Overcoming The Opposition

I'm going to invite you to join me now in Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 13.

Nehemiah 4:13

Today I'm concluding our series, Arise and Build with this message.

Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 13.

Nehemiah 4:13

It reads as follows, Therefore I station some of the people behind the lowest parts of the wall at the exposed places,

hosting them by families with their swords, spears and bows.

After I looked over things, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people,

don't be afraid of them.

Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your families, for your sons and your daughters,

your wives and your homes.

Now we can jump to verse 20. It says, Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.

Our God will fight for us.

Today with the help of the Holy Ghost, I'm going to preach on this thought overcoming the opposition.

Let us open our hearts and let us pray and let us go before God right now and ask for him to continue to move in our service.

Father we come before you today in the name of Jesus. We thank you Lord for visiting us in a very special way thus far.

We thank you God for your spirit. Surely angels are in this place. God surely your spirit is already here.

We're asking God that you would speak a word, God, into our hearts.

Annoy my lips of clay, God. Have your way, God.

And I pray Lord that your name will be glorified. I pray you would confirm today's word Lord with miracle signs and wonders.

We ask this right now in the mighty, in the powerful name of Jesus. Someone say in Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated in the presence of God. Amen.

In this passage we find Nehemiah and the people of God engaged in a monumental task, the monumental task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

Which I have been preaching about these last few weeks represent the restoration of their city, their nationality and their connection with God.

Among the many challenges facing the builders were a multi-front conflict with three enemies, three enemies of the most notorious kind.

These were the most notorious power brokers in the region. Their names were Sambalit, Tobiah and Geshem.

They were a mafia of movers and shakers who opposed the reviving of the walls of Jerusalem.

But I ask today why these men were so against Nehemiah. Why not just let the Jews, just leave them alone and let them have their wall?

The reason is because these men foresaw how this project would unify the people of God. And they saw what could happen if they strengthened their identity as a people

and perhaps rise up and challenge the system that they had in place, the system that kept the people of God oppressed, the system that they used to maintain their control, their superiority, their rule over the land.

And so these groups of men were threatened by this wall. You just got to understand, it wasn't so much about a wall. It wasn't so much about this construction project.

It wasn't so much the stones and the mortar and the wooden gates. That's not what they were threatened by. What they were threatened by was a united people.

What they were threatened by was a group of people that would remember who their God was. And remember what power they had.

And they foresaw this. You see, the devil opposes anything that upsets the status quo.

Because in Hell's economy, hear me today, the status quo is good for business. In Hell's economy, the status quo is good for business.

And anything that upsets, anything that threatens to disrupt the status quo is an affront to the kingdom of darkness.

And he takes that as a fight. He takes that seriously. Conformity serves the enemy's agenda and it feeds his power.

And so when you begin to resist and you start praying and you start prophesying and you start pursuing the kingdom of God,

and you start getting actively involved in the building of the kingdom of God, all of a sudden Hell, the enemy and the forces of evil begin to take notice of that.

And they begin to recognize that their establishment is now under threat.

And this is what begins to happen when the church, when God's people, when you as a child of God begin to rise up in your spirit

and begin to claim the something, my God, I feel something on my spirit today. You begin, can I preach like I want you today, amen?

You begin to rise up and reclaim your rightful position as a child of God when you begin to remember who your God is.

And you begin to remember that you're not just anybody. You begin to remember that you are above and not beneath, that you are the head and not the tail,

that you are bought with a precious. When you begin to remember that you've got the name of God on you, when you begin, all of Hell begins to take notice.

Because the one thing that the devil does not want the people of God to do, the one thing the devil doesn't want the child of God to do,

is to disrupt the status quo. Because as long as we keep things business as usual, the way they've always been,

then he can remain in control and continue to have his way in his life. But I've come today to serve notice on the devil

and let him know that we're not going to settle for church and business as usual. We want revival. Hallelujah.

Somebody give God some praise today. Nehemiah, as you read the story, you realize that prior to him answering the call of God,

he didn't really have any enemies to speak of. I think Nehemiah enjoyed for a period of his time and in his career,

peace and prosperity and goodwill and favor with everybody. I think Nehemiah, not that he would have won a popularity vote,

but I think that he was everybody's friend. He got along with everybody. I mean, he was a diplomat.

He was somebody who knew the system and who had done things right, never compromised who he was.

But he didn't have any buddy who was plotting against him to bring him down. He was just sort of in his own world.

But the moment that he began to answer that call, all of a sudden, people came out of the woodwork.

Let me tell you that you find out who your real friends are when God starts raising you up, when God starts blessing you.

All of a sudden, haters start coming out of the woodwork that you didn't know hated you. People start talking about you that you didn't know how to...

I thought I was friends with that person. I thought we were tight. I thought we respected.

And all of a sudden, you begin to realize that as you start answering the call, as you start pursuing more of God,

oh, hallelujah, things start to happen. There's a trembling, there's a rumbling. And the moment that Nehemiah answered the call of God

and stepped into his divine purpose, weird and strange new enemies started revealing themselves.

Let me tell you, your calling reveals your opposition. Your calling reveals your opposition.

It'll reveal to you those hidden enemies. It'll reveal to you the opposition that comes in different forms.

And many times, the frustration that I see in believers today is that they're fighting for their lives, but often they're fighting the wrong enemy.

They're fighting for their life. They're fighting for their families. They're fighting with everything they have.

They're fighting tooth and nail. They're fighting. They're fighting. They're engaged in battle, but they're exerting themselves.

They're wasting all their ammunition in the wrong direction. They're shooting the wrong people, so to speak, in their life.

And many times, we're just sort of shooting anything that moves, you know, anything that kind of appears to be off.

But we've got to get to a place in our life, church. We've got to get to a place in our faith, a place in our Christian walk, in our Christian maturity,

where we get more discerning about the enemies that we are fighting against, so that we can fight what Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight of faith.

Amen. Somebody say amen. Nehemiah faced three enemies that I've mentioned here, three enemies.

And these three represent three forms of opposition that you will face when you answer the call to build.

First up, we have an outsider named Sambole. His name means secret enemy.

And he was the ringleader of the opposition, the loudest and the proudest of the gang.

And he often used trickery and deception to get his way.

At one point, he tried to lure Nehemiah away from his work by enticing him, lure him away to a private meeting.

He said, why don't you come over here and let's talk.

And he kept trying to, through deception and through schemes and plotting, get Nehemiah to get away from his calling and get away from his purpose.

But it was all a setup and Nehemiah knew that it was a trap and so therefore he resisted him.

I want to show you who Sambole represents in our life today.

Sambole represents Satan. He represents the devil.

Whose sole objective is to steal, kill and destroy everything that you are trying to build for God in your life.

Somebody say amen today. And like Sambole, Satan uses all sorts of innocent sounding appeals to lure you away from your calling so that he might devour you.

Because if he can get you out of your game and if he can get you off of the wall, if he can get you away from the thing that God has called you to do,

then he can isolate you and then if he can isolate you, he can eliminate you like a roaring lion. The Bible teaches us to be sober-minded and vigilant

because the enemy, the adversary roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. How many of you know that's true about the enemy?

I said, how many of you know that's true about the enemy?

And he uses every aspect that he can, but most of all he uses his voice, he uses his mouth.

Notice that when the Bible describes him as a roaring lion, he's roaring three. He doesn't even talk about his bite.

He doesn't even talk about his teeth. He talks about his roar. You know why? Because he never shuts up.

My God, help me somebody here today. He never shuts up.

He just keeps talking and yacking and saying this and that because his only weapon is to ridicule, to mock, to put down, to spread lies

and to get you thinking things that go against this great book and what the Word of God says about us.

His choice of weapon is to mock you and to inflict fear into the hearts of God's people.

And this has been his tactic from the very beginning when he tempted Eve in the garden.

He did it through his little, his little slivvy tongue to distract her from the will of God.

And all throughout the pages of scripture we see he taunts God's people. He ridicules God's people.

Front and center is the story of Goliath and David. When Goliath stood out there for 40 days and he was taunting Israel.

He was ridiculing the people of God and defying the armies of Israel.

And you know that he didn't swing one sword. You know he didn't even fire a rocket or not even a paper airplane.

I mean all the guy did was talk a big game. He said send me a man. Send me a man.

He said bring somebody and so I can feed them to the fowl of the air.

He's just barking all of these things at the people of God and they're all shaking him their boots over there.

Thinking oh my God what are we gonna do? And because here's this sound of ridicule.

This taunting, this deception. But thank God there was a shepherd boy who was spending some time in the pasture.

Who knew that his God was greater than Goliath. And he told him you come to me with a sword and a javelin.

But I come to you in the name of the Lord or the host. I don't know about you today.

But I'm getting real tired of listening to the enemy. I'm getting real tired of hearing his lie.

His accusations. His ridicule. I'm ready to stand up and say what does say at the Lord.

And my God says that I am an overcomer. My God says that I'm more than a conqueror.

Somebody ought to give God about 30 seconds of praise. Come on and clap your hands.

Come on and open up your mouth. Come on and worship the Lord.

There are a few moments. Someone shout hallelujah. You gotta be sober minded and vigilant.

You gotta be dressed for battle. You gotta put on the whole armor of God.

I feel a fire in my spirit today so you can quench the fiery darts of the wicked one.

You gotta be ready. You gotta have the armor of God on. Paul writes these words.

He says for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

But a mighty and God for the pulling down of strongholds.

Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

You've got to understand that we are engaged in a spiritual battle.

We are engaged in a spiritual warfare. And the weapons of our warfare are not physical.

But they are spiritual. Hallelujah.

And so we've got to put on the armor of God.

And we've got to be ready to stand ground and defend what is right and what is true.

Somebody say man. Anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

If it contradicts what God has said about you.

If it contradicts the knowledge that God has given you.

About you. About your standing with God. About your salvation.

Then you are to strike that lie down and say Satan get thee behind me.

Alaba by Yashamna.

Would you just worship him for a moment.

I feel the spirit of God.

Yashamna. Alama.

Yashamna. Alama.

Alama.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus. Hallelujah.

I need somebody's faith to rise up today.

Alaba by Yashamna.

Next up we have Tobiah.

Whose name means Yahweh is good.

What a name.

He was the sidekick of Sambalot.

Often appearing right next to Sambalot in protest of the walls.

So typically when you see Sambalot operating his sidekick Tobiah was right there.

It was like Batman and Robin.

He was right there next to him.

He was his sidekick.

And everywhere he went he kind of went with him.

And they sort of worked together.

But unlike Sambalot, Tobiah was not an outsider but he was an insider.

Sambalot was an outsider.

But Tobiah was an insider.

What I mean by that is that he came from a family of very powerful Jewish aristocrats.

He was a Jew.

So essentially he was one of them but he wasn't.

You know what I'm saying?

He was part of the Jewish nationality but he was not a Jew spiritually.

He was part of the Commonwealth of Israel because he had a name.

He had roots in it.

But as we see in the story he wasn't at all interested in seeing the building of the wall.

He kind of had us one foot in and he's got one foot out.

Don't mess with the way things are pastor because you know if we get too spiritual you know

then things are going to get kind of crazy you know.

I like balance.

I like to kind of keep things as they are you know.

Don't make me too uncomfortable.

And so for this reason Tobiah represents the flesh.

And Tobiah represents the flesh.

Why? Because he's in us.

I got bad news for you in a way.

You're not going to get rid of Tobiah because as long as you're living in this body

you're going to have to contend with Tobiah.

Because he represents the flesh.

And sometimes it's not Satan.

It's not evil or spooky or foul spirits that are keeping us from our destiny in Christ.

You know what it is? It's our flesh.

Amen.

It's that human sinful nature that we are born with.

And we may want to blame the devil and say the devil made me do it.

But most often it's our own flesh that gets in the way of us fulfilling our potential in Christ.

Amen.

I said amen.

It's that part of you that resists the spirit.

It resists what the spirit wants.

This is what Paul writes in Galatians 5.17.

He says,

For the flesh lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.

And these are contrary to one another so that you don't do the things that you wish.

My God, how many have ever been there before?

Paul even said one time, he said,

The thing that I want to do, I don't. And the thing I don't want to do, that I do.

He said, Who can deliver me from this body?

And that's the apostle Paul folks that is saying that.

He's definitely got the credentials.

He's definitely a man of God.

And so that tells us that nobody here is exempt from dealing with this flesh.

It's with us everywhere we go.

And he says there's this constant battle going on between that with the spirit wants

and what the flesh wants.

And as long as we're in this body, we're going to have to contend.

And Nehemiah realized that he struggled to get rid of Tobiah.

This guy was pesky.

I mean, he was persistent.

He just kind of kept hanging around and kept just being right there among the people.

You know that even after the walls were built, brother,

even after they celebrated the building of the wall,

this guy, Tobiah, was still kind of hanging around and still sort of like,

you know, sending messages to people on the other side of the wall.

And he was still, you know what he was doing?

He was using the fact that he was still nationally speaking, a Jew.

And he still had family connections, you know?

He was reminding everybody about, you know, who my family is, you know?

He was showing everybody, you know, his card, I guess,

just like, hey, don't forget who I am.

I'm one of you.

And then on top of that, the Bible says that he was doing good deeds.

Ha! This is how the flesh hides sometimes.

It hides behind good deeds.

Y'all ain't ready for this now.

I'm gonna get right into this one right here.

It was hiding behind good deeds.

It was saying, well, I do good at this and I do good at that, so leave me alone.

Pastor can't preach to me like that.

I can't get because I'm all, I do good.

Well, good that you do good.

You're supposed to do good.

But just because you do good doesn't give you a license to do whatever else you want to do.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

You can't write a big enough check to the church or to anybody

that say, well, as long as I'm doing this, long enough, I don't, I can't be told,

excuse me, what side are you fighting on here?

Amen, somebody.

I said, amen, somebody.

This is why Nehemiah had a hard time dealing with them because, man, how do I get to this guy?

Everybody likes him.

But he kept, see, this is what the people didn't know, is that, well, everybody likes him.

Oh, everybody likes him.

You know, they're taking pictures, you know, they're posting pictures with Tobiah, you know,

there they are, Friday night having dinner with Tobiah.

But what they don't know is that behind the scenes,

they're sending threatening letters to Nehemiah.

And the Tobiah spirit, that fleshly spirit will play people like that.

Uh-oh, I'm getting into something else now, huh?

You got to be careful, you got to make sure you're not hanging around with Tobiahs,

because they'll flip it on you.

And it's because they're trying to get to you, they're trying to use you or influence you.

Amen.

And this is where I believe that as a church, as a people, we got to understand,

yes, we've got sambalett, we have the devil that we need to fight,

but then there's also this flesh of ours.

And we got to keep this flesh in check, somebody's saying, man, today.

People think that carnality is just about sexual and physical sins,

or carnality is just, you know, drinking and partying and that sort of thing.

But you reach a Bible, because in Galatians chapter 5,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

the apostle Paul lists a whole bunch of other things that involve carnality

that have nothing to do with just drinking, partying, and sexual mischievousness and all that.

According to Galatians 5, the works of the flesh include things like hatred.

Amen, somebody.

It includes things like jealousy, and angry outbursts, and selfish ambition,

and divisions, and envy.

Basically, it's any desire or attitude that contradicts the spirit of God.

So you may not go out partying and drinking, you may not be, you know,

living a perverse life in that way, but you can be just as carnal

if you don't let God move in your life the way that he wants to.

Well, anyhow, you can be just as carnal if you don't,

if you react with anger, if you have a selfish ambition,

if your pride is getting in the way, that is also carnality,

and it can keep you from your destiny in cry.

But today, we're going to make sure that we overcome this flesh of ours

so that we can get more that God has for us.

Somebody say amen today.

And Tobiah, you know, sometimes it's hard to detect this guy.

It's hard, I'm going to just be a couple more minutes.

It's hard to detect him because, you know, he's hiding in plain sight.

But eventually, he'll start to talk because he can't help it.

Tobiah gives us a clue that it's the flesh talking and not the spirit.

If you want to know whether you're, who you're dealing with,

if you're dealing with the, with, with Sambole, who represents the devil,

or if you're dealing with the flesh, here's a clue.

Watch what Tobiah, Tobiah said in here in Nehemiah chapter 4 and verse 3.

Nehemiah 4 · chapter mention

This is one of the only times that we see him talking on his own.

Every time else he talks, it's in concert with his other gang members.

But here, he speaks for himself and he said this about the work of God.

Whatever they build.

He said, whatever they build, even, even if, even a fox goes up on him,

he will break down their stone wall.

This is how you know that it's the flesh talking and not the spirit.

Because the flesh will say something like, well, even if they do it, it's not gonna last.

Even if they do it, it's not going to.

The flesh is unbelieving.

It doubts what God can do.

It doubts what's actually possible.

You know what it does?

Instead of focusing on the wall, instead of focusing on revival, it is all consumed.

It's all fixated on little foxes.

You ever met something like that?

They're missing the big picture.

You miss the big picture because you got all hung up on a little fox.

Oh, because they didn't sing the song that you like.

You're not gonna worship.

Come on, y'all getting quiet on me, huh?

Because they didn't do it, you're gonna focus on that well, because that light was flickering the whole time.

I just couldn't get into the service.

Come on now, what are we doing here?

Oh, because that one person looked at me kind of sideways and what's her problem?

And you're just gonna let that little fox rob you of the blessings of God, rob you of greater revival,

rob you of what God knows.

I decided that this flesh has got to come under subjection.

I'm not gonna let this flesh stop the move of God.

Is there anybody that's with me here today?

Clap your hands and let's give God a hand.

Praise the day, hallelujah.

You can overcome the flesh.

Somebody say, man, you can overcome the flesh.

How do I overcome the flesh?

Oh, you got to do what Paul did.

He said, I die daily.

Pick up your cross and be crucified with Christ.

That's the only way to do it. Every day you got to make a conscious decision.

Flesh, you're not the boss.

Flesh, carnal mind, you're not gonna be.

And you do what the scripture teaches us.

Paul says, set your affections or set your mind on things above and not on things beneath.

Put your mind in heavenly places.

Oh, my Lord, I am believing.

Get ready, but I am believing that this coming month we're gonna see the fruit.

We're gonna see the revival of the prayers and the fastings that we've been doing all the month of Chalice.

We did not as a church pray and fast all month of January,

just so that we can say have the same kind of services that we always have.

The devil is a liar.

I believe that in this next month, I need somebody to agree with me here today,

that we're gonna get the devil out of the way.

We're gonna get the flesh out of the way.

And we're gonna let God do what he wants to in our midst.

Is there somebody that believes what I'm preaching here today?

So we can't let our flesh talk us out of our miracles.

We can't let our flesh talk us out of healing.

We're gonna have a healing month this coming February.

Next Sunday, we're gonna have a healing service.

This week, the devil or your flesh gonna tell you can God really do it?

What if you take them? What if you invite them and they don't get healed?

Isn't that gonna be awkward?

Isn't that gonna be hard?

Are you sure you wanna stick your foot in your mouth like that?

Are you sure you wanna go and Tobias is trying to say,

you know, why don't you just have church as usual?

You know, don't put yourself on the spot like that.

Just keep things the way they are.

And we can keep having church and we can keep doing what we do,

sing the songs that we know.

But I feel something in my spirit today.

I feel faith rising up and I believe that miracles,

signs and wonders are upon us even now.

But you stand with me today.

There's only one more enemy and that is this man named Gesham.

If I had a lot more time, I would preach to you today about Gesham.

But this Gesham character, the third one,

he worked in concert with the others.

His name means material substance.

And he tried to entice Nehemiah to get off the wall

and come with me, he said in Nehemiah 6-2.

He said, come meet us over here in this valley, in the plain of Ono.

He said, come on over here and meet me in this valley.

Now if you study the background of this valley,

this valley was also known as the Valley of Craftsmen.

The Valley of Work, the Valley of Prosperity.

And this is why Gesham represents the world.

This is the third enemy that, oh my God,

that distracts many Christians from their callings in Christ.

It may not be the devil or himself.

It may not be the flesh on its own.

But sometimes it's the love of the world and all that is promising you.

It says, give more of yourself to this.

It tries to lure you away.

In so many different ways by promising you the world on a string.

By saying over here, you can have power, money, sexual pleasure.

You can have everything that you want.

You can have the life that you want.

You can live how you want.

Oh Gesham is trying to tell somebody here today,

don't waste your time on the things of God.

Just live a life of sin because sin is fun

and it's great out there in the world.

The things that you can achieve, the things that you can do.

But I'm here to tell you that this world has got nothing to offer you.

And the only thing that it can offer you is pain and strife

and grief and suffering.

That's all this world has to offer.

But I've seen too many in this hour.

It was not the devil, it was not Tobiah, it was not the flesh.

It's the pursuit of whatever this world is dangling in front of you

like a carrot saying, come over here

and it's trying to take you out of your ministry.

It's trying to take you out.

And today, I feel the Holy Ghost today,

I have come to say that greater is He that is in you

than He that's in the world.