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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to $600 a year I've been scouting these big carriers for a minute now and I've seen them pull the same play a thousand times. They promise you the world, then hit you with a price hike right when the game gets tight. But boost mobile, their $25 a month unlimited wireless plan is the most consistent player on the floor. No contracts, no price hikes. Unlock the Savings today@boostmobile.com unlocked based on average annual single line payment of AT&T Verizon and T Mobile customers compared to 12 months of the Boost Mobile unlimited wireless plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit Boost Mobile.com Professional wrestling fans, the action continues every week. This is total non stop action. TNA Thursday night impact every week on AMC. For show times and more information visit tna wrestling.com do you want to find a stress free way to buy your next car? Start at CarMax and shop your way. If you want to browse with confidence, get pre qualified online with no impact on your credit score and shop cars within your budget. From luxury to family rides, CarMax has options for almost every price range, including more than 25,000 cars priced under $25,000. So hey, want to get started? Just head to CarMax.com for details and get pre qualified today. Want to drive CarMax? Hey this is Steven Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in life. Enjoy the message. Come on family. We ready for a great day today or what? Come on. We ready for God to move in our hearts and our lives today. Come on, let's clap our hands a little bit longer. Come on. He's been faithful. He's been good, he's been merciful, he's been kind. He's given us another day. Come on. The goodness of God has been chasing you and me our entire lives. And today, today's gonna be a day of victory and breakthrough, hope and life. So glad you are here at every location. Say standing for just a moment if you wouldn't mind. Love you all so so very much. My better 2/3. My wife is not here with me. She's preaching back at our church today. But she sends her love. You already know this, but this is a very very special place. What God is doing here at Elevation, it's not the buildings. It's the people. It's that God has been moving in everyday men and women. And you are a part of a much larger story that God is pouring out his spirit and his grace in our day and age. And I'm so, so honored to be here today. But I want to make sure, as you are in this church, you don't take it for granted. You don't take for granted all the team that showed up early to roll off the red carpet for you today. You don't take for granted all the people who are leading worship. You don't take for granted all the people that are watching your kids. Shoot, you don't even want to watch your kids. But I pray that you definitely do not take for granted the amazing pastors that God has given you. Can we put our hands together for Pastor Steven and Holly Furtick. Who they are and how they live their lives is quite remarkable. Humility, kindness, surrender, generosity. The team that you. You get all this love from the campus pastors and all the people who are volunteering and serving. It's because your pastors, your leaders, that's the heart that they have. So whenever you're being prayed for, just so you know, that's it. The culture and the heart that they set here. So this place is holy ground. Not a perfect church. There isn't one. You're here, so it's not perfect. I'm here, it's not perfect. You're not going to find perfect, but you found healthy. You found Christ centered, you found God glorifying. You found Bible believing. You found grounded in faith. So let's continue to see God do something transformational and powerful in our lives. I want to read while you're already standing. Let's read our Bibles together. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Nehemiah chapter one, and I'm gonna re. I'm gonna read these verses together. I like how holy elevation is too. Y' all stand for the reading of God's word. My church, it's ratchet. So they're sitting. They're sitting when we read, we're gonna fix it, though. I think it's me, y'. All. I think it's me. Nehemiah, chapter number one. If you didn't bring your Bibles, we're gonna put the verses on the screen so that you can follow along with us. Nehemiah, chapter one. I'm gonna jump down to verse number two. Hannah and I, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile and also about Jerusalem. Verse number three. They said to me, those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept for some days. I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Skip with me to verse number 10. They are your servants. This is part of his prayer. And your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor. In the presence of this man, I was cup bearer to the king. If you are ready for today, I have a title for us and it's let's build something. Let's build something. Turn to somebody next you say, let's build something. Let's build something. And you may be seated, my friends. Let's build something. I am so, so excited to have these moments together as a family. God is moving and working in beautiful ways. And when. When Chunks had texted me and I was texting with your amazing pastor about serving here at Elevation this weekend and campuses all over the place and our whole efam, we love you so very much. I couldn't help. Yeah, you can clap for him for sure. I couldn't help but feel in my heart a high level of anticipation about what God was going to do. I was thinking, though, I was just praying, lord, what do you want me to share? What do you want me to share? What do you want me to share? This passive scripture dropped in my heart. Let's build something. Now let me give you a little bit of backstory on me. I've been married. I'm an UNC. I've been married now for 29 years. Okay? So it has been a minute. And I call my wife my sexy piece of dark chocolate, okay? And I say this with a big smile on my face because that is who she is. She is my best friend. We have three amazing kids and I even have a daughter in law now, y', all, I can't even believe that, so. And I like my daughter in law more than I like my son that she married. So I think I have a picture of our family too. I'll put it on the screen for you real fast so you can see. I just. I love these guys so very much. So our oldest son is now 21 years old. I remember. I remember the day he was born. I remember this day. I. I couldn't wait to be a dad when I was growing up. I couldn't wait to be a husband and. And. And a father. So. So my wife is pregnant. I mean, she's pregnant pregnant. I mean, it. The belly is out there, and it ought to be, right. I mean, she's carrying another human being. This belly is out there, and she's got the waddle that you get and the swollen ankles. And she looked beautiful. Were rude, of course, like, whoa, your nose got big. I punched those people in the face whenever they said that. But she looked beautiful, wonderful, and amazing. But we were at Gold's Gym. I don't even know if Gold's Gym still exists. Maybe it does. We're at Gold's gym. This is 21 years ago. She's on the elliptical and fully pregnant. I mean, just getting after it on the elliptical. And I was not there with her because I don't love to do the elliptical, especially 21 years ago. I mean, I'm like, no, I'm not doing the elliptical. I'm going to lift, right? So she's on the elliptical, and she's feeling all these pains in her stomach. And she's like, man, I got all these pains. I'm like, okay, honey, let's go ahead and, you know, we'll go home. We go home. She's like, I still got all these pains, but she still just does her whole workout. We get back home, we talk to some friends of ours. We're like, oh, yeah, she's got some pains. And then they say, you should go to the hospital. We go to the hospital. Come to find out Oneka was in labor. My wife was in labor while she was on the elliptical. Now she's just thinking, oh, I got some little pains. There's a baby about to come out, and she does not even recognize it. Parker was born that day. It was beautiful. We had to have a C section because his heart rate was going down every time a contraction happened. But he came out healthy and wonderful. He was ugly when he came out as a baby, but now he's handsome. I showed you the picture. He's handsome now, but he came out and it was like, I love him with my whole heart, but dang, we'll dress him cute. So we bring them home. It's wonderful. But I was remembering this moment when I was thinking about today, that my wife, we knew she was pregnant, but we did not know that she was in Labor. There were some signs that she was in labor, but we didn't totally recognize the signs. Now, we knew at some point in time this baby was coming, but there was a disconnect in our brain a little bit between where she was and what the next season and the next thing that God was about to do in our lives. And I was thinking about you, Elevation Church. Thinking about every family, every man, every woman, every son, every daughter, every teenager, every young adult even looking at, thinking about the old heads in here, the uncs and the aunties, people in other countries and people here that are in the States. I was thinking about you. That you. There are many of you. You know, you're a Christian, but I don't know if you know, you're a builder. Like, you know, Jesus has saved me of my sins. He's made me brand new. He. He. He's taken me from darkness to light. And we might have some friends today. You might not know that yet. Maybe you're still trying to figure out this whole God thing. And we're glad you're here. You're in a safe place that you can belong even before you believe. Jesus sat with sinners. And we're happy to sit with you because we all came in the exact not knowing anything. So we are glad you are here. But understand there are some people at Elevation that fully understand that the cross of Jesus Christ took us from lost to found, from dead to alive, took us from blind to seeing that we understand that through his death, burial and resurrection, not by our own merit and our own works, but by the finished work of Jesus Christ, I have been made new. I'm not who I used to be anymore. I'm not. I'm not walking how I used to walk. The grace of God picked me up and carried me and brought me to a brand new place and put me on a firm foundation that if it was not for God, I don't know where I would be. He found me. He found me. Man, there are some times I. I still think back and I'm like Jesus. Thank you so much for interrupting my life. Thank you so much for finding me. Thank you so much that if I didn't know what to pray, you still kept pursuing me. This has been the grace of God that we have experienced. And as we have experienced this grace, I know I'm a Christian, but do I know I'm a builder? Do I know that God didn't just save me just to save me? That God didn't just rescue me so I could have a Testimony. But there is something that God has wanted to do in me and through me to reach the generation that he put me in, that I could have been born at any time. But God decided that you were supposed to be born. Right now you're looking at this world, you're like, this world is crazy. Hey. That's why God put you here. Because he recognizes that the spirit of God living on the inside of you is greater than anything that this world can throw at you. So here. Do you know you're a builder? Do you know that you have been called for such a time as this, to be a part of something that's bigger than you are? I in this text? Nehemiah, he's one of my favorite Bible characters. Not my favorite, that's Jesus. Gotta be. But Nehemiah is one of my favorites because when you read through his book, he does no miracles. There's no healings. No one's raised from the dead. There's nothing spectacular like that that happens. Your boy's just got a job. He's going to work. He's cupbearer to the king. He's essentially the head of security, the head of the secret service for the king. He has an important job, but he goes to work each day. His job is to make sure nobody poisons the king. His job is to make sure that the king is safe. He's got proximity to the king, so he's got a trustworthy job and he's a loyal individual. But he just works like you. Some of you are like, wait, not right now. Actually, I'm in between. I got a situation right now. God knows that, too. He can answer that. But he just wakes up each day, does the same thing, wakes up the next day, does the same thing, wakes up the next day, does the same thing. And then all of a sudden, his brothers come to visit him. And when his brothers come to visit him, he discovers that there's a problem that's taking place with his people. Now, he, Nehemiah, his job is about a thousand miles away from where the problem is they were in exile for years. His people, Nehemiah was not alive when they came out of exile. It's about a hundred years after they get out of the exile that Nehemiah comes on the scene. So this is a problem that he was not all that involved in. But he hears that there's an issue going on in another part of the world with his people. And God gives Nehemiah a glimpse into the heart that God has for his people. So Now Nehemiah begins to have a burden on his heart for people that he has not met yet, but he is connected to. And he's got this regular everyday job. And then all of a sudden, God interrupts his regular everyday job to say, I'm going to put a burden on your heart for people you have not met yet because you're called to go there and rebuild the walls that have been torn down. Nehemiah mourns and fasts and prays, and he's in his room going back and forth, and you can read his prayer later in your E group. All of chapter one, he cries out to God and he confesses his sin and the sin of the people and the sin of his father's family. And then he begins to call on, remember Moses and the promises that God gave to Moses. And he also remembers the warnings that God gave him. And then he says, God, I'm gonna need you to do something here. God, I'm gonna need you to move somehow, some way. God, I know that my sister is on drugs right now, and I'm gonna need you to do something in her life. God, I know that my high school friends right now, they're not living for you, and they don't know the truth of the gospel. So I'm gonna need you to do something in their life. God, I know my family has been bound in alcoholism for years and years and years. And I'm gonna need you to do something for my family, God, my community. I've heard what's happening back home, and the drugs are going crazy and everybody's vaping and everybody seems to be addicted to porn, and it seems like everybody is getting a force. So, God, somehow, some way, I'm gonna need you to move in might and power so that these people don't stay where they are any longer. And God begins to give this man a burden for some people. And I'm telling you that this is what God is wanting to do when you is give you a burden for this world. That would say, God, would you move in might and in power? Would you bring revival? Would you send your spirit? Would you pour out your love and your grace? Because there's people whose walls are broken down. The problem, sometimes even we start praying for people whose walls are broken down is when you're the person whose walls are broken. It can feel like I don't even have space to be thinking about anybody else, because this is where I'm finding myself. My own walls are broken down. I know it looks to everybody like I'm Good. I got the car. I got the house. I got the key here. I've got the pictures to post. But beyond the pictures, there's something else going on in my family beyond what everybody else sees. There's some things that we're just navigating and fighting through right now. Me and my wife and I, we're just not clicking. We're not clicking. Not clicking. We're trying to figure out, but it's just not clicking. It's not clicking. With me and my siblings, it's not clicking. I don't know what's wrong. It's just not clicking. I've been trying to get this business off the ground. It's not clicking. It's not clicking. And now I got to pay my mortgage or I got to pay my rent, and I also got to pay this and I got to pay that. My own walls are broken down. And I just need you to know you're at a church where you actually don't have to fake it. You're at a church that you don't have to pretend like you have it all together. You're at a church that is not asking you to be perfect and look some certain part and do some song and dance. You are at a church and you are under the leadership of people like, hey, you can take off your mask here. You can be exactly who you are right now. You can navigate the pains and the difficulties of life. If you're crying at home, you can cry here. If you're suffering at home, we want to know about it. Your e fam, your e group wants to know about it. Your campus pastor wants to know about it. Your leadership wants to know about it. You're not in some place where you have to be perfect. You can say, my walls are broken down. I also want to say thank you to everyone behind the scenes who are serving to help put people's walls in place. Everybody with kids right now, they're not even able to hear this message right now because they're serving in kids. Thank you. Thank you. Because what you're doing when you're changing, when you're playing with kids and playing with toys and sitting on the ground and reading Bible stories and telling them about Moses and Joshua is helping rebuild walls in families. That' really what you're doing. Those of you are parking cars. Really what you're doing when you're smiling when everybody comes in is you're helping to rebuild walls because they haven't had anybody smile at them the whole time they came in all Week, all week, people been mean mugging them. And this week they happen to see somebody going, you're bringing life. You're rebuilding walls and you don't even know it. Individuals that are behind cameras, you're rebuilding walls. Right now. I want to say thank you to every single one that is helping to rebuild walls. Even why things might not be perfect in your arm own life, you're still helping rebuild walls. I want to say thank you to those of you even giving financially when you got your own struggles and you have your own debt and you have your own problems and you have your own weight and you're saying, God, I trust you anyway, and you keep on giving. You're rebuilding people's walls and you're part of a story that is bigger than anything you could possibly imagine. Let's build something. Let's build something. Let's build something for the glory of God. The culture is trying to tell you. The culture is trying to tell all of us, hey, chill, relax. Take a step back. Get your me time. You need your me time. Here's one of the lies of culture. How are you gonna pour out unless you're filled up, huh? Ask everybody. Ask everybody who's a parent of a newborn if you're filled up every time your kid cries at 3:17 in the morning. Parents, help me out here. Are you filled up? No, I'm dead tired. I'm trying to figure out what is going on with this child. I've already changed a diaper. I have already given milk. Shoot. I'm trying to breastfeed myself and I can't even breastfeed. I'm trying to figure, how do I get this child just to sleep tonight? God, would you give me 90 minutes? Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus for 90 minutes of sleep. Just help me sleep for 90 minutes. Lord, you're not filled up during that time, but you still have to pour out because God has given you an assignment in that moment. You and I can't be waiting till I'm all filled up. Now listen, does that mean you don't rest? Of course you rest. Sabbath, yes, Sabbath. Do you want to go on vacation? Yes, go on vacation. Go on your walks, do the things that you need to do to refill yourself up. No doubt about that. But do not believe the lie that you have to wait, that everything is in order in your life in order to be a part of the move of God that is happening all around you. I'm gonna get this fixed. I'm gonna get that fixed. And when I get done with this and I get done with that, and then I'll get involved. No, you get involved right now. You can play keys. Get involved right now. You can help lead worship. Get involved right now. You can be a prayer partner. Get involved right now. Let's build something. What are we waiting for? Everything to be in order. I don't. Honestly, I don't know anybody's life who's all in order. I haven't met him yet. I haven't met a person like, you know what? Everything in my life right now, it's perfect. I don't have one prayer request. I'm not asking God for anything. I haven't met a person like that. The people that I meet, even when they're on the mountaintops, they got something else. They got something going on with a kid, everything's great. But if I can just get this one kid to act right, that's not smacking the kids, that's smacking the air. Cause we don't smack. My mother, did she whip my behind? I told my mom, I said, mom, just so you know, I could have had you in jail. She goes, earl, get over here right now. I'll whip you behind right now. Earl, put me right in line. Have one kid, one friend, one issue, one struggle. So if you're waiting for everything to be perfect, it's really just an excuse that you and I like to hold onto so we won't obey what God is calling us to do, to live for the glory of God. Now, here's the thing. Nehemiah, chapter two. I'm gonna go to verse number 10. I'm not gonna go through the whole book today. Okay, we won't do that. Nehemiah, chapter 2, verse number 10. I do. I do want to show you this. When Sambat ballot, the horonite and Tobiah, the ammonite official, heard about this, they were very disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. I'm skipping here. Nehemiah prays, has a moment with the king again. You can read it on your own during your Bible study time. Beautiful. Just clear book. He didn't know what to say. He just pauses for a second and answers. He prays and then he answers the king. And then the king gives him resources to go and accomplish his mission, to rebuild the walls. And now he's on assignment from God to do something on behalf of God, to serve the kingdom of God, to lift the lives of people, to remind God's kids that God is still good and God is still faithful and God has not forgotten about them. To take them from a place of being utterly vulnerable and bringing them into a. Of safety and security that is found in God, not just in the walls, but found in the God that loves them and serves them. And as he has all of these resources and he's about to take this step, something happens to him that inevitably will happen to all of us. Opposition. Any time you begin to take steps to rebuild walls and to be the man or the woman that God is calling you to be, you can expect. Don't be surprised. You can expect that the enemy of your soul is going to bring opposition into your life. These individuals come in and they go, what are you doing? They're trying to stop us. They're trying to push him back. And the unfortunate thing is, in today's day and age, not here at this church, just some places, there's a narrative out there that if you're getting resistance, then somehow, some way, you must not be in God's will. And I say the scriptures seem to teach that when you are smack dab in the middle of God's will, there are winds coming against you because you are now trying to move forward to be who God has called you to be. If you're a teenager, if you're a young adult, if you're at school and you're saying, hey, I'm gonna start a Bible study. Hey, I'm gonna live for God. Hey, we're not partying anymore. Don't expect everybody to applaud you. You can expect some people to go, oh, yeah, man, that's great. Good job, bro. I love that. Yeah, man. And they'll dap you up. And there's gonna be some people talking about you behind your back, thinking that you're better than everybody else thinking that earlier than thou. But don't let their words stop you from moving forward to build what God is calling you to build. You keep on standing strong and you keep on moving forward. This is the DNA that you have as a follower of Jesus Christ. You're not a pushover. You have the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. That's alive on the inside of you. I'm gonna show you this verse. I'm gonna show you one of my favorite verses. I can't get away from this verse. I love this verse. Luke, chapter 13. Look at this verse. This verse might surprise some of us. This is Jesus, the meek and mild savior. The kind, loving, warm Jesus, okay? And he is. He is loving. He's kind, he's all those things? Of course. But he also has that dog in him. Come on, come on, come on. Luke, chapter 13, verse 31. Look at this. At that time, some Pharisees came to Jesus and they said to him, the religious leaders come to him and they say, leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you. Death threat, government coming at him. What does Jesus say? Oh, so scared. So I'm so. Who? Who? Herod. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Wait, wait. They posted what? Oh, they said what? Oh, wait, wait. They don't like me. Is that what Jesus does? Watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this. Look what your savior says, okay? He replied. Go tell that fox I'm not making it up. This is in the Bible right here. Go tell that fox. I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow and on the third day, I will reach my goal. In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day. Come on, Go tell that fox I'm gonna drive out demons today and tomorrow and the next day. You think I'm taking steps back? You think I'm stopping? You think I'm not gonna serve in church? You think I'm not gonna be found in the house of God? You're wrong. Yeah, you go. Cancer can come, diabetes can come. The lies can come. The fear can come. You'll find me ten toes down, up the name of Jesus, Living for his glory and building his kingdom. Go tell that fox I must press on. Come on. Is anybody's like, I must, I must, I must, I must press on. I must press on. I must press on. I must press on. There's a lot of things trying to tell me to stop, but I must press on. There's a lot of things coming at me, but I must, must press on. There's a lot of things trying to confuse me and a lot of things I don't understand. But I must press on. Okay, okay, back to Nehemiah. Go back, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back. Man, you got me more fired up than I want to be. Nehemiah. I can't even find my book. Nehemiah, you get to chapter number three. In chapter number three, I'm fast forwarding here. Everyone takes their section of the wall. Different people take different sections of the wall. Everyone has to do their part. The walls are broken down, and each family has to do their part. Here at elevation, each family has to do their part. We can't keep thinking, oh, it's elevation. Everything's done. It's not done. I promise you. Each week we're figuring it out. We're like, lord, in Jesus name, bring it together, Lord. Doing all these elevation nights and reaching the world and putting out songs. It's all so beautiful. It's wonderful. You can be tricked into thinking everything must be done. There must be no more holes in the wall. I'm just telling you there's holes in the wall because some of us aren't doing no guilt, no shame at all. You're loved exactly how you are, but also God loves you too much to let you stay that way. So we gotta rise up and understand. I'm not just a consumer here. I'm a contributor. To be a part of the mission, to reach people who are far from God and to bring them to life in Jesus Christ. In chapter three, everybody did their section of the wall. I got my section, got my section, got my section, got my section, got my section, got my section, got my section. And as everybody did their part of the wall, though, a miracle happened. In 52 days, these walls were rebuilt. Can I say this? I put it like this in my head. Whenever you want to put that on the screen for me because I forgot how I said it. Go to the next. My next slide. My next slide. 1. What's my. What's my one? Am I messing this up? Oh, yes. I was going to mess it up. What you build now, someone you love will live in later. My wife, holiest person I know. But before she got saved, she was crazy, okay? She was out there. She'll tell you. She'll tell you, crop tops and all. And got the pictures to prove it. I don't hold on to any of those pictures. This is what she told me, okay? I only know her as perfect and holy and pure. But back in the day, she was like, oh, yeah, I could drink a whole 40. I'm like, what? I did not need to know this, so. And neither are we recommending that at all. Anybody's like, well, she did it. No. No. Well, she ends up giving her heart to Christ. In college. She's working at a clothing store. This young lady she becomes best friends with. One day they're talking and Oneka finds out that she's 21. She goes, oh, you're 21? Oh, my gosh. I can believe you're 21 years old. That means you don't have to get carded when you go to a club. And she goes, oh, I don't. I don't drink. I'm a Christian, I don't go on club. I'm a Christian. And Onika said she heard that, and now she understands that the Holy Spirit put like an arrow straight into her heart of conviction, going, what's different about her than me? She gives her heart to Christ. This young lady, Jorie, and her sister, mentor, pour into my wife, and now, you know, we're living happily ever after. But Jorie was a part of a college ministry. And then there was this guy that Jorie knew, and Jorie asked him if he would be willing to sow into her, give her money for this missionary endeavor that she was on. That guy's name was Philip. Philip gave her money to help her be at this college ministry where she met Oneka. And Oneka gave her heart to Christ. Now Onika and I are building Shoreline City. Well, Philip Wagner was a pastor at a church in LA. And when he's a pastor in this church in LA, he led it for 30 years. He's now given the church over, but then he moved away from his church in la. Live with integrity, character, great people. He and his wife Holly moved from LA to Dallas, and now they're actually sitting on the front row at our church every single week. So now I go, wait, all those years ago, when he sewed into jewelry, he was actually sewing into himself. Because he says, earl, I'm here at the church and my light, my heart is coming alive. I know I'm not running this church, but I feel as alive as I did when I was running my church all those years ago. What you. If you sow now and build now, someone you love will live in later. Are you serving and giving and praying and involved in a way that your kids will still want to be a part of this church 10, 15, 20 years from now. Let it not just be good for. Come on, don't start. Don't. Don't stop clapping now. You got. You have to clap on that one. We're going to say, yes. I want to be those types of people. Okay, I'm going to shut this party down. Go with me to Nehemiah, chapter six. Then everybody you can get ready to come, come in place. Okay, look at this, look at this, look at this. I'm on my time. When? Nehemiah, chapter six, verse number one, Chapter four. Beautiful. You got to read it. Chapter five. Intentional caring for the poor and the needy like we do here at Elevation. Verse chapter six, verse number one. It says when. When word came to sambal, Tobiah, Gesham, the Arab and the rest of Our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it. Though up to that time, I had not set the doors in the gates. Sam Ballot and Geshem sent me this message. So here are the enemies DMing him. Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono. Whenever you get a DM from someone and they want to meet you in a place called, oh, no, we ain't got to pray about that. Okay? The answer to the question is in the name. Okay? Oh, no. But they were scheming to harm me, so I sent messengers to them with this reply. I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you? Four times they sent me the same message. And each time, I love this, I gave them the same answer four times. Hey, wanna come off that wall? Hey, come out here. Hey, stop living for God. Hey, that's not who you are. Come on, stop pretending. Stop acting like you live for Jesus. Now I know who you are. I remember who you are. I got the pictures. I got the Facebook post to show you. I got the Instagram to show you. I've seen your TikTok. Come on, now you're acting safe. Come on, come on, come on, come on back down, Come on back down, Come on back down, Come on back down Come on, I'm your frat brother. Come on back down to who you used to be. Come on, let's talk how we used to talk. Live how we used to used to live. Act how we used to act and then keep on pressing, keep on pressing, keep on pressing. Four times. Four times. Four times, Four times. And each time he gave the same answer. Each time he gave the same answer. Each time he gave the same answer. Opposition, same answer. Opposition, same answer. Opposition, same answer. Opposition, same answer. Then the fifth time, Sam out. Now it's five. The fifth time, Sam Ballot sent his aide to the same message in this handwritten note. Five times. Are you serious? Nehemiah stands strong because this is the DNA of a follower of God. I stand strong, not in my own strength and power, but in the grace and the power that he provides. So now he goes back and forth. But look at this in chapter nine. I'm all done here. Can you bring me out my microphone? Bring out my microphone for me. My microphone stand rather. Nehemiah, chapter 6, verse number 8. It says, I sent him this reply. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I'll take that. I sent him this reply. Nothing like what you are saying is happening. You are just making it up out of your head. Verse number nine. They were all trying to frighten us. They were all trying to frighten us. Do you have anything in your life that's trying to frighten you? Anything in your life? Trying to tell you stop, it's not going to work for you. God's not on your side. Anything? Trying to lie to you, tell you you're not gonna make it, it's over for you. The divorce, it did you in. You're done. You're finished. We know you already made the mistake. It's done, it's over. Trying to intimidate you, trying to frighten you. They were all trying to frighten us thinking their hands will get too weak for the work and will not be completed. I'm not going to sing because I can't. Like I'm saying, put the rest of that verse up there for me real quick, if you won't mind. Since they were all trying to frighten us, thinking their hands will get too weak for the work and will not be completed. But I prayed. But I prayed. But I prayed Had a lot of weight on my shoulders But I prayed and I prayed Something very specific now. Strengthen my hands, man, the grace of God Walking up and down every aisle. But I prayed Strengthen my hands. I want to do something. I saw this in my head I saw this in my head But I prayed. Strengthen my hands so I'm gonna say But I prayed and all of you gonna clap. Then you're gonna say, Strengthen my hands. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands. I'm crying myself to sleep at night. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands. I'm battling cancer right now. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands I know this world seems like it's going to hell in a hand basket But I prayed Strengthen my hands I said my kid was gonna stay here forever. But I prayed Strengthen my hands. I. I don't know if I'm gonna get through this anxiety and this depression. It feels like it's gonna take me over. It feels like it's an overwhelming tidal wave. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands I don't know which way is up Sometimes I feel like I'm confused. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. Hands. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. Come on. Strengthen my hands. Oh, God, Strengthen my hands. Oh, God, Strengthen my back. Oh, God, Strengthen my legs, O God, Strengthen my knees oh, God. Strengthen my faith, oh God, that I keep my eyes fixed on you. Strengthen my hands. But I prayed. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands, O God. Strengthen my hands, oh God. I'm not trying to muster the strength up in myself. Strengthen my hands, O God. I don't have the powering of myself. Strengthen my hands, oh God. I lift my eyes to the hills from where my help comes from. Strengthen my hands, O God. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. The grace of God is available for every single one of us. And wherever you're feeling weak, you might find yourself in your office going, I can't deal with these people. Strengthen my hands, Lord. The spirit of God will be right there with you in offices and in schools and in car lines and in E groups and in the church and at playgrounds and on basketball courts in every place. God is sending you for you to build something not for your name and fame, but for the glory and the fame of Jesus Christ. Bow your heads if you wouldn't mind, at all of our locations. Lord God, I speak a blessing over your sons and daughters. I ask in the name of Jesus, that you would fill us up with your spirit and with your power. Power. I ask, oh God, that you would do something deep within us that can only be done by the finished work of Jesus Christ upon that cross. I ask, oh God, that over every single family, over every single young person, an older person, every man, every woman, oh God, would you pour out your spirit in might and in power. And those of us whose walls have been torn down, I thank you, oh God, that your spirit sending in the right people and you're rebuilding what needs to be rebuilt so that we can live our lives for your glory. But Father, I pray a fresh fire and a fresh passion and a fresh zeal over this entire church. I ask that the next 20 years of elevation would be stronger and better and more filled with faith than we ever thought possible. I ask for there to be a unity. I ask for there to be an anointing. I ask for there to be a strength. I ask for there to be a resolve. I ask for there to be a confidence. And I pray that this church would be a city on a hill. Every family belongs to you. Every heart belongs to you. Every mind belongs to you. Every future belongs to you. Jesus, be exalted and do exceedingly, abundantly, above all, more than we can ask, think or even imagine. In Jesus name we pray. Amen and Amen. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to Give now or visit elevationchurch.orgpodcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. 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