March 16, 2025 • 44 mins
Join Pastor Scott Wiens in The Passion Project as he unpacks “The Enemy’s Playbook,” drawn from Nehemiah 6. Scott shows how Nehemiah, determined to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, confronts four key tactics the enemy still uses today: subtlety, frequency, attacks on integrity, and anxiety.
Scott begins by revealing how the enemy loves to mask destructive intentions as logical compromises. Nehemiah’s adversaries invite him to a meeting that appears harmless but is actually a setup, illustrating that our most dangerous temptations often come packaged in a cloak of reasonableness. Scott cites 2 Corinthians 11:14, where Satan is described as an angel of light, highlighting the importance of staying spiritually alert.
Next, he explains that the enemy’s persistence can wear us down. Much like Sanballat sending four identical messages to Nehemiah, modern temptations don’t always disappear after one refusal. Scott reminds us how vital it is to maintain our spiritual disciplines—prayer, studying Scripture, and surrounding ourselves with godly counsel—so we don’t cave in when the same lure returns at a weaker moment.
False accusations comprise the third tactic. Nehemiah faces unfounded rumors intended to tarnish his character and draw him away from his mission. Scott notes that in our daily lives, slander or misunderstandings can quickly consume us, distracting us from God’s priorities. However, Nehemiah simply denies the lies, identifies the motive, and goes right back to work—an inspiring example of trusting God to vindicate us rather than spending all our energy defending ourselves.
Finally, Scott addresses the crippling power of anxiety and fear. A hired prophet warns Nehemiah of a death threat, coaxing him to hide in the temple. Today, anxiety is rampant, and Satan capitalizes on our fears to keep us from pursuing God’s call wholeheartedly. Yet Philippians 4:6-7 promises a peace surpassing understanding when we pray with gratitude. Scott underscores that recognizing the enemy’s ploys allows us to stand firm, relying on God’s strength instead of our own.
Throughout The Passion Project, Scott keeps coming back to Nehemiah’s unwavering resolve. By studying these ancient tactics, we learn that the enemy’s playbook hasn’t changed, but our defense is strengthened by abiding in Christ. When we remain aware of subtle temptations, relentless pressure, unfair criticism, and anxious thoughts, we’re equipped to overcome each scheme and continue building the spiritual walls of our lives in God’s power.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Wiens (00:03):
Well, my name is Scott.
I'm one of the pastors here,blessed to continue this series
in the book of Nehemiah.
But I first want to talk abouta movie.
In 2019, there was a movie thatwas titled Midway.
It was released to theaters andit was an epic movie about the
Battle of Midway.
A lot of you probably haverecognized that movie, or there
(00:26):
was a movie back in, I think, 76, called Midway as well.
I know for some of you that'slike ancient history.
Neil was in his 60s, I think,when that movie came out.
Sorry, you're right there, Ijust didn't.
Anyways, it's a powerful moviebecause it's a true story.
(00:47):
It's about the pivotal battlein the Pacific between the
Empire of Japan and, of course,the United States.
It happened about six monthsafter Pearl Harbor and there's a
scene in the movie that'sreally poignant and as far as
accuracy, I don't knownecessarily how accurate it is,
(01:08):
but the scene is poignantbecause of the lesson it had.
They're doing the Japanese havea, they basically have a group
of naval leaders surrounding alarge map and they're doing war
games, and war games back thenwas to develop a strategy and
then to have you play it out.
Right, you play it out, but youhave to make certain
assumptions about how the enemyis going to respond, right?
(01:30):
So there's a senior commanderthat is he's, of course, playing
the part of the Japanese Navy,and then there's some junior
commanders that are there andAdmiral Nagumo walks into the
scene and they're arguing and hesaid what's going on here?
And the senior commander saysthey're not following the plan
(01:53):
and, of course, you know, theyounger officer's got his head
down like this.
And Nagumo says what's going on?
And he said well, we know thatthe American fleet, we're going
to lure the American fleet fromPearl Harbor and they're going
to come to Midway.
So we know which way they'regoing to be and we're going to
set a trap for them, we're goingto destroy them.
(02:14):
But he has them coming from theother side of the island and
that's not in the plan.
And Nagumo says he looks atthem both and he says to the
young officer follow the plan.
Well, ironically, the youngofficer had it right, because
the whole Japanese plan andstrategy was based upon the fact
(02:37):
that the American fleet wasgoing to come from Pearl.
What they didn't know was thatthe intelligence, the US
intelligence, had decipheredsome of the plans and the
messages that the Japanese hadbeen sending and they knew that
there was a trap being set forthem at Midway.
(02:58):
So what did they do?
They went around the other sideof the island and they defeated
, of course, the Navy Well,pretty much defeated the
Japanese Navy.
It was an amazing thing, butthe Americans knew what the
plans are.
They knew what the plans wereand they planned accordingly.
Well, we are in, as you've heard, a book of Nehemiah.
(03:21):
We're going through a sermonseries and we've heard five
great messages, really greatmessages, and I thank Neil for
the message last week.
This has been so insightful andI don't know about you, but I'm
just gaining a lot of respectfrom Nehemiah.
This is a man of God and, aswe've been going through this
and, by the way, if you'vemissed any of these sermons,
(03:42):
listen to them online.
We don't put them there just tokeep our tech team busy,
because they all tie in and theyall flow together.
But today we're in Nehemiah,chapter 6.
And we're going to see inNehemiah 6, there's four tactics
that Nehemiah's enemies used tocome after him, and I've titled
this sermon the Enemy'sPlaybook because, just like what
(04:05):
the Americans did to theJapanese Navy in understanding
their tactics and understandingtheir plans.
We have to understand the plansof the enemy as he comes after
us.
Is it closer?
Can you hear me now?
Which way Down up Closer?
How's that?
(04:31):
I'm sorry, you can hear.
I'll speak louder.
I'll speak louder too.
Anyways, there's four tacticsthat he talks about, and I've
really put them into fourdifferent keywords Subtlety,
frequency, integrity and anxiety.
The acronym is SIFIA, totallymeaningless.
(04:54):
I did that for Mark.
Okay, let's read chapter six.
So chapter six, nehemiah, verseone.
Now, when Sanballat and Tobiahand Geshem, the Arab and the
rest of our enemies heard that Ihad built the wall and that
there was no breach left in it,although up to that time I had
not yet set up the doors and thegates, sanballat and Geshem
(05:17):
sent to me saying Come and letus meet together.
I shouldn't do that.
I just kind of view them havinga weaselly little voice, though
.
Come and let us meet togetherin Hecophrium in the plain of
Ono.
But they intended to do me harm, and I sent messengers to them
(05:40):
saying I am doing a great workand I cannot come down.
Why should the work stop whileI leave it and come down to you?
And they sent to me four timesin this way and I answered them
in the same manner.
In the same way, sanballat, forthe fifth time, sent his servant
to me with an open letter inhis hand.
In it was written, quote it isreported among the nations that
(06:02):
Geshem also says it.
So Geshem apparently had someclout that you and the Jews
intend to rebel.
That is why you are buildingthe wall and, according to these
reports, you wish to becometheir king, and you have also
set up prophets to proclaimconcerning you in Jerusalem,
quote there is a king in Judahand now the king, referring to
(06:23):
Artaxerxes, will hear of thesereports.
So now come, let us takecounsel together.
Then I sent to him saying nosuch things as you say have been
done, for you are inventingthem out of your own mind.
For they all wanted to frightenus, thinking their hands will
drop from the work and it willnot be done.
But now, o God, strengthen myhands.
(06:44):
Work and it will not be done.
But now, oh God, strengthen myhands.
Now, when I went to the house ofShemaiah, the son of Deliah,
the son of Mehethebel, who wasconfined to his home, he said
let us meet together in thehouse of God, within the temple.
Let us close the door of thetemple, for they're coming to
kill you.
They're coming to kill you bynight.
I don't know if that'ssignificant.
I wouldn't want to be killed byday or night, but apparently.
(07:06):
But I said to them, verse 11,should such a man as I run away?
If men of God said that moreoften?
And what man such as I could gointo the temple and live?
(07:27):
I will not go in.
And I understood that God andsaw that God had not sent him,
but he had pronounced theprophecy against me because
Tobiah and Sanballat had hiredhim For this purpose.
He was hired that I should beafraid and act in this way and
sin, and so they could give me abad name in order to taunt me.
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Remember Tobiah and Sanballat,o God, according to these things
that they did, and also theprophetess Noedia and the rest
of the prophets who wanted tomake me afraid.
Verse 15,.
So the wall was finished on thetwenty-fifth day of the month
of Elul, in 52 days, and whenall of our enemies heard it, all
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the nations around us wereafraid and fell greatly in their
own esteem, for they perceivedthat this work had been
accomplished with the help ofour God, verse 17,.
Moreover, in those days, thenobles of Judah sent many
letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah'sletters came to them, for many
in Judah were bound by oath tohim because he was the
son-in-law of Shekiniah, the sonof Arah and the son of
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Jehoiachin, taken the daughterof Meshulalem and the son of
Berechiah as his wife.
If I pronounced any of thosewrong, I don't care.
Also, they spoke of his gooddeeds in my presence and
reported my words to him.
And Tobias sent letters to makeme afraid.
(08:53):
Father, as we come before you,we thank you for this amazing
book.
And we thank you, father, forNehemiah, your servant.
We thank you for how he prayedto you, how he heard from you
and how he followed through onthe task that you gave him, in
spite of all the opposition.
And, Father, today, as we lookat the tactics of the enemy, I
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pray that every one of us wouldbe stirred, lord, that we would
be made aware of, more aware ofthe tactics the enemy is trying
to do to get us to sin and tofall away and to lose our
purpose.
So I pray that you would openall of our minds and hearts to
this truth.
In Jesus' name, I pray Amen.
So that's the whole chapter.
(09:38):
Let's get into these tactics.
We'll start with the very firstone, which is literally found
in the first two verses.
Let's read them again Now.
When Sambel Tobiah and Geshemthe Arab I came up with an
acronym for these guys, stg, butit sounded too bad, so I think
I'll just call them the bad guysHeard that we had built, I had
(10:01):
built the wall, and there was nobreach left.
And, by the way, when it saysno breach left, there was no
main holes left.
They were still going up, butthey hadn't yet hung the doors.
I mean, they were really closehere, right?
Sanballat and Geshem sent mesaying come and let us meet
together at Hecophrium and theplain of Ono, and they intended
to do me harm.
Now what we have here is achange of tactic.
(10:24):
Do you remember what they weredoing up to this point?
Direct, direct.
They were mocking him.
They were stirring up people tocome against the people that
were building.
Remember what the builders hadon?
Each of them had on their hip Asword right.
So they had a very directattack towards him.
(10:45):
But they've changed thetechnique.
They've changed the tactic here, and that tactic is they're now
coming at him in a subtle way.
A subtle way, and that is thefirst playbook, or the enemy's
playbook.
The first tactic, and that isSatan, will come at us subtly.
The enemy's playbook, the firsttactic and that is Satan, will
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come at us subtly.
Nehemiah, by the way, he didn'tbuy in, he didn't play ball with
this.
It says in verse three, and Ilove this, and I sent messengers
to them.
They sent messengers to me.
I sent messengers back to themsaying I am doing a great work
and I cannot come down.
Why should the work stop whileI leave it and come down to you
(11:30):
Now?
It might sound simple to you.
Well, of course, nehemiah isnot going to fall for that trick
.
He doesn't like these guys.
He knows what they're up to.
But you got to put yourself inNehemiah's situation and
understand that this was a realtemptation.
You want to know why?
Well, just think about it.
He'd been building the wall fora while now and, as Neil
(11:50):
pointed out, there had beentroubles.
There was great sacrifice.
The people that were doing thework, their families, were
having trouble getting foodright.
This was a real tempting offerto him, because he could have
convinced himself.
Well, maybe, maybe they reallydo want to talk.
Maybe I can convince them toget on our side.
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There was a lot of stress hewas under and he could have
convinced himself that, okay,maybe this is a change, maybe
these guys are really changed.
But he didn't fall for thattactic.
He assessed that they were justlying and they were just trying
another angle because he says,but they intended me to do me
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harm.
They intended to do me harm.
He saw through what they weredoing and I love the fact that
he addressed it with a very,very simple truth.
He was doing a great work andhe wasn't going to stop without
a good reason.
Now, what's the application forus?
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Listen, most of us can seeSatan coming a mile away and, by
the way, don't flatter yourself, satan is not omnipresent, he's
not omniscient.
Don't flatter yourself.
Satan is not omnipresent, he'snot omniscient.
He's probably got we gotenemies coming at us, but there
might not be Satan himself.
Okay, but they're going to comeafter us and we can see a
(13:15):
head-on attack a mile away.
Right, we can see thosetemptations coming at us and we
can identify that right up front.
It's the subtle ones we havetrouble with.
The subtle ones we have troublewith, I mean I keep thinking
about from the perspective ofhow do we respond when somebody
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comes at us with a temptationthat really, is it really sin or
is it not sin?
And we know that Satan willdisguise himself as an angel of
light.
In fact, in my next scripturehere, 2 Corinthians 11, 13
through 15, and we have a lot ofquotes from Paul today, by the
way, because Paul is addressingfalse prophets.
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But look at what he says, forsuch men are false prophets,
deceitful workmen disguisingthemselves as apostles of Christ
.
And no wonder, for even Satandisguises himself as an angel of
light.
So it is no surprise if hisservants also disguise
themselves as the servants ofrighteousness.
Their end will correspond totheir deeds.
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I think sometimes we canconvince ourselves that a subtle
attack really isn't an attack.
And you notice, I said convinceourselves when you are under.
And again, go back to whatNehemiah was going through
Incredible, stressful situation,a lot of, and the pressure of
leadership would have been hugeon him.
(14:41):
It would have been easy for himto convince himself yeah, maybe
they really want to talk aboutthis.
Maybe they really want to helpus out.
Maybe they're on our side.
I don't think so.
I think about, I think it'sreally funny.
I was thinking when I wasputting this together.
I was thinking about youngpeople and the temptations that
the youth have, because Iremember the same temptations
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hey, come to this party or comestay the night.
Well, what's going to happen?
Well, it's just going to be abunch of us girls and my parents
will be there and we're justgoing to watch a movie.
Okay, good, you tell that toyour parents.
You show up.
It's not just a bunch of girls,there's boys and, by the way,
there's no parents around, right.
But you can convince yourself,because you want to go, that
(15:25):
that's the right thing.
But maybe you need to know thehistory of these people.
Is this something they've donebefore?
I've even thought aboutsometimes the temptation to say
is it really wrong?
Is it really wrong?
You know, when you buy a usedcar I'm going to step on toes
when you buy a used car and yougo to the tag office and they
(15:50):
look at you and say what did youpay for this car?
And you say what did you payfor this car?
And you say what A lot ofpeople have told me and I've
felt the same way hey, they'vetaxed this car two or three
times.
I'm the third owner.
Why do they have to get it?
But you know what the reality is.
Is my integrity worth a couplehundred bucks?
He watches that.
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We can justify that.
Because we don't agree withsomething, we can say it's okay,
but it's not, it's not.
These are the subtle temptations, because see if Satan can get
you to make an exception of yourintegrity for that, then he's
going to look for ways to stepit up.
And step it up, because theenemy is never happy.
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He's always trying to drag youfurther and further into sin.
Amen, he's trying to do thatand this is one of his most
effective ways.
It's the subtle sin.
We can see the enemy when it'scoming up front.
We can't see him when they'rehiding in trees, and that's what
he tries to do.
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And, by the way, how do we avoidfalling for subtle temptations?
Well, first off, you have to dowhat Nehemiah did Focus on
truth.
Focus on truth, and that maymean that if you feel an area is
gray, fall back to black andwhite.
You know black and white.
Sometimes that phrase gets areal knock, but not in this
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context.
You stand on what you know istruth and if it's in question,
then just stay and stand in whatyou know.
Focus on the source of thetemptation, right If it's a
person or an organization orwhatever it is.
Look at that and say well, waita second, is this a godly thing
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?
Think through the consequences.
Oh, my word, if I had done thismore often.
Think through the consequencesof that decision and, by the way
, ask trusted friends, godlypeople, to give you their honest
opinions.
And don't play with fire,brethren.
Don't play with fire.
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Okay, let's go to the next one,in verse 4,.
And they sent to me four timesin this way and I answered them
in the same manner Period,frequency, frequency.
Just because Nehemiah didn'tfall for the first messenger,
they kept sending messengerafter messenger after messenger.
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Four times they came at himwith this same thing.
And you know I have to laugh,because have you ever heard that
phrase?
The definition of insanity isdoing the same thing over and
over and over again, expecting adifferent result.
That's what these guys weredoing.
They kept coming at him, comingat him, coming at him.
But, brethren, if you thinkabout it, it's actually pretty
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strategic.
It's very strategic what theywere doing, because, again,
remember what I told about thepressures that he was under.
He thought maybe maybe he willfinally give in, maybe he'll see
how sincere we are.
Not that we really want to talkto him.
We really want to get together.
We want to work this stuff out.
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Frequency the application ispretty evident.
How many of you have ever hadthe same temptation come at you
more than once?
You can all put your hands up.
You'll make me feel a lotbetter.
For those who haven't, we don'tlike you.
He'll do that.
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Every one of us haveexperienced that, especially if
he has do that.
Every one of us haveexperienced that, especially if
he has a told and if he made youfall once, he's going to come
at you again and again and again, and he will not give up.
Because what has he got to lose?
What's he got to lose?
How many times have you criedout Lord, please free me from
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this temptation, free me fromthis.
It's so hard to resist and Godhears that.
But you know, scripture tellsus that we can fight those
temptations, no matter how manytimes they come.
And as I was preparing thismessage, I came across 1
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Corinthians 10, verse 13.
I read this scripture manytimes, but I just began to
really unpack it.
Paul says no temptation hasovertaken you.
That is not common to man.
First sentence stop.
Do you realize?
In any temptation that's comeat, you has already been
experienced by someone else.
Okay, what that means is you'renot alone, right.
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Then look what he says next Godis faithful, he is.
He then states a truth God'sfaithful.
We're just talking abouttemptation.
You're not alone.
God's faithful, we're justtalking about temptation.
You're not alone.
God is faithful, and he willnot let you be tempted beyond
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your ability.
Wait what?
No, he was exaggerating there,wasn't he?
No, he's not.
You know, one of the challengesI see sometimes is that people
will become victims.
They're like well, you know, Iwas there, I had to Come on.
Everybody does this, everybodygives in once in a while.
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Nope, god just simply told youright here.
In truth, this is truth.
You stand on that.
There's no temptation.
That he won't give you theability to resist.
And he says but with atemptation, he will also provide
a way of escape.
When you escape from something,what are you doing?
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You're moving away from it.
Right, when you're escaping,that's what he was doing.
He's saying you can get awayfrom this, you can move away.
And sometimes, by the way, andespecially for men.
Sometimes we're just like I'mgoing to stand and I'm going to
fight this temptation.
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You know, paul the same one thatwrote this says in two other
places get out, flee, smallestsin of the Bible, flee
fornication.
Right?
Nobody got that.
I don't think anybody got that.
Sometimes we don't need tostand, we need to just leave.
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Leave the situation.
I've had to do that before,especially in business.
Sometimes you go to conferencesor whatever, and you know
there's a cocktail hour orwhatever and boy, people are
starting to say things, talk,things, a lot of drinks, I'll
just leave, I'm tired, guys,I've got to go, I'll leave.
Why?
Because in the past I didn'tleave.
That was the old Scott.
I don't want to fall into theold Scott, so I'm just gone.
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And somebody said well, you'renot hobnobbing with the big wigs
anymore, I don't care, I don'tcare.
I'd rather please the Lord, myGod, I'd rather please him than
make some executive think I'mcool, it's okay to leave.
Okay, tactic number three,verses five through seven.
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In the same way, sam Ballard,for the fifth time, sent his
servant to me with an openletter in his hand.
We got to change tactic.
Right, this is a change tactic.
Now look what he says.
In it was written this it isreported on the nations, and
Geshem also says it.
I love the fact that Sanballathe really thought Geshem was a
big weight I mean, geshem saysthis too that you and the Jews
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intend to rebel.
By the way, they'd alreadyaccused him of this way back in
chapter two.
Right, that's why you'rebuilding the wall and, according
to these reports, you wish tobecome the king and you have
also set up prophets for claimconcerning you in Jerusalem.
So basically what he's sayingif you can get the spiritual
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group, you can get prophetssaying that you're the king.
Now you're getting extrasupport from the people, right,
and you're getting them toproclaim there is a king in
Judah, and now the king willhear of these reports.
Now we're talking Artaxerxes.
So now come, let us takecounsel together.
In this passage we see the thirdtactic, and that is integrity.
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They were now going against hisintegrity.
If you haven't figured it out,nehemiah is a man of God, a
powerful man of God.
I love the way Kelly opened theseries up and he talked about
the prayer of Nehemiah, powerfulprayer, and he came out of that
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time of prayer with a clearfocus on what he was supposed to
do.
He then singularly focused.
He was strategic.
I preached on that, about thefact he had a plan.
He went forward.
He's carrying that out.
He's overcoming obstacles.
Last week, again all theseobstacles.
This man was a fair and justleader and he had a singular
purpose.
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And now they're attacking hischaracter.
Before they were attacking hisaction, building the wall.
Now they're attacking hischaracter.
You think about it.
What if?
What if Nehemiah had done whatso many of us would do Get
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defensive?
Wait a second, that's all abunch of lies.
Come on, you know.
Come on, let's talk.
Let's talk.
I'll tell you how good I, I'lltell you why everything you said
is wrong.
And let's get into a battle.
Let's get into a battle.
What if Nehemiah had done that?
What if Nehemiah said hey, youclowns, come over here.
I'm going to meet you in Onoand we're going to talk this
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through, because I am not thatperson.
He would have left the wall.
The people at the wall wouldhave been leadership lists,
right.
The enemies would have saw achink in the armor.
They may have started to attackand he would have lost his
focus.
And you want to know why?
This might hurt a little bitBecause he was focusing on
himself, focusing on himself.
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But how did Nehemiah respond?
Then?
I sent to him saying no suchthings as you say have been done
, for you are inventing them outof your own mind.
You probably should have saidyou're out of your mind, but he
was sort of said him, for theyall wanted to frighten us,
thinking their hands will dropfrom the work and it will be
done.
But now God strengthened myhands.
(26:36):
He did three simple things.
He first identified that theaccusation was a lie.
It's a lie.
Secondly, he identified whatthe motive behind the lie was
which, by the way, we don'talways know, but it's there.
And then he resolved not tofall into their distraction trap
and he kept doing what Godcalled him to do.
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He called it out, but you willnotice there was a period at the
end of that and it over, and hecontinued back to do his work.
How about us?
Have you ever had somebody callyour integrity into question?
If you're a Christian and youhaven't, then I think you
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probably need to look in themirror, because that's going to
happen.
People are going to comeagainst us.
That's just going to happen.
The enemy uses evil people tocome against us, and they will
sometime.
And you might have this.
You might have somebody in yourfamily that is just attacks you
because of your beliefs rightand besmirches your name to
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other people in the family.
That can happen, you know.
The saddest part is when Goduses people in this room to tear
down other people.
That happens and it's sad, butthe enemy knows.
Hey, the elder is.
One of the biggest things thatwe were always protective of is
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the unity in the body, becausethat can happen really easily.
You know you're talking tosomebody and something well, did
you hear about this person?
Pretty soon, somebody'sintegrity is being called into
question and it's sad.
But the thing is we have tokeep our focus, like Nehemiah
(28:25):
did, when we come under thatkind of attack.
Philippians 2, 14 through 17,.
Do all things without grumblingand disputing.
And then verse 15,.
I love this that you may beblameless and innocent children
of God, without blemish, in themidst of a crooked and twisted
generation among whom you shineas lights in the world, holding
(28:48):
fast to the word of life, sothat in the day of Christ, I may
be proud that I did not run invain or labor in vain.
Who defends you.
Who defends you?
God?
God, who defends you?
(29:12):
God, and I'm not saying thatyou shouldn't look at an
accusation when it comes againstyou or if someone attacks your
character, is there any truth toit, then you need to own that.
We always need to own that andapologize or repent or do
whatever we have to do.
But if it's a lie, call it alie and then move on.
There is nothing more sad.
(29:34):
There's lots of things more sad.
This is very sad.
When you're on Facebook or someforum and you see Christians
ripping each other to threadsover stupid stuff, you think
you're honoring God becauseyou're proving your point.
Has anybody in this room everwon an argument online?
(29:58):
Anybody, you don't.
And, by the way, you might beable to influence somebody a
little bit, but the reality isyou're be able to influence
somebody a little bit, but thereality is you're doing way more
harm than good.
And I fell into this trap earlyon, when social media first
came out, and then I realizedthis is stupid.
I was causing division and itwas sad.
(30:20):
I was spent.
And here's the thing when youspend all this time trying to
argue your point, here's thething.
When you spend all this timetrying to argue your point, you
lose sight of God.
You lose sight of the fact thathe is God.
He's the one you should focuson, and you're now focused
solely on yourself.
And it's a selfish thing,brethren, and I'm guilty, I've
done this before too.
(30:41):
That's what Satan wants you todo.
He wants to get you thinkingabout yourself.
Let's not fall into that trap.
When our integrity getschallenged, identify that it's a
challenge.
Identify if there's any truth,own it and if not, move forward.
I will tell you that there'stimes, as pastors, you have to
(31:07):
correct or you have to deal withthe situation, and it's not
always good, and I've had in my20, almost 20 years of pastoring
.
I've had people that didn'tlike what I had to say.
I haven't handled everythingperfectly, but when you tell
someone truth and then theydon't agree with it, and then
you start telling everybodyabout what kind of a jerk you
are, you know what.
You just got to stand on yourcharacter.
(31:28):
If anybody attacks one of yourpastors, you got to ask yourself
first what do I know aboutthese people, what do I know
about these men?
And, by the way, any of youshould do that If someone comes
out to me and says somethinglike you know I got to pick on
somebody.
Do you want to be picked on?
(31:49):
Yeah, chad Range is a jerk.
I saw Chad at the local bardrinking like a fish and dancing
on the table and eating nachos.
Well, I know Chad's character.
I also know he wouldn't spendthat kind of money.
You put your hand up, man.
(32:15):
You put your hand up, stand onwhat you know about that person
and don't believe it.
And, by the way, there's a timewhen you can look at someone
and say why are you telling methis?
Why are you?
What are you trying to do?
Divide the body up, call thecops on.
Okay, the last one.
(32:37):
I know we're going late.
How much time?
Oh, I'm out of time.
Shoot, sorry, all right.
Last one, nehemiah chapter.
Look to verse 10.
Now, when I went to the houseof Shemaiah, the son of Deliah,
the son of Methet, who wasconfined to his home, he said
let us meet together in thehouse of God within the temple.
Let us close the doors of thetemple, for they're coming to
(32:58):
kill you.
They're coming to kill you bynight.
Now we got a new character inthis whole story.
It's a guy named Shemaiah.
Now we got a new character inthis whole story.
It's a guy named Shemaiah.
Now he was the son of thepriest Okay, this was a priest,
that was his dad, and we're notreally told why Nehemiah went
there.
And as I looked into this, alot of commentaries think that
they believe that he was aprophet.
I mean, he was sort of a.
(33:19):
He propped himself up as aprophet because his dad was a
priest, right, and he wassecluded in his home.
Maybe he was pretending to bereal, righteous, or something.
We don't know.
We don't know.
All we know is that he wasbought off.
He was bought off and he beganto tell Nehemiah things that
(33:41):
were not true.
Well, not that people weren'tgoing to try to kill him, but it
wasn't true.
And it was a new tactic, andthis tactic I've called anxiety.
Now you could call it fear, butthe reality is fear is a little
more narrow.
Anxiety goes wider and that'sreally what he was trying to do
here.
If you think about Nehemiah'sperspective we've talked about
(34:03):
it he's already under a lot ofpressure, a lot of stress, and
now they're going to throw athreat down and say man, they're
coming to kill you, they'recoming to kill you, you need to
run to the temple because theywon't kill you in the temple.
God will, but they won't.
There's two problems with thistactic, though.
(34:25):
Well, number one.
Number one nehemiah knew thelaws concerning the temple.
If he went into the temple,there's a good chance he
wouldn't come out.
Who was allowed in the templeand we're all doing our bible
reading who was allowed in thetemple?
Priests, you had to be from thelevitical line to go into the
temple.
So he knew that.
Number one.
Number two Nehemiah haddiscernment from God, and I
(34:52):
think Shemaiah was kind of atthat point.
He probably thought Shemaiahwas okay.
And so here you got somebodywho was actually a friend of his
now saying this, and hediscerned, and he says in verse
12 and 13, and I understood andsaw that God had not sent him.
God had not sent him, but hehad pronounced the prophecy
(35:17):
against me because Tobiah andSanballat had hired him.
For this was the purpose.
He was hired that I should beafraid and act in this way and
sin so they could give me a badname in order to taunt me.
Nehemiah was led by God and hesaw that God had not sent
Shemaiah.
Not sent Shemaiah If Nehemiahhad caved into this one, can you
(35:39):
imagine what would havehappened?
First off, he'd ran to thetemple.
If he did this, he would havelost all respect and credibility
from the people he was leading.
This is not a man that runsaway, remember, he just read
that.
Now he's left us here.
We got our swords, we'rebuilding, now we got nobody to
lead us right.
(36:00):
And, by the way, he would nothave been the priest wouldn't
have liked him very much either.
Right, it would have been a badsituation.
Wouldn't have liked him verymuch either.
Right, it would have been a badsituation.
And the application here ispretty simple.
Anxiety is one of the enemy'sbiggest and greatest tactics
Anxiety and fear.
The National Institutes ofMental Health reported that
(36:23):
almost 19% of Americans 19% livewithin some sort of anxiety
disorder, not just experience it, but they actually have a
disorder that they're dealingwith.
Women, by the way, experiencethis more than men, but they
both experience anxiety.
We live in a society that'splagued with anxiety and there's
(36:46):
a lot of difference or reasonswhy Christians can experience
this.
I will tell you that there aregenuine mental health disorders
that people struggle with.
They're genuine and they'rereal.
If anyone tells you different,they don't quite understand it.
Anxiety, depression, they'rereal, okay.
(37:15):
Personal fears we all havepersonal fears, unresolved sin
issues.
I always think about David,king.
David, he, he the sin withBathsheba.
He's living with her for ninemonths, or whatever it was all
that time, knowing he's in sin.
The most miserable person isnot the person that's not
walking with God, meaning theydon't know God.
The most miserable person isthe one that is one of God's and
(37:36):
he's walked away from God.
That's a miserable personbecause I don't know if you've
ever been under the convictionof the Holy Spirit.
It's not a pleasant place,especially if there's sin
involved.
He will get through to you.
Social factors Our lives arejust so busy.
(37:59):
You guys.
Incorrect doctrinalunderstanding.
I have met Christians.
I have been a Christian thatdidn't understand truth and it
resulted in great anxiety, greatanxiety, and I'm not going to
attempt to unpack all of it, butI just want you to understand
the enemy is going to use fearand anxiety to get to you.
(38:19):
He wants to get to you and hewill play on your fears, on your
fears, and you know.
The thing about anxiety is youjust start to really self-focus
and it's hard.
People who've dealt with this,they understand it's very hard.
I actually this week wentthrough something that was
(38:41):
really difficult and I foundmyself very and I'm not an
anxious person, but I foundmyself very anxious and just
overwhelmed almost, and it wasdifficult.
So how can we handle thistemptation?
Well, first off, it alwayscomes down to this Hold on to
the truth.
Who are you?
(39:02):
You are a child of God.
You're a child of God.
That's who you are and he's gotyou.
Stay in community.
This was mentioned.
You know, one of the worstthings is when somebody goes
(39:22):
through a difficult time and allof a sudden, like we haven't
seen them in church lately.
What's going on?
And you reach out to them.
You got to leave two or threemessages.
Then you find out they're justin a really bad place.
You're like why did you removeyourself from the body of Christ
?
We're here to love you andsupport you.
Now, sometimes the anxiety orwhatever could have come from
the body of Christ.
We understand that, but still,this is where we are.
(39:45):
We need to be.
It's so powerful to stay incommunity.
We need people.
When I was feeling this, Ireached out to the elders and I
said I just really need prayer.
Guys, I'm going throughsomething real difficult.
I want the support of community.
That's not weakness, brethren,that's strength to ask for that
(40:06):
help.
Seek both spiritual and mentalhelp if you need it.
You're not alone.
I think that's one of thebiggest lies that Satan tries to
tell you is that you're alone.
You're the only one that'sexperiencing this.
That's not the case.
We have people that can supportyou.
Philippians 4, verses 4 through7.
You guys probably some of you,already thought about this.
In fact, in the prayer room,one of them mentioned this
(40:31):
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I say rejoice.
Let your reasonableness beknown to everyone.
The Lord is at hand.
Verse 6.
Do not be anxious aboutanything.
Period, stop.
There's more.
Do not be anxious abouteverything.
And you want to say do you knowwhat you're asking?
Do you know what you're askingwhen you say that, paul?
But then he says this but ineverything, by prayer and
(40:53):
supplication.
By the way, those are twodifferent things.
There's two different things.
Supplication has thisconnotation of earnestly
reaching out and pleading to Godfor something, and we need that
.
Sometimes, with thanksgiving,you find yourself being
(41:14):
self-absorbed.
Start thanking God for all thethings he gave you.
He says let your requests bemade known to God.
And then here's the promise,verse seven, and the peace of
God which surpasses allunderstanding.
We throw that out all the time,but remember there's something
you do before that, and thepeace of God which surpasses all
(41:34):
understanding will guard yourhearts and minds in Christ Jesus
.
Take your anxiety and yourfears to God.
Seek support from people aroundyou.
Don't walk through it alonefrom people around you.
Don't walk through it alone,and I can guarantee you that
you'll be able to resist thattemptation.
Maybe not perfectly, but you'llendure through it.
All right, I've gone over time.
(41:56):
Let me just simply say this.
We've seen four tactics of theenemy in this section.
Subtlety he's not going to comeat us from the front, he's
going to come at us from theside and it's going to be hard
to distinguish it.
Frequency is going to try towear us down by hitting us again
and again and again and againand again.
Our integrity is going to causeus to lose sight of God and
(42:21):
start to self-focus bychallenging our integrity.
And third, he's going to wantto cause us anxiety and fear and
use that again to lose sight ofGod and start focusing on us
and draw us away.
My prayer is simply this I wantall of us to walk out of here
(42:43):
understanding that these fourthere's many other tactics, by
the way, these are the four here.
I want us to walk out of heremore aware, more cognizant of
what the enemy is trying to doand, just like that battle of
Midway, we can intercept thecode from the enemy and we can
know what he's trying to do, andthen we can be the one station
(43:05):
around the island and we cancome in and defeat him, because
he's given us that ability to dothat.
You believe that?
Stand to your feet.
Let's pray, father.
This life is difficult at times.
Lord, I thank you for whatTyler shared about what's
(43:27):
happening in Cuba.
What a perspective gainingthing, lord.
But those people, their faithis so genuine and, father, I
sometimes think that we are avictim of our culture.
We are so impacted by ourculture and all this and the
enemy is going to try to come atus, lord, through all of these
different tactics and more.
And, father, I pray for all ofus that you give us a special
(43:49):
awareness through your HolySpirit, that we can see the
subtle attacks from the enemy,lord, that we can see when he's
trying to get us to fall intofear and cause the anxiety.
And, father, that we justrealize that we can stand on you
.
And there's so many scripturesthat talk about that.
But, god, you promised that notemptation will come at us that
(44:13):
we cannot endure and we canresist.
So, father, my prayer for allof us is that we do that and we
walk out of here stronger, moreaware, and that we can do
everything we do to your glory.
We pray this and we thank youin Jesus' precious name, amen,
amen.
Well, my name is Scott.
I'm one of the pastors here,blessed to continue this series
in the book of Nehemiah.
But I first want to talk abouta movie.
In 2019, there was a movie thatwas titled Midway.
It was released to theaters andit was an epic movie about the
Battle of Midway.
A lot of you probably haverecognized that movie, or there
(00:26):
was a movie back in, I think, 76, called Midway as well.
I know for some of you that'slike ancient history.
Neil was in his 60s, I think,when that movie came out.
Sorry, you're right there, Ijust didn't.
Anyways, it's a powerful moviebecause it's a true story.
(00:47):
It's about the pivotal battlein the Pacific between the
Empire of Japan and, of course,the United States.
It happened about six monthsafter Pearl Harbor and there's a
scene in the movie that'sreally poignant and as far as
accuracy, I don't knownecessarily how accurate it is,
(01:08):
but the scene is poignantbecause of the lesson it had.
They're doing the Japanese havea, they basically have a group
of naval leaders surrounding alarge map and they're doing war
games, and war games back thenwas to develop a strategy and
then to have you play it out.
Right, you play it out, but youhave to make certain
assumptions about how the enemyis going to respond, right?
(01:30):
So there's a senior commanderthat is he's, of course, playing
the part of the Japanese Navy,and then there's some junior
commanders that are there andAdmiral Nagumo walks into the
scene and they're arguing and hesaid what's going on here?
And the senior commander saysthey're not following the plan
(01:53):
and, of course, you know, theyounger officer's got his head
down like this.
And Nagumo says what's going on?
And he said well, we know thatthe American fleet, we're going
to lure the American fleet fromPearl Harbor and they're going
to come to Midway.
So we know which way they'regoing to be and we're going to
set a trap for them, we're goingto destroy them.
(02:14):
But he has them coming from theother side of the island and
that's not in the plan.
And Nagumo says he looks atthem both and he says to the
young officer follow the plan.
Well, ironically, the youngofficer had it right, because
the whole Japanese plan andstrategy was based upon the fact
(02:37):
that the American fleet wasgoing to come from Pearl.
What they didn't know was thatthe intelligence, the US
intelligence, had decipheredsome of the plans and the
messages that the Japanese hadbeen sending and they knew that
there was a trap being set forthem at Midway.
(02:58):
So what did they do?
They went around the other sideof the island and they defeated
, of course, the Navy Well,pretty much defeated the
Japanese Navy.
It was an amazing thing, butthe Americans knew what the
plans are.
They knew what the plans wereand they planned accordingly.
Well, we are in, as you've heard, a book of Nehemiah.
(03:21):
We're going through a sermonseries and we've heard five
great messages, really greatmessages, and I thank Neil for
the message last week.
This has been so insightful andI don't know about you, but I'm
just gaining a lot of respectfrom Nehemiah.
This is a man of God and, aswe've been going through this
and, by the way, if you'vemissed any of these sermons,
(03:42):
listen to them online.
We don't put them there just tokeep our tech team busy,
because they all tie in and theyall flow together.
But today we're in Nehemiah,chapter 6.
And we're going to see inNehemiah 6, there's four tactics
that Nehemiah's enemies used tocome after him, and I've titled
this sermon the Enemy'sPlaybook because, just like what
(04:05):
the Americans did to theJapanese Navy in understanding
their tactics and understandingtheir plans.
We have to understand the plansof the enemy as he comes after
us.
Is it closer?
Can you hear me now?
Which way Down up Closer?
How's that?
(04:31):
I'm sorry, you can hear.
I'll speak louder.
I'll speak louder too.
Anyways, there's four tacticsthat he talks about, and I've
really put them into fourdifferent keywords Subtlety,
frequency, integrity and anxiety.
The acronym is SIFIA, totallymeaningless.
(04:54):
I did that for Mark.
Okay, let's read chapter six.
So chapter six, nehemiah, verseone.
Now, when Sanballat and Tobiahand Geshem, the Arab and the
rest of our enemies heard that Ihad built the wall and that
there was no breach left in it,although up to that time I had
not yet set up the doors and thegates, sanballat and Geshem
(05:17):
sent to me saying Come and letus meet together.
I shouldn't do that.
I just kind of view them havinga weaselly little voice, though
.
Come and let us meet togetherin Hecophrium in the plain of
Ono.
But they intended to do me harm, and I sent messengers to them
(05:40):
saying I am doing a great workand I cannot come down.
Why should the work stop whileI leave it and come down to you?
And they sent to me four timesin this way and I answered them
in the same manner.
In the same way, sanballat, forthe fifth time, sent his servant
to me with an open letter inhis hand.
In it was written, quote it isreported among the nations that
(06:02):
Geshem also says it.
So Geshem apparently had someclout that you and the Jews
intend to rebel.
That is why you are buildingthe wall and, according to these
reports, you wish to becometheir king, and you have also
set up prophets to proclaimconcerning you in Jerusalem,
quote there is a king in Judahand now the king, referring to
(06:23):
Artaxerxes, will hear of thesereports.
So now come, let us takecounsel together.
Then I sent to him saying nosuch things as you say have been
done, for you are inventingthem out of your own mind.
For they all wanted to frightenus, thinking their hands will
drop from the work and it willnot be done.
But now, o God, strengthen myhands.
(06:44):
Work and it will not be done.
But now, oh God, strengthen myhands.
Now, when I went to the house ofShemaiah, the son of Deliah,
the son of Mehethebel, who wasconfined to his home, he said
let us meet together in thehouse of God, within the temple.
Let us close the door of thetemple, for they're coming to
kill you.
They're coming to kill you bynight.
I don't know if that'ssignificant.
I wouldn't want to be killed byday or night, but apparently.
(07:06):
But I said to them, verse 11,should such a man as I run away?
If men of God said that moreoften?
And what man such as I could gointo the temple and live?
(07:27):
I will not go in.
And I understood that God andsaw that God had not sent him,
but he had pronounced theprophecy against me because
Tobiah and Sanballat had hiredhim For this purpose.
He was hired that I should beafraid and act in this way and
sin, and so they could give me abad name in order to taunt me.
(07:48):
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat,o God, according to these things
that they did, and also theprophetess Noedia and the rest
of the prophets who wanted tomake me afraid.
Verse 15,.
So the wall was finished on thetwenty-fifth day of the month
of Elul, in 52 days, and whenall of our enemies heard it, all
(08:10):
the nations around us wereafraid and fell greatly in their
own esteem, for they perceivedthat this work had been
accomplished with the help ofour God, verse 17,.
Moreover, in those days, thenobles of Judah sent many
letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah'sletters came to them, for many
in Judah were bound by oath tohim because he was the
son-in-law of Shekiniah, the sonof Arah and the son of
(08:33):
Jehoiachin, taken the daughterof Meshulalem and the son of
Berechiah as his wife.
If I pronounced any of thosewrong, I don't care.
Also, they spoke of his gooddeeds in my presence and
reported my words to him.
And Tobias sent letters to makeme afraid.
(08:53):
Father, as we come before you,we thank you for this amazing
book.
And we thank you, father, forNehemiah, your servant.
We thank you for how he prayedto you, how he heard from you
and how he followed through onthe task that you gave him, in
spite of all the opposition.
And, Father, today, as we lookat the tactics of the enemy, I
(09:13):
pray that every one of us wouldbe stirred, lord, that we would
be made aware of, more aware ofthe tactics the enemy is trying
to do to get us to sin and tofall away and to lose our
purpose.
So I pray that you would openall of our minds and hearts to
this truth.
In Jesus' name, I pray Amen.
So that's the whole chapter.
(09:38):
Let's get into these tactics.
We'll start with the very firstone, which is literally found
in the first two verses.
Let's read them again Now.
When Sambel Tobiah and Geshemthe Arab I came up with an
acronym for these guys, stg, butit sounded too bad, so I think
I'll just call them the bad guysHeard that we had built, I had
(10:01):
built the wall, and there was nobreach left.
And, by the way, when it saysno breach left, there was no
main holes left.
They were still going up, butthey hadn't yet hung the doors.
I mean, they were really closehere, right?
Sanballat and Geshem sent mesaying come and let us meet
together at Hecophrium and theplain of Ono, and they intended
to do me harm.
Now what we have here is achange of tactic.
(10:24):
Do you remember what they weredoing up to this point?
Direct, direct.
They were mocking him.
They were stirring up people tocome against the people that
were building.
Remember what the builders hadon?
Each of them had on their hip Asword right.
So they had a very directattack towards him.
(10:45):
But they've changed thetechnique.
They've changed the tactic here, and that tactic is they're now
coming at him in a subtle way.
A subtle way, and that is thefirst playbook, or the enemy's
playbook.
The first tactic, and that isSatan, will come at us subtly.
The enemy's playbook, the firsttactic and that is Satan, will
(11:07):
come at us subtly.
Nehemiah, by the way, he didn'tbuy in, he didn't play ball with
this.
It says in verse three, and Ilove this, and I sent messengers
to them.
They sent messengers to me.
I sent messengers back to themsaying I am doing a great work
and I cannot come down.
Why should the work stop whileI leave it and come down to you
(11:30):
Now?
It might sound simple to you.
Well, of course, nehemiah isnot going to fall for that trick
.
He doesn't like these guys.
He knows what they're up to.
But you got to put yourself inNehemiah's situation and
understand that this was a realtemptation.
You want to know why?
Well, just think about it.
He'd been building the wall fora while now and, as Neil
(11:50):
pointed out, there had beentroubles.
There was great sacrifice.
The people that were doing thework, their families, were
having trouble getting foodright.
This was a real tempting offerto him, because he could have
convinced himself.
Well, maybe, maybe they reallydo want to talk.
Maybe I can convince them toget on our side.
(12:11):
There was a lot of stress hewas under and he could have
convinced himself that, okay,maybe this is a change, maybe
these guys are really changed.
But he didn't fall for thattactic.
He assessed that they were justlying and they were just trying
another angle because he says,but they intended me to do me
(12:33):
harm.
They intended to do me harm.
He saw through what they weredoing and I love the fact that
he addressed it with a very,very simple truth.
He was doing a great work andhe wasn't going to stop without
a good reason.
Now, what's the application forus?
(12:54):
Listen, most of us can seeSatan coming a mile away and, by
the way, don't flatter yourself, satan is not omnipresent, he's
not omniscient.
Don't flatter yourself.
Satan is not omnipresent, he'snot omniscient.
He's probably got we gotenemies coming at us, but there
might not be Satan himself.
Okay, but they're going to comeafter us and we can see a
(13:15):
head-on attack a mile away.
Right, we can see thosetemptations coming at us and we
can identify that right up front.
It's the subtle ones we havetrouble with.
The subtle ones we have troublewith, I mean I keep thinking
about from the perspective ofhow do we respond when somebody
(13:36):
comes at us with a temptationthat really, is it really sin or
is it not sin?
And we know that Satan willdisguise himself as an angel of
light.
In fact, in my next scripturehere, 2 Corinthians 11, 13
through 15, and we have a lot ofquotes from Paul today, by the
way, because Paul is addressingfalse prophets.
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But look at what he says, forsuch men are false prophets,
deceitful workmen disguisingthemselves as apostles of Christ
.
And no wonder, for even Satandisguises himself as an angel of
light.
So it is no surprise if hisservants also disguise
themselves as the servants ofrighteousness.
Their end will correspond totheir deeds.
(14:19):
I think sometimes we canconvince ourselves that a subtle
attack really isn't an attack.
And you notice, I said convinceourselves when you are under.
And again, go back to whatNehemiah was going through
Incredible, stressful situation,a lot of, and the pressure of
leadership would have been hugeon him.
(14:41):
It would have been easy for himto convince himself yeah, maybe
they really want to talk aboutthis.
Maybe they really want to helpus out.
Maybe they're on our side.
I don't think so.
I think about, I think it'sreally funny.
I was thinking when I wasputting this together.
I was thinking about youngpeople and the temptations that
the youth have, because Iremember the same temptations
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hey, come to this party or comestay the night.
Well, what's going to happen?
Well, it's just going to be abunch of us girls and my parents
will be there and we're justgoing to watch a movie.
Okay, good, you tell that toyour parents.
You show up.
It's not just a bunch of girls,there's boys and, by the way,
there's no parents around, right.
But you can convince yourself,because you want to go, that
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that's the right thing.
But maybe you need to know thehistory of these people.
Is this something they've donebefore?
I've even thought aboutsometimes the temptation to say
is it really wrong?
Is it really wrong?
You know, when you buy a usedcar I'm going to step on toes
when you buy a used car and yougo to the tag office and they
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look at you and say what did youpay for this car?
And you say what did you payfor this car?
And you say what A lot ofpeople have told me and I've
felt the same way hey, they'vetaxed this car two or three
times.
I'm the third owner.
Why do they have to get it?
But you know what the reality is.
Is my integrity worth a couplehundred bucks?
He watches that.
(16:12):
We can justify that.
Because we don't agree withsomething, we can say it's okay,
but it's not, it's not.
These are the subtle temptations, because see if Satan can get
you to make an exception of yourintegrity for that, then he's
going to look for ways to stepit up.
And step it up, because theenemy is never happy.
(16:35):
He's always trying to drag youfurther and further into sin.
Amen, he's trying to do thatand this is one of his most
effective ways.
It's the subtle sin.
We can see the enemy when it'scoming up front.
We can't see him when they'rehiding in trees, and that's what
he tries to do.
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And, by the way, how do we avoidfalling for subtle temptations?
Well, first off, you have to dowhat Nehemiah did Focus on
truth.
Focus on truth, and that maymean that if you feel an area is
gray, fall back to black andwhite.
You know black and white.
Sometimes that phrase gets areal knock, but not in this
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context.
You stand on what you know istruth and if it's in question,
then just stay and stand in whatyou know.
Focus on the source of thetemptation, right If it's a
person or an organization orwhatever it is.
Look at that and say well, waita second, is this a godly thing
(17:39):
?
Think through the consequences.
Oh, my word, if I had done thismore often.
Think through the consequencesof that decision and, by the way
, ask trusted friends, godlypeople, to give you their honest
opinions.
And don't play with fire,brethren.
Don't play with fire.
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Okay, let's go to the next one,in verse 4,.
And they sent to me four timesin this way and I answered them
in the same manner Period,frequency, frequency.
Just because Nehemiah didn'tfall for the first messenger,
they kept sending messengerafter messenger after messenger.
(18:24):
Four times they came at himwith this same thing.
And you know I have to laugh,because have you ever heard that
phrase?
The definition of insanity isdoing the same thing over and
over and over again, expecting adifferent result.
That's what these guys weredoing.
They kept coming at him, comingat him, coming at him.
But, brethren, if you thinkabout it, it's actually pretty
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strategic.
It's very strategic what theywere doing, because, again,
remember what I told about thepressures that he was under.
He thought maybe maybe he willfinally give in, maybe he'll see
how sincere we are.
Not that we really want to talkto him.
We really want to get together.
We want to work this stuff out.
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Frequency the application ispretty evident.
How many of you have ever hadthe same temptation come at you
more than once?
You can all put your hands up.
You'll make me feel a lotbetter.
For those who haven't, we don'tlike you.
He'll do that.
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Every one of us haveexperienced that, especially if
he has do that.
Every one of us haveexperienced that, especially if
he has a told and if he made youfall once, he's going to come
at you again and again and again, and he will not give up.
Because what has he got to lose?
What's he got to lose?
How many times have you criedout Lord, please free me from
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this temptation, free me fromthis.
It's so hard to resist and Godhears that.
But you know, scripture tellsus that we can fight those
temptations, no matter how manytimes they come.
And as I was preparing thismessage, I came across 1
(20:16):
Corinthians 10, verse 13.
I read this scripture manytimes, but I just began to
really unpack it.
Paul says no temptation hasovertaken you.
That is not common to man.
First sentence stop.
Do you realize?
In any temptation that's comeat, you has already been
experienced by someone else.
Okay, what that means is you'renot alone, right.
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Then look what he says next Godis faithful, he is.
He then states a truth God'sfaithful.
We're just talking abouttemptation.
You're not alone.
God's faithful, we're justtalking about temptation.
You're not alone.
God is faithful, and he willnot let you be tempted beyond
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your ability.
Wait what?
No, he was exaggerating there,wasn't he?
No, he's not.
You know, one of the challengesI see sometimes is that people
will become victims.
They're like well, you know, Iwas there, I had to Come on.
Everybody does this, everybodygives in once in a while.
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Nope, god just simply told youright here.
In truth, this is truth.
You stand on that.
There's no temptation.
That he won't give you theability to resist.
And he says but with atemptation, he will also provide
a way of escape.
When you escape from something,what are you doing?
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You're moving away from it.
Right, when you're escaping,that's what he was doing.
He's saying you can get awayfrom this, you can move away.
And sometimes, by the way, andespecially for men.
Sometimes we're just like I'mgoing to stand and I'm going to
fight this temptation.
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You know, paul the same one thatwrote this says in two other
places get out, flee, smallestsin of the Bible, flee
fornication.
Right?
Nobody got that.
I don't think anybody got that.
Sometimes we don't need tostand, we need to just leave.
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Leave the situation.
I've had to do that before,especially in business.
Sometimes you go to conferencesor whatever, and you know
there's a cocktail hour orwhatever and boy, people are
starting to say things, talk,things, a lot of drinks, I'll
just leave, I'm tired, guys,I've got to go, I'll leave.
Why?
Because in the past I didn'tleave.
That was the old Scott.
I don't want to fall into theold Scott, so I'm just gone.
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And somebody said well, you'renot hobnobbing with the big wigs
anymore, I don't care, I don'tcare.
I'd rather please the Lord, myGod, I'd rather please him than
make some executive think I'mcool, it's okay to leave.
Okay, tactic number three,verses five through seven.
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In the same way, sam Ballard,for the fifth time, sent his
servant to me with an openletter in his hand.
We got to change tactic.
Right, this is a change tactic.
Now look what he says.
In it was written this it isreported on the nations, and
Geshem also says it.
I love the fact that Sanballathe really thought Geshem was a
big weight I mean, geshem saysthis too that you and the Jews
(23:36):
intend to rebel.
By the way, they'd alreadyaccused him of this way back in
chapter two.
Right, that's why you'rebuilding the wall and, according
to these reports, you wish tobecome the king and you have
also set up prophets for claimconcerning you in Jerusalem.
So basically what he's sayingif you can get the spiritual
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group, you can get prophetssaying that you're the king.
Now you're getting extrasupport from the people, right,
and you're getting them toproclaim there is a king in
Judah, and now the king willhear of these reports.
Now we're talking Artaxerxes.
So now come, let us takecounsel together.
In this passage we see the thirdtactic, and that is integrity.
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They were now going against hisintegrity.
If you haven't figured it out,nehemiah is a man of God, a
powerful man of God.
I love the way Kelly opened theseries up and he talked about
the prayer of Nehemiah, powerfulprayer, and he came out of that
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time of prayer with a clearfocus on what he was supposed to
do.
He then singularly focused.
He was strategic.
I preached on that, about thefact he had a plan.
He went forward.
He's carrying that out.
He's overcoming obstacles.
Last week, again all theseobstacles.
This man was a fair and justleader and he had a singular
purpose.
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And now they're attacking hischaracter.
Before they were attacking hisaction, building the wall.
Now they're attacking hischaracter.
You think about it.
What if?
What if Nehemiah had done whatso many of us would do Get
(25:26):
defensive?
Wait a second, that's all abunch of lies.
Come on, you know.
Come on, let's talk.
Let's talk.
I'll tell you how good I, I'lltell you why everything you said
is wrong.
And let's get into a battle.
Let's get into a battle.
What if Nehemiah had done that?
What if Nehemiah said hey, youclowns, come over here.
I'm going to meet you in Onoand we're going to talk this
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through, because I am not thatperson.
He would have left the wall.
The people at the wall wouldhave been leadership lists,
right.
The enemies would have saw achink in the armor.
They may have started to attackand he would have lost his
focus.
And you want to know why?
This might hurt a little bitBecause he was focusing on
himself, focusing on himself.
(26:15):
But how did Nehemiah respond?
Then?
I sent to him saying no suchthings as you say have been done
, for you are inventing them outof your own mind.
You probably should have saidyou're out of your mind, but he
was sort of said him, for theyall wanted to frighten us,
thinking their hands will dropfrom the work and it will be
done.
But now God strengthened myhands.
(26:36):
He did three simple things.
He first identified that theaccusation was a lie.
It's a lie.
Secondly, he identified whatthe motive behind the lie was
which, by the way, we don'talways know, but it's there.
And then he resolved not tofall into their distraction trap
and he kept doing what Godcalled him to do.
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He called it out, but you willnotice there was a period at the
end of that and it over, and hecontinued back to do his work.
How about us?
Have you ever had somebody callyour integrity into question?
If you're a Christian and youhaven't, then I think you
(27:20):
probably need to look in themirror, because that's going to
happen.
People are going to comeagainst us.
That's just going to happen.
The enemy uses evil people tocome against us, and they will
sometime.
And you might have this.
You might have somebody in yourfamily that is just attacks you
because of your beliefs rightand besmirches your name to
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other people in the family.
That can happen, you know.
The saddest part is when Goduses people in this room to tear
down other people.
That happens and it's sad, butthe enemy knows.
Hey, the elder is.
One of the biggest things thatwe were always protective of is
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the unity in the body, becausethat can happen really easily.
You know you're talking tosomebody and something well, did
you hear about this person?
Pretty soon, somebody'sintegrity is being called into
question and it's sad.
But the thing is we have tokeep our focus, like Nehemiah
(28:25):
did, when we come under thatkind of attack.
Philippians 2, 14 through 17,.
Do all things without grumblingand disputing.
And then verse 15,.
I love this that you may beblameless and innocent children
of God, without blemish, in themidst of a crooked and twisted
generation among whom you shineas lights in the world, holding
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fast to the word of life, sothat in the day of Christ, I may
be proud that I did not run invain or labor in vain.
Who defends you.
Who defends you?
God?
God, who defends you?
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God, and I'm not saying thatyou shouldn't look at an
accusation when it comes againstyou or if someone attacks your
character, is there any truth toit, then you need to own that.
We always need to own that andapologize or repent or do
whatever we have to do.
But if it's a lie, call it alie and then move on.
There is nothing more sad.
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There's lots of things more sad.
This is very sad.
When you're on Facebook or someforum and you see Christians
ripping each other to threadsover stupid stuff, you think
you're honoring God becauseyou're proving your point.
Has anybody in this room everwon an argument online?
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Anybody, you don't.
And, by the way, you might beable to influence somebody a
little bit, but the reality isyou're be able to influence
somebody a little bit, but thereality is you're doing way more
harm than good.
And I fell into this trap earlyon, when social media first
came out, and then I realizedthis is stupid.
I was causing division and itwas sad.
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I was spent.
And here's the thing when youspend all this time trying to
argue your point, here's thething.
When you spend all this timetrying to argue your point, you
lose sight of God.
You lose sight of the fact thathe is God.
He's the one you should focuson, and you're now focused
solely on yourself.
And it's a selfish thing,brethren, and I'm guilty, I've
done this before too.
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That's what Satan wants you todo.
He wants to get you thinkingabout yourself.
Let's not fall into that trap.
When our integrity getschallenged, identify that it's a
challenge.
Identify if there's any truth,own it and if not, move forward.
I will tell you that there'stimes, as pastors, you have to
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correct or you have to deal withthe situation, and it's not
always good, and I've had in my20, almost 20 years of pastoring
.
I've had people that didn'tlike what I had to say.
I haven't handled everythingperfectly, but when you tell
someone truth and then theydon't agree with it, and then
you start telling everybodyabout what kind of a jerk you
are, you know what.
You just got to stand on yourcharacter.
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If anybody attacks one of yourpastors, you got to ask yourself
first what do I know aboutthese people, what do I know
about these men?
And, by the way, any of youshould do that If someone comes
out to me and says somethinglike you know I got to pick on
somebody.
Do you want to be picked on?
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Yeah, chad Range is a jerk.
I saw Chad at the local bardrinking like a fish and dancing
on the table and eating nachos.
Well, I know Chad's character.
I also know he wouldn't spendthat kind of money.
You put your hand up, man.
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You put your hand up, stand onwhat you know about that person
and don't believe it.
And, by the way, there's a timewhen you can look at someone
and say why are you telling methis?
Why are you?
What are you trying to do?
Divide the body up, call thecops on.
Okay, the last one.
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I know we're going late.
How much time?
Oh, I'm out of time.
Shoot, sorry, all right.
Last one, nehemiah chapter.
Look to verse 10.
Now, when I went to the houseof Shemaiah, the son of Deliah,
the son of Methet, who wasconfined to his home, he said
let us meet together in thehouse of God within the temple.
Let us close the doors of thetemple, for they're coming to
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kill you.
They're coming to kill you bynight.
Now we got a new character inthis whole story.
It's a guy named Shemaiah.
Now we got a new character inthis whole story.
It's a guy named Shemaiah.
Now he was the son of thepriest Okay, this was a priest,
that was his dad, and we're notreally told why Nehemiah went
there.
And as I looked into this, alot of commentaries think that
they believe that he was aprophet.
I mean, he was sort of a.
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He propped himself up as aprophet because his dad was a
priest, right, and he wassecluded in his home.
Maybe he was pretending to bereal, righteous, or something.
We don't know.
We don't know.
All we know is that he wasbought off.
He was bought off and he beganto tell Nehemiah things that
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were not true.
Well, not that people weren'tgoing to try to kill him, but it
wasn't true.
And it was a new tactic, andthis tactic I've called anxiety.
Now you could call it fear, butthe reality is fear is a little
more narrow.
Anxiety goes wider and that'sreally what he was trying to do
here.
If you think about Nehemiah'sperspective we've talked about
(34:03):
it he's already under a lot ofpressure, a lot of stress, and
now they're going to throw athreat down and say man, they're
coming to kill you, they'recoming to kill you, you need to
run to the temple because theywon't kill you in the temple.
God will, but they won't.
There's two problems with thistactic, though.
(34:25):
Well, number one.
Number one nehemiah knew thelaws concerning the temple.
If he went into the temple,there's a good chance he
wouldn't come out.
Who was allowed in the templeand we're all doing our bible
reading who was allowed in thetemple?
Priests, you had to be from thelevitical line to go into the
temple.
So he knew that.
Number one.
Number two Nehemiah haddiscernment from God, and I
(34:52):
think Shemaiah was kind of atthat point.
He probably thought Shemaiahwas okay.
And so here you got somebodywho was actually a friend of his
now saying this, and hediscerned, and he says in verse
12 and 13, and I understood andsaw that God had not sent him.
God had not sent him, but hehad pronounced the prophecy
(35:17):
against me because Tobiah andSanballat had hired him.
For this was the purpose.
He was hired that I should beafraid and act in this way and
sin so they could give me a badname in order to taunt me.
Nehemiah was led by God and hesaw that God had not sent
Shemaiah.
Not sent Shemaiah If Nehemiahhad caved into this one, can you
(35:39):
imagine what would havehappened?
First off, he'd ran to thetemple.
If he did this, he would havelost all respect and credibility
from the people he was leading.
This is not a man that runsaway, remember, he just read
that.
Now he's left us here.
We got our swords, we'rebuilding, now we got nobody to
lead us right.
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And, by the way, he would nothave been the priest wouldn't
have liked him very much either.
Right, it would have been a badsituation.
Wouldn't have liked him verymuch either.
Right, it would have been a badsituation.
And the application here ispretty simple.
Anxiety is one of the enemy'sbiggest and greatest tactics
Anxiety and fear.
The National Institutes ofMental Health reported that
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almost 19% of Americans 19% livewithin some sort of anxiety
disorder, not just experience it, but they actually have a
disorder that they're dealingwith.
Women, by the way, experiencethis more than men, but they
both experience anxiety.
We live in a society that'splagued with anxiety and there's
(36:46):
a lot of difference or reasonswhy Christians can experience
this.
I will tell you that there aregenuine mental health disorders
that people struggle with.
They're genuine and they'rereal.
If anyone tells you different,they don't quite understand it.
Anxiety, depression, they'rereal, okay.
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Personal fears we all havepersonal fears, unresolved sin
issues.
I always think about David,king.
David, he, he the sin withBathsheba.
He's living with her for ninemonths, or whatever it was all
that time, knowing he's in sin.
The most miserable person isnot the person that's not
walking with God, meaning theydon't know God.
The most miserable person isthe one that is one of God's and
(37:36):
he's walked away from God.
That's a miserable personbecause I don't know if you've
ever been under the convictionof the Holy Spirit.
It's not a pleasant place,especially if there's sin
involved.
He will get through to you.
Social factors Our lives arejust so busy.
(37:59):
You guys.
Incorrect doctrinalunderstanding.
I have met Christians.
I have been a Christian thatdidn't understand truth and it
resulted in great anxiety, greatanxiety, and I'm not going to
attempt to unpack all of it, butI just want you to understand
the enemy is going to use fearand anxiety to get to you.
(38:19):
He wants to get to you and hewill play on your fears, on your
fears, and you know.
The thing about anxiety is youjust start to really self-focus
and it's hard.
People who've dealt with this,they understand it's very hard.
I actually this week wentthrough something that was
(38:41):
really difficult and I foundmyself very and I'm not an
anxious person, but I foundmyself very anxious and just
overwhelmed almost, and it wasdifficult.
So how can we handle thistemptation?
Well, first off, it alwayscomes down to this Hold on to
the truth.
Who are you?
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You are a child of God.
You're a child of God.
That's who you are and he's gotyou.
Stay in community.
This was mentioned.
You know, one of the worstthings is when somebody goes
(39:22):
through a difficult time and allof a sudden, like we haven't
seen them in church lately.
What's going on?
And you reach out to them.
You got to leave two or threemessages.
Then you find out they're justin a really bad place.
You're like why did you removeyourself from the body of Christ
?
We're here to love you andsupport you.
Now, sometimes the anxiety orwhatever could have come from
the body of Christ.
We understand that, but still,this is where we are.
(39:45):
We need to be.
It's so powerful to stay incommunity.
We need people.
When I was feeling this, Ireached out to the elders and I
said I just really need prayer.
Guys, I'm going throughsomething real difficult.
I want the support of community.
That's not weakness, brethren,that's strength to ask for that
(40:06):
help.
Seek both spiritual and mentalhelp if you need it.
You're not alone.
I think that's one of thebiggest lies that Satan tries to
tell you is that you're alone.
You're the only one that'sexperiencing this.
That's not the case.
We have people that can supportyou.
Philippians 4, verses 4 through7.
You guys probably some of you,already thought about this.
In fact, in the prayer room,one of them mentioned this
(40:31):
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I say rejoice.
Let your reasonableness beknown to everyone.
The Lord is at hand.
Verse 6.
Do not be anxious aboutanything.
Period, stop.
There's more.
Do not be anxious abouteverything.
And you want to say do you knowwhat you're asking?
Do you know what you're askingwhen you say that, paul?
But then he says this but ineverything, by prayer and
(40:53):
supplication.
By the way, those are twodifferent things.
There's two different things.
Supplication has thisconnotation of earnestly
reaching out and pleading to Godfor something, and we need that
.
Sometimes, with thanksgiving,you find yourself being
(41:14):
self-absorbed.
Start thanking God for all thethings he gave you.
He says let your requests bemade known to God.
And then here's the promise,verse seven, and the peace of
God which surpasses allunderstanding.
We throw that out all the time,but remember there's something
you do before that, and thepeace of God which surpasses all
(41:34):
understanding will guard yourhearts and minds in Christ Jesus
.
Take your anxiety and yourfears to God.
Seek support from people aroundyou.
Don't walk through it alonefrom people around you.
Don't walk through it alone,and I can guarantee you that
you'll be able to resist thattemptation.
Maybe not perfectly, but you'llendure through it.
All right, I've gone over time.
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Let me just simply say this.
We've seen four tactics of theenemy in this section.
Subtlety he's not going to comeat us from the front, he's
going to come at us from theside and it's going to be hard
to distinguish it.
Frequency is going to try towear us down by hitting us again
and again and again and againand again.
Our integrity is going to causeus to lose sight of God and
(42:21):
start to self-focus bychallenging our integrity.
And third, he's going to wantto cause us anxiety and fear and
use that again to lose sight ofGod and start focusing on us
and draw us away.
My prayer is simply this I wantall of us to walk out of here
(42:43):
understanding that these fourthere's many other tactics, by
the way, these are the four here.
I want us to walk out of heremore aware, more cognizant of
what the enemy is trying to doand, just like that battle of
Midway, we can intercept thecode from the enemy and we can
know what he's trying to do, andthen we can be the one station
(43:05):
around the island and we cancome in and defeat him, because
he's given us that ability to dothat.
You believe that?
Stand to your feet.
Let's pray, father.
This life is difficult at times.
Lord, I thank you for whatTyler shared about what's
(43:27):
happening in Cuba.
What a perspective gainingthing, lord.
But those people, their faithis so genuine and, father, I
sometimes think that we are avictim of our culture.
We are so impacted by ourculture and all this and the
enemy is going to try to come atus, lord, through all of these
different tactics and more.
And, father, I pray for all ofus that you give us a special
(43:49):
awareness through your HolySpirit, that we can see the
subtle attacks from the enemy,lord, that we can see when he's
trying to get us to fall intofear and cause the anxiety.
And, father, that we justrealize that we can stand on you
.
And there's so many scripturesthat talk about that.
But, god, you promised that notemptation will come at us that
(44:13):
we cannot endure and we canresist.
So, father, my prayer for allof us is that we do that and we
walk out of here stronger, moreaware, and that we can do
everything we do to your glory.
We pray this and we thank youin Jesus' precious name, amen,
amen.
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