Sermon
Praying like Nehemiah - Nehemiah 4
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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You've tuned in to a mega church.
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We are people hungry to encounter God through worship
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and His. Hallelujah, that's good.
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I don't need to ask a second time, so that's really good.
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How many of you have come having read Nehemiah Chapter 4 1234?
Nehemiah 4 chapter mention
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So 4 chocolates give some somebody give chocolates to
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those who have come. You know, why do we encourage
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it? Why should you read and come?
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Because that will help you to understand the passage better.
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When I talk about it because you read and come, it really helps.
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This is the culture we want to develop.
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For few weeks I did not do it, but I apologize for that.
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Every week we would like to do that again because there are no
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surprises. If we finish Chapter 4, next
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week we will do Chapter 5. It is very simple like that.
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So we said one thing in the past message that the story of
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Jerusalem being rebuilt by during the time is symbolic of
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every family, Christian family, and symbolic of every local
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church. The rebuilding of the temple at
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the walls of Jerusalem is symbolic of every Christian home
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and every local church. Keep this in mind, write it in
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your mind. That's the way to look at it.
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And when you look at it, then we have something to talk about.
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So when the work is going on, so basically the enemies, enemies
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of Judah were really alarmed when the work is going on very
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fast. So you got, you got imagine in
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your mind, let's say you got Judah and then you got Sun
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Balat, he who is basically coming from the Northside from
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some area. And then you got another guy
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that is the Tobiah, the Ammonite is coming from the east side and
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you got Geshem the Arab from the South.
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So you got so many directions, the enemies are coming and
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you've got astronaut on the on the West and that is the
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Philippine, Philippines, not Philippines.
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Philistines, sorry, is going so too far.
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I said why am I using the Philippines?
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So it is the Philistines as that was a very popular and very
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populous at the same time, powerful center of the
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Philistines, which is the Palestine today, of course.
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So you got the Gaza on the South, southwest.
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So you got enemies coming from 5 directions, 5 directions.
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And has the situation changed today?
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No, we got enemies attacking Israel in seven directions.
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Now you got from Syria, you got Iran, you got Iraq, you got
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Hamas, you got the Gaza Strip and West Bank and the South side
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from every direction, you got the Israel being attacked.
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And is my voice clear? OK, good.
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So the when? When the work of God is
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happening, when the church, when the Church of God is being
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rebuilt, you will feel the heat of the enemy, you will feel the
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hatred of the Satan and he doesn't like the church to be
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rebuilt. Its the same thing that
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happening for when the walls were being rebuilt.
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Sun ballots shows up and what does he do?
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He became angry and was greatly incensed.
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You know the 2 words there, just one word would have been enough,
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isn't it? Why does the Nehemiah use 2
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words? Because he was greatly angry.
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Sorry, was angry and greatly incensed.
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So much of stirring up is happening inside emotionally.
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He stirred up and he is being aroused to attack, come and
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insult and bring down these people.
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So it's greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews.
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Everybody use the word ridicule. What is ridicule?
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You put down somebody, you, you just try to say, hey, sometimes
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you, you see kids also, they use this ridiculing, they'll catch
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over one boy and say you are a girl.
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That's how it happens in the school.
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And if it goes deep into the spirit, that boy will be
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affected. So you can be 1 can be ridiculed
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and that can change the person completely.
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Ridicule is very, very powerful. Ridicule very powerful.
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So we should not allow the enemy to ridiculous.
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He can put you down, he can say things to you to discourage you,
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to make you lose hope and to make you feel weak when you are
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actually strong. So that is the part the enemy
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plays. So Sun Ballad came and he
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ridiculed the Jews in the presence of his associates and
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the army of Samaria. Now he came with the army.
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Now this is very important for you to understand.
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Unless you stop and think, the Scripture does not speak to you.
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Now here you have Sun Ballot and you got Nehemiah and the people
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working hard, and now this guy comes to Jerusalem with the army
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of Samaria. What is he trying to do with the
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army of Samaria? Think of a gang and think of a
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rival gang. Why would a rival gang walk into
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another gang with all their members, with their swords and
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whatever they have equipment? What, what, what are they trying
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to do? They are challenging them to
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fight. The challenge of challenging
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them to fight. That is the strategy of Sun
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Ballot he. They don't want to fight.
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They are busy building the walls of Jerusalem and they are
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building. We want to set up the gates of
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the Jerusalem. That's what they are focusing
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on. And now they are coming with the
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army comes and stands surrounding and this guy
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standing and speaking to the people, ridiculing them.
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They thought they can start up Nehemiah and his people to begin
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to fight, and they can take an upper hand and fight them again.
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But you look at the wisdom of Nehemiah here.
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Then what? What else He did?
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What He used ridiculing. How did he ridicule?
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What are these feeble Jews doing?
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First he is telling them they are very few in number and they
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are weak, feeble Jews. You are so weak, what are you
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going to do? That's a challenge.
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And then what does he say? Will they restore their wall?
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Will they offer sacrifices? I tell you, these are the
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ridicule words of ridiculing. When you look at it, it just
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shatters our own understanding. What is he trying to say is you
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guys, are you going to offer sacrifices?
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Are you going to pray successfully?
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Now we are praying for 21 days. This can be words of some of
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some of you may be hearing the state and say, ah, you're going
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every day, 9 kilometers, you're driving 15 kilometers, you're
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driving to go to the prayer meeting.
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What is going to happen there? What do you expect is going to
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happen? Nothing is going to happen.
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You can hear the words of enemy taunting or saying to you, why
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do you do what you are doing? But there's power in prayer.
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There's power in prayer. You, you cannot win the
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spiritual warfare with the physical force.
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It can be done only with the spiritual force which comes by
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prayer. There is no alternative, my
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friends. There is no another tool by
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which you can beat the enemy. So he is asking, can you build
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the walls? Can you offer sacrifices?
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Will they finish in a day? Now this is nearly nearly when
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you see little further, you see the half of the wall is rebuilt.
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They took 52 days to build the rebuild the walls.
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They are working six days in a week, so roughly six days or 48.
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So it is about 8 weeks and half. So it is right now half the
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string, the walls have now come up to half the height means it
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must be now 26 days or 24 days has already happened.
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And they are saying can you build in a day?
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What have you done in 20-4 days? So this is how the enemy
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attacks, this is how enemy ridicules, this is how enemy
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wants to hit at your strength and make you feel weak.
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And then what does he say again? Will they finish in a day?
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Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of
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rubble burned as they are now? They were, they were burnt, the
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stones were burnt, they were thrown down.
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But they are not totally. Every stone is not become
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useless. There are large kind of, I mean
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huge quantity of stones which can be reused.
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So that's what Neymar did. He did not go and get the stones
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for every single stone has to be replaced.
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He didn't. He didn't do that.
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But he is ridiculing him and saying you think this burned
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stones can be reused. Can you rebuild the wall in a
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day? You think you got strong?
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No, you cannot do any of these things.
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That's the many times in your spiritual life you may be
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feeling tired, you may be feeling defeated, particularly
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besetting sins since that are coming again and again again and
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make you fall in the same area. Sometimes I always wonder about
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the way the devil comes to people and make them do the same
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sin. 1000 times you have been defeated in the same area and
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1001 time and you know where it is going to happen and after a
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day you look back and say oh, 1001 time I have fallen again.
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Why? Because that is how enemy wants
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to keep you down, defeating you in the pet sins.
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Small sins, they are not big sins.
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We don't even murder somebody, we don't even loot the shop or
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take a gun. And none of those things we do
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little, little sins that defile your conscience, that defile and
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make you feel guilty so that you will not be effective in the
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Kingdom of God. It is little sins.
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So that is how he comes against you.
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So he is saying can you reuse his rubble?
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The stones are burnt, are you going to reuse them again?
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Yeah, we can reuse them again. But this is how Sun Ballot had
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said it. And then Toby the Ammonite who
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was at his side said what they are building, if even a fox
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climbed upon it, he would break down their wall of stones.
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This is ridiculing again. Well putting them down saying
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what are you doing guys? Even if a fox jumps on the wall
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it is going to bring down the wall.
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How heavy is a fox? I'm sure it is lighter than a
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sheep. I never seen a robust muscular
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fox anytime the emotional time. They are very skinny and you
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know very tiny. The only power they have is in
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their teeth. And so even if a little fox
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climbs on the wall, it is going to bring down the wall.
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And that is just ridiculing. So you got Sun Ballot.
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And beside him standing Tobiah, who is an Ammonite.
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And interestingly, Tobiah is a Hebrew name, but then it is
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owned by Ammonite. He is not a Jewish man, and he
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is ridiculing. The people say, hey, even if fox
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jumps on, it's going to come down.
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What are you doing? You're wasting your time.
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And then what happened? Nehemiah replied.
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You look at the response of Nehemiah from verses four and
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five here as our God, our Lord, oh our God, for we are despised.
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Turn their incest back on their own heads.
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Give them over a splendor in a land of captivity.
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Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your
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sight. But they have thrown insults in
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the face of the builders. Can we pray like that?
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Can we pray like Neymar prayed? Can we say bring down them in
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their own traps, Whatever trap they said, let them fall in the
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same trap. Oh, take them captive.
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Let them be carried away to another country, into captivity.
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Can we pray like that? Basically, as Christians, the
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way we do things is different. Now this is the Old Testament
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you see that teeth for tooth for tooth, I for I that kind of a
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justice they had. The system of justice was
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different, but now we had to forgive our enemies and love
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them. So the point I am trying to make
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here is Nehemiah right in praying a prayer like that
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accord to his culture, accord to his understanding of the word,
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He is right. He is not doing anything wrong
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because they knew that they were a nation that is called by God.
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There is a special calling of Israel and a special king to
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rule over them. But now because they are opposed
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to God, it's not about they are opposed to Jewish people.
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They are opposed to God. They are opposing the work of
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God. When you oppose the work of God,
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that is a time you can pray a prayer like this.
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But mostly you only see Sun, Bala, Tobiah, the Ghesham, the
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Arab, and all these kind of people, people Asdad and other
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people. They are only the people you see
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outside, but inside is the devil who is turning, stirring them up
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to do those things. So right now when we pray the
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spiritual warfare prayer, you can pray the same kind of a
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prayer. You can pray the same kind of a
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prayer because that is going to knock them down in the power of
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the Holy Ghost. We can pray such prayers and
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that is why we we are trying to say yesterday we talked in the
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prayer meeting about taking position of the gates of your
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enemy. That is, you take position of
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the center of power from where they rule you take it over.
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That means you make them, you subdue them, you defeat them,
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you make them to serve you, and that is how we do the spiritual
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warfare. So Nehemiah, he has prayed like
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this. First he says is they are
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despising us. Turn their insects back on their
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own head. Give them over a splendor in the
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land of Cap Rooty. Do not cover up their guilt
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blotter, nor all brought out their sins from your sight.
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But they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.
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They are trying to discourage the builders.
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They are trying to make them feel weak and feeble.
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So don't forget them. But you take up the cause and
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you fight them. I think there's a place for
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prayer like that. You will pray like that with
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passion when you feel the project is yours.
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If it is, if you think the battle is somewhere else is
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happening, somewhere in somewhere in Israel, somewhere
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in Iran, Iran, Iraq, somewhere it is happening, you are not
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involved in it. But when the battle is yours,
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you feel it personally, that's the time you will begin to pray
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like Neo Mad did whole This is the whole game changer is why
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our prayers are not effective, why there is no passion in our
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prayers Because you think that's not your problem.
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Whatever you are praying about, you think that is not your
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problem. And you just want to pray
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because somebody says, let's pray now for this, this, this,
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let's pray for revival. That's not your passion.
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Let's pray for healing. Oh, I am healthy, somebody sick,
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I don't care. Well, he says, let us pray for
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healing. So let's pray for healing.
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But you know, are we passionate for the glory of God?
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Are we passionate that if somebody healed, God's name is
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glorified, then the desire comes, God, I want the blind
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eyes to be opened. I want the deaf eyes to be
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opened. I want the dumb to speak, lame
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to walk, dead to be raised. That passion comes from inside.
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When that problem becomes your personal problem, until you are
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involved, the prayer is there is no passion in the prayer.
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There is no fire in the prayer. So that's the reason why many
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Christians are very lukewarm. So we rebuild the wall till all
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of it reached half its height. For the people worked with all
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their heart, say they worked with all their heart.
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That's the secret. That is the secret for revival.
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Secret for revival is working with all your heart.
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So many times our heart, we keep it at home.
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When we come to prayer meeting, that prayer meeting will be the
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most cold prayer meeting. It will be most unconnected
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prayer meeting. You are not involved in it.
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So many times I say let's pray in tongues.
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I say 10 minutes and after 4 minutes is just dying down.
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When I say 10 minutes, why are you keeping quiet after 4
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minutes? Because a heart has to be there.
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I'm not condemning anybody. I'm just stirring up, stirring
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up the passion inside so that you will next time.
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I say let's pray in times for 10 minutes.
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You are going to pray until 11 minutes.
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I had to say no, let's stop now. That is passion going before.
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And if it is stopping after 4 minutes, then that means there's
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no passion there. Your heart is not in the issue.
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So that's the thing they prayed, they they rebuilt it because
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they worked with all their heart.
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This is the secret. This is the secret of revival is
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when people pray with passion. When people pray with passion,
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revival come. Otherwise what happens is we are
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just prayed one of those prayers like thank you God for the
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breakfast, Thank you God for the lunch.
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You know there's no passion there and sometimes you look at
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the color of the food on the table.
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Its the smell is enticing and then you say, oh thank you God
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for the wonderful meal that's waiting.
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Why, why that the why those words come because now you are
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something is stirring you up by looking at the food and spelling
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the food the same thing. There has to be passion in
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prayer. So.
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But when Sunbala, Tobiah, the Arabs, Ammonites, the men of
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Asad heard that the repairs to Jerusalem was had gone ahead and
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that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.
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See this word very angry comes up again and again.
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Very angry comes up again and again.
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But you you, you see that the word angry used for Nehemiah
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only once in the whole book. He became angry when he saw
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people commit sin, when he saw people getting married, mixed
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marriages, he saw people doing business on Sabbath day.
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He when the people are breaking the law, he was angry.
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And these people are very angry because they are doing a good
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thing. And Neymar was angry because
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they were doing a bad thing. So we should know when to feel
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angry at the right Causeway. You should feel angry, not the
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wrong Causeway. So now again, in summarizing,
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when Sun ballot, Tobiah Arabs, the Ammonite men of Asad heard
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that the repairs of Jerusalem walls had gone ahead.
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And this place, Asad, where it is, it is from Jerusalem.
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You look on the West, you have got the seaport Asador.
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It is about 62 kilometers and it is one of the main seaports of
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Israel. Today 60% of all imports happen
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in the port of Astor. But those days it was under the
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Philistines power, not under Israel.
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Now it is in in Israel. So when they saw when the gaps
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are being filled up, walls have risen up, they were very angry.
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So now what they are doing is they are going one step ahead of
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their enmity. What is the one step that is
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they are going ahead? Is they all plotted together to
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come up and fight against Jerusalem and start up trouble
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against it. They all plotted together.
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The Gray, the Hebrew word used is that they are bound together.
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Like you take some glue, take an Arab, you take Tobiah and put
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some glue between them, they become one.
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So all these people have become one.
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They have glued together with one purpose, to fight against
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Israel. In Christian circles, among
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Christians there is no unity. Believers are divided on
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doctrine, but the enemies are united.
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Enemies have unity because they have one common purpose, to
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fight against the church. So they all plotted together to
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come and fight against Jerusalem, a stir up trouble
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against it. What is the strategy of Nehemiah
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is again, but we pray to our God.
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We pray to our God. That should be our response.
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Whatever happens in your life, the first response should be
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pray. You have to pray to our God.
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And secondly, and posted a God day and night to meet this
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threat. They posted God.
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We will see more in detail how he did it.
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So now prayer and action go together.
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Many of us are divided in our minds.
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Sometimes we think if you pray, we don't need to do anything
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about it. That may not work.
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That may not work so many times in the in the people generally,
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you know, we, we come across in the Christian circles, one
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cliche word is God told me this. When God has said something,
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that's the end of discussion. I will not question it.
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I don't want to have an argument with the person who says God has
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said it to me. But you look at the life.
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Has God said it? Does the rest of the life prove
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that the words they are claiming are from God?
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There has to be a cohesion. There has to be a harmony
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between the words and the life. If there is no harmony between
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profession and the life, we know God has not spoken in some
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cases. In some cases like God can say
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something and may take long time to fulfill.
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It may be 15 years, 20 years. In that case, the people are
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observing will say I don't think God has spoken, but may be God
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really spoke. It takes time to fulfill it.
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There are only two scenarios, but it is up to the individual
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person who says God has spoken to me to decide whether it is
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really God or he thinks God has spoken.
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He or she thinks it's God has spoken.
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Because this is one of the things that I have time and I
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can come. It's a sensitive matter.
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It's very sensitive. I cannot just speak and say
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something and say hurt somebody. No, that's not my point here.
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I want to encourage people to hear genuinely from God.
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And when it is God who speaks, he will stand up for you and he
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will fulfill the word for you, but it doesn't mean you cannot
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do anything about it. So here they prayed and they
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also took action. And today in the Christian
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circles, the the IT is you have prayed, you are very, very
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spiritual and you speak about it.
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That is it, no action. And that is not the right way to
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lead a Christian life. That is all I understand.
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Next thing is meanwhile the people in Judah said the
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strength of laborers is giving out and there is so much rubble
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that we cannot rebuild the wall. So this is one of the things
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that to discourage people you have attack from outside, words
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of ridicule from outside, undermining their faith,
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undermining their commitment, undermining their purpose.
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And the second is internally the come it comes, oh, I'm working
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now for since 4 weeks, but I still see everywhere rubble, big
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stones. I see such a valley here.
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I see there's such an open space here.
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What have I done in this four weeks?
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Nothing. So look at the, they look at the
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work in the Judah. They were saying strength of the
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laborers is giving out. And there's so much rubble that
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we cannot rebuild the wall. So the work looks too big.
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The challenge becomes too big. But you know what?
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This is where we need to be very careful.
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We should this Goliath versus David, a David versus Goliath.
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This situation comes in every Christian's life.
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It's not just David had a Goliath to fight once for all
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over. No, every Christian will have a
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Goliath in his life. The problem will look too big.
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How am I going to fight this big problem?
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How am I going to defeat the enemy?
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How am I going to overcome the financial trouble?
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How am I going to bring harmony in the family?
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It looks too big. It looks too big.
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But I tell you what, Jesus gave us the answer.
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Speak to the mountain. What did he say?
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He did not say go get your crowbar, get your machine and
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start digging. He didn't say that, He said
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speak to the mountain. The first response should be
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prayer of faith and commanding the big problem to become
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smaller one or to nonexistent problem.
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So here before they knew that is what the problem was.
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So that was discouraging the people.
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When you make the problem big, it will demotivate you, it will
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discourage you. This is very simple, is not a
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very difficult thing to understand.
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When we say make our problem too big, it's too big, it's too big,
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I can't do it, it's too big. You are defeating yourself by
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those words before you even attempt.
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You are defeated in your position and you cannot win with
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that kind of attitude. That's the reason why we need to
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be very careful about when we talk about problems.
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Don't magnify the problems because the God that is on our
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side is bigger than the problem. Cool.
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What is Lebanon worse? This is psychological warfare.
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Everybody says psychological warfare.
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What is psychological warfare? Also enemy said before they know
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it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill
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them and put an end to the work. This is sending fear.
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Ah, you guys are thinking you are rebuilding the walls.
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No, no, no, no, Before even you know, ah, there is somebody
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here. You turn before that, before
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even turn your head, the sword is going to come and push, push
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you down. He is going to Pierce you.
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We are going to kill you. This is enemy's tactic.
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Now the psychological warfare. Psychological warfare goes one
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step ahead in the next verse. Then the Jews who lived near
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them came and told us 10 times over wherever you turn, wherever
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you turn, whether you wherever you turn, they will attack us.
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How many times they told 10 * / I tell you this is a Hebrew we
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are saying many times. You know Jesus talked about
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forgiving somebody 7 times or 7070 * 7.
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He said four. That is just numberless number
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of numberless way of times. So that is a Hebrew expression
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to say that the enemies for coming and telling again and
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again and again, we are going to kill you, we are going to finish
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you, we are going to kill you, we are going to finish you.
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And this is one of those things that make people lose hope.
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So many times we pray for deliverance for some people you
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are standing in front of them in the name of Jesus be lose, be
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set free. And you are shouting for 30
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minutes. And then the man says, I can
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hear a voice in my head saying, you are not going to be set
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free, huh. You heard a voice.
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How dare he speak that word? I have the power to push that
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spirit out of your body now, to trample it down.
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I'll kick out that spirit right now.
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So that is how we get charged. And I tell you, the man who is
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receiving prayer should be able to say, I don't care what the
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spirit is saying. I want to be free.
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This is how you approach the problem.
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But do you? When you agree with the problem,
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you are empowering the problem. No, we are not here to accept
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defeat before even you fight. No.
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So 10 times over they were told. Yeah, weird.
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Wherever you turn, they will attack us.
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Now Neymars action comes in worse 13 onwards 13 and 14.
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Therefore a station, some of the people behind the lowest points
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of the wall at exposed places, posting them by families with
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their swords, Spears and bows. Now you see two things he's
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doing 1. He has identified the lowest
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points. OK, that's about 2.4 kilometers
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is a perimeter or the circumference of the walls of
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Jerusalem. So what is he trying to do?
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He surveyed the whole city. Here we have low exposed places.
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There is an exposed place. There is an exposed place here.
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And some of the times enemy attacks in the weakest link.
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That is his strategy. He has always won.
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What is the weakest link in a family?
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What is the weakest link in a family?
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Whoever is not connected to God is the weakest point.
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Whoever is not a believer is the weakest point.
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Sometimes it can be children. So if he, if both husband and
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wife are praying, praying, praying, and they're very strong
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and he suddenly put fever on the child to discourage you, to
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distract you, to make you ineffective.
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So weakest link, that's what he does.
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So he looked at the weak points and stationed people by
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families. Now that's a bold statement and
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a bold approach for Nehemiah to do.
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Why would you put a family when he says families?
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What is he trying to do? It is a man and a wife and
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children and a man has a brother and his family and they have a
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sister and a family. They are all one family.
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So he put that family there and said, now you take care of this
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area, this weak area, you take care of it.
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You protect it, you fight it, and they will fight.
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Why? For the sake of their wives, for
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the sake of this children, for the sake of their daughters and
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sons, they are going to fight. That's the strategy of Nehemiah.
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He did not say, oh, we need very big weapons.
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We need some automated weapons to throw stones and descend.
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He didn't do all that. He said, OK, do you have a
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spear? Use it.
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Do you have sword? Use it.
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You got a bow? Use it.
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He equipped them, he supplied them with weapons and said, now
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this is your job. You will protect this weak part.
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And I tell you, we need to learn the strategy.
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We have to learn the strategy all the time.
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Once in a while you have to, when you have your coffee and
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sit in your chair, ask the question, what is the weak point
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in my family? Who is the weak link in my
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family? And cover them with the blood of
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Christ. Put the blood of Christ upon the
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spiritual and body. Put the blood of Christ upon the
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spiritual and body. I tell you, any other strategy
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may fail, but this strategy will not fail.
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Put the blood of Christ. It does not require a PhD to say
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those things. You don't need to study for
-
seven years or 10 years to come up with the statement.
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Put the blood of Jesus on the spiritual and body and that weak
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link will come strong. We have shared the secret with
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some people who are struggling with children having some kind
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of ADHD or something like that, autism and things like different
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people. We shared and now after two
-
months after we came back from US, they are telling us what are
-
they saying that is working? What is working?
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Put the blood of crash on the children.
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The children are changing situation in the dynamics in the
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family is changing. That strategy will not fail.
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Put the bread of Christ. So then what did they do?
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After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles
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and officials and the rest of the people, don't be afraid of
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them. Remember the Lord for your
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brothers and your sons and your daughters, your wives and your
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homes. You fight.
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Remember your family and fight for them.
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But before that, what he said is remember the Lord.
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Everybody said remember the Lord.
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Why our prayer is not effective? Because the Lord, our God, you
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worship who, who saved you is very small.
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God is very, very small in your eyes.
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Your understanding of God is very, very small.
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That's reason why prayer is ineffective and you lose the
-
battle. Remember the Lord, awesome God,
-
terrible God, He is powerful souring, He is the creator of
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visible invisible realities. When you remember this God, the
-
prayer, the punch in the prayer, when you think God is very
-
small, He wasn't 6 foot, He needed only 6 foot place to bury
-
him after he died. That prayer will not go
-
anywhere. You need to think big about God.
-
I was just sharing with somebody.
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Oh, I was thinking about God. And I said, I thank you, Lord
-
Jesus, for you are the Lamb of God that is slain before the
-
foundation of the world. And I said to the Lord God, the
-
whole creation has come out of that blood because you shed that
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blood and then you created the world.
-
And I shared it with a friend of mine and he said that's very
-
awesome. Yes, it is awesome.
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But I had never known known it for 40 years.
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Only today I have realized it and said, Oh God, you are God
-
who shed the powerful bread. The creation came out of that
-
blood, salvation came out of that blood, and healing comes
-
from that blood. Deliverance comes from that
-
blood, blessing comes from that blood.
-
I tell you, I have magnified the bread of Jesus, and I will not
-
lose my battle against the enemy, because that bread has
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overcome the enemy. When our enemies heard that we
-
were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we
-
all returned to the wall, each to his own work.
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When you know that there's a battle against the enemy, when
-
you know that the enemy is attacking you, that knowledge
-
itself will make the battle small.
-
It will have the battle because the enemy knows that you know
-
him. You know his plan.
-
He's defeated half already. One of the main problems of the
-
church today is we do not know our enemy.
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We do not know who is Satan. If you know he has been defeated
-
by Jesus, and if you know that you have authority over him,
-
your life is going to change 360°.
-
It will not be the same. It will not be the same.
-
It will not be the same. You need to know who is devil
-
and more than that, you need to know who is your God.
-
When you know your God problem is already half solved.
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So from that day on half my when see this is you see the strategy
-
of Nehemiah changing quickly. Now what did you do from was 16
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from that day on, half my men. I must finish it now.
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From the day on, half my men did the work while the other half
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were equip his spear, Shields, bows and armor.
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And then he says they did their work with one hand, held a
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weapon in the other hand. So these are the different
-
strategies. Half people are working, half
-
people are standing guard and next strategy was that they
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would work with one hand. They are working with one hand
-
holding the weapon. That is another strategy, and
-
those who are builders, they hung their sword by the side
-
because they need both their hands to lift the stone.
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So they are working with the hand, but the sword is hanging
-
by their side. Any second they know the enemy
-
is nearby, comes out the sword. How many of us are even equipped
-
with the sword? What is the sword for a
-
Christian? The word of God?
-
When the enemy puts a trouble into your life, what should pop
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up in your mind? The Word of God.
-
When you stand on the Word of God, enemy will be defeated.
-
I tell you, if you request 100 hours of praying just to get one
-
word to solve your problem, it's worth those 100 hours of prayer.
-
One word God speaks into your spirit is going to make you a
-
David and a Goliath is going to come down.
-
That's the reason why we believe that there's a Rhema word, a
-
word that God speaks in season through His word, the Bible, and
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through His spirit. In your mind, in your spirit, He
-
can speak. And we need that word because
-
that word is going to change the game.
-
That is a game changer. And then what did he do?
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He said in verse 16, it was 18. But the man who sounded the
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trumpet stayed with me. So he and each of the builders
-
wore his sword is at his side as he worked.
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But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.
-
Now this is very important when Nehemiah is the guy who is now
-
trying to look out over 1.72 point, 4 kilometers of, I mean a
-
perimeter of the wall. He may be standing here and some
-
other place the enemy may come. So he needs to be in the He
-
should be anticipating and be there.
-
Wherever the problem is going to come, he should anticipate and
-
be there. And then he wanted the man who
-
blows his trumpet to be next to him.
-
If the trumpet sounding man is not next to him and is somewhere
-
else, can he sound a trumpet? He cannot.
-
Secondly, sometimes they can sound a trumpet.
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False alarm, when the enemy not come and not attack, he thought
-
some he may be seeing bushes move and he think there is a man
-
been standing behind him with a sword and he blows the trumpet.
-
False alarm. So leader must know to sound the
-
alarm at the right time, not you false alarm.
-
So he kept the man, the trumpet next to him all the time.
-
And then what did he do? And he told them, wherever you
-
hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there.
-
Our God will fight for us. Is he saying we are going to
-
fight or not? They are going to fight, but who
-
is fighting for them? God will fight for them.
-
It is both is not just only God S many times we think we just
-
pray. That's enough.
-
We don't have to do anything. We are praying for revival.
-
We are praying for revival. So is that enough?
-
We have to do something about it.
-
We have to do something about it.
-
Action must follow the prayer and then it is going to work.
-
Now the people had people had a strategy and they had brought
-
people from outside Jerusalem to work.
-
So they were not sent back. Once the work is over, they
-
don't go back home. They're sleeping inside the city
-
so they can be available to fight if required.
-
And one of the most important thing is was 23, neither I nor
-
my brothers nor my men, nor the gods with with me took off our
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clothes. Each had his weapon.
-
Even when he went for water, they didn't even take off their
-
clothes for 52 days. That is commitment, That is
-
commitment, that is vision, that is everything.
-
And when you have a commitment like that, the walls will be
-
rebuilt. No wonder it was done in 52
-
days. No wonder it was done in 52
-
days. Because there is a leader who is
-
committed. And when you see the leader, the
-
people follow the leader. When you see the leader is not
-
taking off clothes, he's having a sword by him.
-
He has a trumpeter with the one who blows trumpet beside him,
-
and he has organized things. And people are not going back to
-
their places. They're sleeping inside families
-
of station. At lowest points, everybody is
-
prepared with the spear, sword and whatever weapon they have.
-
I tell you, you can breathe the tension in Jerusalem.
-
You cannot just breathe the air and don't feel the tension
-
there. Christian life has to be like
-
that and when you do that your life will be different and
-
outcome will be different. The Lord bless you guys for
-
that. I think I overshot my time a
-
little bit, but let's have the communion straight away.
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Let us ask the Lord to prepare our hearts for the part.
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Partake in His body and the blood.
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Thank you, Jesus, Father, as we are going to partake, I pray
-
right now that will prepare our hearts, give us that kind of a
-
burden, that kind of a commitment that Nehemiah and the
-
people of Jerusalem had to rebuild the walls.
-
Lord, prepare our hearts to protect our families, to protect
-
the church, to protect our God, your Kingdom, or to work for
-
your Kingdom, to expect that revival is coming and pray with
-
expectation because our God is great and he is going to do it.
-
So, Father, we commit ours into hands, prepare our hearts that
-
we may partake it worthily to the glory of your name.
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In Jesus name we ask, Amen. Thanks for joining us at Omega.
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If you need prayer for healing or breakthrough, or simply to
-
find out more, please head to our website or Facebook page in
-
the links below.