SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: Build and battle.
SPEAKER_01: Don't just build and let the enemy come in.
SPEAKER_01: Don't just battle and think there's a demon behind every bush.
SPEAKER_01: But guys, there's not a demon behind every bush, but there's a lot more bushes with demons behind them than you think.
SPEAKER_01: So build and battle.
SPEAKER_01: Be willing to fight.
SPEAKER_01: Expect opposition.
SPEAKER_01: Expect problems.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our mission is to empower people to change the world.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from pastor teacher Steve Hope.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, look in your Bibles at Nehemiah 2.
SPEAKER_01: We've ended with this last week.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be talking, I'm going to talk about opposition.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19 of chapter 2 in Nehemiah, when Sambal the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard of it, them rebuilding the walls, they laughed at us and they despised us and said, What is this little thing that you're doing?
SPEAKER_01: Will you rebel against the king?
SPEAKER_01: That's always a thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, are you going to rebel against the authorities?
SPEAKER_01: Are you going to rebel against the governor?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the kind of stuff that I got even from Christians when we were deciding to reopen.
SPEAKER_01: And church, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we have a higher authority.
SPEAKER_01: I'm totally for submission as it is under God's anointing for that, but sometimes in the book of Acts is your best example, there are times when the edict from the king goes against the conscience of a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And what happened in Germany in the 1930s was the Lutheran German church chose to go with Hitler and not with God.
SPEAKER_01: And Hitler manipulated and they kowtoed to him, and in the process of so doing, they lost ground, lost ground, lost ground, and lost ground.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually they watched millions and millions of Jews and other sympathizers who were protecting the Jews to the gas chambers.
SPEAKER_01: You think that can't happen in our country?
SPEAKER_01: I got news for you.
SPEAKER_01: Germany was probably one of the strongest, and that was weak at the time because of World War I, but as far as a republic, a democracy, Germany was in the lead, probably second only to England at that time.
SPEAKER_01: And Hitler came in with no more, listen, no more than about 30% ever of support, he was able to manipulate his way in and do what he did.
SPEAKER_01: It can happen again.
SPEAKER_01: You could have a leader that comes in and dissolves the Constitution just like that.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not planning on voting and you care about our country, we have a way where you can register.
SPEAKER_01: Here, if you've never registered to vote, register to vote.
SPEAKER_01: Every week we're doing voter registration.
SPEAKER_01: And every week some people who haven't registered to vote do vote.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, do register to vote.
SPEAKER_01: So, and if you'd like to be a judge at a voting place, let them know back there, and you can be also a judge at voting locations.
SPEAKER_01: But here's three ways.
SPEAKER_01: I close with this last, I want to hit it again.
SPEAKER_01: Three ways that the enemy works in your life to oppose a work, a new work of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Number one is derision, number two is despising, and number three is deception.
SPEAKER_01: That's how the enemy works.
SPEAKER_01: He always works through derision, making fun of you and mocking you and mocking your church and mocking your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Then he works through despising.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to heap despising words and despising things upon you.
SPEAKER_01: And then thirdly, deception.
SPEAKER_01: Starts to manipulate and deceive, and you and sometimes it brings confusion.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: You absolutely don't know what to do because of the deception of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's about to happen to Nehemiah.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah 4.
SPEAKER_01: That's where we are.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're guests with us today or you're new to the road, we're going through the book of Nehemiah, and we're calling it Rebuilding the Walls.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a theme.
SPEAKER_01: The theme, jot this down, is Arise and Build.
SPEAKER_01: That's the theme of Nehemiah.
SPEAKER_01: Arise and build.
SPEAKER_01: In our thesis, let me say this is a thesis of Nehemiah.
SPEAKER_01: My thesis is this: if you want to arise and build anything in your life, an area that's a wall that's crumbled down.
SPEAKER_01: It might be through lust, it might be through anger, it might be through broken relationships.
SPEAKER_01: And you want to see God rebuild godly walls in your life, you're gonna have to arise and build.
SPEAKER_01: You have got to be bold.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not bold, it won't happen.
SPEAKER_01: There's a reason why the walls are crumbling, and it's usually because of neglect.
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes it's not because of rebellion, it's because of neglect.
SPEAKER_01: We just we just kind of go on.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that sometimes you need to do a spring cleaning with your house?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: The ones that aren't raising their hands probably don't own a house yet.
SPEAKER_01: But if you own a house, you know this.
SPEAKER_01: Because you, we, man, clutter.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, jot that in your notes.
SPEAKER_01: Clutter, clutter.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we do spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: We get into clutter.
SPEAKER_01: We just, you know, we just get along to get along.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to our job and we're just doing things and we're thinking about, oh, it's Labor Day weekend, we're going to do this.
SPEAKER_01: And I get that, and all of us do that.
SPEAKER_01: But church, listen, if you have that special place in your spirit given by God, by which you want to live the most joyful, victorious, miraculous life, you've got to arise and build.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody can do it for you.
SPEAKER_01: You have to do it.
SPEAKER_01: You got to want it, and if you don't want it, nobody can make you want it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing my best this morning to make you want it, but there's 168 hours in the week, and I'm one.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So the reality is if something in your spirit has to say, I am not gonna take it anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not, I'm gonna quit taking this demonic crap in my life, and I'm gonna start to walk out in the power of the Holy Spirit, and I'm gonna start to build new walls in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you do that, if you do that, you will have opposition.
SPEAKER_01: You'll have opposition from people, you'll have opposition from even Christian friends, you'll have opposition from in your own spirit, because how many of you know that the great deceiver of all is in you?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the great deceiver of all is your own flesh telling you you can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: And you echo that scripting that you heard from that football coach, or you heard from your dad, or you heard from your mom or your best friend.
SPEAKER_01: You're always gonna be like that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when they told me I was always gonna be short, they were right.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But but there's a lot of things in your life that you can change.
SPEAKER_01: And so turn to Nehemiah 4 and look what Nehemiah is up against in wanting to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: But it so happened when Sambalat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was furious.
SPEAKER_01: I'm calling this fast and furious.
SPEAKER_01: That's how the enemy works.
SPEAKER_01: He's fast and he's furious to get after you.
SPEAKER_01: And he was very indignant and he mocked the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: There's that derision again.
SPEAKER_01: And he spoke before his brethren and the army, and listen, circle army of Samaria.
SPEAKER_01: This guy's got an army.
SPEAKER_01: This guy has a counter-protest planned.
SPEAKER_01: He has an army.
SPEAKER_01: Does Nehemiah have an army?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah doesn't even hardly have a security force at this point.
SPEAKER_01: That's gonna come later.
SPEAKER_01: But here in the beginning, he has nothing.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to be willing to go alone sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: Church, you've got to be willing.
SPEAKER_01: When God's speaking to you to do something, sometimes you have to go alone.
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody's gonna follow.
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody's gonna agree with you, and you know, have grace for them too.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to have grace for people who they just can't go with where you're going.
SPEAKER_01: And that's fine because God's gonna raise up other people.
SPEAKER_01: He'll raise others up that'll go with you.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, What are these feeble Jews doing?
SPEAKER_01: Will they fortify themselves?
SPEAKER_01: Will they offer sacrifices?
SPEAKER_01: Will they complete it in a day?
SPEAKER_01: Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish, stones that are burned?
SPEAKER_01: Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, Whatever they build, if even a little fox goes up on it, it will break down their stones.
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, it's talk about just mocking.
SPEAKER_01: They're mocking.
SPEAKER_01: And the accuser of the brethren.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 12, the accuser of the brethren accuses you day and night.
SPEAKER_01: That voice is not always from the exterior, a lot of times it's from the interior of your own heart, saying, You can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: You'll never be free from that.
SPEAKER_01: You can't break that addiction.
SPEAKER_01: There's no way.
SPEAKER_01: And so there's this mocking going on.
SPEAKER_01: And so, what I want to do today is I want to look at six things that I see in Nehemiah 4 that are crucial to breaking through opposition.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, folks, if you don't have some opposition in your life as a believer, then I would say you're probably not, listen, you're not dreaming big enough.
SPEAKER_01: God's got dreams in your heart and vision for your life that's going to move you into a new territory of building walls, you can't do it without him.
SPEAKER_01: Because if there's areas of your life and you could do it all in your own power, then you don't even need God.
SPEAKER_01: But if God wants to change something in your life, he wants to bring a work of his spirit that's supernatural and miraculous, you have to believe it at first, and then you've got to cry out to God.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want you to look at this from the perspective of a new work that he wants to do in your life.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: So here's here you have Sambalat, by the way, he's the governor of Samaria.
SPEAKER_01: He's got all the power, he's got the army, and this is what Nehemiah does.
SPEAKER_01: Hear, O our God, for we are despised, turn their reproach on their own heads, give them as plunder to a land of captivity.
SPEAKER_01: Do not cover their iniquity, do not let their sin be blotted out from before you, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I wouldn't say that's how you're supposed to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I just pray that you would just heap, you know, rubbish upon them.
SPEAKER_01: No, this is a new, we're in a New Testament dispensation.
SPEAKER_01: We have the life, death, and resurrection of Christ now.
SPEAKER_01: We heap blessing, but we pray, and that's the first point.
SPEAKER_01: Prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Go to prayer.
SPEAKER_01: When I heard that Memorial Park had canceled our permit, I went up to my office and I prayed.
SPEAKER_01: And then our team prayed, and Vince prayed, and Al prayed, and Brian prayed.
SPEAKER_01: Ryan prayed.
SPEAKER_01: We prayed, we cried out to God, God, show us what to do.
SPEAKER_01: And then we went back, we went down there, we went to the park with a group of from other churches, and we were there together, and we prayed over it.
SPEAKER_01: Then we went to look at a second location.
SPEAKER_01: There was a possibility, and we felt like God still wanted to do memorial park.
SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes, you guys, when God's calling you to do something, and you get kind of pushback, there's nothing wrong with realizing, okay, well, maybe I missed it.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I didn't hear this right.
SPEAKER_01: So, guys, show me again.
SPEAKER_01: Show me again what you want to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna push forward to the best of our wisdom and knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: And so in your life, you decide today.
SPEAKER_01: Today you're in this in this gathering, and God's putting on your heart.
SPEAKER_01: I want to break this power of the enemy in my life in this area.
SPEAKER_01: We go home this afternoon.
SPEAKER_01: Go to a dark place, go to a go to a uh a lonely place, and just open up the word and say, God, you know, are you speaking to me about this?
SPEAKER_01: I want to be free.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have the capacity to change, though.
SPEAKER_01: I've tried so many times.
SPEAKER_01: And it seems like I get going for a little while and then I fail.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: So you start with saying, I think it's starting with surrender to prayer.
SPEAKER_01: It's surrendering it all to him and saying, God, you do it.
SPEAKER_01: And that's and that's what that's what sets us free.
SPEAKER_01: Surrender sets us free.
SPEAKER_01: You surrender to the Lord, and he comes to set us free.
SPEAKER_01: And then look what he does next.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: So we built the wall.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't stop very long, did he?
SPEAKER_01: He says a prayer, build the wall.
SPEAKER_01: So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height.
SPEAKER_01: And this is really important, underline this, for the people had a mind to work.
SPEAKER_01: The people have to have a mind to work.
SPEAKER_01: We have to be united together as we bring in Sean Foyd.
SPEAKER_01: We have to have a mind to work.
SPEAKER_01: In your life, you're not supposed to do this alone.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got something in your heart that God's called you to, let others know.
SPEAKER_01: And you guys stay focused, keep building.
SPEAKER_01: Stay focused, keep building.
SPEAKER_01: Say that out loud.
SPEAKER_01: Stay focused, keep building.
SPEAKER_01: Stay focused, stay focused.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, stay focused and keep building.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let the distractions of the enemy get in your way.
SPEAKER_01: Stay focused, keep building.
SPEAKER_01: So for the last two days, I didn't look at my phone.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to hear any more bad news.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to hear any.
SPEAKER_01: I just had to stay focused and keep building.
SPEAKER_01: You have to stay focused and keep building.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are alcoholics.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have addictions in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And God's calling you to begin to have a breakthrough in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us in this room have anger problems or marriage problems or single person problems.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: You've got friends that have kind of been built around your problem.
SPEAKER_01: They're your drinking buddies or they're your pot smoking buddies or whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_01: And you just gotta not, you might have to start blocking some callers as you make that.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I want to be a witness.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: Be a witness when you're strong enough to be a witness.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you aren't strong enough.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna eventually allow them to have enough sway in you, and you'll be back in the stuff again.
SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes you just gotta you gotta stop it and you have to figure out how to do that.
SPEAKER_01: But you gotta stay focused, stay focused, keep building, stay focused, keep building.
SPEAKER_01: Now it happened when Sambalat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashites.
SPEAKER_01: So this thing's growing, you guys.
SPEAKER_01: The opposition against Nehemiah is really growing.
SPEAKER_01: Heard that the walls of Jerusalem are beginning to be restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they became very angry.
SPEAKER_01: Circle that.
SPEAKER_01: Circle became very angry.
SPEAKER_01: When we start making progress in following God, the enemy gets very angry.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be surprised.
SPEAKER_01: Say to your neighbor, don't be surprised.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be surprised.
SPEAKER_01: We are not ignorant of the enemy's schemes.
SPEAKER_01: And all of them, to all of them, conspire together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's happening in our cities right now.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's happening in Portland.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's happening in Seattle.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's happening in Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: The desire is to attack and create confusion and create fear in the hearts of people.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: It's very obvious to us right now.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's not obvious to a huge portion of our population, but we should start praying.
SPEAKER_01: God, would you start giving revelation even to people who don't know you?
SPEAKER_01: But especially your church.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine what would happen in any of those cities if the churches would just unite?
SPEAKER_01: If the pastors would just unite.
SPEAKER_01: It blows my mind.
SPEAKER_01: It's frustrating to know in.
SPEAKER_01: I have to not think about it.
SPEAKER_01: That if this was happening in our city, we would unite and we go down there and we start praying and fasting and calling on God to bring peace over our city.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord, it hasn't happened yet.
SPEAKER_01: But our answer right now is to bring in Sean and pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and joy and miracles and people getting saved.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe it's happening and I don't know, but it seems to me, it seems to me that when the enemy's on the move, the church should be more on the move.
SPEAKER_01: That when the enemy's deceiving, the church speaks truth.
SPEAKER_01: When the enemy's bringing confusion, we bring truth and focus and peace and tranquility to a situation.
SPEAKER_01: So God is doing that in Nehemiah.
SPEAKER_01: And then look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God.
SPEAKER_01: And because of them, we set a watch over them day and night.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a calling out to God in prayer, and then there's watchful prayer.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're doing on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_01: On Wednesday night, we're going down to memorial.
SPEAKER_01: It's watchful prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We are watching out, we are staying alert.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Jesus said to his disciples at Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_01: He said, watch and pray that you don't fall into temptation.
SPEAKER_01: It's what Paul says in Ephesians 6.
SPEAKER_01: He talks about watching and praying.
SPEAKER_01: He talks about the full armor, but then he says, watch and pray.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we have to watch and pray.
SPEAKER_01: And in our lives, if we're building walls that are this high, then that's about the level of opposition you'll have.
SPEAKER_01: If you're building walls this high, that's the level of opposition that's going to come against you.
SPEAKER_01: And then as you begin to grow in your faith and you're starting to build new walls of integrity and honesty and holiness and a commitment to God's word, worship, the church, all those things that we know in the New Testament are key to growth, then you're going to have this level of opposition.
SPEAKER_01: Wake up and smell the coffee.
SPEAKER_01: That's really true.
SPEAKER_01: And so what Nehemiah is doing, he's saying, look, you guys, these enemies are coming in in ways that I cannot predict for you.
SPEAKER_01: They could come from the east, they could come from the west, the north, the south.
SPEAKER_01: So we have got to be watchful and pray.
SPEAKER_01: We can't just be watchful because just being watchful focuses way too much energy on the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: But when you're watching and praying, then you're aware of the enemy, but you leave God stronger and bigger and better.
SPEAKER_01: And He can take care of it.
SPEAKER_01: So being watchful in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Judah in verse 10 is a Jew.
SPEAKER_01: He's actually one of Nehemiah's leaders.
SPEAKER_01: This is really important.
SPEAKER_01: Judah, so you could put it parenthetically if you're taking notes, a leader among the Jews, said, the strength of the laborers is failing, and there's so much rubbish that we're not able to build the wall.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, we don't have the capacity for what the enemy's about to do.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: And our adversaries are saying they will neither know nor see anything until we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.
SPEAKER_01: So it was when the Jews who dwelt near them came, they told us ten times.
SPEAKER_01: Woo! From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's happening: vain imaginations.
SPEAKER_01: Vain, exaggerated imaginations about what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the fear and the intimidation of the enemy does.
SPEAKER_01: He makes you fearful of something that's not even going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what ifs?
SPEAKER_01: All the what ifs start coming out.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what if that happens?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to lose all my friends.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to lose my church.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to lose this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to lose that.
SPEAKER_01: So what happens is you start, you know, you start thinking that way, and before you know it, man, you are down a road of despair and depression in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what's happening ten times because there's power in the tongue.
SPEAKER_01: So what happens is you start having groupthink.
SPEAKER_01: You start getting around.
SPEAKER_01: It's called Eeyore Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: If any of you know Winnie the Pooh.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So it's Eeyore, it's like, oh, it's all hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: I know they're going to come from this way.
SPEAKER_01: I'm no longer gonna come from that way.
SPEAKER_01: There's no way that we're ever gonna find the honeypot.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, how are we gonna find it?
SPEAKER_01: It's Eeyore Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Break the power of Eeyore.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go with Winnie.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go with Winnie, man.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a Winnie the Pooh Christian, alright, man?
SPEAKER_01: You know, Winnie the Pooh is, he's like, he just kind of moves through life and disasters all around him, and he just keeps on being Winnie the Pooh.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: And then you got the Eeyores.
SPEAKER_01: It's an anointing.
SPEAKER_01: There's an Eeyore anointing.
SPEAKER_01: I want to break that anointing in this church.
SPEAKER_01: Alright?
SPEAKER_01: And so, and so what happens is vain imaginations come, and we all have done that.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm guilty of it as much as anyone.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the answer, verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, he doesn't just throw it out.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't just say that's that's not true.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, he positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall.
SPEAKER_01: So he's looking for men.
SPEAKER_01: He's looking for men, he's looking for blessed allies at the openings.
SPEAKER_01: And I set the people according to their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
SPEAKER_01: He dressed them for battle, church.
SPEAKER_01: You got to dress for battle, Ephesians 6.
SPEAKER_01: And it begins with the helmet of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: We put on the helmet of salvation, we renew our minds, we break those exaggerated vain imaginations, and we start thinking with faith.
SPEAKER_01: We start thinking with a fearlessness that's not our normal way of thinking.
SPEAKER_01: It's a power of God working in you.
SPEAKER_01: So you've got to renew your mind.
SPEAKER_01: And the only way you can renew your minds is to renew your mind with God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Gotta be in God's word.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not in God's word on a daily basis, listen, everybody, you're not gonna have faith for the days ahead.
SPEAKER_01: It is so complex, it is so confusing.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're if you're renewing your mind regularly with how great God is and how awesome God is.
SPEAKER_01: I looked up at the stars last night, and I looked at those stars up there, and I could see the big and little dipper, and it was beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: It was crystal clear up there, you know, there were no clouds in the sky, and I just felt my faith well up with the beauty and the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: So we do that.
SPEAKER_01: And then we put on the breastplate of righteousness, and that means our motives.
SPEAKER_01: What are our motives?
SPEAKER_01: If our motives are right, God protects our heart with righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And then the belt of truth, what holds it all together is truth.
SPEAKER_01: And then we shod our feet with the sandals of peace.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're we're a weird group, Christians are.
SPEAKER_01: We're really weird.
SPEAKER_01: We actually oppose our enemies, but then we love them and we make them our friends.
SPEAKER_01: That's super weird.
SPEAKER_01: So if there's opposition on Saturday, we love them.
SPEAKER_01: We bless them.
SPEAKER_01: We we pray for them.
SPEAKER_01: If things come our way, we don't repeat that.
SPEAKER_01: We we come back with the most blessing thing we can say.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's why we're here.
SPEAKER_01: And then it talks about the shield of faith.
SPEAKER_01: It's the shield of faith that extinguishes the fiery darts of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever you're full of fear, ask yourself, am I lifting up the shield of faith?
SPEAKER_01: Because if the darts are getting to your heart, probably you don't have your face shield up.
SPEAKER_01: And then the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God and God's word in you and through you as you read it and you know it and you memorize it and you love it.
SPEAKER_01: And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the leaders and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the Lord, great and awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, and your wives and your houses.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, we are fighting for our family, not with our family.
SPEAKER_01: We're fighting for our family, not with our family.
SPEAKER_01: We fight for our family.
SPEAKER_01: You need to vote.
SPEAKER_01: We will lose this republic if we don't take action.
SPEAKER_01: We need fired up, word-rooted, spirit-filled men and women on the school board.
SPEAKER_01: We need fired up, spirit-filled men and women in the mayor's office.
SPEAKER_01: And a mayor.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I love our mayor.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not saying he is.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying as we move forward in next elections, we've got to think in terms of being strategic and taking our city and keeping our city where God wants our city to be.
SPEAKER_01: With godly men and women.
SPEAKER_01: We need the city council full of spirit-filled, word-rooted, loving, kind, gentle, beautiful, smart people.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need dumb people.
SPEAKER_01: Some Christians are dumb.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm talking about Christians who are smart, who understand the Constitution and understand what this country was built on, and they're willing to take risks.
SPEAKER_01: Are you willing to take risks?
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be plenty of opportunity in the days ahead.
SPEAKER_01: And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.
SPEAKER_01: So it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shield, the bows, and wore armor.
SPEAKER_01: And the leaders were behind all the house of Judah.
SPEAKER_01: Those who built on the wall and those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other they held a weapon.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he belt, and the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
SPEAKER_01: Build and battle.
SPEAKER_01: Don't just build and let the enemy come in.
SPEAKER_01: Don't just battle and think there's a demon behind every bush.
SPEAKER_01: But guys, there's not a demon behind every bush, but there's a lot more bushes with demons behind them than you think.
SPEAKER_01: So build and battle.
SPEAKER_01: Be willing to fight.
SPEAKER_01: Expect opposition.
SPEAKER_01: Expect problems.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it be wonderful as you look at the new year, as you're looking as we go into 2021 and all that, that you said, you know, 2021 is going to be the hardest year of our life.
SPEAKER_01: Because we're building new walls in our marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Because we're building new walls in our personal life.
SPEAKER_01: Because we're building new walls in our finances.
SPEAKER_01: We've decided to start tithing.
SPEAKER_01: We've never tithed before.
SPEAKER_01: We actually fear God enough that we want the favor of God on our finances.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to start giving to the Lord's work 10%.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you think there's going to be no opposition?
SPEAKER_01: So there's going to be opposition to that.
SPEAKER_01: But we as a couple or as singles, we're going to press in.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to build those walls because it's more important to us to have the enjoyment of the Lord and be in his favor than in our own selfishness and what we believe joy is found from in our own power.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that exciting?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I think you believe it.
SPEAKER_01: And so the reality is, that's where we're at.
SPEAKER_01: That's where we're at.
SPEAKER_01: That's the courage that God's called us to at the road at Chapel Hills.
SPEAKER_01: We are here as a part of a kingdom revolution.
SPEAKER_01: And I really believe it, church.
SPEAKER_01: I really believe it.
SPEAKER_01: There's two revolutions vying for our country.
SPEAKER_01: One is a socialist communist revolution.
SPEAKER_01: You say, oh, that's exaggerating, Steve.
SPEAKER_01: Are you crazy?
SPEAKER_01: You watch.
SPEAKER_01: You watch over the next 40 days what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Or there's going to be a Kingdom of God revolution like in 1969.
SPEAKER_01: Because in 1969, some of you are old enough to remember there were protests, there were riots happening all over the country.
SPEAKER_01: The young people were moving into sex, drugs, rock and roll, all of that.
SPEAKER_01: I was part of it.
SPEAKER_01: And then God showed up.
SPEAKER_01: God showed up in Southern California.
SPEAKER_01: God showed up in Northern California at Haight Ashbury.
SPEAKER_01: God showed up in Costa Mesa, California.
SPEAKER_01: And when he did, I think it changed the tide politically and definitely spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the reason you guys we have a band up front, keyboards and a guitar and stuff, because of what happened in 1969.
SPEAKER_01: I went out in 1978 in Newport Beach, California, with Campus Crusade, and this guy comes up to me, one of the guys on our project, and he goes, Hey Steve, you want to go to this thing at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa?
SPEAKER_01: I said, What's this thing?
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's kind of like a it's like a, I don't know, it's kind of like a crusade or it's a, I don't know, like a concert.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, concert, and crusade is an oxymoron to a southern kid in 1978.
SPEAKER_01: We were still singing with little hymnals and everything.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you really were, you really were in a special anointed church if they did overhead projectors.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So I go to this thing, I walk in, it's jam-packed with hippies, it's jam-packed with people all in there, and it's a rock band worshiping Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The group love song.
SPEAKER_01: And a guy named this hippie, kind of ex-hippie dude named Greg Laurie, gets up on a stool and starts preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It was so revolutionary at the time.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to do a new thing today.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to do something.
SPEAKER_01: We don't even know what God wants to do, but don't you want to be a part of that?
SPEAKER_01: For this generation, for you guys in this room that are younger, it's gonna look like you.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be a part of what God wants to do through you in a mighty way.
SPEAKER_01: And then lastly, let's conclude with verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, the work is great and extensive, and we're separated far from one another on the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Wherever you hear the sound of a trumpet, rally to us there.
SPEAKER_01: Our God will fight for us.
SPEAKER_01: So he labored in the work, and half of the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared.
SPEAKER_01: At the same time I also said to the people, let each man and his servants stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be on our guard by day and night, and a working party by day.
SPEAKER_01: So neither I, my brother and my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing.
SPEAKER_01: So they were so concerned that they were just, they were on their watch.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't even change clothes.
SPEAKER_01: They were on their watch day and night, and so from noon Friday until noon Saturday, 24-hour prayer, you guys.
SPEAKER_01: Sign up.
SPEAKER_01: Sign up, sign up online, sign up at the desk back there, but take an hour, just take one hour from noon Friday to noon Saturday to pray, and we'll give you 10 things to pray for that Pastor Alice put together.
SPEAKER_01: Already at Radiant Church, 150 people are gonna be doing it.
SPEAKER_01: 150 from Radiant Church alone.
SPEAKER_01: And so I pray that there'd be that many from our church, and we'd pray.
SPEAKER_01: So Wednesday night we're gonna be down there.
SPEAKER_01: Friday noon, Saturday noon, we're gonna be praying.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna pray, we're gonna pray.
SPEAKER_01: Here's my last point: don't be a quitter.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be a quitter.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, guys, everybody look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Quitting is highly overrated.
SPEAKER_01: How many have met a quitter?
SPEAKER_01: How many have been a quitter?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I know.
SPEAKER_01: We have the quitter within.
SPEAKER_01: We're all quitters.
SPEAKER_01: Stop it.
SPEAKER_01: Quit quitting.
SPEAKER_01: Be a quitter on quitting.
SPEAKER_01: And say, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'll quit for one hour.
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm coming back.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's too hard.
SPEAKER_01: Woe is me.
SPEAKER_01: And the Eeyore anointing is just coming upon you.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's it's starting to weigh you down.
SPEAKER_01: And then in the midst of that, you go, no, I rebuke you, Eeyore, in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I want Winnie.
SPEAKER_01: I want Winnie the Pooh anointing.
SPEAKER_01: Relax.
SPEAKER_01: Be calm.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Be calm but be bold.
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.