. Now you don't belong to Jesus, then

445
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 1: you've got to go because you're a slave to sin.

446
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,879
Speaker 1: So the enemy can just lob any accusation at you

447
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,640
Speaker 1: that he wants to bring you down, pull you down,

448
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 1: and beat you to dead. But if you belong to Jesus,

449
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 1: if you belong to Jesus, you are not under the

450
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: jurisdiction of Sambalat or Tobiah or Guessham or any of

451
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:30,439
Speaker 1: the enemies that threaten the stability of your soul. What

452
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say is if he purchased you with

453
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:37,399
Speaker 1: his blood, Jesus, that is, Satan just doesn't get to

454
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:42,040
Speaker 1: invite you out of that state of being seated with Jesus,

455
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,920
Speaker 1: into a state of feeling sorry for yourself. You don't

456
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:50,120
Speaker 1: have to go feel a spirit of Oh no coming

457
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 1: on me today. Oh no, it's your door, it's your decision.

458
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 1: Heynam i yea. They want to meet with you. No, neamyah,

459
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 1: they want to meet with you. No, Neiamyah. They want

460
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:06,840
Speaker 1: to meet with you. No, Niamiyah they want to meet

461
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,919
Speaker 1: with you. No. Four times no, because I got something greater,

462
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,200
Speaker 1: because I got something higher, because I'm working on something important.

463
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,520
Speaker 1: Because if I come down and talk to you, it

464
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,119
Speaker 1: will invite me into the sabotage of the self destructive

465
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:23,640
Speaker 1: patterns that this conversation will initiate. I'll be discouraged, I'll

466
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 1: be discredited. How well do you know yourself in order

467
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:36,720
Speaker 1: to realize, oh, this is an invitation from the enemy.

468
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 1: How many of you got an invitation from the enemy

469
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:44,239
Speaker 1: this week and the rest of you just got an

470
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 1: invitation from the enemy to lie in church. I hate

471
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 1: it when they do that. I don't know. I've actually

472
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 1: been praising him this week and rejoicing in him. He

473
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:04,920
Speaker 1: is my rock, and I get these invitations at the

474
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:09,960
Speaker 1: strangest times when I'm making progress. When I get the

475
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,480
Speaker 1: wall built, get the wall belt, get a little win,

476
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,400
Speaker 1: you know, feeling pretty good, getting ready to go forward. Okay,

477
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 1: maybe I will forgive them and then I see them.

478
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:27,600
Speaker 1: I noticed that all through scripture, you know, right when

479
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 1: they get to the Red Sea. Pharaoh's like, I'm not

480
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,040
Speaker 1: so sure I want to let them go. That's because

481
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 1: they are all most gone. Sometimes when the enemy starts

482
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: talking to you, crazy stuff, discouraging stuff, workless stuff, distracting stuff,

483
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 1: that's how close you are. And yeah, yeah, yeah, that's

484
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 1: how close you are that he's inviting you back. Look,

485
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: the wall is built, so sand balletnos. If they get

486
00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 1: the wall built, all the trade is going to start

487
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:02,640
Speaker 1: going through Rusalem, not through Samaria. I'm gonna lose money

488
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:06,160
Speaker 1: if I let them go. Huh, come on down and

489
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 1: talk to me a little bit. Let's just talk about it,

490
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 1: No big deal. Just talk a little bit about it.

491
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 1: Because the devil isn't dumb enough to show off your

492
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,840
Speaker 1: door with face paint on, looking like the Joker, laughing

493
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:19,800
Speaker 1: all crazy to talk to you about destroying your life

494
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:27,880
Speaker 1: just to get you to crack the door. Hmm. I

495
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 1: don't know if I want to hear this today, Pastor Stephen,

496
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 1: because when you said the door, I thought you were

497
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,360
Speaker 1: saying about like the door of the opportunities that God

498
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 1: has for me, Like you know, like God has shut

499
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 1: to open the door that nobody can shut. I'm looking

500
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: for God to open the door for me because you know,

501
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 1: I'm an entrepreneur, is what it is. And I just

502
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 1: need the Lord to open the door for me, because

503
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 1: you know, people don't really see my giftedness and our work.

504
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 1: They really don't understand what I'm capable of. But you know,

505
00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: I'm anointed. I'm anointed, I'm it. I'm annoying it. I'm

506
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 1: annoying from the top of my head to the soles

507
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,200
Speaker 1: of my feet. But nobody, I just need the Lord

508
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:08,360
Speaker 1: to open the door. I just need the opportunity. I've

509
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:10,600
Speaker 1: been wanting to sing up there on that stage, Pastor Steven,

510
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:12,520
Speaker 1: but I need a place to try out, because I

511
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:14,200
Speaker 1: really am a good singer, better than some man the

512
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 1: people you have up there. Right now, I'll tell you

513
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:17,600
Speaker 1: that right now, I'm Pastor you and I just get

514
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 1: an open door. If I just get a chance, I

515
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:23,480
Speaker 1: just get meeting. Okay, that's fine. God God opens doors, Okay,

516
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,400
Speaker 1: let's all shot real quick that God opens doors. Let's

517
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:28,560
Speaker 1: get it out of our system. God opens doors, now,

518
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:37,480
Speaker 1: shout about it. Y'all are the most episcopal, non denominational

519
00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 1: church I've ever appreciated in my life. Y'all are Presbyterian today.

520
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: I'll know. Sometimes I think y'all meet in the lobby today.

521
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:48,959
Speaker 1: Let's give him Pentecostal today, Presbyterian. We're gonna be Catholic today.

522
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 1: I don't know what y'all do out there. And watch this,

523
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,600
Speaker 1: watch this, watch this. Because you belong to the light,

524
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 1: not the darkness. When the enemy invites you, you don't

525
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 1: have to go. You don't have to go. If you

526
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,880
Speaker 1: belong to Jesus. There are some scriptures that apply to

527
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,680
Speaker 1: you that do not apply to those who don't call

528
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: on his name. So you get to say, greater that

529
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:26,040
Speaker 1: is than he. So the devil says, come on down here,

530
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 1: and let's talk about how weak you are. Oh, no,

531
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 1: greater is he that is in me? Then I'm doing

532
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,080
Speaker 1: a great work for God. God's doing a great work

533
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 1: in me. I can't be distracted right now by that.

534
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 1: You have got power because of the spirit, not your

535
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 1: own self power, self will none of that I'm not

536
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:54,720
Speaker 1: talking about that that will put you in the fetal position,

537
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,160
Speaker 1: sucking your thumb eating macaroni and cheese for the next

538
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:03,000
Speaker 1: sixteen days. I'm talking about what Neemiah knew. I'm doing

539
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: a great work for God. I'm doing a great work

540
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: for God, and God is doing a great work in me.

541
00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 1: So the enemy's invitation one way. The Lord showed it

542
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:22,800
Speaker 1: to me. He said, it's an invitation, not a subpoena.

543
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 1: Satan can't subpoena you. He can't tell you you have

544
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 1: to do anything. The devil made me do it. I

545
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,640
Speaker 1: don't think he did. I think you went to Trader Joe's.

546
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,120
Speaker 1: I think you bought the chips. I think you bought

547
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 1: two bags. I think you ate both of them. I

548
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: didn't see the devil put anything in the cart or

549
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 1: pay for it. I'm keeping it PG. That's why I'm

550
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:51,320
Speaker 1: talking about food. We could go way deeper with this

551
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:56,640
Speaker 1: if this was a men's conference, Okay, Delilah, we could

552
00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 1: talk about all kinds of stuff if it was a

553
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 1: men's conference early in the morning for me to do

554
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. But think about it. Think about it.

555
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 1: While he's making progress for God. The enemy gives him

556
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:13,400
Speaker 1: an invitation, and the way he responds to that invitation,

557
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 1: not reacts to his feelings, is going to be the

558
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:21,439
Speaker 1: most important thing about what happens next, because remember, he's

559
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:25,719
Speaker 1: built the wall, but there's no doors. The Lord said,

560
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 1: I was going to be speaking to somebody today who

561
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:33,480
Speaker 1: loves Jesus making progress. You've seen some freedom in your

562
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:37,400
Speaker 1: life when you came to Jesus. You gave up the

563
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 1: things that you didn't like, and now he's working on

564
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:49,239
Speaker 1: the stuff that you do. But you keep waiting on

565
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:53,440
Speaker 1: God to take struggles away out of your life, any addiction,

566
00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:58,279
Speaker 1: any pattern that's between you and God. I won't sit

567
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 1: here and name everything start listing it, but I want

568
00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 1: to show you today what Nehemiah did at a vulnerable time. Now,

569
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:16,000
Speaker 1: nothing is vulnerable unless it's valuable. When did they start

570
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,919
Speaker 1: the attacks when the wall started going up. Nobody messed

571
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 1: with Jerusalem when it was lying in ruins. And the

572
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:24,879
Speaker 1: devil will never mess with you as long as you're

573
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: serving him. He brings you water. The devil will rub

574
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:32,840
Speaker 1: the sunscreen on you if you go out there and

575
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:39,640
Speaker 1: serve him. Hm oh no, oh, yes he will, Yeah,

576
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:43,080
Speaker 1: he absolutely will. The devil won't tell you. No, the

577
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 1: devil won't tell your flesh. No, the devil won't the

578
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:48,000
Speaker 1: devil won't mess with you at all. But as the

579
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,919
Speaker 1: resistance kicks in in your life, when you really start

580
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:54,240
Speaker 1: getting to a different level, and you really start pursuing

581
00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 1: something different than just satisfying your own flesh, that's when

582
00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 1: it kicks in progress. For God, all this built, but

583
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:04,800
Speaker 1: the doors aren't in yet, he said, I was vulnerable

584
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:09,400
Speaker 1: to the attack in that moment because the doors weren't there.

585
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:17,360
Speaker 1: How about your doors? How about your doors? Wide open,

586
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 1: tightly shut door, the doors of your heart. What you

587
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:26,640
Speaker 1: let in, what you let out. I'm gonna need to

588
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,360
Speaker 1: move this from the metaphorical level. How about your social

589
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:35,880
Speaker 1: media intake levels? Wide open, tightly shut. Give me a visual.

590
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 1: This is whide open, this is tightly shut. How you

591
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:40,520
Speaker 1: doing with the doors? Me? Show me how you're doing

592
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 1: in your doors. We'll start with the social media doors.

593
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,239
Speaker 1: All right, all right, let's do the diet doors. The

594
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:51,480
Speaker 1: diet doors. How's the diet doors? How's it doing? All right?

595
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:54,200
Speaker 1: All right? All right, all right, all right? How about

596
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 1: how about the judge not less ev also judge doors.

597
00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:02,359
Speaker 1: How's how's those doors doing. I had a weird door

598
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 1: the other day that the Lord was dealing with me about.

599
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,560
Speaker 1: Ever I say doors, I'm talking about doors. I know

600
00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:11,600
Speaker 1: it sounds so boring, but some of the biggest breakthroughs

601
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:13,680
Speaker 1: in your life will be from boring stuff that you

602
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:18,839
Speaker 1: don't want to do. I could pick five thousand scriptures

603
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:20,640
Speaker 1: that people would shout over when I read them, and

604
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:22,760
Speaker 1: Niemiah seven isn't one of them because I was preaching

605
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 1: about doors. Nobody ever shouted over a door. But if

606
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:30,040
Speaker 1: I preached on the walls of Jericho and they shouted

607
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:33,920
Speaker 1: and they fell, we would all shout over walls that

608
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,600
Speaker 1: fall down. But what do I do after they fall?

609
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:42,240
Speaker 1: I still gotta fight. We shout over all the wrong stuff.

610
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,680
Speaker 1: You should be shouting. If they got the doors in,

611
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:54,680
Speaker 1: shout conse they got the doors in, because you are

612
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,640
Speaker 1: gonna be so happy when you get your doors in place.

613
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,360
Speaker 1: I could almost see it this week when I was praying,

614
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:04,480
Speaker 1: I wasn't just studying with books. I was praying, God,

615
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:06,880
Speaker 1: show me why these people are so vulnerable to the

616
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:09,799
Speaker 1: enemy's attack. Show me why I am, he said, because

617
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,760
Speaker 1: you always focus on the attack. You never do anything

618
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:21,880
Speaker 1: about it before it comes. You have no doors, no priorities,

619
00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:26,040
Speaker 1: no order, everything is important. Want to go to church today?

620
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,120
Speaker 1: While yeah, I guess so. The boat's in the shop

621
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:30,840
Speaker 1: and there's no kids having any games, and the weather's

622
00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,440
Speaker 1: kind of like too hot to be outside, or weather's

623
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:35,520
Speaker 1: too cold to be The weather has to be like

624
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: perfectly mediocre to get people in the South to come

625
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:42,719
Speaker 1: to church. No priority to it, no priority to it.

626
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 1: I'm not fussing, Yes I am. I'm fussing at you

627
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:49,080
Speaker 1: because I am tired of the devil just coming in,

628
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:53,279
Speaker 1: picking off you, picking off your kids, just stripping you

629
00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:56,920
Speaker 1: of everything God gave you. Cause you let the door

630
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 1: all backed because you don't know what time it is.

631
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 1: Couse you don't know what you've got inside of you.

632
00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 1: Guse you don't know how valuable it is. Couse you

633
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 1: don't know who you are, how doing a great work.

634
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:19,120
Speaker 1: I love to preach Beddie. I'm gonna help somebody to dead.

635
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:22,879
Speaker 1: It's the doors. It's not the devil. It's the same

636
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:26,920
Speaker 1: devil that somebody else isn't giving into same devil, but

637
00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:32,960
Speaker 1: they have doors. I asked her one time, how do

638
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:36,560
Speaker 1: you not be so negative? Amy? I said, how you

639
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,279
Speaker 1: not be negative. I need to learn, now how do

640
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:40,000
Speaker 1: you do it? And Chunk says like she just doesn't

641
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:44,560
Speaker 1: pay any attention to anybody else is doing. Huh, that's

642
00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:49,200
Speaker 1: kind of cool. So she has like a closed door

643
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:53,480
Speaker 1: policy on judging what somebody else ought to be doing

644
00:39:53,480 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: with their life. Well that might help me, Holly the

645
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:05,760
Speaker 1: other day, in a moment of vulnerability, something that I needed,

646
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:08,960
Speaker 1: not from her. She's amazing something that I felt like

647
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:14,960
Speaker 1: I needed from God. This woman is so bold. Oh man,

648
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: Now she's always saying nice stuff. She was always saying

649
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,080
Speaker 1: stuff like this. I wouldn't be able to hear it,

650
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:22,520
Speaker 1: but it was just like a different tone. She just

651
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:25,600
Speaker 1: shifted the tone all of a sudden. She said, well,

652
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,520
Speaker 1: if God gave you that, you wouldn't do anything with it.

653
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 1: Now before I could close my heart in that moment,

654
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:47,440
Speaker 1: or I can realize she is so exactly right that

655
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:51,320
Speaker 1: the way I received this correction, or I could say,

656
00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:54,560
Speaker 1: get behind me, sand Ballet to Baya and Geesham, I'm

657
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:56,960
Speaker 1: doing a great work. What good is that going to

658
00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,360
Speaker 1: just close the door on the person who's closed to me,

659
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,080
Speaker 1: who's telling me, I'm watching your life and you got

660
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:05,200
Speaker 1: a pattern and you're not going to get any power

661
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:12,319
Speaker 1: till you change the pattern. So I tested it. You

662
00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 1: ever read it about Gideon in the Bible. He put

663
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:15,960
Speaker 1: a fleece out before the Lord. He said, Lord, it

664
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,320
Speaker 1: is really you, and he put it through a series

665
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:22,319
Speaker 1: of tests. They call it fleecing the Lord fleece test

666
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:24,080
Speaker 1: and see if this is really God or not. So

667
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: I'll put out a fleece, I said, give me an

668
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,239
Speaker 1: example of one time I had the chance to do that.

669
00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 1: You're like, you're being really obscure. We don't know what

670
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 1: you're talking about exactly. It's personal, she said. I said,

671
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:38,680
Speaker 1: give me example. She said, the exact one that had

672
00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:42,320
Speaker 1: just happened the day before. Okay, I'll tell you what

673
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:46,080
Speaker 1: it was, not specifically, but enough where you can get

674
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,960
Speaker 1: the taste of it. It was letting new people in

675
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:55,880
Speaker 1: my life. I don't trust anybody. I got a closed

676
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 1: door policy from anybody that I didn't know back when

677
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:03,960
Speaker 1: my hair was platinum blonde or buzzed off. That's what

678
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:06,759
Speaker 1: we were talking about. She said. You know, you keep

679
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:08,680
Speaker 1: asking this and that God to show you new things

680
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:10,759
Speaker 1: and do new things. Even if God sent them, you

681
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:15,799
Speaker 1: wouldn't trust them and let them in She's saying, it's

682
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:20,959
Speaker 1: your door is locked so tight that God can send

683
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:27,239
Speaker 1: answers and you won't open. It's your door, I said.

684
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 1: Give me an example. She named the person that had

685
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,319
Speaker 1: texted me the day before that I didn't text back

686
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:35,680
Speaker 1: because I don't trust them. Yet she named them. She

687
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:37,600
Speaker 1: didn't know they texted me. I don't think she went

688
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:39,440
Speaker 1: through my phone and found it. She just said it

689
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:43,520
Speaker 1: like a prophet. But you see what I'm saying, is

690
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:47,000
Speaker 1: your door. It's not that God didn't give the opportunity.

691
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 1: I didn't open the door to it. And that happens.

692
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:55,200
Speaker 1: And God works in waves. See, first came back some

693
00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:58,960
Speaker 1: Rubb a Belle, then came Ezra, then came Nearmiah. He

694
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,920
Speaker 1: did all these things in ways. He works in waves

695
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:04,200
Speaker 1: in your life. And you have to be open to

696
00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:09,799
Speaker 1: what God is doing now. You have to. But at

697
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:14,240
Speaker 1: the same time that Neamiah is celebrating this awesome victory

698
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:16,920
Speaker 1: with the exiles that have come back, I mean even

699
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:20,239
Speaker 1: that he could have been so discouraged that only ten

700
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,520
Speaker 1: percent of the people came back from Babylon. I don't

701
00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:24,960
Speaker 1: know if you knew that or not. They didn't all

702
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:28,400
Speaker 1: come back after seventy years, some died, some had already

703
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:30,960
Speaker 1: built nice homes. Some of them had never even really

704
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,799
Speaker 1: heard that much about Jerusalem. So now he's working with

705
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:36,880
Speaker 1: the remnant of what's left. But he's not discouraged. He builds.

706
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:40,239
Speaker 1: He's attacked, but he's not discouraged. He builds. He refuses

707
00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:44,400
Speaker 1: to let the door of discouragement lead him into the

708
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:48,680
Speaker 1: depths of despair. And I think the way he was

709
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:52,680
Speaker 1: able to do that is in chapter seven, verse one

710
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:57,200
Speaker 1: through three, very clearly enunciated. He calls a meeting. He's like,

711
00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:01,200
Speaker 1: let me tell you what we're gonna do. Sambalot, Tobia Gosham.

712
00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:03,759
Speaker 1: They're not going to stop. And I say that over you.

713
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:08,520
Speaker 1: These thoughts of insecurity, these pangs of worry, these problems

714
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:10,960
Speaker 1: that go on in your head, they are not going

715
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:16,799
Speaker 1: to stop. Okay, they will. They will daily, sometimes in

716
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,640
Speaker 1: certain seasons, sometimes in your high moments, sometimes when in

717
00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 1: your low moments. What I'm basically trying to say is

718
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,640
Speaker 1: that the enemy is going to attack you at all times.

719
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:29,319
Speaker 1: You're not gonna make it through the season. I'm just

720
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:31,440
Speaker 1: going through an attack right now. Well, I knew that

721
00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:33,839
Speaker 1: because you're breathing, you know how I knew you were

722
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:36,799
Speaker 1: under attack. You are above ground. We are not at

723
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:40,600
Speaker 1: your funeral, So I assume the attack. But the question is,

724
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:43,640
Speaker 1: what are you doing about the attack to make sure

725
00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:46,080
Speaker 1: that you don't have to fight the devil hand to hand.

726
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,480
Speaker 1: It's harder to fight him once you let him right

727
00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:55,000
Speaker 1: there in your living room. It's harder to fight him

728
00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:57,480
Speaker 1: once you let him so close. I'm telling you, the

729
00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:59,880
Speaker 1: devil is a grappler. That's what he wants is to

730
00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:01,960
Speaker 1: get at you, bite your throat. That's what he wants

731
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,240
Speaker 1: us to get you an isolation, that's what he wants

732
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 1: us to get you, saying, well, I just do church online. Now.

733
00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:09,000
Speaker 1: I don't go anymore because you know, cyber stopp going

734
00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:10,920
Speaker 1: in pandemic, and I really don't pay attention while he's

735
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 1: on there because there's fifty things going on. But I

736
00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:15,240
Speaker 1: don't come anymore. Everybody who came to church physically clap.

737
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:23,240
Speaker 1: I am applauding you for being there me and Mayah

738
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 1: was like, look, can I come down here? Can I? Okay,

739
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:31,000
Speaker 1: I don't want to make sure I won't scare y'all

740
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:35,759
Speaker 1: come over here? Can I? Y'all not used to seeing me?

741
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 1: That's close? I look shorter like this, don't I look

742
00:45:40,239 --> 00:45:45,439
Speaker 1: bigger on the screen, that's for sure. Hey, I'm going

743
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:49,360
Speaker 1: to these doors real quick. Come on, come with me,

744
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 1: you mighty man of God. Come with me, mighty man

745
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,520
Speaker 1: of God. You be yeah, yeah, come on, doctor g

746
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:59,640
Speaker 1: come on. I need han I and Hanna and Aya

747
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,120
Speaker 1: hann and I and hanan Andayah. That's in neamyah. Yeah,

748
00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:04,919
Speaker 1: this is gonna be good. I got the right guys.

749
00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:07,040
Speaker 1: You think I got the right guys. You think I

750
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:08,919
Speaker 1: got the right guy? You got me. If they mess

751
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,440
Speaker 1: this illustration up, I'll come back for you. Put up

752
00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:14,279
Speaker 1: Neamijah seven one through three, because this is what we

753
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:18,120
Speaker 1: gotta do. The Bible says, guard your heart. Everything you

754
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:20,560
Speaker 1: do flows from it above all else. Guard your heart

755
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:27,480
Speaker 1: above all else. So here's the door, and we'll just

756
00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:34,040
Speaker 1: use it to illustrate. Hanna and I Han and Iyah

757
00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:38,239
Speaker 1: Hanna and I Han and iyah Nia. Maiah said, look,

758
00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:41,600
Speaker 1: give me Niamyah seven to one. I want to illustrate this.

759
00:46:42,239 --> 00:46:44,080
Speaker 1: I don't know why I picked the door farthest away

760
00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:45,480
Speaker 1: for us to come all the way up too. That's

761
00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:48,160
Speaker 1: just the one up there that was kind of dumb.

762
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:51,319
Speaker 1: But here we are. How y'all doing. Did I come

763
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,880
Speaker 1: to the right side of the church. How's your doors?

764
00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:57,680
Speaker 1: Has the devil been knocking at your door trying to

765
00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:02,359
Speaker 1: discourage you to tell you ain't crap? But he says

766
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:04,440
Speaker 1: it's stronger than that. But if I said what he

767
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:07,160
Speaker 1: really said in church, you wouldn't. You would turn it off?

768
00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:13,400
Speaker 1: Is that it come on meet with us on the

769
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:17,279
Speaker 1: planes of Oh no sa and keep you from doing

770
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 1: what you're gonna do. So I could keep you from

771
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:24,239
Speaker 1: raising your daughter because you keep thinking you can't. That's

772
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:28,000
Speaker 1: an invitation from the enemy. And you got the wall built.

773
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 1: But I just got to wonder about your doors. The

774
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:36,399
Speaker 1: Lord has been speaking to me about my doors. He said,

775
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 1: it's your doors that's the issue. And look me, am,

776
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:45,360
Speaker 1: I said, I got the gatekeepers, the musicians, and the Levites.

777
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:52,200
Speaker 1: Are you a singer? Okay, that's good, that's self awareness, right,

778
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:56,520
Speaker 1: he knows his doors. He's like, uh uh, this door

779
00:47:56,600 --> 00:48:00,160
Speaker 1: right here. You don't want to hear me saying you

780
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:02,359
Speaker 1: one thing though, the Levites go back to Verse one,

781
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,680
Speaker 1: show us real quick, enter his gates with thanksgiving, enter

782
00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:10,879
Speaker 1: his courts with praise. So this is a unique move

783
00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:13,080
Speaker 1: that I kind of like you up here with y'all.

784
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 1: This is a unique This is a now always look

785
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:16,799
Speaker 1: at them down there, and this is kind of fun,

786
00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:19,080
Speaker 1: you know, change it up. This is a unique move

787
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:21,360
Speaker 1: because the Levites were supposed to sing in front of

788
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:26,440
Speaker 1: the temple. But drastic times call for drastic measures, and

789
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:29,880
Speaker 1: the Amiah knows we're very vulnerable right now. So the

790
00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:32,880
Speaker 1: Levites who led the praise service, who led the people

791
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:35,759
Speaker 1: in praise, he moved them out to the gates of

792
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:40,479
Speaker 1: the city to set a tone that we need God's help,

793
00:48:41,719 --> 00:48:45,000
Speaker 1: that we need God's glory, that we need God's protection,

794
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:50,160
Speaker 1: we need God's wisdom, we need God's prospecta. So he

795
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:53,720
Speaker 1: moves the Levites out. He's like, I know y'all normally

796
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:55,959
Speaker 1: sing at the temple, but for now, I need y'all

797
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,640
Speaker 1: at the gate. And you have to set praise at

798
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:02,560
Speaker 1: the gate in your life sometime to just get up

799
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:05,359
Speaker 1: and almost if you even have to fake it, fake it.

800
00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:09,560
Speaker 1: If you have to fake it, fake it. Sometimes driving

801
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:11,759
Speaker 1: to church, it's real early when I get here, and

802
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:14,600
Speaker 1: I won't feel my sermon, but I'll just start driving

803
00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:16,920
Speaker 1: down the road like I do. I'm thinking about my sermon.

804
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:21,320
Speaker 1: I'm not feeling it, I'll just start going whoa, whoa, whoap.

805
00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:24,239
Speaker 1: And my car's not self driving, so I'm taking my

806
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 1: hands off the wheel every time I clap, So I

807
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:28,719
Speaker 1: gotta be careful start slapping my leg or something. But

808
00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:31,719
Speaker 1: I have to put the levites or the praise at

809
00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:35,799
Speaker 1: the gate because I can't get here and wait to

810
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:38,719
Speaker 1: see how y'all feel, to see how I'm going to

811
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:42,360
Speaker 1: preach and do my job. So I gotta put praise

812
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:46,080
Speaker 1: at the gate enterest dates to see what I'm saying.

813
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:54,560
Speaker 1: But these these guys weren't weren't levites, these were guards.

814
00:49:55,560 --> 00:49:56,920
Speaker 1: And he didn't just put him at the gate. He

815
00:49:56,960 --> 00:50:01,640
Speaker 1: gave instructions. Look at verse two so powerful. Wow. Never

816
00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:05,920
Speaker 1: saw me a Maya seven before I put Hanna and

817
00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:12,320
Speaker 1: I and Han Andaya because you had integrity and fear God.

818
00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:16,680
Speaker 1: Verse three says I told them the gates are not

819
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:23,359
Speaker 1: to be opened until the sun is high. That's unorthodox,

820
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:26,319
Speaker 1: because you're supposed to open the gates when the sun

821
00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:31,600
Speaker 1: comes up. He said, we're under attack right now, so

822
00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:35,000
Speaker 1: I need you to keep the gates shut until we

823
00:50:35,080 --> 00:50:41,800
Speaker 1: have full light and until everybody is wide awake, because

824
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,439
Speaker 1: I know we we're vulnerable, and I can't just open

825
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:47,879
Speaker 1: the gates right now because the enemies are threatened because

826
00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:52,840
Speaker 1: we're making progress. Hear me, Your enemy is threatened because

827
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:58,400
Speaker 1: you're making progress. It's threatened. That's what the attack is about.

828
00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:04,120
Speaker 1: What it's been about. Oh, that's just picking on me. No,

829
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:08,360
Speaker 1: he's not just picking on you. He has actually studied you.

830
00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:11,760
Speaker 1: He is more aware of you than you are aware

831
00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:15,680
Speaker 1: of you. Your proclivities, your patterns, your past. He knows

832
00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:19,239
Speaker 1: all of that because he is after your purpose. If

833
00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:21,879
Speaker 1: the wall isn't built, he doesn't come to wage war.

834
00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:25,040
Speaker 1: That's what it's been about. Listen to me. That's what

835
00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:29,560
Speaker 1: this is about. That's what the attack is about. So

836
00:51:29,680 --> 00:51:32,879
Speaker 1: ni Amayah is like, Okay, this is an unusual time.

837
00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:35,360
Speaker 1: We're going to do an unusual thing. Keep these gates

838
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:39,360
Speaker 1: shut until the sun is hot, until it's hot, basically

839
00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:42,760
Speaker 1: saying until noon, keep the gates shut, keep him shut

840
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:45,320
Speaker 1: a little while longer. So let me ask you something.

841
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:48,280
Speaker 1: In this season of your life where you've been struggling

842
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:51,239
Speaker 1: with depression, some of you been having panic attacks, some

843
00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:53,799
Speaker 1: of you been having waves of anxiety. I mean, who

844
00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:56,839
Speaker 1: doesn't some of you have been having suicidal thoughts. Some

845
00:51:56,920 --> 00:51:59,920
Speaker 1: of you not suicidal, but it's just like hard to explain.

846
00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:03,520
Speaker 1: It's like a low flying, low grade sense that you

847
00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:06,279
Speaker 1: can't get any victory and sustain it. So I want

848
00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:08,680
Speaker 1: to tell you something you can do. Keep the door

849
00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:15,640
Speaker 1: shut while it's dark. Keep the door shut while it's dark.

850
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:22,960
Speaker 1: Put a time frame on it. I don't care seven days.

851
00:52:23,239 --> 00:52:26,080
Speaker 1: I'm not looking at anything on social media till I

852
00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:34,000
Speaker 1: read a scripture. All the applause, just talk. Y'all. Act

853
00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:36,080
Speaker 1: like I told y'all to go on a pilgrimage to

854
00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:38,239
Speaker 1: Jerusalem to the whole. You act like I told you

855
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:39,840
Speaker 1: to die on the cross. I'm not talking about a

856
00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:42,440
Speaker 1: crown of thorns. I'm talking about keeping the gates shut

857
00:52:44,360 --> 00:52:48,239
Speaker 1: until you have liked. That's why you gotta start your

858
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:55,000
Speaker 1: day with God. That's your door. I don't care how

859
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,120
Speaker 1: many of y'all wake up at crazy times of the

860
00:52:57,200 --> 00:53:01,280
Speaker 1: night thinking crazy thoughts. What a sermon on your phone

861
00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:02,839
Speaker 1: and put it in your ear till you go back

862
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:07,399
Speaker 1: to sleep. Keep the doors closed in the dark. That's

863
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:09,600
Speaker 1: not the time for you to be alone. You don't

864
00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:12,279
Speaker 1: even have to. I will preach to you. I will

865
00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:15,840
Speaker 1: do pillow talk with you. Through the phone, through the phone,

866
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:20,000
Speaker 1: through the app on YouTube. I'll talk you through it,

867
00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:23,000
Speaker 1: or another preacher that you like better, who doesn't scream

868
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:30,800
Speaker 1: so much. But keep the door shut when it starts.

869
00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:35,879
Speaker 1: You need light to fight the enemy. Holly, you hear

870
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:40,840
Speaker 1: me down there, baby, I'm telling them it's the door.

871
00:53:41,680 --> 00:53:44,680
Speaker 1: Your thoughts are the door, your eyes are the door,

872
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:49,600
Speaker 1: your ears are the door. Dude. I do not just

873
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:53,880
Speaker 1: let anybody talk to me about anything. I don't rebuke them,

874
00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:57,680
Speaker 1: but I pivot. People always want to come up to

875
00:53:57,719 --> 00:54:00,600
Speaker 1: me and talk about other churches and other men and

876
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:02,880
Speaker 1: how this person fell in that and the other. And

877
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:06,640
Speaker 1: I'm like, hold up, man, look at me, Amia seven three,

878
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:09,200
Speaker 1: this is me, he said. Put some of them on

879
00:54:09,239 --> 00:54:11,160
Speaker 1: the post and look at the end of the verse,

880
00:54:11,360 --> 00:54:18,439
Speaker 1: and some near their own houses. That's my verse, that's

881
00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:21,680
Speaker 1: my verse. I gotta guard my own house. I gotta

882
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:25,160
Speaker 1: guard my own heart. I'm not letting that door come in.

883
00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:28,719
Speaker 1: You know, the door to feeling really horrible about yourself

884
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:32,799
Speaker 1: is through judging others, because now you're going to become

885
00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:38,000
Speaker 1: a victim of your own judgments. Can y'all handle a

886
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:43,480
Speaker 1: little bit more? I mean, here's the door you gotta go,

887
00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:45,879
Speaker 1: and you just gotta go. You gotta go through hand

888
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:49,319
Speaker 1: and eye and hand and I. But you, I think

889
00:54:49,320 --> 00:54:51,560
Speaker 1: we should put some real bodyguards at the doors for

890
00:54:51,560 --> 00:54:56,200
Speaker 1: people who leave in the invitation of my sermon. I mean,

891
00:54:56,239 --> 00:55:05,480
Speaker 1: some real bodyguards who are barely saved leave during my invitation.

892
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:10,080
Speaker 1: But think about this door, and this may not be

893
00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:12,200
Speaker 1: the best store to do it. But I'll ask you

894
00:55:12,239 --> 00:55:22,520
Speaker 1: a question. Is this door closed? Is it open? Hen

895
00:55:22,640 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 1: and I? He said, it's cracked and cracked? Isn't closed? Cracked?

896
00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:35,359
Speaker 1: Isn't closed? For the season you're in right now. Look,

897
00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:37,960
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you go home and only watch Disney movies.

898
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:41,920
Speaker 1: That's not what I'm preaching about today. But I'm saying

899
00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:45,120
Speaker 1: for some of the attacks you've been under, the ones

900
00:55:45,160 --> 00:55:49,120
Speaker 1: that really matter, because they concern your purpose. He said,

901
00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:51,840
Speaker 1: make sure not only that they don't open the doors

902
00:55:52,960 --> 00:55:54,799
Speaker 1: until it's noon, so we can fight in the light,

903
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:56,879
Speaker 1: not in the darkness. Because the enemy wants to fight

904
00:55:56,920 --> 00:55:59,960
Speaker 1: you in the darkness. He wants to fight your loaning one,

905
00:56:00,160 --> 00:56:01,719
Speaker 1: to fight you in ignorance, He wants to fight you

906
00:56:01,760 --> 00:56:04,400
Speaker 1: in despair. But look at verse three. It also says,

907
00:56:04,480 --> 00:56:08,000
Speaker 1: before the guards go off, duty. Okay, fell us, before

908
00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:12,200
Speaker 1: you go off duty, have them shut the doors and

909
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:15,640
Speaker 1: bar them. And to bar them means put your hand

910
00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:21,480
Speaker 1: on it and make sure it's shut. Make sure it's shut.

911
00:56:23,920 --> 00:56:26,960
Speaker 1: God is going to put some of you in a

912
00:56:27,080 --> 00:56:40,560
Speaker 1: season of shut up. I probably shouldn't say that, but

913
00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:43,279
Speaker 1: I was reading Joshua six one when they went in

914
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:46,000
Speaker 1: the walls of Jericho. And look what Joshua six one

915
00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:50,160
Speaker 1: said in the King James English. Now, the city of

916
00:56:50,239 --> 00:56:57,000
Speaker 1: Jericho was straightly shut up. Come on, pastor, that's not

917
00:56:57,040 --> 00:56:59,359
Speaker 1: what it means. It means that nobody was coming and going.

918
00:56:59,360 --> 00:57:01,239
Speaker 1: I know. But look at verse ten what Joshua told

919
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:04,280
Speaker 1: them to do. While they marched around those walls. Joshua

920
00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:08,200
Speaker 1: commanded the people, saying, you shall not shout nor make

921
00:57:08,320 --> 00:57:12,360
Speaker 1: any noise with your voice. Neither shall any word proceed

922
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:14,759
Speaker 1: out of your mouth until the day I bid you shop,

923
00:57:14,880 --> 00:57:19,760
Speaker 1: then shall you shall. Because I'm concerned if you just

924
00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:23,080
Speaker 1: say what you feel in this season, you are going

925
00:57:23,160 --> 00:57:34,600
Speaker 1: to speak yourself right into Satan's attack. I'm in a

926
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:39,080
Speaker 1: season of shut up because what God has for me

927
00:57:39,200 --> 00:57:41,440
Speaker 1: is too great. Right. He brought me to Jericho. This

928
00:57:41,480 --> 00:57:43,520
Speaker 1: is the first city of the promised Land, and God said,

929
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:46,640
Speaker 1: I need you to just take a sabbatical right now

930
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:50,040
Speaker 1: from other people's opinions. That's your door. You can't stop

931
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,880
Speaker 1: them from posting, you can't stop them from talking, you

932
00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:55,960
Speaker 1: can't stop them from hating, you can't stop them from disliking.

933
00:57:56,160 --> 00:58:00,560
Speaker 1: You can't stop them from being idiots. But it's your

934
00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:04,520
Speaker 1: door that lets their voice in. Even if they talk

935
00:58:04,560 --> 00:58:06,920
Speaker 1: around you, it doesn't have to get in you. Come on.

936
00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:10,520
Speaker 1: You know I'm preaching the truth. This is why you're quiet. Okay,

937
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:13,960
Speaker 1: let's do it. Let's do it. Don't shout, Just everybody

938
00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:18,560
Speaker 1: close your door. You know how many times I had

939
00:58:18,560 --> 00:58:20,440
Speaker 1: to do this this week while the Holy Spirit was

940
00:58:20,440 --> 00:58:23,640
Speaker 1: giving me this message. I mean, I start to complain

941
00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:26,520
Speaker 1: and I'm just letting it out right. No, you're letting

942
00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:32,400
Speaker 1: it in because your words have power. And you keep

943
00:58:32,400 --> 00:58:36,720
Speaker 1: describing the same problem, these stupid walls of Jericho, all

944
00:58:36,840 --> 00:58:41,920
Speaker 1: this stupid situation, all this inflation, all these gas prices.

945
00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:45,560
Speaker 1: That's a good icebreaker for like three weeks. But come on,

946
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:48,439
Speaker 1: is that all we're ever gonna talk to each other

947
00:58:48,560 --> 00:58:51,720
Speaker 1: about is what's wrong? Maybe God wants to put you

948
00:58:51,840 --> 00:58:58,640
Speaker 1: in a season of shut up so he can bring

949
00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:14,440
Speaker 1: you into a season of shouting. Listen, it's not the

950
00:59:14,440 --> 00:59:17,720
Speaker 1: devil defeating you. He doesn't have any power over you

951
00:59:17,840 --> 00:59:20,400
Speaker 1: that you don't give him, not with Jesus inside of you.

952
00:59:21,720 --> 00:59:23,680
Speaker 1: So we've got to get serious about our joy. We

953
00:59:23,760 --> 00:59:25,120
Speaker 1: got to get serious about our peace. We got to

954
00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:27,120
Speaker 1: get serious about our mind. We've got to get serious

955
00:59:27,160 --> 00:59:29,240
Speaker 1: about our sanity. We've got to get serious about our

956
00:59:29,240 --> 00:59:33,000
Speaker 1: mental health. We got to get serious about all this stuff.

957
00:59:33,160 --> 00:59:36,600
Speaker 1: And God is bringing a prophet to you today. Like

958
00:59:36,640 --> 00:59:39,160
Speaker 1: Holly said to me, what would you do with it?

959
00:59:39,720 --> 00:59:42,800
Speaker 1: Even if God gave it to you? If God gave

960
00:59:42,840 --> 00:59:47,440
Speaker 1: you peace, would you protect it? If God gave you

961
00:59:47,520 --> 00:59:53,720
Speaker 1: a relationship, would you defend it? How is the city

962
00:59:53,800 --> 00:59:58,720
Speaker 1: of your soul? I'm walking around today just wondering, how's

963
00:59:58,760 --> 01:00:02,000
Speaker 1: it going in there? You got those doors up yet?

964
01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:05,160
Speaker 1: I want to see you next week. Next week. I'll

965
01:00:05,160 --> 01:00:07,120
Speaker 1: probably be here next week, how about you? And I

966
01:00:07,280 --> 01:00:09,800
Speaker 1: just want to be like, where did you close the

967
01:00:09,840 --> 01:00:12,880
Speaker 1: door this week? And just go like, you know what, man,

968
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:15,480
Speaker 1: you don't even have to offend anybody. You do not

969
01:00:15,720 --> 01:00:17,680
Speaker 1: need to go up to people. This week. It's love

970
01:00:17,720 --> 01:00:20,400
Speaker 1: week for crying out loud don't go up to people like, nah,

971
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:22,480
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm in the season is shut up? You

972
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:24,640
Speaker 1: shut up, and I can't talk to you anymore. You're toxic.

973
01:00:26,360 --> 01:00:31,160
Speaker 1: But I'm saying, are we praying for God to deliver

974
01:00:31,360 --> 01:00:35,080
Speaker 1: us from devils that he has given us the power

975
01:00:35,160 --> 01:00:45,600
Speaker 1: to defend ourselves from It's your door, And I wonder

976
01:00:45,600 --> 01:00:49,080
Speaker 1: if I was this concerned about what's getting in and

977
01:00:49,160 --> 01:00:52,720
Speaker 1: coming out, would I be having to pray to God

978
01:00:52,720 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 1: about half the stuff I'm praying to him about. Stand up,

979
01:00:57,760 --> 01:01:04,040
Speaker 1: I'm done, those hands. Give God praise? Was that good

980
01:01:04,080 --> 01:01:12,080
Speaker 1: teaching today? Did you receive something? Huh? Come on? If

981
01:01:12,080 --> 01:01:14,360
Speaker 1: God spoke to you, give him a praise, don't praise me.

982
01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:16,920
Speaker 1: If he brought you a word, that was him not

983
01:01:17,120 --> 01:01:26,120
Speaker 1: being and then all right. So I want us to

984
01:01:26,160 --> 01:01:27,960
Speaker 1: get I want us to get better about one thing

985
01:01:27,960 --> 01:01:29,600
Speaker 1: in this church. I think this is the most amazing

986
01:01:29,680 --> 01:01:32,120
Speaker 1: church in the world. I love being your pastor. One

987
01:01:32,160 --> 01:01:33,840
Speaker 1: thing I want you all to stop doing so much

988
01:01:34,680 --> 01:01:37,240
Speaker 1: is running like right when I get ready to dismiss,

989
01:01:37,520 --> 01:01:41,640
Speaker 1: like it's over. If the sermon doesn't even make it

990
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:44,320
Speaker 1: out this door, it is not going to give you

991
01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:51,560
Speaker 1: victory in your life. This week, So every location, you

992
01:01:51,600 --> 01:01:53,960
Speaker 1: gotta stop where you are, just stand up for a minute.

993
01:01:54,440 --> 01:01:57,440
Speaker 1: Let me pray with you. Let me pray that what

994
01:01:57,520 --> 01:01:59,960
Speaker 1: you heard today, because the Holy Spirit was speaking to you.

995
01:02:00,360 --> 01:02:03,000
Speaker 1: I could see it in some of your eyes. You

996
01:02:03,000 --> 01:02:05,040
Speaker 1: look like a deer in the headlights of the Word

997
01:02:05,080 --> 01:02:09,200
Speaker 1: of God, like you're looking at your spouse. Did you

998
01:02:09,240 --> 01:02:11,120
Speaker 1: talk to Pastor Stephen this week and tell him what

999
01:02:11,160 --> 01:02:14,640
Speaker 1: I was doing? Get a restraining order on this preacher.

1000
01:02:14,680 --> 01:02:16,320
Speaker 1: I think he's been sneaking around my house. I think

1001
01:02:16,360 --> 01:02:19,520
Speaker 1: he's got some cameras up. That's my new goal. I

1002
01:02:19,520 --> 01:02:21,360
Speaker 1: want to preach so full of the Holy Spirit that

1003
01:02:21,400 --> 01:02:23,240
Speaker 1: you put a restraining order on me because you think

1004
01:02:23,240 --> 01:02:32,040
Speaker 1: I'm stalking you during the week. But how cool will

1005
01:02:32,080 --> 01:02:35,040
Speaker 1: it be that you will have a reminder of this

1006
01:02:35,160 --> 01:02:39,840
Speaker 1: sermon even when you leave today. You go through a door,

1007
01:02:40,840 --> 01:02:43,800
Speaker 1: and then through another door, and then you get in

1008
01:02:43,880 --> 01:02:46,640
Speaker 1: a car. I guess I don't think you're getting on

1009
01:02:46,680 --> 01:02:52,080
Speaker 1: a camel. This is in Jerusalem, this is the city

1010
01:02:52,120 --> 01:02:55,000
Speaker 1: of your soul. And every door that you open and

1011
01:02:55,040 --> 01:02:56,840
Speaker 1: every door that you close, I want you to begin

1012
01:02:56,880 --> 01:02:59,920
Speaker 1: to think about how you're defending what God gave you.

1013
01:03:01,640 --> 01:03:03,560
Speaker 1: I want you to do for the city of your

1014
01:03:03,600 --> 01:03:06,160
Speaker 1: soul what Neamiah did for the city of Jerusalem. He said,

1015
01:03:06,200 --> 01:03:08,520
Speaker 1: I put the doors in place, and I gave orders.

1016
01:03:09,520 --> 01:03:11,520
Speaker 1: I didn't just assume we're going to be okay, because

1017
01:03:11,560 --> 01:03:14,680
Speaker 1: God is with us. I put the doors in place,

1018
01:03:15,520 --> 01:03:17,479
Speaker 1: and I said you can open them. Then you can't

1019
01:03:17,480 --> 01:03:20,640
Speaker 1: open them now, y'all. Even in my daily disciplines, I

1020
01:03:20,680 --> 01:03:25,960
Speaker 1: am so unfocused. I am so unfocused when I go

1021
01:03:26,040 --> 01:03:29,120
Speaker 1: to do a physical workout. I can't take my phone

1022
01:03:29,120 --> 01:03:32,240
Speaker 1: in the room to do a workout. I know myself.

1023
01:03:32,880 --> 01:03:35,080
Speaker 1: I have to put my phone in another room. And

1024
01:03:35,120 --> 01:03:38,200
Speaker 1: did y'all know the new iPhone has an off button. Anyway,

1025
01:03:39,240 --> 01:03:43,280
Speaker 1: that's a special feature. I'll show you how to use it.

1026
01:03:43,320 --> 01:03:47,200
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's amazing. And then a lot of times, watch

1027
01:03:47,720 --> 01:03:50,360
Speaker 1: when I shut that off and just do my workout

1028
01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:53,280
Speaker 1: and focus, the Lord will give me my sermon because

1029
01:03:53,280 --> 01:03:56,360
Speaker 1: I closed the door. Could just give it to me,

1030
01:03:57,960 --> 01:04:00,080
Speaker 1: but just give it to me, But you got I

1031
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:02,880
Speaker 1: close the door. What did Jesus say when you pray,

1032
01:04:03,040 --> 01:04:08,600
Speaker 1: Matthew sixty six, go in and close the door. You

1033
01:04:08,640 --> 01:04:11,120
Speaker 1: can't pray and ask God to defend you from the

1034
01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:13,560
Speaker 1: devil for stuff that you left the door wide open

1035
01:04:13,600 --> 01:04:18,640
Speaker 1: to He'll help you. He'll give you grace. But don't

1036
01:04:18,680 --> 01:04:25,520
Speaker 1: you want victory too. I want victory and grace. I do.

1037
01:04:25,640 --> 01:04:28,680
Speaker 1: And so one way we let God in we just

1038
01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:32,520
Speaker 1: lift our hands. So do that right now. That's not

1039
01:04:32,560 --> 01:04:37,240
Speaker 1: a charismatic thing. Stop it. People do that. People do

1040
01:04:37,280 --> 01:04:40,280
Speaker 1: that at football games when they're excited. People do it

1041
01:04:40,320 --> 01:04:43,240
Speaker 1: in a war when they surrender. So you could throw

1042
01:04:43,240 --> 01:04:48,960
Speaker 1: your hands up, and I love what. Revelation three twenty

1043
01:04:49,040 --> 01:04:51,560
Speaker 1: said that Jesus was speaking to the church and he said, here,

1044
01:04:51,600 --> 01:04:54,360
Speaker 1: I am a stand at the door and knock, and

1045
01:04:54,400 --> 01:04:56,680
Speaker 1: if you hear my voice and open it, I'll come

1046
01:04:56,760 --> 01:05:01,960
Speaker 1: in and eat with you. You've been sitting at the

1047
01:05:01,960 --> 01:05:05,840
Speaker 1: wrong table all week. You've been sitting feasting on the

1048
01:05:05,880 --> 01:05:10,440
Speaker 1: wrong thoughts, worrying about the wrong stuff. For some of

1049
01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:17,400
Speaker 1: us is obsessively checking our bank balance. Yeah, doesn't always

1050
01:05:17,440 --> 01:05:20,560
Speaker 1: come through something that's so evil. But once we open

1051
01:05:20,600 --> 01:05:24,360
Speaker 1: that door, the devil just has his way. But not today, Lord,

1052
01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:27,840
Speaker 1: Today we hear your voice, and we hear your knock,

1053
01:05:27,880 --> 01:05:31,840
Speaker 1: and we're opening the door to you. Come, Lord Jesus,

1054
01:05:33,080 --> 01:05:37,800
Speaker 1: into every heart that's open to you. Some hearts are hardened.

1055
01:05:37,840 --> 01:05:40,480
Speaker 1: But a lot of these hearts today, Lord, they're really serious.

1056
01:05:40,720 --> 01:05:43,920
Speaker 1: They're since here. They want your presence. So come Lord,

1057
01:05:45,280 --> 01:05:46,920
Speaker 1: just say it. If you mean it, say come Lord.

1058
01:05:47,960 --> 01:05:50,680
Speaker 1: He will hear that invitation. He'll respond to that invitation.

1059
01:05:51,040 --> 01:05:54,600
Speaker 1: Say it again, say come Lord, Come Lord, Jesus, the

1060
01:05:54,680 --> 01:05:58,120
Speaker 1: door of our hearts are open to you. We invite

1061
01:05:58,160 --> 01:06:02,760
Speaker 1: your presence, your peace, your joy, wisdom show us this

1062
01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:06,160
Speaker 1: week where we need to put our hand on the

1063
01:06:06,160 --> 01:06:09,400
Speaker 1: door and make sure it's shut. Conversations. We need to

1064
01:06:09,400 --> 01:06:13,640
Speaker 1: have conversations. We need to discontinue. We want to be

1065
01:06:13,720 --> 01:06:15,760
Speaker 1: right with you. We want to be in a peaceful place.

1066
01:06:16,440 --> 01:06:18,120
Speaker 1: I bless you and I thank you for the privilege

1067
01:06:18,120 --> 01:06:20,720
Speaker 1: of sharing your word today. I thank you that it

1068
01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:22,800
Speaker 1: won't return void. It will accomplish that what you sent

1069
01:06:22,880 --> 01:06:28,320
Speaker 1: it to do in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you

1070
01:06:28,400 --> 01:06:31,120
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love

1071
01:06:31,160 --> 01:06:34,280
Speaker 1: for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and

1072
01:06:34,480 --> 01:06:37,560
Speaker 1: review this podcast. You can also help us reach others

1073
01:06:37,560 --> 01:06:41,600
Speaker 1: by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash give and

1074
01:06:41,640 --> 01:06:44,320
Speaker 1: thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.