Sermon
Battle and Build | PM 1.21.23
Publisher transcript
Transcript
-
What's going on everybody? You are now listening to the
-
Lovequest International Church Sermon Podcast.
-
It's a brand new season. Matter of fact, it's homecoming
-
season. Sons and daughters are coming
-
home. So you know what to do.
-
Get your Bible, get your water, get some coffee, get some tea
-
and get yourself ready to receive.
-
The time is now and if you don't know the drill, then you better
-
learn the motto. Did you love things, man?
-
Nehemiah 4 I want to give you this little context about
-
Nehemiah. Nehemiah was not a priest.
-
Nehemiah was not a prophet. He was not particularly
-
religious. Of the religious order, Nehemiah
-
worked for a king, which means what?
-
He was either government or the marketplace.
-
Nehemiah is more like you than pastor.
-
So the charge, the battle and the charge the bill is even that
-
much more on you, us who sit on that side than on this side.
-
So this message tonight is for you.
-
No one's disqualified from it, no one's exempt from it.
-
It's for everyone, and maybe even more so those that spend
-
more time outside the church walls than inside the church
-
walls. Secondly, battle and billing is
-
about the false choice that people make between one or the
-
other. I don't have time to come to
-
church and to serve because I'm doing this in my life.
-
I don't have time to battle and build.
-
I ain't got time for it though. I got to give this up.
-
God is saying in this time you got to learn how to battle and
-
build because that's where your protection is, that's where your
-
blessing is. That's where the power of God
-
is. That's where your restoration
-
is. You can't flip back and forth
-
each time. Y'all seen the movies when the
-
when the enemy guy runs out of bullets and then he goes to get
-
another magazine, another set of bullets.
-
It's when he runs out of what it takes to battle that he gets
-
taken out. You can't pause between battle
-
and building in this time because in the midst of your
-
transition from one to another, that's opportunity for you to be
-
taken out of your destiny, doubt of God's will for your life, and
-
if not taken out, definitely to be delayed.
-
So this message is for you who want to do one or the other.
-
Who don't want to come to church and get rooted and serve, but
-
want to spend your time making money and building up where you
-
need to be over there. Or who want to come to church
-
and serve all the time but don't want to take the gospel to where
-
you live. Don't want to open up your
-
mouth, don't want to encourage anybody.
-
Don't want to win souls for for the Lord any place that you go.
-
OK, in this day we got to do both battle and build.
-
Amen. Next one.
-
So we go to the scripture here. It's taken from Nehemiah chapter
Nehemiah 4 chapter mention
-
4, and from that time forth, half of my service worked at the
-
task and the other half held the Spears, Shields and bowls and
-
coats of mail. The city is down, Jerusalem is
-
down. Nehemiah has it on his heart to
-
go rebuild the city because it's the home of his father's.
-
His family's buried there and he and he got put it on his heart
-
and he went to his king and said that he worked for.
-
He said I want to go back and build my city and the king says
-
I got your back. Whatever you need from me, you
-
got it. So he's in the process of doing
-
this now. OK, but this is important where
-
we pick up at the point we pick up this scripture specifically.
-
They've built half the wall. You got to learn how to battle
-
and build, particularly when you've already had some success
-
doing one or the other. The halfway point is out of time
-
for you to coast. I'm feeling good.
-
My my joy is up. I got time to miss church every
-
two weeks and come only every other week.
-
I'm just saying. So you have half that worked and
-
half that killed Spears. That's the battle.
-
And the bill since gone down the other piece of yellow.
-
There everyone who worked with one hand.
-
Everyone worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other
-
hand. Everyone, Everyone.
-
It's not the job of the worship team to do your battle and
-
building for you. It's not the job of the pastor
-
of the clergy. Your mama's prayers, your
-
daddy's prayers, your uncle prayers, your Uncle Ray Ray
-
prayers, cousin, whoever prayers you two minister, pray.
-
It's not their job to battle and build for you.
-
It's everyone's job, everyone's job to battle and build.
-
Every builder had his sword girded by his side, every and so
-
worked. That's all of our
-
responsibilities. It's on all of us, particularly
-
those of us that are out there in the marketplace, that see the
-
destruction, that see the broken lives, that see the desperation,
-
that sees the despair, that sees the fakery, the charades of
-
happiness on your face, knowing you're crumbling inside and
-
asking yourself, is there something more?
-
There's a lot of folks sitting in offices right now.
-
When you walk past, you see the light on the computer change.
-
What does that mean? I just closed the window and the
-
window they just closed is the window that says best way to
-
kill yourself. And you walk past and they close
-
because they don't want you to see what's on the inside.
-
And you say, how's it going, Profits up, margins good.
-
We're getting all our goals. Engagement is great.
-
We get a lot of clicks and likes.
-
You don't know what they're dealing with on the inside.
-
That's why you got to take it to the marketplace and to the
-
school place. With students in particular, the
-
pressure to excel and perform in school is extraordinary.
-
The verse 19 and I said to the nobles and officials and the
-
rest of the people, the work is great and scattered go down to
-
the yellow part or whatever place you hear the sound of the
-
trumpet rally to us there. So while you're building and
-
battling or by your battling and building you got to be listening
-
for what God is saying Now you got to be listening.
-
So let me give you an idea of what the 40 days is about and
-
gathering in person. We go through our regular time
-
battling building, go to church on Sunday at 1 experience and
-
then maybe we double dip to two experiences.
-
Maybe we go to. Work during the week.
-
Maybe if we have a Wednesday or midweek experience, we go to
-
that and we're doing that. Back and forth, rally around.
-
We need to gather up every day for 40 days.
-
There's a breach in the wall. The enemy's trying to plant
-
something coming this way. When you hear the sound of the
-
horn rally together, come run to the sound of the horn that we
-
may stand together in the breach and overcome the enemy that's
-
trying to attack us. That's what the 40 days of
-
prayer and fasting is about. The in person gathering is
-
about. It's the sound of the horn.
-
So you can't just even get comfortable with doing your
-
Sunday and then doing your Wednesday and doing your work
-
the rest of the week. You got to be listening for the
-
sound of the horn. So the title that I want to
-
speak to you is Building Battle. Now the word is battle and
-
build. Is there a difference?
-
Just I want to start here and get there.
-
OK? Build and battle.
-
You have to understand that it's a family affair.
-
The purpose of it is to build by 4 and through your bloodline.
-
Building and battling is a family affair.
-
It's by 4 and through your bloodline everyone say bye.
-
Y'all got to speak faster because I'm on the clock.
-
You gotta have give me energy. I can't talk.
-
Stop and energy you for the second one.
-
OK. Ready.
-
It's by for and through your bloodline.
-
My bloodline. Thank you very much.
-
Newton Nehemiah 328 says this and above the horse gates.
-
This is Nehemiah as he's in the city building the the walls and
-
the gates above the horse keep. The priests repaired, everyone
-
opposite his own house. The work you have to do in and
-
around your house is what's going to be most important for
-
this phase. It's great you want to battle
-
and build overseas on a mission. It's great you want to battle
-
and build. I'm going to come help you with
-
your with your stuff. What about what's in front of
-
your house? It's your ability to battle and
-
build what's in front of your house that's gonna make a
-
difference in getting this wall up, he says.
-
In verse 13, he says So I set armed men behind the wall in
-
places where it was least protected.
-
I even thus use the people as families with their swords and
-
Spears and bowls. It's a family affair.
-
You can't quit on your bloodline 'cause it's a family affair.
-
The battling and building is first and foremost to bring your
-
bloodline through, but I also recognize this, he says.
-
I use the people as families. When you come to this local
-
church community, whether you have nobody or bunch of bodies,
-
God can use you and us as a family if you let on, because
-
the power in battling and building comes through the
-
family. Remember the Lord, it says, and
-
imprint him. Get him on your mind in a way.
-
We can't be removed, right? How many y'all like tattoos,
-
body art? OK, cool, cool, cool, cool,
-
cool. Right.
-
Right, Right. You ought to be as desiring to
-
tattoo the imprint of God on your soul as you are to get your
-
art. Be as picky about that as your
-
art. Be as willing to show that as
-
you do your art, discuss that as much as you do your art.
-
Imprint him for and then he says this.
-
Why fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your
-
wives, your homes. It's about the family.
-
Fight for each other. Build for each other.
-
Battle for each other. Battle for my bloodline.
-
I'll battle for your bloodline. I'm a battle for the uncle that
-
left me. I'm a battle for the Mama that
-
quit on me. I'm a battle for the daddy
-
that's never around 'cause it's something bigger than just them.
-
It's about my bloodline that's in the family.
-
We'll see the restoration fully. Come.
-
You have to be able to build as strong as you battle, and you
-
got to battle as strong as you build.
-
You got to build as strong as you battle and battle as strong
-
as you build. You got to build as strong as
-
your battle, and you got to battle as strong as you build
-
first. Chronicles says this about
-
Bowman's another country. We already told you there was
-
half that was work and half with the weapons, right?
-
Half suggests equality, parity. No difference in weight,
-
influence or authority. First Chronicles 12 says this.
-
They were bold men that could use the right hand and the left
-
to sling the stones. You can't be able to build with
-
your right and battle with your right.
-
Build with your left, battle with your left.
-
It don't matter which way it is. You got to be able to do it and
-
everywhere. You have to be able to build and
-
battle with the same strength and intensity.
-
If you don't, you're giving the enemy and access to you.
-
You're tired, you're battling, or you're weak on your building.
-
You'll wear out your building knowing you're weak on your
-
battling. You can't give them an edge, any
-
way, shape, form or fashion. You have to build before you
-
battle. Everyone say before you battle
-
why you got to build before you battle?
-
Because what's the point of the fight?
-
There's nothing to build for. The build is why you're
-
battling. What did he say?
-
Fight for your families. Fight for your sons and for your
-
daughters. Now, I didn't tell you this
-
part, but part of what he said when he went to the king was
-
this. The Sepulchres of my father's
-
are in ruins. Fight for your bloodline.
-
Fight for the people on whose shoulders that you stand.
-
You're not here because of your own comfort.
-
You're not here because of your own grace.
-
You're not here on your own merit alone.
-
You are here because you stand on the shoulders of others that
-
have prayed for you, fought for you, declared for you.
-
We are in this place because years ago, people who owned
-
these businesses walked the streets and said, God, bring a
-
church. God, create a witness.
-
We stand on other people's shoulders.
-
So fight for the legacy. I ain't going to let you down,
-
Mom. I'm going to take it as best I
-
can. Hey man, you have to build
-
before you battle because that gives you a reason to battle.
-
It also teaches you how to battle because of my battles
-
that help protect what I'm building.
-
If I'm building tall, then I know I got to have to what
-
battle tall. So I'm not interested in things
-
that distract me to try to battle wide.
-
If I know my family broken with addiction, it's great that the
-
end times are coming and Jesus and this and that and all that
-
kind of thing. Cool.
-
That's not why I need to battle right now.
-
I need to battle in the area of addiction.
-
So I'm going to get off YouTube, stop searching end times trying
-
to get it all figured out in my pride and say God, I'm going to
-
battle why I need to battle. I'm a battle, what you're trying
-
to build, which is my family more than my religious thought
-
base. Hey man.
-
See, when you're part of the family, no matter what Home
-
Alone, says the movie, your parents will remember you.
-
Your protection and not getting left behind is to be a part of
-
the family. Say LA, you use a shovel to
-
build and use a sword to battle. OK, use a shovel to build and
-
sword to battle, but don't get it twisted.
-
I'm going to get through examples in just a bit of how we
-
really apply this in our life. Someone asked me, So what does
-
that mean? That you only use one thing to
-
build and you can't use that to battle.
-
Next slide. Now you can use a sword to apply
-
mortar. You can use the tool you
-
normally use the battle with to put.
-
What's more, that's the cement that holds bricks together.
-
Anyone ever turned a screw with a butter knife?
-
That's an example. OK, you can use your sword to
-
help you build, but you can also use shovel in a fight.
-
You can hurt a man with a shovel.
-
And I mean male and female and all other things in between.
-
OK? I mean people, animals,
-
everything, right? You can hurt somebody with a
-
shovel, right? So we're not saying these are
-
mutually exclusive, but we are saying understand that you can
-
use one to do one thing, and there's something else that
-
helps to compliment it in a certain way in a season.
-
OK, you got it. So here's some examples.
-
Worship builds prayer battles. Worship helps you focus on who
-
God is, and you become stronger and builds the revelation of who
-
he is in your relationship with Him on the inside of you.
-
So when you go to prayer, you're praying with confidence, knowing
-
what God has done. Worship helps to build you.
-
Prayer helps you battle. Now can you battle with worship?
-
Sure. But battling worship sounds much
-
different than building worship. I also won't tell you that I'm
-
making sense, right? But yeah, you can use you.
-
You can use those things. But worship really helps to
-
build, and prayer can really help you to battle in the way
-
you need to. The purpose of prayer and
-
battling is not Even so much all those people around you.
-
It's your own insecurities. It's your own weaknesses.
-
It's your own flesh. It's you doubting you.
-
A lot of the purpose of prayer is to get rid of the tapes in
-
your own head that you played, that you put that your family
-
place and people who you let esteem who you esteem let place
-
in you to say you can't, you won't.
-
You ain't good enough. Or only if I'm with you when you
-
make it that codependence. That's a lot of what the
-
battling is for Thanksgiving bills and your testimony
-
battles. Thanksgiving bills, your
-
testimony battles. When you're thanking God.
-
I'll skip the slide there. When you're faking God, you're
-
saying this. God, I thank you for what you've
-
done. You're remembering God's
-
goodness. You're remembering His Amazing
-
Grace towards you. It's building your confidence in
-
that he did it, and it's confidence that he'll do it
-
again. You're building your you're
-
you're building who he is on the inside of you.
-
And the fact that he has you, It's your building big.
-
You're building him in you and building him through you.
-
Now you battle with your testimony.
-
How do you battle with your testimony?
-
I'm sure how it works. God, I thank you that you've
-
delivered me. He delivered me.
-
He can deliver you. You see, I'm battling with my
-
testimony now. You ain't too hard.
-
You ain't too lost. You should have seen where I
-
was. And by His grace, he picked me
-
up and carried me right here. See, your testimony helps you
-
battle. Which means if your testimony
-
helps you battle, you always got a prayer on your lips.
-
God, what you did for me, do for them.
-
Why you did it in me. Do it for them now, if you
-
really want to get agape with your battle, this is how you do
-
it, God, How you did it for me. Do it better for them, God, how
-
you did it for me. Do it shorter for them.
-
God, how you did it for me. Bring more of their family with
-
them than you did with me. Your testimony helps you to
-
battle. Thanksgiving helps you to build.
-
And I want to tell you something.
-
How can you use? Again, I want to make sure it's
-
clear we're not talking about these things as being wholly
-
separate. You can use your Thanksgiving to
-
battle. How do you battle using your
-
Thanksgiving? Who?
-
Who wants to play? Troy, come up here for me,
-
please. I thank you that I'm free from
-
everything you brought in my life.
-
I thank you that I'm say I'm trying to get free from
-
something. I thank you that I'm free.
-
I thank you. I'm free.
-
I thank you that I'm free. I thank you that I'm free.
-
I thank you that I'm free. I thank you that I'm free.
-
I try to walk away. I thank you that I'm free.
-
I thank you that I'm free. I thank you that I'm free.
-
I thank you that I'm free. I thank you That I'm free.
-
That I'm free. That I'm free.
-
I thank you Lord that I'm free from this.
-
I'm free from this. Your Thanksgiving will be
-
getting to wear out your enemies.
-
It's alright enough. It's like when your kid is 3 and
-
they're like Mama again, Mama again.
-
Play the song again. Play the song again.
-
Your testimony will battle for you.
-
Your Thanksgiving will battle for you.
-
Shout out to my boy. That's if you have a little
-
That's what that's called. Everyone says we're about to be
-
educated. That's called importunity.
-
When you willing to keep thanking, thanking God for your
-
freedom in the face of what's battling you to the point where
-
it says, man, you gonna wear me out?
-
I got to leave town now I'm gonna leave you alone with your
-
healing 'cause. You're wearing me out with all
-
that Thanksgiving. It's called importunity.
-
I won't give up. I won't quit until I see the
-
goodness of God in the land of the living.
-
Tithing builds, offering battles.
-
Tithing helps you remember how good God has blessed you.
-
Tithing was Abraham's idea. He came from a big battle.
-
He saw Melchizedek coming down. Melchizedek, the high priest of
-
God, the God Most High. A symbol and type of Jesus said,
-
I'll bless you, and out of the gratitude of the blessing and
-
recognizing what that meant, he said, I'll give you a tithe.
-
I want to give you a 10th. 10th partly means complete.
-
I know that you may have blessed me in one area, but your
-
blessing extends to every area of my life.
-
Your blessing is more complete than any battle, than any
-
victory, any paycheck, any freedom, any deliverance.
-
The blessing of God on my life. Tithing helps you build, your
-
offering helps you, helps you battle.
-
How do you know? When Abraham came to
-
Melchizedek, he gave him a tithe out of Thanksgiving for the
-
blessing. You got it.
-
But when it came time in the war for his legacy, he offered up
-
his son as a seed. See, the seed helps you fight
-
the secrets. War creates a space.
-
It goes all day back to Genesis that when man had failed and
-
lost a blessing. The enemy say battle is on with
-
the sea baby 'cause it's gonna be one that's gonna come gonna
-
destroy you, my brother. Or if he was a brother, I don't
-
know who how you characterize Satan anyway, but he didn't pay
-
anyway. God is saying, Listen man, I'm
-
gonna notice that happened. I'm gonna send a seed.
-
A seed can be a person, but a seed can also be a gift.
-
It can be whatever you want to give unto the Lord.
-
It's money, It's time. It's it's Thanksgiving.
-
It's praise. It's everything in our life can
-
become a seed that can battle for us.
-
So understand, when we have time to give, like we have in the
-
remedy campaign, that's God saying to us, put your seat to
-
work, Nehemiah said this. Let us do our part, and God will
-
fight for us. Put your seed to support the
-
work of God in rebuilding the wall and what that can mean to
-
the community. And watch God fight for you on
-
behalf of that seed that you sow.
-
Amen. We'll go through a few examples.
-
Number one, here's an example with God.
-
God made the earth. That's called building after you
-
make the earth. Genesis 11 He said in Genesis
-
1-2 now the earth was in chaos. So God said what?
-
Let there be light. First he built.
-
God created the heavens and the earth and then when disruption
-
entered He said, I'm a battle with light, with revelation,
-
with understanding my presence. Adam did the same thing.
-
He did the same thing with Adam. He said this what Adam be
-
fruitful build but also so do it.
-
That's the battle part. What what am I trying to do with
-
this. I'm trying to give you examples
-
that build your momentum of a successful pattern of
-
effectiveness. OK, I'm trying to do something
-
better for you than what GPS does.
-
When you on your way somebody what you do, you plug in GPS
-
coordinates and say what? And GPS says, says, says this to
-
you based on the pattern of those people that have gone
-
before you. I am telling you it's safe to
-
travel through here and you'll arrive in X amount of minutes.
-
And you so believe that that you will say to people, I'll be
-
there at 2:37. I'm trying to let you know this
-
is better than GPS coordinates. God has been using this
-
combination of building and battling, building 1st and
-
battling all throughout time, all throughout the covenant, all
-
throughout history. If God did it, then it's
-
available for me and I'll get God results.
-
If Adam did, it's available for me.
-
I get Adam results. If Moses did it, it's available
-
for me. I get Moses results.
-
If Jesus did it, it's available for me.
-
I get Jesus results. God's trying to give you the
-
cheat code of how to stand in this time and how to rebuild
-
that which has been torn down in your life.
-
It's a pattern and it's proven completely, totally man.
-
One more I want to go to you is this Jesus.
-
Jesus as the lamb came to build, he came to build who we were,
-
came to restore, restore our relationship with God.
-
But guess it says what? He's coming back as a lion.
-
He ain't coming back to build. He coming back to battle.
-
Build my people first. Now I'm going to come back to
-
battle and make sure we get everything that belongs to them.
-
And they have everything that I promised for them.
-
Man, building is the why you battle.
-
We talked about that, right? But building also draws the
-
battle. Say draws the battle.
-
If you don't want to battle, don't build.
-
I guarantee you you won't have any battles.
-
But you won't have nothing either.
-
You won't have nothing for now, nothing for later, Nothing to
-
pass on, nothing to give. OK, But you won't have any
-
battles, though. Building draws battles.
-
Pastor said this, that we're ready for the blessing.
-
We're also ready for the battle. Nehemiah says this.
-
Nehemiah, I think 46 says this. So we built the wall.
-
All of it was joined together at half its height.
-
Man, this half part was pretty easy.
-
I don't feel any obstruction. I don't feel anything.
-
I don't have to learn how to battle.
-
I just focus on building. I'm going to leave my sword at
-
home because we've had some success.
-
But watch out. He goes on to say this though.
-
Those fellas I listened to, they heard that the walls of
-
Jerusalem were going up, that the breaches were closed, and
-
they became very angry. Their bat, their building,
-
attracted a battle and the success of their building
-
attracted a battle. And notice one of the responses
-
to them was to do what? To try to cause confusion and
-
failure in it. What's failure?
-
Fatigue. I'm going to get you confused
-
and get you to quit. That's one of the tactics that
-
undermine your building. So you got to learn how to
-
battle those things. Battle confusion, battle
-
fatigue, Worship helps you battle confusion and prayer
-
helps you battle fatigue, all the things we're talking about.
-
So building will draw a battle. Building is the reason for the
-
battle. So not only is building the why
-
you battle, what's the reason for the battle.
-
I want to go to the next slide that talks and touches on but is
-
there a difference between building and battling and
-
building, battling and building? Is there a difference?
-
Yes, there is a difference between building and battling.
-
And when I saw the Lord say Lord, is there a difference
-
between the two? I thought God was saying, yeah,
-
there's difference, OK, And here's and here's what I got.
-
What's the difference to share with you?
-
Building before battling is when you're trying to do something in
-
your generation. We got to build something,
-
right, in our context, and that gives us not only equipment to
-
battle, preparedness to battle, but it's going to draw a fight
-
to battle because we're building something for our generation,
-
and that's great. So we got to build first before
-
you battle. But if all the time you're
-
always building first before you battle, understand, you're
-
really just focusing on your generation, OK?
-
Right. But battling before building is
-
when you focus on the next generation.
-
OK, here's how it works. When I'm worshipping God, you're
-
God, Great God almighty, You're doing amazing things.
-
God and I pray that we receive everything we need to receive in
-
the midst. I pray the enemy's bounds so we
-
can continue our work. That's building and battling for
-
now, not only before. Billy looks like this.
-
Father, I want to pray for the next generation coming.
-
Father, I thank you even before they hear, hear.
-
Equip them, Protect them. Watch out for them, Care for
-
them. Save them, deliver them.
-
Give them places to encourage their life.
-
Your prayers can go ahead to battle for the next generation.
-
And if we did more battling for the next generation, the next
-
generation would have an easier time to start to build for their
-
generation. There is a difference.
-
So in this love, love, quest, context, you want to see us do
-
both. We want to do some building
-
before battling. We're also going to do some
-
battling before building because we believe what God's trying to
-
establish here in our context and what God's calling us to, is
-
something that's going to go beyond our lives, but for
-
generations to come. There's specific things we're
-
going to battle for through prayer, battle for through our
-
giving, battle for through our service, battle for through our
-
fasting, for those generations that are coming so they can walk
-
into a better footing, a better blessing, walk into greater
-
clarity and greater efficiency for what God's calling them,
-
calling them to do. Here's an example from the
-
scripture I want to share with you, John 17 This is Jesus
-
battling before building. OK, When?
-
When Jesus has spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to
-
heaven and said, Father, thou has come, glorify and exalt in
-
honor and magnify your Son so that your Son may glorify and
-
stole and honor and magnify you, just as you granted him power
-
and authority over all flesh, so that he may give eternal life to
-
all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, to
-
know you the one only true in real God, And likewise said, no
-
him, Jesus the Christ, the not the one who you sent.
-
I've glorified you down here on earth by completing the work you
-
gave me to do. I built.
-
Now, Father, glorify me along with yourself, and restore me to
-
the majesty and honor Your presence which I had before the
-
beginning of the world. I've manifested your name to
-
them, to your people. They were yours.
-
You gave them to me, and they have obeyed and kept your word.
-
Now they know an understanding they've given them.
-
No one understand the words you gave me.
-
I've given them, and they've received and accepted and have
-
come, continue to know positively to positively and in
-
reality that I came forth from your presence.
-
And they have believed and are convinced that you did send me.
-
I am praying for them. You hear the battle.
-
I am praying for them. I'm not praying for the world,
-
but for those you've given me. All of mine are yours and yours
-
are mine, and we're going to stop there.
-
But Jesus goes on to pray is this.
-
I'm praying for them. When the enemy comes, keep them.
-
I'm praying for them. When the work gets hard.
-
Let them know you love them as much as you love me.
-
Be with them as much as you going to be with me.
-
I'm praying. I'm battling first because it's
-
not about me here. It's about them carrying on the
-
work. And if you get a little farther
-
down, it says this. And I pray not only for these
-
that are in my presence, but for all of those that will believe
-
on me through the work that they do.
-
That means you, you, you, you and me.
-
Jesus was battling for you in that moment.
-
Amen. Then he went to acts.
-
He prayed to battle, and in acts two he began to build.
-
So when suddenly they came aside from heaven like the Russian of
-
a violent Tempest blast, it filled the whole house in which
-
they were sitting. And there appeared to them
-
tongues resembling fire, which was separated and distributed,
-
which set on each one of them. And they were filled with the
-
Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit
-
gave them utterance. Keep going Now they were
-
residing then in Jerusalem, Jews devouting God, free men from
-
every country under heaven. And when this sound was heard,
-
the multitude came together, and they were astonished and
-
bewildered, because each one heard the apostle speaking in
-
his own language, particular dialect, and they were beside
-
themselves with amazement, saying, Are not all these who
-
are talking Galileans? Then how is it that we hear each
-
of us in our own tongue through which we were born?
-
You keep posting up to list a lot of people there, right?
-
Then. Then how is it that we hear each
-
of us in our own tongues? Keep going.
-
Next one. All over the globe.
-
It's important. All over the globe.
-
All over the globe. OK, tell me, if the mighty works
-
of God, then what are they telling us?
-
The mighty works of God. The mighty work that's called
-
building. They're telling us the mighty
-
works of God, who God is, right? And they were beside themselves
-
with amazement. And we're puzzling and beworded,
-
saying one to another, what can this mean?
-
Keep going Down, brothers. Others made a joke of it.
-
One of the ways that enemy caused you to stop building is
-
to ridicule. You make a joke of what you're
-
doing, who you think you are. I know where you come from.
-
We used to get high together. Come on.
-
What? You think you're all that?
-
Now? We're going to stop there.
-
But I will tell you this. You know what it goes on to say
-
that Peter get up to preach and when he preached the power of
-
God came and because God of the prayer of Jesus in John 17 the
-
outpouring the bill came in Acts 2.
-
With all the language required to start it.
-
And in that moment people heard the gospel preached in all
-
language, they gathered there from all over the world, and
-
this was the cry in different languages.
-
What must I do to be saved? Imagine one man preaches in a
-
moment and people from Italy says in Italian, what must I do
-
to be saved? And Croatians say what must I do
-
to be saved? And languages all throughout the
-
earth being a cry, what must I do to be saved?
-
And in a moment it says I think a few thousand were added to the
-
church because the battle had already been won in the prayer
-
before the building came and asked.
-
Because it wasn't about Jesus being here.
-
It was about what happens when I go.
-
I prayed before I left in order to build the next generation
-
after I'm gone. We're called to build and to
-
battle, but that also leads us to battle and build for the next
-
generation. And that's a place where prayer
-
in particular has a unique space and place and ability to
-
accomplish that task. So I want to just say this,
-
here's our charge, say my charge, say my part.
-
Understand this, before coming home, somebody got to build a
-
home. That's why we're battling and
-
building. That's why we're building and
-
battling. The Lord want me to share this,
-
he said. This build the house because
-
they coming. Build the walls because they
-
coming. Build the gates because they
-
coming, they coming. So you want to build ready.
-
You want to battle ready because they coming, they coming, they
-
coming, they coming, they coming.
-
So feel like they coming battle like they coming feel like they
-
coming in a short time and battle like they coming in a
-
short time because the urgency with which you build in battle
-
can often quicken and hasten their pace of getting here.
-
So you always want to remember you going to build ready, you
-
going to battle ready, as well as every other kind of ready,
-
'cause that's the kind of people we are.
-
Amen. Amen.
-
Come on up. Not right.
-
Not right here. What you see right here is this
-
build or is this battle what you think?
-
It's both. But I'm going to tell you, I can
-
battle some stuff with this that I can't build with it.
-
Father, we thank you. We thank you for what you're
-
doing, God. Hopefully you've received
-
something tonight that have transformed your life, changed
-
your life. Because that was the intent.
-
We can come and just listen. We can come and be changed.
-
The one part I didn't tell you about Nehemiah is that there was
-
some who watched the people build with swords on their hips
-
and sat back and didn't do anything.
-
And when the wall was built and the gates were set, they were
-
protected. But you know what they didn't
-
get is what happens in the other chapters of Nehemiah, where the
-
Spirit of God lists the Richmond family helped build the wall.
-
Swain family helped build the wall.
-
It's listed there, the families you stood up, the ones that
-
didn't receive the blessing, but they never received the full
-
testimony, to never receive that acknowledgement by God, that
-
eternal gratitude that comes with him.
-
Having said, I want you to know how grateful I am for what you
-
did as a family, so you can sit and not partake of the building
-
or the battling and you'll still be.
-
Protected long as you stay close.
-
But how much better it is for your children to go up and say
-
that's MyHeritage, that's whose shoulders I stand on.
-
It's in me, it's in me, it's in me.
-
I won't let you down. I'll pick up the mantle.
-
I'll carry it for you. And sometimes, as it happens,
-
when generations get missed, a grandparent passes before a
-
grandchild can really know them. The grandparent passes.
-
The parent can take their child and say he didn't know you Your
-
granddaddy, what a fought. Let me tell you, you should be
-
who he is. This wall was built.
-
See that name right there? That's your granddaddy.
-
That tells you everything you need to know about him.
-
He did it with his hands. He did it building.
-
He didn't fight. He wouldn't give up.
-
Because he was thinking about you.
-
That's where you come from. Be a legacy.
-
Be a testimony. Just don't sit and receive the
-
benefit. Get your name in there.
-
For those don't know about talking about something, put
-
your name on a gold plaque. I'm talking about in heaven what
-
God says Thank you. That's what I'm talking about.
-
You'll have an opportunity. Just a moment, Think they're
-
going to bring the tables up? We're going to have some
-
opportunity for our remnant giving.
-
It's for finishing the work next door so we can do more, so we
-
can grow more and serve more and love more, so we can have shifts
-
and be open all night if we need to.
-
We encourage you to listen to what God is asking you, how to
-
participate and understand. It's not about what you have,
-
it's about what you're willing to let God get through you.
-
Because God can speak something to your heart, and in the midst
-
of speaking that to you, He's showing you what he's going to
-
do in your life in a way that you never expected.
-
It's just for you to open up your hearts for God to fulfill
-
His promise to you. So we're going to encourage you
-
to be generous during that time. If you want to proceed and give
-
with your regular ties and offerings, you can do so in the
-
back. We ask you to bring the Remnant
-
giving up here at this time so we have an opportunity to put
-
into practice what we're just talking about.
-
Building and battling, worshipping and praying, putting
-
it together. I love it when we can give
-
action to the Word, because the Bible says that God comes to
-
watch over His word to perform it.
-
Hey man, and I will tell you this, you need both.
-
You got to be equally strong at both.
-
Now we're battling through our giving, but you can battle
-
through praying. God bless that Givi.
-
God increase, send more givers. God let me be able to
-
participate in a greater way next time.
-
God you can build by opening your mouth to worship the Lord
-
in this moment as our worship team sings and leads us in.
-
This time you don't have to be left out if you don't want to be
-
left out, but you are going to have to open up your mouth.
-
And engage with the work. Amen.
-
So, as we worship would have this opportunity of giving.
-
Amen. Amen.
-
One of the ways you can. How do you stand on God's
-
faithfulness? It's not bricks and it's not
-
mortar. How do you stand on God's
-
faithfulness? You thought about that?
-
See, sometimes I like to take a pause to challenge myself, like
-
I sing words. I get caught up in the melody.
-
But what was it really mean to me, right.
-
And This is why it's part important to be part of a body
-
and to gather together. Because the way I'll stand on
-
God's faithfulness, remember how he brought you out and remember
-
how He did in your life. And I said, then I go down the
-
line. I say faithful, faithful,
-
faithful. Without evidence of his
-
faithfulness, it's harder to understand how to stand on it.
-
But when I see what God's done in your life and your life, and
-
your life and your life and your life and your life and your life
-
and your life, surely I can count and stand on that very
-
same thing. That's how you stand on the
-
faithfulness of God. One of the ways is to remember
-
not just what He did in your life from day-to-day and week to
-
week, but what he's done in the lives of all of those around
-
you. So when you say you're standing
-
on God's. Faithfulness.
-
You're remembering all of the testimonies, all the victories,
-
all of what it took for you to get here, all of what your.
-
Family's been through all of what you've been through.
-
God, I'm not going to be moved. And you know the great thing
-
about standing on faithfulness when it's based on testimonies?
-
If, if, if. Mark, can you come here very
-
quickly? If I was to stand on the
-
faithfulness of God, but on his testimony, turn around and you
-
act like I was standing on his shoulders.
-
If these were my feet, what would you do with your hands?
-
If I stand on your shoulders? I'm not just standing on what
-
God's done in his life because of what God done in his life.
-
He's holding me to make sure I don't fall.
-
It's not only am I standing on this faithfulness, but my
-
brothers and my sisters and the people around me saying we don't
-
keep you standing, we're going to hold you together.
-
We going to keep you. We're going to watch.
-
You're not. Going to trip, you're not going
-
to. Fall, lift your hands up.
-
We got you in every air in every way, just encouraging you with
-
that illustration of why we're gathering on Mondays to pray
-
online and women's prayer calls encourage you to participate in
-
those. Men starts at 8:00 and women
-
starts at 8:30. But also we're gathering during
-
the week from Tuesday to Saturday, because when you
-
gather together, you build together, you battle together,
-
you send prayers and things to the next generations together,
-
and you stand on each other's shoulders together.
-
It's something amazing when you know, if I just get there,
-
somebody got me. All I got to do is get there.
-
And that's what we're doing, is we encourage you to challenge
-
yourself. There's a grace to get here,
-
reach out for it. God give me the grace.
-
There's a grace to reorganize, to prioritize, to get the rest
-
and all those kind of things to get here and to be faithful to
-
all of the other things we're doing in our fast.
-
So really encourage you. Challenge yourself.
-
Come see what maybe what you might be missing and what God
-
Extra has for you in Jesus name. We appreciate your generosity
-
and your giving and this time and these moments are
-
significant. I can remember when my kids were
-
learning to play my daughter, particularly playing piano and
-
she would play something. I can just listen to her all day
-
play that one, that one little scale she was doing because she
-
wasn't playing a scale. She had a hold of my heart.
-
So these moments in these times are we basking in.
-
Sometimes it's the father's like it may not seem like much to you
-
but you got my heart. I can just hear you do twinkle,
-
twinkle little star all day. It's like this like we say
-
again, daddy. Daddy says get child again,
-
child in Jesus name. So Father, we thank you for this
-
time and our gathering. Now what I'm going to do is this
-
and I'm going to say a prayer and the prayers of prayer
-
release a master worship team if they can lead us in one more
-
song at least, and we'll just see what God leads and what God
-
goes. It's not about trying to stay,
-
it's just about saying God. We're grateful for what you're
-
doing and what you started. You know what it says about in
-
Nehemiah? That's the challenge.
-
It says that they would take shifts so they could be there
-
all through the night. Keep and watch.
-
They build and battle all through the night.
-
I'm not saying we won't be all through the night.
-
Father, we thank you for this time.
-
We thank you for what you've done.
-
We thank you that every heart is received And every heart has
-
been transformed. We thank you for your grace
-
that's come and taken. The words that have been sung
-
and that have been prayed and the gifts that have been given,
-
and you multiply that as a blessing to those that have
-
given in the hearts and whom it's been received.
-
Father, we thank you that even as we go out of this place, we
-
don't leave your presence. God, And we thank you God.
-
That will mean be out of time for this particular moment, this
-
particular segment of time. We're never out of your
-
presence. We're never out of the grace to
-
build and the grace to battle and all that comes along with
-
that. So you know what time it is.
-
Ready. Amen.
-
Get your love fixed, man. Amen.
-
David, You give me handclap. Glory to God.
-
So we're officially done. We're going to sing one more
-
song to send us out. You have been listening to the
-
Love Quest International Church Sermon Podcast and we're so
-
happy you're here. If you're brand new to Love
-
Quest, we are here too. Love all nations, equip the
-
church, mobilize the equip and serve all to stay tuned with
-
everything we got going on in the community.
-
Follow us on IG at Lovequest Intl.
-
Church. We out here?
-
OK, so stay tuned. We got more on the way.
-
Welcome to the homecoming season and you don't need another
-
reason. And if you don't know the drill?