Get Your Mind Right. It's Time To Live (Build) | Nehemiah 4:1-6 | Pastor Walter Bowers Jr.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, Master.

Thank you, Lord.

For the reminder that it will work out for us.

Thank you, Lord.

The man of God said it's already done.

Thank you, Lord.

Have your way in this place, O Lord.

Speak like you only you can, O Lord.

I feel something mighty in this season, O Lord.

And I pray, Father God, that everything that comes forth next comes directly from you.

And we'll be careful, God, to give your name all the glory, honor, and praise.

So in the powerful name of Jesus, we pray, let the people of God say Amen, Amen, and Amen.

To God be the glory.

To God be the glory.

To God be the glory.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Family, we are in a season of building individually and building collectively.

And Nehemiah has been our guide thus far along the way.

And today we are at Nehemiah, the fourth chapter.

We'll be reading verse 1 through 6.

We'll be reading from the King James Version as I read the text because I um got great value of how this particular version of the Word of God highlighted verse 6.

So as it is our custom here, let's read the word of God out loud together.

Ready?

Set, read.

But it came to pass that when Sandbalat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews.

And he spake before his brethren, the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews will they fortify themselves?

Will they sacrifice?

Will they make an end in a day?

Will they revive the stones out of the heap of the rubbish which are burned?

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.

Hear, O God, for we are despised, and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity.

And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together until the half thereof for the people had a mind to work.

I I want to stay right down verse six one more time.

Let's read it one more time.

So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together until the half thereof for the people had a mind to work.

Just one more time, because I get happy about this.

Let's do it one more time.

So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work.

Amen.

And I would just like to use as the Holy Ghost would allow get your mind right.

It's time to build.

Yeah, yeah.

Get your mind right.

Tell him, get your mind right.

Come on, say it like you mean it.

Say it, get your mind right.

Say it like your favorite DJ was saying it.

Get your mind right.

Yeah, tell him, get your mind right.

It's time to build.

It's time to build.

You may be seated in the presence of our Lord.

Family.

I want to make sure I slow down carefully enough.

As much as y'all know I love to celebrate and run and shout and celebrate what God is doing in y'all lives and my lives.

But I want to take it as slow as I possibly can, like that good barbecue, you know, 250 degrees for a few hours.

That don't mean I'm gonna we're gonna be here long.

We making good time.

I'm not saying that, but I'm saying I want to make sure that my cadence is clear enough so that you catch everything that I'm throwing.

Because this is critical for our next.

You see, the mind of the builder, and you are a builder, um you're building in your own house and you're building for the Lord's house, you are a builder.

Somebody say, I'm a builder, and I want to let you know that the mind of the builder is often under attack, and it is the mind of the builder that is literally the difference between failure and success, is literally in the mind.

What happens next in your family is literally determined by what's going on in your mind.

The mind of our church will determine literally what we do next.

And the reality is that because the mind is essential to what um God is trying to do in our lives, He often and consistently attacks the mind.

I know this because we do stuff that makes sense to nobody but ourselves.

Amen.

Somebody shout out when you made that last purchase.

It made sense to you at the time.

Didn't make sense to your bank account, it didn't make sense to your accountant, but in thine own eyes, it it made sense.

Somebody said, get your mind right.

When you saw that message in your DM, you had heard about that person.

But now it made sense for you to go ahead and say, respond to that WYD message.

And needless to say, a couple of years later, you like if I could turn back the hands of time.

But it made sense at the time, somebody said, get your mind right.

Men and women of God, I want to remind you that Proverbs 21, verse 2 says it like this people may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart.

Proverbs 21:2

That word heart is interchangeable with mine.

And what the Lord is saying is, I'm examining you because you have been making decisions based on what you feel is right.

The Lord says in Jeremiah 17, verse 10, I the Lord search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruits of his deeds.

Jeremiah 17:10

What does that mean?

It says the Lord is searching the heart or searching the mind to give to you according to your ways.

And your ways are predicated on how you think.

In other words, as a man thinketh, so is he.

And so, in reality, is the fruit of my life is based upon how I think.

And now all of a sudden, suddenly, uh Elder Shank, I can no longer be mad at God about some fruit that's in my life or lack thereof.

It reality is it was my thinking that got me in the situation that I'm currently in.

Somebody say, get your mind right.

Men and women of God, our deeds are the product of our mind.

And the enemy understands that um that we that the mind is everything, which is why in our country, America is facing a mental health crisis.

America is facing a mental health crisis.

Uh, not rich Americans, not poor Americans, not black Americans, not white Americans, Americans, uh documented or otherwise, are facing a mental health crisis.

We've never seen anything like this before.

But the Bible told us that this is what was going to be one of the enemy attacks.

How do I know?

Because Isaiah 59, verse 19 says it like this the enemy comes in like a what?

Isaiah 59:19

Like a flood.

And some of you all may have thought that was talking about natural river boundaries, but no, the enemy is coming in like a flood to your mind.

That's why I want to tell everybody in the room it's very dangerous in this season uh to indulge daily in daily news and daily social medium.

It's dangerous.

The enemy is coming in like a flood.

I know you want to know what's going on, but you just don't know the impact all of this information is having on your mind.

That's why the Lord sent me into a season of fasting from um from social media, other than when I have to tap in for work here or there, um, simply because even as a pastor, I was starting to realize that the recent news cycle was coming in like a flood on my mind.

There are some of you who have more Instagram in you than you do, Holy Ghosts.

Yeah, you you scroll the gram more than you pick up the word.

The enemy comes in like a what?

Like a flood.

And what has happened is now your thoughts and your theology is based on what other people are saying in comparison to what thus saith the Lord.

You have no idea.

That's why it's such a fight for media.

That's why the current administration gets mad at media when the media says something that they don't want to be said, because the media is controlling everything.

And I'm not saying go for this media or that media.

I'm just telling you that media is controlling everything.

Somebody said to get your mind right.

The enemy has been coming in like a flood, and now we take this flood with us everywhere we go.

You can't even sit down and be still without scrolling.

Somebody scrolling right now.

Come on, look at them.

Say, you better, you better, this ain't the day for it.

Tell him this ain't this ain't the day for it.

This ain't the day for it.

This ain't the day.

Enemy comes in like a what?

Like a like like a flood.

And and the problem is if you know anything about a flood, a flood is is loud, a flood is overbearing, you can't hear and you can't see.

And the Lord is saying that we must learn to hear God through the noise.

And sometimes the only way you're going to hear God through the noise is that you got to do your best to silence the noise.

Because the enemy has come in like a flood through our minds.

The flood has caused many of us to become emotionally unhealthy.

There are many people in this room you are called by God, but the truth of the matter is you are emotionally unhealthy because you have yet to heal from what hurt you.

Yes, you want to be a leader in church.

Yes, you want to be a leader on your job, but are you healthy enough for your next assignment?

And the reality of it is that God wants to use you, but you have to allow God to heal you.

And the more that you build, the more that you ought to expect that the enemy is going to send the flood.

Somebody say, get your mind right.

Men and women of God, I want to remind you that you must get your mind right in order to build.

You must get your mind right in order to live, because if you are building, you are living.

If you are building, you are living.

But on the flip side, if you're not building, you're dying.

If you're if you're if you're in a church and is not building, it's it's it's dying.

If you're in a career, you you if you ain't going up, they're gonna soon put you out.

If you're not building, it's it's it's dying.

And can I ask you in your life, what is it that has so much promise that once started with a bill and then shifted to a plateau and now it's dying?

Anything that is not growing is dying.

And the enemy continues to send a flood to our minds to attempt to stop the growth process so we never be who God has called us to be, nor do we ever do what God has called us to do.

But I need some people at a 10 o'clock worship service that don't mind early in this sermon declaring that the devil is a liar.

Yeah.

Somebody say, I'm gonna get my mind back today.

Yeah, say it like you mean it.

Say, I'm gonna get my mind back today.

I know I had lost my mind, but I'm gonna get my mind back today.

I know I acted a fool, but I'm gonna I'm gonna get my mind back today.

I I I know I said whatnot I should have said, but I'm gonna get my mind.

Somebody said, I'm gonna get my mind back today.

Yeah, yeah.

I believe that as a man of God, that there's gonna be somebody that's going to recover their mind today because the Bible says that the people had what a mind to work.

And the reality of it is if you have a mind to work, eyes have not seen, nor have ears heard what God has in store for you.

When you get your mind together, God is going to speak to you in ways that he is yet to speak to you before.

As your mind starts to shift, you will know the voice of the Lord as he starts to speak to you.

As your mind starts to shift, you will be able to discern the real from the fake.

As your mind starts to shift, you will know the difference between good and evil.

As your mind starts to shift, you won't be like Richard Pryor in that movie.

No, you will know which way is up.

As your mind starts to shift, God is going to show you everything that you have been waiting on.

And we are in this worship service today because my prayer is that God will shift some minds.

That's that's the prayer.

It's simple today.

That's that's what we've doing.

We're just praying that God will shift some minds, so much so that even as we were getting ready for worship just a few minutes ago, I was able to tap a few brothers on the shoulder and say, Come in the office and and pray with me because I need God to shift some some minds.

There's some minds that have been where they are, and the Lord is saying, You've been where you are long enough.

And the Lord is saying, if you let me in, he said, I ain't gonna force my way in.

He said, Let me into your mind today.

He said, Let me into your mind today.

I'm he said, I stand at the door and knock.

I wish I had some people that'll let him.

He said, Let me into your mind today.

Put down your preconceived notions of what's supposed to happen today, put down your ideology of what you think it's supposed to look like, put down the theology that you think has always been right.

And God said, Open up and and be vulnerable and let me in.

Come, come let me in.

I wish I had some people that said, I'm gonna let you in today, God.

I'm gonna let you in, God, and and Lord have mercy.

I I don't know about you.

When you when you let God into your mind, it's not like a visitor that comes into the room.

You know, when you got company coming over, you'll be putting your shoes under the bed, stuff and stuff in the closet.

No, God said, Let me in your mind right where it is.

He said, I want to come in your mind right where it is with all the ugly stuff.

Let me in right there where it is.

He said, matter of fact, I I'm not a visitor, I'm a resident.

And when I come in, I'm gonna do the cleaning that you couldn't do.

I'm gonna touch the places that you couldn't touch.

I'm gonna I'm gonna sweep and I'm gonna make it over, and I'm gonna shift some stuff.

Somebody that said, Lord, you ought to welcome here.

Yeah, that ought to be the place, Lord, you are welcome here.

You're welcome here, you're you're welcome here.

And so it is with Nehemiah, a leader anointed by God, who helps us to understand the impact on the mind.

See, Nehemiah is in the process of doing what God had called him to do, and for Nehemiah, it was rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.

Nehemiah was called to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem because Jerusalem had the people of Jerusalem had been taken into Babylonian captivity, and the oppressors had burned the walls down.

And as the oppressors had burned the walls down, 70 years went by that they were in captivity, and now they are returning, and it was placed on Nehemiah's heart to rebuild the wall.

And as we talked about over the last couple of weeks, he had the people, he had the resources, but now it's mental.

Can I talk to somebody in the room and the Lord is saying, You you ain't gotta worry about enough people, He's about to release the resources.

Matter of fact, the Lord said the resources are already released, but now you've gotten to the hard part, it's mental.

Somebody said it's it's mental.

And because it's mental, his mind is being flooded during the building process.

And I said, Lord, I gotta give the people some instruction an instructional word today so that they can understand how to deal with the flood that comes up when you are in the midst of a building process.

And the Lord gave me an acronym because I can remember acronyms and you can remember acronyms.

He says, Stay right there in that vein.

He says, Stay with Flood.

Everybody say Flood.

I got an acronym for you today that's gonna bless you and bless you real good to help you to um deal with whatever may be coming in in your mind.

Uh in Flood, the first thing we got to deal with, how you spell Flood?

What's the first what's the first letter in Flood?

They cheated, they cheated, that's how y'all knew.

Fell flood.

In Flood, uh, the first thing God is saying that is if you're going to deal with the enemy coming against you like a flood, you got to deal with the F.

And the F is the fear of failure.

Nehemiah 4, verse 1.

Nehemiah 4:1

Sandbal was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall.

He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews.

Uh, at this point of the journey, Nehemiah had encountered Sandbalad and Tobiah before.

And when Sanbal and Tobiah were ineffective, they went and got an individual by the name of Geshem, which suggests that uh Sandbalad is upping his attacks against um Nehemiah.

Uh, he's upping his attacks verbally, and he's bringing in more people, and he's trying to remind Nehemiah of what's not possible uh because of what happened in the past.

And so now Nehemiah as a great leader not only has to convince himself but convince the other people around us, around him, that all things are possible for those who believe.

But the reality of it is that as Nehemiah is trying to do what God has called him to do, uh, there is this constant pressure of what didn't work yesterday.

There is this constant pressure that if he tries to build the wall again, that maybe it won't work this time.

And I want to talk to some people in the room that God has called you to build your wall.

He's called you to rebuild your family, he's called you to rebuild your life, he's called you to rebuild your business, and says that you've got to overcome the fear of failure.

You have to overcome the fear of failure.

You got to be able to put your ego aside and be able to say, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

And I want to help somebody in this in the day who who is afraid of failing.

You've done the math, you've you've measured twice, and now it's time to cut, and you're concerned that the last time you measured twice, matter of fact, you measured three times and you cut, it didn't work.

But God's saying, if first you don't succeed, try, try again.

You're you're you're blessed um um today to have a witness before you that knows about that other try.

Um there was a beautiful song that uh used to we used to sing that said that we're so glad that we have a God of a second chance.

Only to discover that that song needed a remix because many of us were past that second chance a long time ago.

And so I'm glad that he's a God of another chance and another chance and another chance.

And because he's a God of another chance and another chance and another chance, why are you afraid of failure?

Uh, men and women of God, what looks like failure in reality is probably just part of your process.

Uh, what looks like defeat is what God is using to uh set you up for victory.

Um, you know, and I tell y'all often because the word of God declares that the we the enemy is defeated by uh the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our what?

Our testimony.

Because the reason I do testify sometimes about my family is because I'm just trying to help you to win.

And I can tell you that uh for our process, for our family, uh my wife had the experience with a couple of uh failed uh uh pregnancies.

And and if she had a throne in the towel because she was afraid it wasn't gonna work that last time, uh, I wouldn't have uh three boys in youth church right now.

Amen, somebody.

Yeah, I share my testimony because you you got a pastor that I got that I got that bone crusher faith joke.

I ain't I ain't never scared, you know.

I I get out there and try anything.

I I might get my head busted of white meat, but I I I I jump out there, you know.

I I do I had any other bone crusher faith folk in the I I'ma jump out there.

I'm I'm gonna try I'm gonna try.

I'm gonna I'm trying to help some other people in the room, but say what looks like failure may be a part of your what of your process.

Yeah.

Y'all already know I was I was grateful to be a a practicing attorney for 10 years in this city, even represented the city of Charter in federal court and had some amazing wins and did all that stuff, but it started in failure.

It it started with missing the bar exam by by seven points the first time, and then it started by missing that dog on exam by three points.

Only the second time I missed it.

Then here come the saints saying, Maybe the Lord doesn't have this for you.

Uh maybe those the Lord is telling you the devil is a liar.

Do you know how much law school costs?

Ain't no way I done come this far for him to leave me now.

I'm trying to help somebody in the room.

I'm trying to help somebody in the room.

I'm trying to help you.

The enemy comes in like a flood.

Y'all know how many folk told me to quit, the enemy comes in like a flood, but you gotta be able to say the devil is a liar.

What God has for me, it is for me.

Some of y'all's business is about to blow up, and it started when your job started to downsize.

Yeah.

Some of y'all about to have the happiest marriage you ever had, and it started when that last person didn't see the value of who you were.

Somebody said, failure may be a part of my process, but my God is not done with me yet.

So we gotta understand that we gotta get over the fear of failure.

Your ego gotta get over what people may say about you when you fail.

Can I say that again?

Get over these people ain't gonna help you no way.

You know what I'm saying?

They not they're not there for you.

Stop worrying about what people gotta say.

Get over the fear of failure and do what God has called you to do.

But then there's the L.

Somebody say it, somebody say the L.

The L, the L for flood is losses.

Here it is, losses, losses.

If I if I if I'm going to come against the flood that is coming against my mind, I gotta get over the fear of failure.

But I also gotta know how to deal with losses.

Nehemiah, the fourth chapter, uh, really verses two through six.

Uh now Nehemiah uh saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, here's this is this is Sam Ballad and Tobiah talking.

Uh they say, what does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they're doing?

Do they think they can build a wall in a single day just by offering a few sacrifices?

I'm gonna give y'all something that I didn't give at 8 o'clock.

Part of getting your mind right is found in your ability to worship in the midst of what you are trying to build.

You see, sacrifices were worship in the old testament.

They would, they were, they would sacrifice the the the lamb and the bullock and ask for uh atonement and forgiveness of sins.

And on the outside, somebody trying to figure out where the world are they doing all of that stuff for in the middle of a building project.

Somebody here today trying to figure out why you came to church when when you when you're supposed to be out there getting overtime, like they getting over time.

But you realize that Jehovah Jireh is the source of your strength.

You you know who's your provider, you know where your help comes from.

I wish I had some witnesses in the room that understand the concept that when I put God first in my life, all my needs shall be supplied.

And and but but but the enemy understands this, and so they go a little bit further, and he's talking about losses.

This is what the enemy is saying to uh to Nehemiah, and I believe what the enemy is saying to some of you.

He says, Do they actually think, talking about the mind, they can they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap and charred ones at that.

Tobiah jumps in, the Ammonite who was standing there and you always gotta have they always gotta have somebody tag in with them, don't they?

He didn't tag then.

He said a stone wall would collapse even if a fox walked on top of it.

And uh in other words, the wall, these walls were supposed to be able to hold chariots and armies and all of this, and he making fun of them saying, bruh, yo, that little wall y'all building can't even hold up a little cat on top of it because somebody always got something to say about what it is that you trying to uh to do.

But but but but but don't don't don't don't don't don't just keep building.

Somebody say keep building.

Um but but but I wanted you to show you something about losses.

While while while haters are haters and they say what they got to say, uh there's sometimes truth that is mixed in with the midst of the lie.

Uh the truth is that it is a fact that Nehemiah was building on top of rubbish and heap, and it is a fact that he was building on top of charred brick, and it is a fact that the wood had been burned down, and it and it is a fact that it was ashes, and it is a fact that it was destroyed.

So, from that perspective, Sandballad and Tobiah uh weren't lying.

But what Sandbalad and Tobiah didn't account for was what we refer to as the God factor.

Yeah.

Um, is anybody familiar with the God factor?

It is when our God takes the burn and charred and broken and busted and disgusted pieces of our lives, and he takes what the enemy meant for evil, and he has an ability to turn it for good.

That's what our God does.

And and the Lord is saying in this season of your life that you don't have to be afraid of the losses, uh, you don't have to be afraid of the charred relationship, you don't have to be afraid of the charred business venture that didn't work out the first time.

Somebody say, Don't be afraid of the of the losses.

Yeah, um, you don't have to worry about it because the Lord is still saying that it was part of your uh process.

And he is saying that uh even though your last relationship was charred and burned, it's the very thing that I'm going to use to build you a happily ever after.

Even though you had a horrible experience at your last uh church, God is going to use your experiences at your last church to make sure that your gifts are stirred at this church.

Even though you had a bad and horrible time on your job, the Lord is saying, I'm going to take everything that they use to smear your name.

Yeah.

I'm going to go back to the 90s, uh, Minister Brandy.

Um, in the 90s, we used to say they scandalized our name.

Yeah.

Uh if you were in the church in the 90s, you heard them talk about that.

They they lied on me and they scandalized my name.

I need some old saints that know what I'm talking about.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shout out if your name has ever been scandalized.

Yeah, yeah, but I want to let you know that the Lord is saying I can use the scandal, I can use the bones in the closet, I can use the ugly stuff, I can use the season of incarceration, I can use the season of depression, I can use the season of hurt, I can use the season of pain, I can use the season of being left out to build you up to be better than you have ever been before because he takes what the enemy meant for evil and he turns it for our good.

And I don't know about you, chosen city.

I sense a turning in the spirit in the house of God today.

I sense a turning in the spirit in the house of God today.

I sense a turning in the spirit in the house of God today, but it starts in the mind.

Our God.

At this point, you get tired of folks always talking sideways.

Every man, somebody.

Y'all, yo, you know what I'm saying?

You know, I kind of feel like um Pop once said, I ain't a killer, but don't push me.

You know what I'm talking about?

Can we be honest?

That's most of us in the room, man.

We we don't want no problems, man.

But how many times you gonna push me, bro?

I'm just saying.

And and and and and near my Amen, woman.

How many times?

Amen.

How many times?

You know what I'm saying?

I ain't I ain't got too many more in me.

I ain't got too.

Lord, I ain't got too many, I ain't got too.

I need to talk to the people in the room.

You came on the right Sunday, that you ain't got too many more in you.

You, you, you, you ain't, you ain't got too many more.

The Lord, the Lord said, Don't be like Pastor Walton today.

Be like Nehemiah.

When you get to that point, Nehemiah started to pray.

Nehemiah started to pray that God would handle his enemies.

Amen, somebody.

I'm sorry.

I know you thought I was gonna tell you to pull up on them and tell them to meet you outside.

I'm a Bible preacher, the Bible don't say that.

I wish you did sometime.

I wish the Bible said, tell him to meet you outside.

It's going down.

See me in the mall, it's going down.

You know what I'm saying?

No, God didn't.

He said, nope, nope, don't be like he said nope, be like Nehemiah.

Now we we a Bible church, we gotta go with the Bible say.

And the Bible said, come on now, no, no, we gotta be like, we gotta, we got to be in the Bible.

And the Bible said Nehemiah prayed for the haters.

Amen, somebody.

I know we don't want to, but I'm trying to challenge somebody today to pray for that person that's been coming at you sideways.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He he he prayed because Nehemiah shows us something what happens in your life when you deal with the fears that you have and you deal with the law, law, the losses that you have effectively, Joe.

When you deal with the fear and the losses effectively, I want to tell you that you're Halfway to where God is taking you.

When you deal with the fears and the losses effectively, you are halfway to where God is taking you.

Look at verse 6.

It says, At last the wall was complete to half of its height.

Somebody say, I'm almost there.

And Nehemiah was almost there because he dealt with the fear and he dealt with the losses and he dealt with those things effectively.

But even though he was halfway there, uh the enemy was doing everything to make sure uh that he did accomplish God's plan, which is why the O in flood is opposition.

So we have to deal with the uh fear of failure.

We gotta deal with the losses, but then we gotta deal with the odds.

Hold on, we gotta start right there.

When this text started in Nehemiah the first chapter, it was just sandballad and tobiah.

Uh when sandballad and tobiah didn't work out, uh then he went and got Geshem.

And now because the enemy is just determined to see you fail down this dude and poured up.

He didn't got the Arabs, he didn't got the Ammonites, the Astrides.

Oh my goodness.

Let me tell you why.

Uh that's such an attack.

That's such an attack because the enemy understands the value of you, the enemy understands what God is trying to do through you.

And the enemy is hell-bent on making sure that you don't accomplish God's plan in the earth.

Uh, can I tell you as a builder, you should expect opposition?

Somebody say you should expect the ops.

Yeah.

Tell them you should expect the ops.

There's no way you can be doing what God has called you to do and not expect the ops to show up.

So why you mad when somebody don't support you?

You ought to expect the ops.

Why you mad when they don't show up to the ribbon cutting?

You ought to expect the ops.

Why are you mad when they overlooked you?

You ought to expect the ops.

You ought to expect the ops, but still declare, no weapon formed against me shall prosper.

Opposition shows up.

This opposition is external.

Because sometimes the opposition that we are dealing with is external.

The Bible says that he shows up, and verse 8 says, it made it clear that they showed up uh when they had made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion.

They they had an intentional plan to show up to fight against what God was doing.

They uh the enemy continues to have an intentional plan to show up and fight your mind to tell you that nobody will buy your book, to fight your mind and tell you that nobody will hire you, to fight your mind and tell you that nobody will love you, to fight your mind and tell you that you ought to just accept the status quo.

Chloe, there is a plan that was birthed in hell to plan.

Did you not know that the enemy didn't did just didn't attack?

He got a plan with your name on it.

He's devising schemes.

He literally is sitting there saying, How can I take this brother down?

How can I take this sister down?

What we did to this person didn't work, but I see their weakness.

We should attack this person just like this.

That's why you can't uh come against me if I get knocked down.

Because just what just because what knocked didn't knock you down, uh knock me down, it doesn't mean that you are better than me.

No, we all got us thrown in our flesh.

And the plan of the enemy is to identify it and to use it to take your life away, and he'll take your life away by stopping you from building what God has called you to build.

Because if you're not building, you're not living, and if you're not living, you're dying.

Somebody said we gotta pray against the ops.

Yeah.

Matter of fact, can we do that right now?

Somebody, y'all, y'all, instead of instead of fighting them, y'all, instead of meeting them outside, y'all.

I bet you won't just start praying up, praying, praying against the ops right now.

Just start praying.

I bet you won't, because that's how we flow in the spirit.

I don't need you to wait to get home because the ops might be outside.

I need you to right now be bold enough to pray against the opposition.

I wish I had some people in here right now.

So I'm I'm praying against the opposition.

Hey, when you pray against the ops, sometimes you might be praying against your own self.

Help me, Holy Ghost.

Because ain't no enemy worse than you.

You your own worst enemy.

You know your own proclivities, you know where to take you down.

And some of y'all get up and take yourself down every morning.

Help me, holy ghost.

Sometimes it ain't on the outside, sometimes it's me.

I gotta get out of my own way.

I gotta get out of my own head.

Sometimes it's me.

We gotta deal with the opposition.

And then we gotta deal with the obstacles.

Somebody say obstacles.

Uh the opposition, the external ops, the internal ops, but then the the opposition.

The next OS the opposition, the the obstacles, the obstacles and the opposition.

And in Nehemiah, the fifth chapter, there are obstacles because he's gotten past the haters as you're going to get past your haters.

He got past the haters because he prayed his way through it.

And I want to encourage you, you're halfway there.

Somebody say, I'm halfway there.

Yeah, you're you you you are halfway there because of the power of prayer.

But even though you're halfway there, now you got to deal with the obstacles.

And the obstacles show up in nearby the fifth chapter.

It says that about this time, some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews.

So that goes back to the earlier chapter, chapter three, and some of those other chapters where you have a long list of people who are building that look so beautiful and cute when they was uh had their name on the roll.

Shout out to anybody that went to old church.

Listen, I believe my mama, I don't know what my mom put in there.

She might have she put whatever she had.

She might have been$25.

But today, um, me and my brother's name are on the wall in New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church.

Cool.

She put our name in a little building.

Anybody else grew up like that?

Yeah, got a little leaf on the little stone.

I knew I had some old school.

So that's all cute and good.

Because early in the book of Nehemiah, their names are on the record as being part of the building process.

But in Nehemiah, the fifth chapter, them same people whose name was on the record, now they're fighting.

There's an internal conflict.

Somebody say it's internal.

Men and women of God, if we're going to build, we gotta kill the internal conflict.

You gotta kill the beef between you and your siblings, and you gotta kill the beef between you and your parents.

That's a direct word to somebody right now who is not talking to their parents.

I'm not saying, hear this clearly, I'm not saying just because they're family, you gotta be in a toxic relationship.

Does that make sense?

Because there's some people that just ain't healed.

But I'm saying is you gotta go like God tell you to go.

And if they ever open the door for you and ask for your forgiveness, as a man or woman of God, you gotta be willing uh to receive that person back in, just like God received you back in.

On the flip side, if you are the tortfeasor, if you are the you are the guilty party, then you also have a responsibility to go to the person that you harmed and say, you know what?

I wasn't in my right mind back then.

I was going through something.

And maybe y'all don't connect like you used to, but what God is saying is that the conflict got to die.

If we're going to be builders in the spirit realm, the conflict has to die.

In the church realm, conflict has to die.

You gotta kill it, right?

Uh we can't have uh parishioners going at it.

We need each other, we all we got, and that's more than enough when we work together because uh many hands make light work.

And and in this text, the people had a mind to work.

That means they had a mind to be unified, they had a mind to work together, they had a mind to have each other's back.

Uh, and that's what God is calling for us at Chosen City to have a mind to work.

And if we have a mind to work, eyes have not seen, ears have not heard.

What God has in store for us individually, that means a blessing is about to hit your house.

And it means that what God has in store for us collectively, that means a blessing is about to hit this house.

I wish I had some people that can receive that by by faith in Jesus' name that if we get our mind white and if we kill the obstacles, there is nothing our God cannot do.

In the text, the obstacle was uh that some of the people were working harder and sacrificing more than others.

Uh, the people uh had large families and they needed more food.

Uh the text said they had gotten so impoverished that they had mortgaged their homes.

And shout out to somebody in the room that it put out a second mortgage just to send your child to school.

Uh they they mortgaged their homes and their vineyards just to eat during the famine.

It's crazy that they were trying to build a wall in the midst of going through a famine.

And then and the reality is that God doesn't call you to build in beautiful times.

He he calls you to build in the drought.

He he calls you to build uh in the famine, he calls you to build in the storm.

If there's a storm outside, what a great time to build.

Don't you know that some of the world's billionaires were built in the times of depression because their mind wasn't on the struggle, their mind was how to overcome the struggle.

I wish somebody could catch what I'm throwing.

That your mind, you have been too short-sighted in your thinking.

You gotta learn how can I build when everybody else is crying?

Um, how can I build when everybody else is complaining?

How can I build when everybody else is concerned?

No, the mind of the builder reaches beyond the break.

And I'm trying to get some of you to reach beyond the break so that you can build what God has called you to build.

Well, they're building in the middle of the famine, and and they and they and they say we had to mortgage our homes and we had to sell our stuff, and on top of this, we had to pay taxes.

And they said, Nehemiah's gotten worse.

They said that uh uh we belong to the same family as those who are wealthy, and our children are just like theirs, but we had to sell our children into slavery.

In the times of the Bible, it was not uncommon for people to sell themselves into slavery to pay off a debt, and so the people are saying we're trying to do everything that God has called us to do, but Nehemiah is not working.

We've sold our daughters into slavery.

Can you imagine it being so bad that you have to sell your daughter into slavery?

And they say, We've done everything.

And and in the middle of this obstacle, you know what Nehemiah teaches us?

Nehemiah doesn't break down.

Nehemiah does two things.

He's become strategic and he becomes tactical.

I need to talk to our church about understanding the difference between being strategic and tactical.

As a matter of fact, as you read your devotional this week and read your scriptures, I want you to do some business research on the difference between being strategic and tactical.

Strategic individuals are those individuals that are gifted to think of plans.

They they think of uh of ways to grow the business, they think of ways for the military to be successful, they think of ways to run the country, they think of ways to make uh money work, they they think of strategy as it relates to it.

And and but uh the tactical gift is the one that can take that strategy and execute on the strategy.

Y'all walking with me?

Um if you're a tactical person, you may not be the best strategist, but if somebody put a plan in your hand, you can make it happen.

Shout out to the tactical people in this room, you need both.

Somebody say you need both.

You need the strategy, and you need a strategic and a tactical.

And not to get off subject, the reason that some of y'all are struggling is because you're trying to be tactical and when you need to be strategic, or you're trying to be strategic when you're trying to be tactical.

In other words, for those of you who are being strategic when it's time to be tactical, you done wrote the business plan 48 times.

You done brought it to the altar, we done pulled all kinds of oils on it.

But you ain't did a doggone thing yet.

God is saying, You've thought about it, you wrote it, it's time to move.

But on the other side, some of y'all like me.

I was born tactical.

I was born ready to do something.

You ain't gotta ask me twice.

I'm ready.

I stay ready.

Problem is sometimes it would have helped to have a little bit of strategy before you jumped out there.

What are you doing?

I don't know.

They said jump.

We out here, we out here now.

We out here, we out here now.

Shout out to everybody in the room who like me.

We we tell our own self be true.

Yeah.

And the Lord here shows us that to come and deal with the flood against your mind, you gotta learn to be strategic and tactical.

I wanna say it real plain.

And I say it lighthearted, but I mean it.

How are you still living check to check and you have yet to sit down with anybody's financial planner?

And I don't mean no shade to nobody, because shout out I lived, you know, check to check too.

But how in the world did I go through that season of my life when it was pretty obvious my strategy wasn't working so good?

It's pretty obvious because I'm waiting on every check, and if that check don't grow up, it's gonna be it's gonna be uh Roman or Roman ramen noodles tonight, right?

And so the Lord is saying, in that area of your life where you're not struck where you're struggling, you don't have to be the statistician, you don't have to be the strategy master.

You need to surround yourself with somebody else who does it better than you because the Bible talks about their safety, right?

In the abundance of what?

Wise counsel.

And I want to talk to somebody in the room and say your mind keeps getting flooded because you don't have a strategy and you refuse to sit down with somebody that can help you to get to the place where God will have you to be.

You stubborn, you're hard-headed, you stiff-necked.

I'm in the Bible.

You won't listen to nobody.

You lean in your own understanding and you keep wondering why you keep getting the same old results.

You stubborn, you stiff necked, and you're hard-headed.

Every last one of them birds in the Bible.

I'm just trying to help somebody.

I'm trying to help the people.

I'm trying to help the people that God is blessed, but you just gotta sit down with somebody in the area of your life where that's your that's not your best area.

Does that make sense?

If I'm trying to get my body right, and I like the double baconator, amen.

Somebody.

But you can't have the double baconada every Wednesday after Bible study.

You can't you can't do that.

That's a strategy.

But then the tactics come down to am I gonna be disciplined enough to push the double baconator aside and pick up them nasty little green stuff and put that in my mouth.

I'm trying to help somebody.

Because the word of God is not meant to be complex.

Because what happens is when you get when you don't have a strategy or you don't have enough willingness to go for it tactically, all of a sudden your mind starts to play tricks on you.

And I want to talk to somebody in the room, your mind the enemy is playing tricks on your mind because either you don't have a strategy, or you have a strategy, but you're not willing to execute on it.

God Ben told you what you were supposed to do.

Ben told you.

Ben told you, you don't need no more prayers, you don't need no more, you don't need no more problem, no more tears, you don't need no more fasting, you just need to do it.

I need some folk in here.

You just need a just a do-it faith.

Do it, do it right now, not tomorrow.

Don't delay before you get in the car.

The Lord said, do it right now.

Because you've been delaying long enough.

And the problem is that subconsciously you know you are not where you're supposed to be, and that's why you're struggling mentally because you know that God has something greater for you.

Amen.

Somebody don't mind being honest.

Somebody don't mind being honest.

But I want to say to this house, I see it in the spirit.

Watch this, because we are not on both sides.

It's like we have different skill sets, so I gotta talk to both.

Because I don't want the tactical person like me to take do it.

Do it is your easy do it, do it as you born do it.

I'm not talking to you.

You go strategize.

Pastor Walt, you go strategize.

You you get with Tiffany and sit down and strategize.

So for y'all like who like me?

Who like what my tactics?

Y'all listen, don't you do another thing without a strategy, without sitting down, and you need to pray and fast.

Alright?

Now, another crowd.

Y'all got the strategy.

You got your 2030 vision board already drawn out.

But the Lord is saying, when you gonna do it?

He said, when you gonna get over the fears, when you're gonna get over the losses, when you're gonna get over the opposition, when you're gonna get over the obstacles, and do it.

Because here's what happens next.

Nehemiah, he gives this great strategy to say, I'm going to give all uh y'all gonna refund the people's taxes, uh, y'all are going to treat them fairly, there's gonna be equity in the community, everybody's gonna eat good, everybody's gonna work good.

And they came to an agreement that was his strategic leadership, and then tactically everybody executed and the plan went forward.

And I'm just trying to tell you when we come to agreement with our strategy and our tactics, there is no good thing that God is going to withhold from us as a people.

The vision will come to pass and it's going to happen swiftly.

But somebody say there's a D-influid, say there's a D in flood.

You gotta deal with the you gotta deal with the fear of failure, you gotta deal with the losses, you gotta deal with the opposition, you gotta deal with the obstacles.

But family, you gotta deal with the demonic attack.

Here's the reality of it as they've pressing forward and they still winning.

Because I want to tell somebody, you still winning.

Nehemiah, the sixth chapter, verse one and two, San Balat, Tobias, and Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained, though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates.

So Sanbalad and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them in one of the villages in the plains of Onoh.

Men and women of God, I need y'all to understand what was going on here.

Sandbalad, Tobiah, and the rest of the enemies uh of their enemies were doing the work of Satan.

Uh, this was not just about a disagreement between Nehemiah and a few individuals.

Uh, this was Satan attacking the plan of God.

See, we have to understand that in the Bible that uh uh Jerusalem is a part of biblical prophecy.

It is predicted that Jewish people will return to Israel, and uh Jerusalem figures prominently in prophetic utterances, talking about eschatology, the the end times, that God still has a plan for the people of Israel who have yet to believe, that that God is going to do some great things in in Jerusalem and that the holy city would be uh rebuilt as prophesied in Daniel, Matthew, and the book of uh Thessalonians.

And so somebody said the attack was just bigger than a conflict.

It's it's bigger than a than a conflict.

Yeah, you see, it was it was it how can I say it real plain?

The Bible says it like this that we wrestle not wet against flesh and blood.

But uh, but we're fighting who?

We're just spiritual wickedness and and and in high places.

And and so what I'm trying to tell you is that when you get a vision from God and somebody coming against you, it ain't about you and them.

It's about Satan trying to defeat God's plan by defeating you.

Did you hear what I said?

It's not about the person that's giving you a hard time, it's about Satan trying to defeat God's plan by defeating you.

Satan knows he has no authority as it relates to God.

But if he can send a flood against your mind and make you quit, if he can send a flood against your mind and make you get fearful, if he can send a flood against your mind and make you think about what you lost the last time you tried, if he can send a flood against your mind and send enough opposition, if he can send enough flood against your mind and send enough obstacles, if he can make you quit, as a result of making you quit, his objective is to frustrate the plan of God.

But I want to tell you that there's a word.

Because when you're fighting a fight that is spiritual, you got to fight with weapons that are also spiritual.

Second Corinthians 10 verse 4 and 5 says this to all the builders of the room.

2 Corinthians 10:4

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God through the pulling down of strongholds.

Does anybody know what a stronghold is?

A stronghold is a defensive position that has been built in the enemy by the enemy uh to keep you stuck right where you are.

The goal of a stronghold is to make sure that you never build the wall.

The goal of the stronghold is to make sure that you never overcome the addiction.

The goal of the stronghold is to make sure that the generational curse keeps going and going.

The goal of a stronghold is to keep you pent down and to keep you in a posture of weakness and struggle.

Anybody know about a stronghold?

Yeah.

Um, strongholds come against our mind and they tell us that we are nothing.

Strongholds come from sayings like, Your daddy wasn't nothing, and your mama wasn't nothing, and accordingly, you will be nothing.

Uh, strongholds come and they say stuff like nobody in your family has ever done that before.

Strongholds come and they say you're crazy just because you do it uh different.

But uh there is a word for strongholds.

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians the chimp chapter verse 5 that the way that you deal with strongholds, uh, you have to cast down imaginations and and every high thing that exalt itself against the knowledge of God.

Yeah, what are some high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God?

Whenever the enemy sends fear your way like a flood, uh, you have to cast it down because that goes against the knowledge of God.

Uh, whenever the enemy sends a naysayer to tell you what's impossible, I need you to cast that down because that goes against the knowledge of God.

When whenever the enemy comes and tells you that God doesn't hear your prayers anymore because of the sin that you've been in, I need you to cast that down because that goes against your knowledge of God.

When whenever somebody comes against the plan that God has for your life, I need you to cast that down.

You you need to cast down everything.

I need some people in the room that's gonna cast some stuff down.

The reason you hadn't done it yet is because you have yet to cast it down.

It has come against you like a flood.

But the Lord said, We have come today in a spirit of unity to cast down floods.

Lord, have mercy.

Do I have any people that got enough Holy Ghost in here today to cast down not only what has come against your mind, but has come against your children's mind.

Yeah, you gotta cast some stuff down.

I had to talk to one of my little boys uh that has always made the A on a roll.

Uh huh.

And this year he had some challenges in a math course.

Uh and he said, Daddy, I can't do it.

I say, the devil is a liar, son.

Uh we gotta cast that down.

Uh you will make on the A on a roll.

Uh you see, I gotta train him up early, uh, because today is an elementary class, uh, but tomorrow it'll be a thing called life.

Today is an elementary class, uh, but tomorrow he'll be a husband.

Uh and I gotta teach him early to cast some stuff down.

I need y'all to go out ahead and teach your children early now.

You gotta cast down lies.

I don't care what their little friends say about them, uh Lil' devil, you a liar.

I'm casting it down.

I don't care what the enemy said to you, uh, cast it down because you shall live and not die.

I wish I had some people in the room that don't mind casting some stuff down.

I see the Lord saying your health is about to be restored, uh-uh.

I see the Lord saying that your finances about to be restored, uh uh.

I see the Lord saying that your business will be better.

Help me, holy ghost, uh uh.

So we gotta be willing to cast some stuff down, uh uh.

Y'all I need some people in the room that don't mind opening their mouth and casting down some stuff, uh uh.

You gotta cast it down for yourself Now you gotta cast it down for your neighbor Now somebody sittin' right next to you, uh uh They wanna cast it down, but they need your help.

I wish you'd open your mouth for your neighbor now and help your neighbor to cast some stuff down, uh uh.

Because the Lord is saying that we've been where we are long enough.

We've been going around around long enough.

We gotta cast some stuff down, uh uh.

Yeah, because there's an S in floods, uh And that's talking about strongholds You see the enemy comes with these strongholds, uh And the goal of the stronghold is to stop you uh Now watch what San Balader does After he realized that Nehemiah has started to cast some stuff down He comes with the last attack Uh uh And he realizes uh That he better throw his best shot at Nehemiah Now I wanna tell you right now the enemy is starting to realize uh that they better throw their best shot at you while you down But you gotta talk to the enemy And say enemy this is the sickest that you gon' ever see me Enemy this is the brokest that you gon' ever see me Enemy this is the weakest you gon' ever see me And if you didn't kill me by now you didn't miss your chance good God almighty I need some people in the room that feel yourself coming up I need to see people in the room that see yourself on top and here comes Sun Ballot now on your way up Sun Ballet start talking to Nehemiah uh He said, Hey Nehemiah My bad I didn't mean anything that I said Why don't you come to a meeting?

Uh-huh.

I wanna talk to somebody in the room and the Lord just told me to tell you don't go to that meeting.

I wanna say that as a man of God Everybody don't deserve your presence.

I wanna say this as a man of God, uh uh You ain't gonna keep having the same conversation if they've already showed you who they are, uh your mind will never believe it.

Don't you go through another dinner, uh-huh?

Don't you go to another celebration when they already showed you who they are, uh nigga mind start talking to the stronghold.

He said I need to tell you somebody God has got me in a great work and I can't come down.

Ooh, we uh I wanna stop ten of y'all in the room.

That God has you doing a great work, uh you can't come down.

And I need you to start talking to a stronghold.

I need you to look that stronghold in the eye and do it in the spirit realm.

And you tell the sun ballad in your life, uh-huh, you tell the tabaya in your life, uh-huh.

The Lord is doing a great work, uh-huh, and I can't come down, on a high, Lord gotta have a mercy, uh shout out to the states in the room, that you gon' look at the stronghold and say I can't come down, on a ha.

You gon' look at your stickle and say I can't come down, on the hut.

I don't care what my employer say, uh huh.

I can't come down, what uh I don't care what the doctor say, uh can't come down on the ha.

I don't care what my friends say I can't come down on the hot saint in the room, uh brought you too far, I'm uh you're almost to the place and you have made up in your own mind because it's still out in the mind, y'all.

Made up in my own mind, uh I can't come down.

They say pastor wall, how you gonna pay for a multi-million vision?

How you gonna pay for a multi-million dollar visit?

And I said paying for it is not my concern.

The only thing I can tell ya, I went up on the mountain top, and when I was on the mountain, uh, the Lord gave me a vision, he told me nothing we're gonna gotta paycheck, uh, and I can't come down, I can't come down because you can't see it, it's uh I can't come down because you won't support it's uh can't come down because you won't show up.

Just need two hundred people in the room that y'all need to place in your life that you don't get a little bit you ain't gonna lie, come down, come down, all of the people.

I I need you to understand this last thing to prepare you for warfare.

I wish Nehemiah's Nehemiah's story is real.

This is not just a it's not a fable, it's a real account.

Accounted in the Bible, encountered in human history, and and history is real.

But I need you to understand something.

Uh that'll prepare you as you get ready to go back into these streets.

Here, uh, I wish the sermon could have stopped right there, but we I gotta give you this last thing because this is real life.

When Nehemiah made that declaration he wasn't gonna come down, you would have thought that the enemy would have.

Somebody says he's repetitive.

The Bible says four times.

And I want to talk to somebody and let you know that you are on the way when you see a repetitive attack from the enemy.

You are on the way when you see a repetitive attack from the enemy.

Somebody say four times.

Last week.

The Lord showed out and we baptized 25 people.

In Jesus' name.

We baptized 24 out of 25 people.

But there were four things specifically that we pray for.

I know I personally prayed for last week.

My mother was here and I prayed.

I had enough faith to say, Lord, if she's here on this day of miracles, heal her God.

Heal her God so she doesn't have pain when she walks.

I I had faith enough for that.

We pray for that.

Then uh the second thing, somebody say four times.

Look at the text and say it was four times because the enemy is repetitive.

I want to show you what God, what happened this week.

The second thing I prayed for was uh that the man of God that we that we we we baptize and what a move of God seeing the men pick that brother up and put him into the uh baptismal pool.

But I I got I got word that that one of his family members was was was attacked with with with with with with COVID.

And then uh somebody say four times, four times.

Uh the third thing we we we Deacon Ron, who uh who who we who I was led in the spirit to to baptize in in in in the name of the Lord uh as it relates to not for salvation but believing God for uh for his healing.

I I literally get a uh a call uh saying that he had to go uh to the ER because they were concerned about him uh having uh a blood clot.

And somebody say uh four times.

Remember the enemy's repetitive because he sent Nehemiah the same message four times.

And and the fourth time, uh uh we on Wednesday after Bible study, we pray for the safety of the bike riders who was going to New York and and and there was an accident and and the bike was hit by a vehicle and the bike was totally destroyed.

Uh uh, and suddenly uh the enemy is is saying to uh to your pastor, uh, I I told you uh that God doesn't hear you when you when you operate in in that vein, because uh the enemy came four times, just like the enemy came uh four times at Nehemiah.

And I want to talk to somebody in the spirit realm right now uh to say that um when the enemy is uh repetitive uh uh against you, um it's it's it's just a lie.

Yeah.

When the enemy is repetitive against you, he's he's just trying to uh destroy you.

Because uh the fifth time he shows up and and he's trying to keep uh Nehemiah's posture in check, he starts to to lie.

So uh even though it's repetitive, it's the same um lie.

But but let me tell you, my my faith uh was challenged momentarily because I said, Lord, how how did I pray uh for my mother to be able to walk?

And and and the first thing that happened to her uh was that when she left here, she not only was she not walking, uh she was treated inappropriately uh on the plane.

They didn't seat her uh timely, which caused her a lot of pain and struggle.

And I said, She didn't come to Charlotte to leave with the struggle, but uh the Lord reminded me that I'm touching her because the Lord reminded me that uh it's just an attack to to strengthen your faith.

And he reminded me that even though she's not uh walking just yet, it's on the way.

And I want to encourage somebody that even though it hadn't happened yet, it's on the way.

How do I know it's on the way?

How do I know it's on the way?

I know it's on the way because the last time she was here, the way she was talking, I was concerned that she had had a stroke.

But but this time she was just as articulate as she used to be.

Somebody say, it's it's on the way.

Yeah, yeah.

And and the second with the man uh that was dealing with uh that we baptized, I believe that his full healing is is on the way.

And and and even though uh sickness came against his family, it was just an attack.

And and I want you to know that even though he had to deal with that, he has a new zeal to get closer to God because his full healing is on the way.

And and I want you to know that even though we prayed for Ron and believe in Ron to be healed and they were concerned about blood clots, God said, Look at me.

That they said it was blood clots when it was in his legs, but when he got to the ER, there was no blood clot to be found.

Somebody say it's on the way.

Yeah, and and and even though uh I was in my feelings because I said, God, I prayed for the man not to be in an accident.

They was representing the church on the way to New York City doing brotherhood.

God, how did you let an accident happen?

And God reminded me that even though I allowed the accident to happen, uh, he only got a sprained wrist and he's still here.

Somebody say that it's on the way.

Yeah.

And I want to encourage somebody in the spirit realm that don't give up on God when it's on the way.

Yeah.

Uh don't give up on God when He's strengthening your faith.

You know, uh I learned this from Nehemiah because Nehemiah learned that after he got the repetitive attack and after he had to deal with the lies, uh, uh Nehemiah started to cast down the lies in verse 8.

Uh in verse 8, he started to cast down every lie.

And that's what I had to do every this week, y'all.

I had to cast down the lie and say, My mama will be healed.

Yeah.

I had to cast down the lie and say uh that run will be healed from cancer.

Yeah.

I had to cast down the lie and say that man gonna get a better motorcycle than he had before.

Yeah, I had to cast down the lie and say that man gonna come and do a whole lap around this sanctuary one day.

Yeah, I need some people in the room to cast down the lie.

Yeah, we're about to go home because what the enemy has been doing has been trying to attack your mind because you'll he know that if he attacks your mind, uh, after a while he'll get a hold of your faith.

Uh but look at Nehemiah.

Uh help me, Holy Ghost.

Uh in Nehemiah the sixth chapter, verse nine.

Uh, after Nehemiah canceled it, uh, somebody say it's canceled.

Uh look at what Nehemiah realized.

Uh in Nehemiah the sixth chapter, verse nine.

Uh Nehemiah realized that they were just trying to intimidate him.

Uh can I tell you that's all the enemy was trying to do to your pastor?

Uh he was trying to intimidate me, uh, so I wouldn't call for miracle healings anymore.

He was trying to intimidate me, uh, so I wouldn't call for blessings to families anymore.

He was trying to intimidate me, uh, so I wouldn't publicly declare that it's gonna work out for you.

Uh but somebody say, Pastor had to cast that down.

Uh yeah.

And I want to talk to somebody in the room and get you to cast it down.

Uh and the reason the enemy was trying to intimidate is so the enemy could discourage.

And all year long you have been letting the enemy discourage you long enough.

Uh can you talk to somebody right now and say discouragement is over?

Uh yeah, say a real house, say discouragement is over.

Uh and look at what Nehemiah did.

Uh-huh.

And I don't want you to miss it, and we're going home.

Uh-huh.

So Nehemiah continued, uh-huh.

And I want to release you to continue so God can finish what he started.

Uh huh.

Did you hear what I said?

God is saying it's time for you to get back up and to get back on.

Uh-huh.

It's time for you to finish what the Lord has started.

Uh, it's time for you to press on the upward way.

Uh, but this won't be an ordinary press, uh, because Nehemiah said this time uh he did it with greater determination.

Uh huh.

Did you hear what Nehemiah said?

Uh-huh.

Nehemiah said he realized uh there was an attack from the enemy, uh, simply sent to discourage him.

Uh-huh.

But then he realized uh that God was working with him.

So then Nehemiah continued, uh, but he didn't continue in the ordinary queue.

Uh-huh.

No, no, it was different this time.

Uh-huh.

Because Nehemiah said, This time, uh, on the other side of the flood, I have a greater determination.

Uh huh.

Can I tell you on this side of the flood, uh, the Lord is saying, don't just do it, uh, do it bigger.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, I want to talk to somebody in the room and let you know the Lord said, do it bigger.

Uh-huh.

So if the Lord baptized 25, uh, next time we gonna baptize 50.

Uh-huh.

And if we call it for one person to walk, uh-huh, next time we're gonna call for two.

Uh-uh.

And if I'm calling for my mama to be here, uh-huh, I might as well call for your mama to be here.

Uh uh-huh.

Because no weapon formed against us share a property.

Uh-huh.

And we cancel the attack on our faith.

Uh-huh.

Lord have mercy.

Uh-huh.

And I come to cancel the attack, uh-huh.

That has impacted somebody's faith.

Uh-huh.

Because the Lord is saying do it bigger.

Uh-huh.

I wish you had somebody next to you now.

Uh-uh.

That's ready to do it bigger.

Uh-huh.

I don't know about you.

Uh-huh.

Maybe I'ma pull this out of the room.

Uh-huh.

Is there anybody here?

Uh-huh.

That wants to do it bigger.

Uh-huh.

I'm gonna do it over there.

This time I'ma do it bigger.

Uh-huh.

This time I'ma be bold.

This time I'ma be there.

Uh-huh.

I'ma do it bigger.

I'ma do it bigger.

Uh-huh.

I'ma do it like it's never been done before.

Uh-huh.

Trust in God.

So trust in chemicals.

Trust in horses.

So we trust in the name of our God.

Somebody can do it bigger.

Uh-huh.

Because this is what the word says.

So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west.

Uh-huh.

And in his glory from the rising of the sun.

And when the enemy shall come in like a flood, uh-huh.

The spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

What is a standard?

Uh-huh.

A standard is God jumping into the fight.

A standard is God raising his battle flag.

A standard is a symbol of victory.

A standard is a rally point.

Uh-huh.

That's anybody going through.

Uh-huh.

Anybody been losing the fight?

Uh-huh.

Meet me at the rally point.

Lord have mercy.

Uh-huh.

Do I got any veterans in the room?

You know if you in a fight that you can't handle, uh-huh.

You know that your help comes from.

Uh-uh.

The soldiers that's around you.

Uh-huh.

But if you can't see the soldiers that are around you, uh-huh, you got a fixed position called a rally point.

Uh uh.

So when God is saying I'm lifting up a standard, uh, he's saying I'm putting a rally point in place, uh-huh.

And if there's anybody that chose a city church, uh, that need a little bit of help in their fight, uh.

If there's anybody that chose a city church, uh huh, that need a little help in their marriage, uh.

If there's anybody that chose a city church, uh huh, that need a little help in their business, uh uh.

If there's anybody that chose a city church, uh, that need a little help in their mind, uh-huh.

The Lord said, lead me at the rally point, uh-huh.

Lord at the rally point, it's uh-huh, at the foot of the cross, uh-huh.

The Lord have mercy, uh the truth in the room, uh-huh, that don't mind uh lead me at this altar, uh-huh.

Because that's how I rally point, uh when we get to this altar, uh-huh, we are calling on God, the inner seed on our Lord have mercy, uh every mother in the room, every father in the room, uh, every auntie in the room, I'm not every sister in the room, my brother in the room, my rally point when you get to the rally point, fly, please.

I need you right now, eat you right now, we have to rally point.

We have to rally point, we have to rally point.

We found it on your thing, you have to do it.

Open your heart right now.

You are to get your body back.

You are to get your bullets back.

You are to get your pin's back.

That's about to be a shift in your ticket.

I'm just putting the fast at the whole thing with a lot.

But you won't fit this time anymore.

You will put this one to have that off of the field.

You're putting this like that off of the process.

That's shift on the mind.

That's a shift on your mind.

I don't need the understanding of the chip.

You didn't know you have to handle the ball yourself.

I feel mine shifting.

I see both of us being lifted.

I see these things that are shifted.

I see my eyes being shifted.

I see both being lifted.

Help the holy ghost.

Help the holy ghost.

Help me, holy ghosts, shift my mind, restore their faith.

They was about to give up on the dream.

God said not yet.

He said, not yet.

He said not yet.

Not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet.

He said, Don't give up, not yet, don't give up, not yet.

He said, This ain't the day to throw in the towel.

This ain't the day to throw in the towel.

This ain't the day to throw in the towel.

He's shifting minds today, you're shifting hearts today, but you gotta let him have his way.

You gotta let him have his way.

In this room, in this room.

I'm telling you, I felt I felt this in the spirit twice.

There is an inventor of something powerful at this altar, but the Lord is saying you gotta allow him first to shift your mind.

It will it will be such a blessing.

Mark these words, it will be such a blessing to so many.

But you gotta let him shift your mind.

You gotta let him send people that you can trust into your life.

But you gotta let him shift your mind.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, as you are shifting minds, heal hearts.

Heal hearts, God.

There are people at this altar with broken hearts.

They in a new relationship, but they still ain't got over the old break.

Break, we come against the breaks right now in Jesus' name.

There's some people at this altar that's been married a long time, but in reality, they still have not dealt with the crack of what happened the last time.

Fix it, Lord, like only you can.

Help me, Holy Ghost.

God, stop the bleeding today, right now, in Jesus' name.

Stop the bleeding right now in Jesus' name.

Stop the bleeding right now in Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

At the altar and across the room, stop it, Lord.

Stop it.

Stop it, Lord.

Shift us, Lord.

The prayer of God is simple.

We are open, God, that we never process in old ways.

Lord, you want to pour in new wine.

But we need new wine skin.

And the new wine skin, God, is our brain, God.

We can't accept what you're trying to do new, lest God, you just remake the brain, redo it over.

So that I'm no longer processing based off of everything that I went through.

Because everything that I went through wasn't of your will.

And if I'm processing everything based off of trauma, if I'm processing everything based off the past, I will never process in this season how you have called me to process.

So I'm praying, God, that you will help our processes.

I'm praying for our egos, oh Lord, in the name of Jesus.

Don't allow our egos to get in the way of the move of God that's happening in this place, God.

There's somebody right now didn't come to the altar, and I'm not saying this is for everybody.

I'm being very specific.

I'm not, I don't, we don't target, but I'm just flowing with God.

There's somebody that did not come.

There is a somebody, not saying this for everybody.

There's somebody that did not come, and your ego got in the way.

It is the enemy trying to continue to talk to you to tell you.

You keep saying it don't take all that.

I'm gonna tell you it does.

You keep saying it don't take all that.

You better ask Jesus.

Did these did Jesus not at times go before his father and weep bitterly?

Did he not?

If Jesus had to humble himself and sometimes lay prostrate because he didn't understand what was going on, who are you?

Who are you to keep coming in here as if you don't need God?

Who are you to keep going in going through religious motions?

It's all in your mind.

Get out your own head and surrender to God.

The only one that loves you, the only one that knows everything about you.

Get out your own head today.

Get out of your own head today.

And let the spirit of God have his way.

Let the spirit of God have his way.

Everybody just start praying out loud.

Everybody just pray.

Everybody just pray.

Everybody pray, please.

Everybody pray.

Everybody be obedient.

Just pray.

Just start talking to God.

Everybody open your mouth and talk to God.

This is part of opening our mind.

You may not speak in tongues, that's fine.

Just open your mouth and preach and speak to God.

Yeah, just just all of us need our mind to shift.

Shift my mind, God.

If you shift me, you'll shift them.

Shift my mind, God.

I can't think about stuff the way I used to, because it won't get us to where we're trying to go.

Shift my mind, God.

Shift my mind, God.

Shift my execution, God.

Shift my mind.

If everybody that's praying, everybody open their mouth and pray.

Everybody in the in the back, in the front, in the media booth.

The band appears everybody.

Start talking to God from your heart.

Shift my mind, God.

Oh Lord.

Oh Lord, I feel something in the room.

I feel the Lord as his minds are shifting.

Yes, Lord.

He's about to release strategy.

He's about to release strategy for you.

He's about to release strategy for you because your mind can't handle it now.

Until your mind shifts, you can't handle the strategy.

Until your mind shifts, you can't handle the strategy.

Until your mind shifts, you can't handle the strategy.

And then until your mind shifts, not only can you not handle the strategy, you won't be tactical enough to do it.

We at the rally point.

The Lord is saying, I'm lifting a standard against the flood.

I'm lifting a standard against the flood.

I'm lifting a standard against the flood.

I'm lifting a standard against the flood.

I'm lifting a minute stopped.

It stopped.

If we cancel everything that's coming against your mind, it stopped.

It stopped today.

It stopped today.

Here's what the Lord says.

As we prepare to leave this place, Sam Ballad and Tobiah are still on their job.

Be very discerning if God is calling you to get on social media or the news or any of that stuff today.

Why would you walk out of a move where God has shifted your mind and cleanse your mind and put yourself right back in the middle of that mess?

This may be a day that you guys ignore some text messages because you need the freshness to take root.

When newborn babies are born, they are incubated so they can be protected from virus and disease until they're strong enough to handle the outside world.

And the Lord is saying, I just birthed some of y'all with a new mind.

Now protect what I just put inside of you.

Protect this new mind.

Protect the new heart.

You gotta be careful because some of your friends didn't go to church today.

You gotta be careful because some of your friends ain't connected with God.

They still your friends, but I'm talking about you in a moment of protecting what God has done.

You're gonna have to tell some people today that hey, I'm gonna have to get back with you on that because I can't do that today.

I'll get back with you in a couple of days, but I'm trying to let this thing take root because the word of God is clear that when the word of God goes forth, some of it uh falls on rocky ground, and before it can take root, here comes the raven to eat and devour it.

And the Lord is saying, He, you cannot allow what was deposited in you today to get devoured because you weren't woman or man enough to protect it.

You weren't woman or man enough to trust the word of God that came forth to say, I'm giving you what you asked for, but are you woman enough and are you man enough to stand and protect it?

I'm about to shift everything, but can you surrender it all?

Stay away from foolishness, stay away from gossip, stay away from pettiness, and let me do a new thing in you so your life will never be the same.

God, I pray over the spirits.

Protect, I pray for a hedge around them, oh Lord.

Some of them, God, I gotta go back to some mess, God, but I pray a hedge around them, God.

I pray a hedge around them, God.

Clean it up before they get there, oh Lord.

So what you did today can take root.

And I want to pray right now, God, for some souls that are gonna give you a yesterday.

Pray for the souls that are in the house right now, God, that need you like never before.

Change their minds as it relates to church.

In their old mind, they thought that they could do it without being connected, but in their new mind, remind them of what you said in your word that we need each other, that we are many members of one body.

That in your word you said, forsake not the assembly of us coming together.

Because there's a gift in them and there's a gift in me.

And when we put these gifts together, there's nothing we cannot do.

I pray for those that are rededicating their lives today.

I pray for those that'll be given, speaking for the first time that they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for their sins and that He's soon to return, and they'll be getting baptized.

I pray for it in Jesus' name.

God, I pray again over the gifts and the offering that came forth, God, because many hands make light work, and if we all do our part, the vision we will not today.

God, I give your name the glory.

We give your name the honor, we give your name all the praise.

It's in the powerful name of Jesus we pray.

Let the people of God say, Amen, amen, amen.

Now listen, before you go to your seats, right at the rally point, I need you to check on the person that's by you as you're walking back to your seats.

Ask them, do they have a church home?

Ask them, have they ever been baptized?

Ask them what's the delay?

Ask them, ask everybody.

And believe in God for a supernatural move.

If you don't have a church home, if you've never been baptized, why don't you come today?

Why don't you change your mind and give God a yes?

Why don't you come today?