Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So many of us give up so quickly on ourselves,
on our family, on our children, on our church, on
our society, on our God.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Doctor Tony Evans is perseverance isn't just a personal strength,
it's a spiritual necessity.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
One of the things that we've got to come to
grips with is the issue of not quitting when things
get tough.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. When God has
called you to do something great, the enemy's goal is
simple to get you to stop. Today, we'll look at
what happened when Nehemiah was just stemps away from finishing
the wall, and how the enemy's strategy suddenly shifted from
(00:44):
sabotage to smooth talk. Let's listen in as doctor Evans begins.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Nehemiah in chapter five has wrestled with the fact that
the community was being destroyed within, and he addressed the
fact that if you're going to have the rebuilding of
a community, you're going to have to have ethical behavior
by those who are a part of it. You cannot
rip each other off and still make progress. You can't
(01:12):
do it personally. You can't do it in a family,
you certainly can't do it in a society. In chapter six, however,
Nea Maiah himself becomes the target. It sort of assat
the quarterback approach. If we can get the quarterback, then
we can stop the movement of the team, and so
(01:34):
he becomes an agent of personal attack. We read in
chapter six, verse one. It came about when it was
reported to sam Ballet Tobiagasham to the rest of the
enemies that I had rebuilt the wall. No breach remained
in it. Although at this time I had not set
up the doors in the gate. The walls had been repaired,
(01:57):
and there was only one thing left to do, you
hanging the gates. They were almost there. So the thing
that Neamah had to face was the issue of perseverance.
He had gone a long way, He had gotten almost
(02:20):
to the end. Satan is ever gonna go after you.
It's when you're almost there. That's why you find out
when you make your deepest commitments is oftentime when you're
under your deepest attack, because you're almost there. You ask
(02:42):
any Boston Marathon Thana, he can tell you that it's
when you're almost finished that you want to quit, because
at the end of the Boston Marathon is heartbreak Hill.
One of the things that we've got to come to
grips with is the issue of not quitting when things
get tough, not quitting when it doesn't look like we
(03:07):
can make it. So many of us give up so
quickly on ourselves, on our family, on our children, on
our church, on our society, on our God. It says
send dalad verse two, and Gisham sent a message to
me saying, come let us meet together at your fereum
(03:29):
in the plane of oh No. But they were planning
to harm me. And I sent messengers to them saying
I am doing a great work. I cannot come down
the enemies. Realizing that they were now desperate, We're now saying,
let's let bygones be bygones, let's be friends. Let's in fact,
(03:53):
come on down and let's have a summit, if you will,
and put all this behind us. Neil Mayah says that
they were planning to harm me in verse twelve. You
see the phrase, then I perceived that God had not
sent him. Neel Mayah gets some inside information. Whenever the
(04:20):
Holy Spirit gives you that sense that something's not right.
You need to pause and reflect. Don't rush your head,
because God may be giving you a word of knowledge
that is supernatural intuition, if you will, the ability of perception.
And that's why he says, I perceive that is the
word of knowledge. Or to put it in another way,
(04:41):
it's a form of dessernment. They ask him to come
down for a conference of friendship. Neil Mayah says, the
reason I can't come down is twofold. I can't come
down number one because I'm doing a great work. Now,
(05:04):
technically they could have been telling the truth. But even
if they were telling the truth, you don't leave something
greater to do something lesser. One of the things you
don't do is you don't do something that's second best
(05:25):
and leave something that's first best. You know what Neil
Maiah was doing on the wall, He was doing the
will of God. Listen. You never leave the will of
God to do something that's nice. You never leave what
(05:46):
you know God called you to do to do what
people want you to do. You don't do what you
know God said in the light to follow folk in
the darkness. One of the reasons so many of us
get messed up is we listen to people who take
us off the wall. What they ask us to do
(06:08):
may be nice, but it's not God's will for us.
Neil Mayer knew that God said build a wall here.
These men are coming and saying come over to oh, No.
Four and a half miles outside of Jerusalem. Not thought,
but come out and take a break for a while,
(06:29):
and let's relax. They were trying to deceive him. Before
you file a folk, see what that character is like?
First of all, are they taking you away from God's will?
And secondly of all, what's that character like? It's critical
(06:52):
that you not allow yourself to be deceived, that you
be committed to the will of God. Why many of
us don't see success in our lives as we come
down off the wall, that is, we leave the plan
of God for something else that sounds good to Frogs
fell into a can of cream, or so I've heard
(07:14):
it told. The sides of the can were shiny and steep,
the cream was deep in cold. Oh what's the youth?
Croak number one to state, no help surround, goodbye my friend,
goodbye sad world, And weeping still he drowned. But frog
(07:35):
number two of sterner stuff dog paddled in surprise the
while he wiped his creamy face and dried his creamy eyes.
I'll swim a while at least, he said. And so
I've heard it said, it really wouldn't help the world
if one more frog were dead. And hour or two
(07:59):
he kicked in swam, not once he stopped to mutter,
but kicked and kicked and swim and kicked, then hopped
out via butter. In other words, he worked so hard
he made something he could use. You gotta persevere. Well,
(08:20):
I wanna roll. Let me give you another one. A
teenager decided to quit high school one day and he said,
I'm just fed up with it all. I quit. His
father was trying to convince him to stay in school.
He's trying to get him to stand school. He said, son,
you can't quit, says all the people who are remembered
(08:42):
in history didn't quit. Abe Lincoln he didn't quit, Thomas
Ellison he didn't quit, Douglas MacArthur he didn't quit. And
then there's Elmum mccringle, son Berken. Who in the world,
Dad is Elmoma Crinkle. See the father said, you don't
(09:06):
remember him. He quit near Mayah persevered. He persevered because
he was in the will of God. He was in
the will of God, and so he set messages back
and said, I can't come down to you now. If
(09:26):
a person sincere and they really want to see you,
then what they gonna do. They gonna come to you
if they really see you, know who your friends are,
because they want you in the will of God. Because
you see people who are out for your best, are
out for you experiencing the will of God. They don't
(09:49):
want to pull you away from God's will. They want
to encourage you in the things of the Lord. They
want to promote the will of God. He says, I
can't come to you now if you're are you a
shooting come to me. In fact, the text says that
they did this four times. Four times. They did this
(10:13):
because they were trying to get him down. That this
is a masterful strategy. They knew if they got Nehemiah
off the wall, they could kill the motivation of the
rest of the people. Because remember, if you chapters of
the Gold, these folks are really struggling to get this
job done. All they need to do is see that
(10:33):
leader quits, then they're going to follow suit.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Doctor Evans will return in just a moment to reveal
how the opposition turned up the pressure with a public
attack aimed straight at Nehemiah's character. Don't go away?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
How do you share the Gospel with confidence? What's God's
plan for our communities? Why does the Old Testament matter
to your faith today? Those are just a few of
the questions she'll get answered when you enrolled in the
Tony Evans Training Center, an interactive online study experience with
doctor Tony Evans where you can grow in your knowledge
of God's word and learn to advance His Kingdom agenda
(11:10):
in your life. Visit Tonyevans Training dot org to get
started today. That's Tonyevans Training dot org.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
The lesson we're listening to today is just one installment
in Tony's fifteen part sermon series on the Book of Nehemiah.
In this study, doctor Evans walks through the incredible story
of a man called to rebuild not just a city,
but a people, restoring faith, perseverance, and bringing spiritual renewal.
Through these messages, we've been gaining powerful insights on leadership,
(11:42):
trusting God's provision, and standing firm in the face of opposition.
This complete study is now available for your personal audio
library on both digital download and either CD or USB
thumb drive, and it includes material we won't have time
to present on the broadcast. It's a valuable collection of messages,
(12:03):
and for a limited time, we're making them all available
bundled along with Tony's compelling book, One Nation Under God.
If you're concerned about the direction our country is headed,
this book will equip you with a Kingdom centered strategy
to make a lasting impact, starting right where you are.
Get them both as our gift. When you make a
(12:23):
donation to support the Alternative Broadcast Ministry, just visit us
at Tonyevans dot org. Details of the special offer are
right on the homepage again, that's Tonyevans dot org. Or
reach out to our resource center at one eight hundred
eight hundred three two two two for some in person help.
(12:44):
That's one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two.
Right now, let's get back to doctor Evans in chapter
six of the Book of Nehemiah.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Well, we have our second challenge beginning in verse five.
Then sent Ballet's send this servant to me in the
same manner a fifth time with an open letter in
his hand. We're now talking about a letter that has
been opened, and open letters were common when you wanted
everybody to know its contents. It's sort of like reading
(13:17):
a decree, you know. You see the guys you know
during the days of the king read a decree. It's
that kind of letter. It's open for the general public.
In other words, Sam Balad wants everybody of influence to
read this thing so they can pass the gossip word. Now,
what did the letter say? Verse six? It was reported
among the nation. This is the content of the letter.
(13:40):
The gash move says that you and the Jews are
planning to rebel. Therefore, you are rebuilding the wall, and
you are to be their king according to these reports.
And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem
concerning you a king in Judah, and that will be
reported to the king according to these words. So come
now and let us discuss it. Since you didn't come
(14:04):
down from the wall when I privately ask you, I'm
going to pass the word on that you are revolting
against the king, that you are setting up your own kingdom,
that you've got profits, even proclaiming you are the Messiah. Zacharye.
Nine to nine that you are the Messiah and that
(14:25):
you're building your own kingdom, and I'm gonna put it
in an open letter so that everybody will read it.
Now that's pressure. It's one thing to have one person
against you, or two or three, but when they pass
on the word, it becomes the perception of everybody. Well,
(14:46):
he's only out for his own end. She thinks that
she's somebody in and they're just trying to build their
own castle, and they're not involved with anything else. And
the word goes out, and then he finally says, this
is going to get to the King of Persian. Now
you know what that means. If the King of Persia
thinks you're doing your own show in Jerusalem, you can
(15:07):
get your head chopped off. So this is no small
thing that they're going through. Nearmiah responds. He says, and
then I sent a message to him saying such things
as you are saying have not been done. Another word,
that's a lie. But you are inventing them in your
(15:27):
own mind. For all of them were trying to frighten us,
thinking they were trying to scare us. They will become
discouraged with the work and it will not be done.
And then Neamiah does what he does best. He says,
But now, oh, Lord, strengthen my hands, brothers and sisters,
(15:50):
that come time when you want to quit nearmyah scared.
You don't pray for strength unless you're losing it. When
he found out that they had made it, Papa, and
now I was possible, some of the people could doubt him.
Some of his leaders could doubt his leadership. Some of
the people who had built up confidence that confidence could
(16:10):
be eroded overnight. And when he thought about the possibility
that it might get back to the king, and the
king believe it, his needs got shaky. Some of you
been trying to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ
for a while, but every now and then your needs
get shaky. Some of you been trying to honor the Lord,
but you want to walk out sometimes because your needs
(16:32):
get shaky. Sometimes circumstances get so despairing that you want
to quit. Neel Mayah, says, Lord, strengthen my hand. Lord,
help me to hang in there. That's when you need
to go to God. When you're ready to quit, when
you're ready to give up, don't give up. When you
(16:54):
know you're doing what God wants you to do. Hang in.
There comes to a final test. Verse ten, we're introduced
to Shemaiah. Shamaiah, we are told in the middle of
verse ten, is confined in its own neel Mayah comes
to Shemaiah. He says, in the second half of verse ten,
(17:15):
let us meet together in the House of God within
the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple,
for they are coming to kill you, and they are
coming to kill you at night. Now what is Shemaiah given.
Shemaiah is giving a prophecy. God can use people to
tell you what the Lord said to let me get
(17:36):
me wrong. People can be tools to guide you. But
please be careful, for the Bible says Satan transforms himself
as an angel of light. In other words, they can
make himself look like the Lord. He can trick you.
And so many people are being duped by cults and
(17:57):
by religion and by leaders. But I said, should a
man like me flee, and could one such as I
go into the temple to save his life? I will
not go in, he says, I will not go. In
verse twelve, then I proceed call the Word of knowledge
(18:17):
that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered
his prophecy against me because Tobiah and sam Ballad had
what hired him. When God has told you something, and
you're clear about what he's told you, he's not going
(18:38):
to tell somebody else something that contradicts what he clearly
told you. He said, let us meet in the middle
of verse ten and in the House of God within
the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple.
Near Maya's brain went being naughty, naughty, naughty. It is
(19:00):
only the priest could go into the inner secuary of
the temple. And that's the Hebrew wordy you this here,
only those who were the priests could go in and listen.
Anybody else who went into the Holy of Holies other
than the priest was killed. You dropped dead. Shemaiah was
(19:26):
trying to get Nehmiah to act out of fear, to
disobey what the word of God. He was trying to
get him to disobey the word of God because he
was afraid. Some of you are today are going through
economic fear, and you're being tempted to disobey the word
of God. Some of you today are going through marital fear.
(19:48):
You're being tempted to disobey the word of God. Some
of you are going through relational fears, and you're tempted
to disobey the word of God. Don't do it, because
dis obey the word of God it is to go
where you are not to go, and when you wind
up being there, it's death. You will have been deceived.
(20:09):
He understands that he is being deceived Verse fifteen. So
the wall was completed on the twenty fifth month. It's
completed in how long fifty two days? Now, folks, listen
(20:29):
to me. You know the words say, through many dangers,
toils and snags, I have already come. You don't arrive
at the will of God with ease. You don't arrive
at the completion of God's plan for your life without
sanballads and tobias and gishams in your life. You don't
(20:51):
arrive at God's will without being challenged to be afraid,
without the enemy trying to destroy you. You don't. In fact,
if your life is going smooth all the time, you're
not in the will of God. If your life is
going without any ups and downs, you can't be in
the will of God. Because the Bible says, counted all
(21:12):
joy when you come into your various colored variated colored trials.
Trials are an absolute necessity in steering you to the
will of God. So if you're going through a difficult time,
now don't quit. Say Lord, show me the way that
I might walk in it, Show me the way that
I might obey it, Show me the way that I
(21:33):
might follow it. And the beauty of this is that,
in spite of our position, he says in verse sixteen,
when all our enemies heard of it, and all the
nations surrounding us saw it. Now get this, they lost
their confidence, for they recognize that this work had been
accomplished with the help of our God. When you finally
(21:55):
get the way you're going, don't forget God. God finally
brings that man your life. Don't forget God when he
finally makes that business successful. Don't forget God when he
finally makes your world that's falling apart come together. You
can now pay the bills. Don't forget God. The great
tragedy today is that we finally get to where we
(22:16):
want to go, and we forgot how we got there.
Neelmiah said, I will not forget that this happened because
unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain
that build it. The great tragedy today is that we
have forgotten God. And God has gotten mad about it too,
that we have forgotten that. It's his strength and his
power and his energy. If you're having a successful life,
(22:41):
don't apologize for it, but don't forget God. If God
has given you a happy home, don't think it's just
because of your personality. Don't forget God. Don't forget God.
Neel Mayah said, the nation saw that this was done
by the help of our God.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And doctor Tony Evans will return with a quick challenge
to wrap up today's message in just a moment. First, though,
a reminder to take advantage of that special offer I
mentioned earlier your own copy of the full length versions
of all fifteen messages in Tony's current teaching series on Nehemiah.
Along with One Nation Under God, is powerful book that
(23:23):
takes a look at learning to care about what God
cares about, especially in the areas of freedom, justice, economics, education,
and politics. These resources will help you identify specific strategies
you can put to work to start a ripple effective
kingdom change and they're yours with our thanks. When you
make a donation to the Alternative Ministry, just visit Tonyevans
(23:47):
dot org for details, or call us at one eight
hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two. Once again, that's
one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two, or
online Tonyevans dot org. Nehemiah had a vision to restore
the dignity of God's people when he called them to
rebuild Jerusalem's broken walls, But even after the walls were complete,
(24:12):
his mission was far from over. Tomorrow we'll find out
what Nehemiah was up to next, but for now, doctor
Evans is back with these closing words.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
So today my challenge is to stay on course and
the will of God for your life, for your family's life,
or your future. Don't compromise the will of God, because
if you forget gone, you won't have the help you
need to go where God wants to take you.
So many of us give up so quickly on ourselves,
on our family, on our children, on our church, on
our society, on our God.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Doctor Tony Evans is perseverance isn't just a personal strength,
it's a spiritual necessity.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
One of the things that we've got to come to
grips with is the issue of not quitting when things
get tough.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. When God has
called you to do something great, the enemy's goal is
simple to get you to stop. Today, we'll look at
what happened when Nehemiah was just stemps away from finishing
the wall, and how the enemy's strategy suddenly shifted from
(00:44):
sabotage to smooth talk. Let's listen in as doctor Evans begins.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Nehemiah in chapter five has wrestled with the fact that
the community was being destroyed within, and he addressed the
fact that if you're going to have the rebuilding of
a community, you're going to have to have ethical behavior
by those who are a part of it. You cannot
rip each other off and still make progress. You can't
(01:12):
do it personally. You can't do it in a family,
you certainly can't do it in a society. In chapter six, however,
Nea Maiah himself becomes the target. It sort of assat
the quarterback approach. If we can get the quarterback, then
we can stop the movement of the team, and so
(01:34):
he becomes an agent of personal attack. We read in
chapter six, verse one. It came about when it was
reported to sam Ballet Tobiagasham to the rest of the
enemies that I had rebuilt the wall. No breach remained
in it. Although at this time I had not set
up the doors in the gate. The walls had been repaired,
(01:57):
and there was only one thing left to do, you
hanging the gates. They were almost there. So the thing
that Neamah had to face was the issue of perseverance.
He had gone a long way, He had gotten almost
(02:20):
to the end. Satan is ever gonna go after you.
It's when you're almost there. That's why you find out
when you make your deepest commitments is oftentime when you're
under your deepest attack, because you're almost there. You ask
(02:42):
any Boston Marathon Thana, he can tell you that it's
when you're almost finished that you want to quit, because
at the end of the Boston Marathon is heartbreak Hill.
One of the things that we've got to come to
grips with is the issue of not quitting when things
get tough, not quitting when it doesn't look like we
(03:07):
can make it. So many of us give up so
quickly on ourselves, on our family, on our children, on
our church, on our society, on our God. It says
send dalad verse two, and Gisham sent a message to
me saying, come let us meet together at your fereum
(03:29):
in the plane of oh No. But they were planning
to harm me. And I sent messengers to them saying
I am doing a great work. I cannot come down
the enemies. Realizing that they were now desperate, We're now saying,
let's let bygones be bygones, let's be friends. Let's in fact,
(03:53):
come on down and let's have a summit, if you will,
and put all this behind us. Neil Mayah says that
they were planning to harm me in verse twelve. You
see the phrase, then I perceived that God had not
sent him. Neel Mayah gets some inside information. Whenever the
(04:20):
Holy Spirit gives you that sense that something's not right.
You need to pause and reflect. Don't rush your head,
because God may be giving you a word of knowledge
that is supernatural intuition, if you will, the ability of perception.
And that's why he says, I perceive that is the
word of knowledge. Or to put it in another way,
(04:41):
it's a form of dessernment. They ask him to come
down for a conference of friendship. Neil Mayah says, the
reason I can't come down is twofold. I can't come
down number one because I'm doing a great work. Now,
(05:04):
technically they could have been telling the truth. But even
if they were telling the truth, you don't leave something
greater to do something lesser. One of the things you
don't do is you don't do something that's second best
(05:25):
and leave something that's first best. You know what Neil
Maiah was doing on the wall, He was doing the
will of God. Listen. You never leave the will of
God to do something that's nice. You never leave what
(05:46):
you know God called you to do to do what
people want you to do. You don't do what you
know God said in the light to follow folk in
the darkness. One of the reasons so many of us
get messed up is we listen to people who take
us off the wall. What they ask us to do
(06:08):
may be nice, but it's not God's will for us.
Neil Mayer knew that God said build a wall here.
These men are coming and saying come over to oh, No.
Four and a half miles outside of Jerusalem. Not thought,
but come out and take a break for a while,
(06:29):
and let's relax. They were trying to deceive him. Before
you file a folk, see what that character is like?
First of all, are they taking you away from God's will?
And secondly of all, what's that character like? It's critical
(06:52):
that you not allow yourself to be deceived, that you
be committed to the will of God. Why many of
us don't see success in our lives as we come
down off the wall, that is, we leave the plan
of God for something else that sounds good to Frogs
fell into a can of cream, or so I've heard
(07:14):
it told. The sides of the can were shiny and steep,
the cream was deep in cold. Oh what's the youth?
Croak number one to state, no help surround, goodbye my friend,
goodbye sad world, And weeping still he drowned. But frog
(07:35):
number two of sterner stuff dog paddled in surprise the
while he wiped his creamy face and dried his creamy eyes.
I'll swim a while at least, he said. And so
I've heard it said, it really wouldn't help the world
if one more frog were dead. And hour or two
(07:59):
he kicked in swam, not once he stopped to mutter,
but kicked and kicked and swim and kicked, then hopped
out via butter. In other words, he worked so hard
he made something he could use. You gotta persevere. Well,
(08:20):
I wanna roll. Let me give you another one. A
teenager decided to quit high school one day and he said,
I'm just fed up with it all. I quit. His
father was trying to convince him to stay in school.
He's trying to get him to stand school. He said, son,
you can't quit, says all the people who are remembered
(08:42):
in history didn't quit. Abe Lincoln he didn't quit, Thomas
Ellison he didn't quit, Douglas MacArthur he didn't quit. And
then there's Elmum mccringle, son Berken. Who in the world,
Dad is Elmoma Crinkle. See the father said, you don't
(09:06):
remember him. He quit near Mayah persevered. He persevered because
he was in the will of God. He was in
the will of God, and so he set messages back
and said, I can't come down to you now. If
(09:26):
a person sincere and they really want to see you,
then what they gonna do. They gonna come to you
if they really see you, know who your friends are,
because they want you in the will of God. Because
you see people who are out for your best, are
out for you experiencing the will of God. They don't
(09:49):
want to pull you away from God's will. They want
to encourage you in the things of the Lord. They
want to promote the will of God. He says, I
can't come to you now if you're are you a
shooting come to me. In fact, the text says that
they did this four times. Four times. They did this
(10:13):
because they were trying to get him down. That this
is a masterful strategy. They knew if they got Nehemiah
off the wall, they could kill the motivation of the
rest of the people. Because remember, if you chapters of
the Gold, these folks are really struggling to get this
job done. All they need to do is see that
(10:33):
leader quits, then they're going to follow suit.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Doctor Evans will return in just a moment to reveal
how the opposition turned up the pressure with a public
attack aimed straight at Nehemiah's character. Don't go away?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
How do you share the Gospel with confidence? What's God's
plan for our communities? Why does the Old Testament matter
to your faith today? Those are just a few of
the questions she'll get answered when you enrolled in the
Tony Evans Training Center, an interactive online study experience with
doctor Tony Evans where you can grow in your knowledge
of God's word and learn to advance His Kingdom agenda
(11:10):
in your life. Visit Tonyevans Training dot org to get
started today. That's Tonyevans Training dot org.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
The lesson we're listening to today is just one installment
in Tony's fifteen part sermon series on the Book of Nehemiah.
In this study, doctor Evans walks through the incredible story
of a man called to rebuild not just a city,
but a people, restoring faith, perseverance, and bringing spiritual renewal.
Through these messages, we've been gaining powerful insights on leadership,
(11:42):
trusting God's provision, and standing firm in the face of opposition.
This complete study is now available for your personal audio
library on both digital download and either CD or USB
thumb drive, and it includes material we won't have time
to present on the broadcast. It's a valuable collection of messages,
(12:03):
and for a limited time, we're making them all available
bundled along with Tony's compelling book, One Nation Under God.
If you're concerned about the direction our country is headed,
this book will equip you with a Kingdom centered strategy
to make a lasting impact, starting right where you are.
Get them both as our gift. When you make a
(12:23):
donation to support the Alternative Broadcast Ministry, just visit us
at Tonyevans dot org. Details of the special offer are
right on the homepage again, that's Tonyevans dot org. Or
reach out to our resource center at one eight hundred
eight hundred three two two two for some in person help.
(12:44):
That's one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two.
Right now, let's get back to doctor Evans in chapter
six of the Book of Nehemiah.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Well, we have our second challenge beginning in verse five.
Then sent Ballet's send this servant to me in the
same manner a fifth time with an open letter in
his hand. We're now talking about a letter that has
been opened, and open letters were common when you wanted
everybody to know its contents. It's sort of like reading
(13:17):
a decree, you know. You see the guys you know
during the days of the king read a decree. It's
that kind of letter. It's open for the general public.
In other words, Sam Balad wants everybody of influence to
read this thing so they can pass the gossip word. Now,
what did the letter say? Verse six? It was reported
among the nation. This is the content of the letter.
(13:40):
The gash move says that you and the Jews are
planning to rebel. Therefore, you are rebuilding the wall, and
you are to be their king according to these reports.
And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem
concerning you a king in Judah, and that will be
reported to the king according to these words. So come
now and let us discuss it. Since you didn't come
(14:04):
down from the wall when I privately ask you, I'm
going to pass the word on that you are revolting
against the king, that you are setting up your own kingdom,
that you've got profits, even proclaiming you are the Messiah. Zacharye.
Nine to nine that you are the Messiah and that
(14:25):
you're building your own kingdom, and I'm gonna put it
in an open letter so that everybody will read it.
Now that's pressure. It's one thing to have one person
against you, or two or three, but when they pass
on the word, it becomes the perception of everybody. Well,
(14:46):
he's only out for his own end. She thinks that
she's somebody in and they're just trying to build their
own castle, and they're not involved with anything else. And
the word goes out, and then he finally says, this
is going to get to the King of Persian. Now
you know what that means. If the King of Persia
thinks you're doing your own show in Jerusalem, you can
(15:07):
get your head chopped off. So this is no small
thing that they're going through. Nearmiah responds. He says, and
then I sent a message to him saying such things
as you are saying have not been done. Another word,
that's a lie. But you are inventing them in your
(15:27):
own mind. For all of them were trying to frighten us,
thinking they were trying to scare us. They will become
discouraged with the work and it will not be done.
And then Neamiah does what he does best. He says,
But now, oh, Lord, strengthen my hands, brothers and sisters,
(15:50):
that come time when you want to quit nearmyah scared.
You don't pray for strength unless you're losing it. When
he found out that they had made it, Papa, and
now I was possible, some of the people could doubt him.
Some of his leaders could doubt his leadership. Some of
the people who had built up confidence that confidence could
(16:10):
be eroded overnight. And when he thought about the possibility
that it might get back to the king, and the
king believe it, his needs got shaky. Some of you
been trying to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ
for a while, but every now and then your needs
get shaky. Some of you been trying to honor the Lord,
but you want to walk out sometimes because your needs
(16:32):
get shaky. Sometimes circumstances get so despairing that you want
to quit. Neel Mayah, says, Lord, strengthen my hand. Lord,
help me to hang in there. That's when you need
to go to God. When you're ready to quit, when
you're ready to give up, don't give up. When you
(16:54):
know you're doing what God wants you to do. Hang in.
There comes to a final test. Verse ten, we're introduced
to Shemaiah. Shamaiah, we are told in the middle of
verse ten, is confined in its own neel Mayah comes
to Shemaiah. He says, in the second half of verse ten,
(17:15):
let us meet together in the House of God within
the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple,
for they are coming to kill you, and they are
coming to kill you at night. Now what is Shemaiah given.
Shemaiah is giving a prophecy. God can use people to
tell you what the Lord said to let me get
(17:36):
me wrong. People can be tools to guide you. But
please be careful, for the Bible says Satan transforms himself
as an angel of light. In other words, they can
make himself look like the Lord. He can trick you.
And so many people are being duped by cults and
(17:57):
by religion and by leaders. But I said, should a
man like me flee, and could one such as I
go into the temple to save his life? I will
not go in, he says, I will not go. In
verse twelve, then I proceed call the Word of knowledge
(18:17):
that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered
his prophecy against me because Tobiah and sam Ballad had
what hired him. When God has told you something, and
you're clear about what he's told you, he's not going
(18:38):
to tell somebody else something that contradicts what he clearly
told you. He said, let us meet in the middle
of verse ten and in the House of God within
the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple.
Near Maya's brain went being naughty, naughty, naughty. It is
(19:00):
only the priest could go into the inner secuary of
the temple. And that's the Hebrew wordy you this here,
only those who were the priests could go in and listen.
Anybody else who went into the Holy of Holies other
than the priest was killed. You dropped dead. Shemaiah was
(19:26):
trying to get Nehmiah to act out of fear, to
disobey what the word of God. He was trying to
get him to disobey the word of God because he
was afraid. Some of you are today are going through
economic fear, and you're being tempted to disobey the word
of God. Some of you today are going through marital fear.
(19:48):
You're being tempted to disobey the word of God. Some
of you are going through relational fears, and you're tempted
to disobey the word of God. Don't do it, because
dis obey the word of God it is to go
where you are not to go, and when you wind
up being there, it's death. You will have been deceived.
(20:09):
He understands that he is being deceived Verse fifteen. So
the wall was completed on the twenty fifth month. It's
completed in how long fifty two days? Now, folks, listen
(20:29):
to me. You know the words say, through many dangers,
toils and snags, I have already come. You don't arrive
at the will of God with ease. You don't arrive
at the completion of God's plan for your life without
sanballads and tobias and gishams in your life. You don't
(20:51):
arrive at God's will without being challenged to be afraid,
without the enemy trying to destroy you. You don't. In fact,
if your life is going smooth all the time, you're
not in the will of God. If your life is
going without any ups and downs, you can't be in
the will of God. Because the Bible says, counted all
(21:12):
joy when you come into your various colored variated colored trials.
Trials are an absolute necessity in steering you to the
will of God. So if you're going through a difficult time,
now don't quit. Say Lord, show me the way that
I might walk in it, Show me the way that
I might obey it, Show me the way that I
(21:33):
might follow it. And the beauty of this is that,
in spite of our position, he says in verse sixteen,
when all our enemies heard of it, and all the
nations surrounding us saw it. Now get this, they lost
their confidence, for they recognize that this work had been
accomplished with the help of our God. When you finally
(21:55):
get the way you're going, don't forget God. God finally
brings that man your life. Don't forget God when he
finally makes that business successful. Don't forget God when he
finally makes your world that's falling apart come together. You
can now pay the bills. Don't forget God. The great
tragedy today is that we finally get to where we
(22:16):
want to go, and we forgot how we got there.
Neelmiah said, I will not forget that this happened because
unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain
that build it. The great tragedy today is that we
have forgotten God. And God has gotten mad about it too,
that we have forgotten that. It's his strength and his
power and his energy. If you're having a successful life,
(22:41):
don't apologize for it, but don't forget God. If God
has given you a happy home, don't think it's just
because of your personality. Don't forget God. Don't forget God.
Neel Mayah said, the nation saw that this was done
by the help of our God.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And doctor Tony Evans will return with a quick challenge
to wrap up today's message in just a moment. First, though,
a reminder to take advantage of that special offer I
mentioned earlier your own copy of the full length versions
of all fifteen messages in Tony's current teaching series on Nehemiah.
Along with One Nation Under God, is powerful book that
(23:23):
takes a look at learning to care about what God
cares about, especially in the areas of freedom, justice, economics, education,
and politics. These resources will help you identify specific strategies
you can put to work to start a ripple effective
kingdom change and they're yours with our thanks. When you
make a donation to the Alternative Ministry, just visit Tonyevans
(23:47):
dot org for details, or call us at one eight
hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two. Once again, that's
one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two, or
online Tonyevans dot org. Nehemiah had a vision to restore
the dignity of God's people when he called them to
rebuild Jerusalem's broken walls, But even after the walls were complete,
(24:12):
his mission was far from over. Tomorrow we'll find out
what Nehemiah was up to next, but for now, doctor
Evans is back with these closing words.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
So today my challenge is to stay on course and
the will of God for your life, for your family's life,
or your future. Don't compromise the will of God, because
if you forget gone, you won't have the help you
need to go where God wants to take you.
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