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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 Take out your notes. Nehemiah part 1. Take about your notes in in all the locations. Prayers that get heard and change the world. And I believe this. There are prayers that are gonna0:25 be prayed this week that are gonna change the world. I wish I had another person that believed that, but I believe it. Don't be ashamed to say amen to the preacher.0:37 Amen. Even if he's on video, just shout at that video screen. Amen. Alright? Prayers change the world. Amen. Yeah. Your prayers are gonna0:48 change your world. But we need to learn how to pray, and that's what today is about. Nehemiah opens up with the following words in verse 1. The words of1:00 Nehemiah, the son of Hakalai by the way, how would you love to have a dad named Hakalai? And it says this, now it happened. Somebody say it happened. It happened. What happened?1:12 You know what happened. You know what 20 24 did to you, to your family, to your job, to your loved ones. I don't know what it is, but you know what it is. My question is, do you want more1:24 of it, or do you want it to change? You can't stop it from happening, but you can stop it from becoming permanent.1:36 Now it happened in the month of Kislev. That's December. So this is cool because it's kinda right around where we are. In the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, this is the king of1:47 Persia, as I was in the Susa, is, in Susa the citadel, that's the this was the winter retreat for Persian kings. Now I want you think about where Nehemiah is. He's in the1:58 winter retreat that you you we call it Fort Lauderdale. Amen, somebody. The winter retreat for Persian kings, and he's there.2:10 And he's a Jew, but he's living in where? Persia. He's not living in Israel. He's not living in the promise land. The reason why is because God kicked them out of the promise land. Some of need to2:22 know the story. Israel deteriorated for 400 years after Solomon brought them to the pinnacle of wealth and success. How many know wealth and success can be sometimes the worst thing that can happen to you? It went2:34 to their head, they got all kinds of arrogance, and they walked steadily away from the Lord. They started to serve the gods of the pagan nations around them, And the country slowly deteriorated,2:46 much like our country is slowly deteriorating. Some of you look at the country that we're living in and say, where what happened to it? Where is it? What what is going on in our world? I2:58 remember in 2001 when a vicious terrorist attack rooted in Islamic jihadism brought us together. How many remember that? How3:10 many remember when everybody showed up at church on September twelfth? It was it was a whole new day, 6 the sixteenth, the Sunday after. And everybody came together, and everybody prayed, and everybody sought God because3:21 of a terrorist attack. But this year, my oh my, how far we have fallen. 2, not 1, terrorist attacks also rooted in Islamic3:32 jihadism. The news won't report it because the news needs to play you politically correct. I am a preacher of the word of God. I do not need your approval, and I do not need your politically correctness in this3:44 place. I will tell you the truth. It was rooted in jihadism according to the false religion, the devil's religion, Islam, and it was targeted in 2 cities,3:56 Las Vegas and New Orleans, and I was shocked and horrified not by the attacks because attacks and things happen. I was shocked by the response as hundreds of people marched in the cities of4:08 New York and other cities and chanted on behalf of the jihadists. My god. How far we have fallen as a country. And it's gonna get worse if we don't4:20 repent, turn from our ways, and seek almighty God. America is gonna continue to deteriorate if we don't come to our senses, come to the truth of God's4:31 word, and seek Jesus Christ, the only answer to the problems of our world. We've gotta wake up. We've gotta speak up. Preachers gotta pray up,4:43 seek God, and get right with him. No more church as usual. No more what's happened in the past. We need a mighty move of God in 20 25.4:57 Now that's what has happened for us. Maybe for you, something's going on on the front burner of your life. You can't even occupy your mind with what's happening in our country because your life has got some terrorism in5:08 it. Your life has got some problems and trouble in it that that you don't understand. And and I I gotta tell you, you can't stop it from happening, but you can do something about it in Jesus' name through prayer and5:19 fasting. Now I was I was shocked by verse 11. You see verse 11 up on the screen there? This is the last verse of the chapter. This is the last verse of the opening chapter. What5:31 does he say? This is the last line. Now I was cup bearer to the king. Do you know what that means? He was at the right hand of the king of Persia.5:44 That that's like being the secretary of state. The Persians were known for making wines. They're known for making rugs now, but they were known for making wine back then. And the job of the cup bearer was to bring5:55 the cup of the king to his lips. Of course, you would first taste the wine. Why? Make sure it wasn't poisoned. So you never asked a cupbearer if he was having a good day. If he was alive, he6:07 was having a good day. But but he was right in the halls of power. You know why I think verse 11 catches me so much? You know why6:19 I think because you have to wait until the last verse of the chapter to find out that Nehemiah was at the pinnacle of his profession. I6:31 mean, he had reached the mountaintop. You you you don't get much higher than standing at the right hand of the most powerful man on the planet. And6:43 and and mind you, you didn't just taste the wine for poison. You were a I read about this. You were a king's confidant. You were 1 of his advisers. His his his ear was attentive to6:55 what you said. What I'm trying to tell you is that Nehemiah had this incredible position in life. He was probably very well off. Like I said, he was living in what was the Fort Lauderdale of those days, the sunny7:07 area in the winter retreat, handing the king wine, living the high life, and you have to wait until the end of the first chapter to even hear about that. Because something happened in this guy's life7:19 that made him realize reaching the pinnacle of life without a purpose from God is empty. It doesn't7:31 matter. Now I had some time off, and I like this time off because I finally get that catch up on some shows that people recommend. And some of you recommend some real doozies, but every once in a while,7:42 you recommend a good 1.7:43 So somebody recommended that I watch Enigma by on Netflix featuring Aaron Rodgers, Super Bowl winning quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers, pitcher of our country, he was raised7:55 in the church. Must have been a legalistic church, must have been a, you know, I don't know, suit and tie, I don't know what it was. But he walked away from his Christian upbringing and got into NFL.8:06 Really cool story about getting to the NFL, how he got there. Some of you remember that he was he went way down on the draft board, and it was unexpected, and then he proved himself under 1 of the greats of all time,8:16 Brett Favre, and and really struggled through that, and then reached the pinnacle, got to the top of the mountain of the NFL world, and won the Super Bowl. I think in, like, his third year starting.8:28 And he says in this documentary that he started a moment after the moment of the Super Bowl win, there was a question.8:41 And the question is a question we've all heard before. Did I aim at the wrong thing? Is this all that life8:53 is about? You know, Dorothy Sayers famously once said that when God wants to play a really cruel trick on somebody, he gives them everything they ever wanted. And Aaron Rodgers' story turns from that9:05 moment. And the next episode shows you that he gets involved in transcendental meditation and weird medicines in Costa Rica, Ayasaka ceremonies. And he goes down and he gets9:17 into all this spiritualism and meditation, and it's just he looks like a fool. Looks like a fool. And and sadly, he's still in that captive situation to the demonic and to the unspiritual realm, and and9:28 still I don't know if anybody has seen him play lately. He doesn't play like he used to play. This is what happens when you open your spirit to the demons of hell. And this guy is now searching, searching, searching. And9:39 you know what? I thought about his story in regards to Nehemiah because here's the thing. Both Nehemiah and Aaron Rodgers reached the pinnacle of their profession, and they both came9:51 up empty. And if you're not careful, you'll chase the wrong mountain. You'll go after the wrong goal, and you'll get it, and you'll suddenly realize that10:03 it's not all that. Because the pinnacle of life without a purpose from God is empty. And Nehemiah's life doesn't really even begin until verse 2.10:15 Think about this. This is really the important moment in his life. It says, Hananiah, 1 of his brothers, came and reported to him, and he asked 1 simple question. 1 simple. How many understand this? 110:26 conversation can change your life. Can totally reorient what you're living for. That's what happens here to Nehemiah. He asks the question, hey, how are my brothers10:38 my fellow Jews doing in Jerusalem? Because they had been given permission by King Cyrus, who was the king of away a couple of empires back, to go back and rebuild their land. And, they were still gonna be10:49 under dominion of the Persians, but they had the opportunity to go back. And so he asked to go and he goes, how is thing how are things going in my home nation, my home city Jerusalem? And and it says they said to him,11:00 the remnant there is in trouble and shame. The wall is broken. The gates are destroyed. And look at verse 4. As soon as I heard these words,11:12 I sat down and wept. You ever get news where you just can't stand anymore? That's what happened to Nehemiah. He just fell down, and he wept, and11:24 he mourned. I think we need to be mourning and weeping for our country. Anybody with me on this? I think you some of you gotta watch out what you watch on television. You gotta watch out what you watch on the Internet11:34 because it teaches you to laugh at this stuff. And we don't wanna laugh, we wanna weep. We should be weeping over our culture. We should be weeping over our society. We should be weeping over11:46 sexuality all over the all over the culture, all over the Internet. We should be weeping over what's happening in the halls of power, weeping over what our leaders are doing catering to those who are criminals and law11:57 and and not law abiding citizens. We should be weeping for what's happening in our school systems and what's happening amongst our young people and the suicide pandemic because there is a serious problem. The devil is12:07 having his way, but there's 1 group of people that can stand up against him and say thus far and no farther, and that is the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I'll build my church and the gates12:19 of hell won't prevail against it. We've got victory promised us. But if we're gonna change the world, we've gotta stop acting like the world. We gotta stop enjoying all that the world12:31 has to give us. He wept. He mourned for days, and then he does what? He continues what? Say it. It's right up there on the screen if you can't see it. He fasted and prayed. That's why we're gonna12:43 fast and pray for the beginning of our year. God, start something new in me. God, do something powerful in my family. You can't stop it from happening, but you can do12:55 something to get it out of your life. And Nehemiah and Aaron Rodgers went 2 different ways when they reached the pinnacle of life. I'm inviting you into the Nehemiah path,13:07 finding a purpose and a calling from God. It's the only thing worth living for, friend. So so here's what happens. Write this down at the top of13:19 your notes. Nehemiah's story began when he started building for God. What are you building? Some of you we're gonna talk about this next week, but some of you, it's time to look at your life and see it as a building and13:30 not just as a body. And there's all kinds of bricks to your building. You gotta start looking at all the bricks. We're gonna talk about that next week, you come back. But here's the thing, you you gotta understand13:39 something. God wants you to build. Somebody say this with me. God wants me God wants me. To be a builder. To be a builder. You're you're you're in the process. See, God's a builder. The13:51 book of Hebrews says that he's the builder and maker of a holy city that's coming down from heaven. Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. What is it? By the way, what was Jesus' job?14:03 He was a carpenter. He was a builder. He was a maker. You gotta learn to be a builder and a maker of life. Don't just settle for where you are. Don't don't don't just be satisfied.14:15 Don't be a victim of what's happening around you. Start to ask God for a vision, for a calling, for a purpose beyond money, status, notoriety, followers, and likes. Something14:27 that's meaningful, something that's gonna impact your generations, your children, and your grandchildren. And someday, your grandchildren will be thanking God for your faithfulness because you built for14:38 God. Get off the sidelines in 20 25. Get off the sidelines of this church and get involved and start building. 3 areas that God wants you to build. Number 1, write this down. My life. God wants me to build my life.14:51 Why is my life first? Shouldn't we put others first? No. Listen. If you're not strong, you can't build anybody else up. If you're not if you're not built up, how are you gonna build someone else up? You can only15:03 give what you have. You can only affect what you've been affected by. And some people in this church, you it's time to focus on building up your life in God.15:16 Fasting and praying, I'm telling you something, is gonna do that to some people. Some people I'm so excited for you. You're gonna have an experience with God like you've never had before in this week ahead. You're gonna15:26 see, you're gonna experience some of you say, I've never felt God. You're gonna feel God for the first time in your life as you fast and pray. And you're gonna get built up in your inner man, built up in your spirit, so15:37 that you can do number 2, which is build his kingdom. You build your life, you get strong, then you can contribute to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the multifaceted tentacles15:48 of Jesus' influence, throughout all the realm of the universe. The kingdom of God is not just in this church building. That's what the devil wants you to think. The devil wants you to think, keep it in the church. Just16:00 worship God in private. Keep your faith to yourself. Keep keep that's all that's all fine and good. You just keep that isn't it amazing how our culture has been completely duped to celebrate sin and be shamed about our16:12 faith? It's time we turn that upside down. It's time the church comes out of the closet. Amen, somebody. And says, we worship Jesus, and we wanna follow Jesus, and we're gonna16:24 serve Jesus in whatever area God has for us. God has his kingdom working in the halls of power in Washington, and in Beacon Hill, and in Tallahassee, and Charlotte, North Carolina, and Raleigh. God has16:35 people on location in the place that he has for them, just like Nehemiah was at the right hand side of the king of Persia. He was there by divine appointment to affect the kingdom of God16:47 and change the world intergenerationally. Same is true for you. You're not just a teacher, you're a member of the kingdom of God. You're not just a janitor, you're a member, you're on assignment.17:00 You don't have to be the boss. Nehemiah wasn't the boss, but he made more impact in his generation than the king, the most powerful person in his generation. You can't even name the king, can you? He17:12 was at the right hand side of of the king. Can you name the king he's talking about? Only a few of you. I heard a whisper over here. Too ashamed to say because I put it in that context. I get it. His name was Artaxerxes,17:23 and his name is on the ash heap of history, but we're talking about Nehemiah because he claimed his divine calling in Jesus' name. Then number 3, you build other people. God doesn't just want you to17:34 focus on you. He wants you to focus on your family, your spouse. How how about this? How about we look at 20 25 as our opportunity to build our spouse and not criticize our spouse?17:47 How about we learn how to build our chill children and not just raise our children? We you raise chickens.17:59 You build children. Some of you think, well, I've given them food and shelter. No. No. No. What have you built into their spirits? What have you built into their minds?18:12 And I think about this. How do we get started? Here's how we get started. Write this down. Building with God begins with prayer and fasting. You can put and fasting after that, but prayer will do it as well. Some of you18:22 who've never fasted before. Some of you are brand new to the church, you you you don't have to fast with us. This is on you. This is your op your your choice. No judgment. No condemnation. But I18:34 invite you to participate because I think God's gonna open things up in your life that you have never realized before. But when it comes to prayer, this is on my heart today. I think that some of you stare at the idea of18:45 prayer with a blank look on your face because it intimidates you. You don't know how to pray. And some of you don't get anywhere in prayer because you've never been taught18:57 to pray. In fact, the disciples who were walking with Jesus, actually, at 1 point, they realized we need to learn how to pray. And in Luke chapter 11, they say, Lord, teach us to pray just as John19:08 taught his disciples. Any good preacher is gonna preach is gonna teach you how to pray. Because here's what Billy Graham once said, heaven is full of answers to prayers that were never19:20 prayed. And and I want you to get all your answers. Amen. Anybody with me on I I don't want heaven to have 1 leftover prayer by the time I'm dead.19:32 Anybody with me on that? But some of you don't realize this, there is a way to pray. If you went to a foreign country, you better believe that the first thing that you would do is19:43 what? Learn the language. Heaven's got a language. Heaven's got a language. And some of you got more damage in your life because you're not praying the way God maps out in his word.19:56 It was in 19 45, the World War Second World War was coming to an end. The Germans had surrendered. Hitler had killed himself. The Allied forces issued the Potsdam Declaration. They sent a letter to the20:08 emperor of Japan, Kotaro Suzuki. They said, it's over. You can't win. Spare the lives of your citizens and issue a full unconditional surrender. But20:20 Suzuki was a man full of pride, and he didn't want to just simply say in front of his people, I surrender. So he issued 1 a 1 word statement back to the allied forces.20:32 The word that he issued back to them, and I wrote this down so I'd remember it, is mokats mokatsatsu. Mokatsatsu. Now the thing about that word in Japanese, and the problem for the20:44 Japanese people was that word can have several different meanings depending on the context. And because he didn't put it in any context and just issued the word, he thought the word was meaning no common. Mokizatsu,20:56 no common. But there is an alternate interpretation of that word in the Japanese language. The alternate translation is get lost. And when21:08 Harry Truman heard Mokusatsu, he interpreted it as get lost. And America and the allies were sick of the kamikaze spirit in Japan, and the issue was ordered,21:20 and the bombers flew over Hiroshima and Nagasaki and dropped 2 atomic bombs and killed 246000 Japanese people21:32 because of 1 word. If you're gonna speak to somebody in a different language, you better get the language right. If you wanna see heaven's answers invade your earth reality, can I21:44 tell you? It's time to get the language right. So I wanna help you. What does what does Nehemiah say in verse 11? I love this I love this this21:56 text. He's he says, let your ear be what? In other words, God, hear my prayer. How do I get heard in heaven? That's what I wanna talk about. 4 points and then we're done. Number 1, prayers that get heard and22:08 change the world begin with worship. You open your prayers talking about who God is. Let him know that you know who he is, and let him know that you think he's22:20 wonderful. You love him. He's the great and look what Nehemiah says in verse 5. He says, oh lord, god of heaven. Notice the next line. The22:32 great and what? Awesome God. Do you open your prayers with problems or do you open your prayers with praise? Do you open your prayers with worries? See, some of you don't get22:44 answered because all you do is you come to God with a bucket list of all things you want him to do instead of lifting him up and extolling his name and praising him in the midst of the problem. The God that is great and22:56 awesome. We used to sing a song in my day. Our God is an awesome God. He reigns with power and love. Our God23:07 is an awesome God. And if you wanna really get jiggy, you'd say, when he rose up his sleeves, he ain't just putting on the ritz. Our God is an awesome God. Right? I love23:19 that song. You gotta lift him up. When the devil's pushing you down, lift Jesus up. Learn how to open your mouth. When you come into church, you understand that the worship is not the23:31 pregame show. It's not the it's not the thing that you make if you get everybody in the car on time. No. You gotta prioritize worship. You gotta lift up Jesus. Because what you gotta do, worship sets the23:43 atmosphere that you know that no matter what's coming at you, there's a God who is in you who is greater than he that is outside of you. The enemy comes in like a flood, but the spirit of the Lord raises up a23:55 standard against him. That's my promise from heaven. And instead of talking up your problems, talk up your savior. Hallelujah. That's worship. Jesus said, this is how you pray. Our father in24:06 heaven. What's the next line? Hallelujah. What is that? That's worship. This is how you start prayers. Sing to God. Worship him. Somebody turn here here here's a New Year's24:18 resolution for you. First thing on your heart, first thing in your mind, the word of God on the in the morning. Or worship. I I love to do this. When I'm when I'm stuck with the with my work24:30 or I'm, you know, I'm just in a mess and I just don't know what to do, I turn on worship music. I close the door. I shut myself in, and I just start to worship God. Now notice this. This is important for you to see in24:41 Nehemiah's story. In chap in verse 5, he says, oh, great and awesome God. He's already worshiping. But just for a second, back up to verse 4 because notice the condition he was in when he started24:53 worshiping. It says, as soon as he heard his words, he sat down and wept and mourned and he fasted and prayed. He was weeping, he was mourning, but listen to me, he was still worshiping. You need to learn how to25:05 worship when you're weeping. Amen. You need to learn how to praise even in the midst of the problem. Because this is the devil's job for some of you, his assignment. His lieutenants and lieutenants, this is what25:16 he does. He just says, here's how you shut that mouth. Here's how you shut up Charlie over there in Massachusetts or over there in Florida. This is how you shut him up. All you gotta do is give him a problem and he won't25:26 he won't talk to God, he won't worship, he'll just he'll just he'll just go inward and it'll be all miserable for the week and you got him for a whole week by giving him a small problem. And at some point, you gotta25:36 fight back to the devil and you gotta say, hand me your words because I'm gonna still worship my God. I'm gonna worship God no matter what's around me, no matter what's surrounding me, no matter what I feel. I I I love25:46 that song by Michael w Smith, when I'm surrounded, I know I'm surrounded by you. We lift up our eyes. Here's here's what I want you to write down. Worship opens the doors of heaven. You wanna get25:58 God's attention? Start to just you know, say, I don't wanna I don't wanna sing, pastor. I feel funny. Well, number 1, you shouldn't feel funny about singing. There's all kinds of commands about singing. But listen to me,26:06 you wanna learn how to worship and just extol God and lift up. And I think, and I believe it, the atmosphere changes when worship is initiated.26:19 I think about Lamentations. We just heard that text this morning. This was the divine coordination of the Holy Spirit, because I didn't tell him this was in my notes, but it's in my notes. And Lamentations written by26:28 Jeremiah. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet, because all he did was cry. All he did was weep over the condition of his nation. And he says, remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. My26:37 soul continually remembers it. I'm bowed down within me. But then the next verse, but this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. In other words, I'm gonna change my mind. I'm gonna stop thinking about all the26:48 worries and the wormwood and the gall. I'm gonna start talking about that the fact that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your26:58 faithfulness. And he just starts worshiping God in the midst of his tough, in the midst of his trials and troubles. And his spirit has changed. Some of you need to start this this year off right. Worshiping God27:10 is the opening act of every meaningful, effectual prayer. Number 2, continue with confession. So you27:22 you turn now to what's going on in you. And I can't tell you how important this point is. And it's modeled here in Nehemiah's prayers to27:34 go back and do something about the damaged and destroyed walls of Jerusalem. Verse 6, what does he say? Verse 6, what does he say? We have sinned. You can27:46 do it. I have sinned. And then he goes, even I in my father's house have sinned. I am a sinner because I come from sinners. And27:58 he takes ownership here. We've acted corruptly. We've not kept the commandments, the statues, the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. There's there's here's here's prayers that get heard. I'm trying to tell you28:09 something. Here's prayers that get heard when you take ownership of your faults, of your of your sins, of your failures.28:21 Jesus also taught this in the Lord's model prayer. Matthew 6 12, forgive who? Us. A large portion of your prayers should be28:33 confession of sin. Psalm 68 18 says, if I had cherished sin in my heart. What is he saying? If there was areas of my life28:45 that I decided I'm gonna hold on to that, I'm not letting God have control of that. I like that too much. I know it's sin, but God understands. No, my friend.28:57 Enough of that mentality. If God says it's wrong, it's wrong. If God says it's sin and it's in your life, confess,29:08 repent, turn to him, seek his face, take ownership. John first John says this, this is the promise. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is29:20 not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and then to what? Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The moment you confess, you get cleansed. That's the good news of God's29:32 word. We're not under the old testament covenant. We're not under the mosaic covenant. We're not under the law. We're under grace. But grace is not a license to sin. Grace is the work of the holy spirit coming into us to29:44 make us realize the motivations within the sin, the depths of the sin, the the the nature of our hearts. And you know listen to me very carefully today. You know you have come to Christ when you start29:55 taking ownership of the sins in your life. Why am I pointing at this? So why am I pressing on this? Because this culture and younger generation, I don't wanna pick on you, but I want you to hear me.30:07 You have been taught, you have been trained, you have been educated, you have been politicized to believe that everything wrong in your life is somebody else's fault.30:20 And it's not. You've been trained to blame the tax man. You've been trained to blame the president. You've been trained to blame your teacher, trained to blame your mother, your father, trained to blame your30:32 ancestry. Black people trained to blame white people. Old people trained to blame young people. Young people trained to blame old people. And everybody in this culture is a victim. And if we're all victims, who's the30:43 victimizer? At some point, we gotta look within us and say the problem is me. I need Jesus to change me. I need to stop worrying about what's happened to me and ask Jesus to change me.30:55 Because the changed me can affect the things around me. I am more than a conqueror through Christ who gives me strength. And I love I love pastor Chris' message last week. I I think it was the31:07 best message he's ever preached about anxiety. Amen. But I wanna add 1 thing. Some of your anxieties are your fault. You're bringing the anxiety into your life. Enough blaming everybody else31:19 for what's going on in here in here. Take ownership. They've done many studies. The marijuana smoking is leading to anxiety. I got no time for Christians who wanna tell me about marijuana.31:31 Don't tell me about marijuana. It's a drug from the pit of hell. It's destroying your spirit and your emotions. Don't try to justify it. They've done studies about the THC level in marijuana31:43 that they're selling now legally in this state, ungodly ways that they're acting in this state, is 10 times higher than it was when it was illegal. And it's the THC, element in the stuff that31:55 causes your your your hormones to spike and then drop precipitously off a cliff, and then you got anxiety. They've also found out alcohol consumption contributes to anxiety.32:07 Thank God, finally, the surgeon general is finally doing something right and putting a warning label on the alcohol beverages of our culture to say it causes cancer. It does more than that. It affects your spirit. You32:19 can't be drinking the spirits of this world and expect the spirit of God to change things for you. You gotta take ownership of what's going inside if you want what's inside to be in right with God. Some of you are32:29 anxious because you compare yourself to everybody else around you. Some of you wives. Some of you wives. You're anxious because you over involve yourself in everybody else's life. You need to back off. Stop being a32:38 Karen. Be content in Jesus' name. Stop worrying about the kid down the street. Be a gracious person. God's forgiven you. Forgive them. Some of some of you gotta stop and young men, you gotta32:50 stop lusting after the women of this world. Stop comparing the girls that you're around to the fakies on the Internet. Start putting God first. Start setting God's word in your heart that you33:02 might not sin against him. Reject the lust of this culture. Reject this porn culture. Get it out of your life. Get it out of your eyes. Put Jesus Christ on the throne of your heart and watch the33:14 anxiety levels come down. If you can't tell, I've just I've just about had it with the victim mentality. I've had it. I've had it. I've33:26 had it. No. No. What whatever's happened to you, you can't do anything about, but you can change in Jesus' name how you respond to it. The joy of33:38 the Lord is my strength. You know where that passage comes from? Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 8, but it was 8 chapters in after he put his heart to seek the God of heaven. And there's not just33:50 1 prayer. There's 10 prayers of Nehemiah's of Nehemiah recorded in this book. So so some of you are anxious because you're chasing the good life, and you're just not getting there. And so you're just anxious, and you're34:01 depressed. You're depressed because you you look at what their marriage is like and and what their marriage is like and what her house is like. And some of you housewives, you're you're chasing the Joanna Gaines life.34:12 Get that stuff out of your mind. Be content with what you have. Be thankful. Be grateful. Start turning praise up to God, and then take ownership of your life and34:24 confess your sins. That's what confession Confession is rejecting victimization and taking ownership of your spirit.34:37 And I think that's where things start being birthed in you. Some of y'all don't wanna hear that, but you needed to hear that. That's called true preaching right there. See, the quieter you get, the34:49 more I'm really preaching. You understand that? Chronicles 7 14. Look at this verse. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek35:00 my face and turn what? From their wicked ways. Their wicked ways. Not blaming somebody else.35:12 Not not not not talking about your daddy issues, your mommy issues. Their wicked ways. Then the next very the very next phrase, then I35:24 will hear. Prayers that get heard. Start with worship. Continue with confession. Here's number 3. Claim God's promises.35:36 Claim so you don't have to sit there and just beat yourself up for the whole 7 days that we're praying fast. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what Nehemiah does. He turns from confession to claiming, and I love35:45 this because he starts to call on God. Look at this line. Verse 8, underline the word. Remember. Do you know that you can call God to remembrance? Remember what you commanded your servant. And he goes35:57 on and he talks about the covenantal stipulations. Now, we're not under the covenant of Moses. We're not. We're under the covenant of Christ's blood. Don't let anybody tell you that we gotta go back to, you know,36:08 Sabbath observance, to the feast days of Israel. Don't let anybody ever do that. We are not under that covenant. We are under the covenant of36:20 Jesus' blood. His blood cleanses us from sin. But he reminds God. He reminds God of what he said in his word. I love Isaiah 62. Look what it says. This is a36:32 fabulous text. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest. Keep reminding God what he said in his word. Do you know what he said in his word? How if you don't know what he said in his word, you can't you can't36:44 remind him of it. This is why it's so important that you know what he said, so you can call him out on what he said, and that's not insulting to God. I think that honors God. He says, wait a second. You read my36:55 bestseller. I'm gonna take you seriously. I have 3 children. I have learned after 23 years of parenting to37:07 never promise anything. Do you know why? Because they never forget.37:18 I I forget. The other day, I broke my I broke my role, and I'm having Jake help me out with some stuff around the house, And, he didn't wanna do it. He wanted to play video games. I said, no. You're gonna do this. You're37:29 gonna help me. And he hemmed and hawked, and he helped me. And then he said, okay, dad. I'll do it if you buy me ice cream. I said, okay. Biggest mistake of my week. That kid hounded me,37:41 hounded me. He helped me, but then he hounded me and hounded me. Some of you gotta learn how to hound God about what he has said in his word. God, you said. Some of you got lost loved ones,37:54 and you're settling for the devil having his way with them. And you gotta remind God, you said you desire all men to be saved, Lord. You said you wish that none should perish. And this38:06 1, you pay attention to my son. Pay attention to my daughter. Put the Lord in remembrance. Give him no rest. I I love the the promise of Ephesians 3 20. He is able to do38:18 exceedingly abundantly above all I can ask or imagine. That's my prayer for 20 25. Father, I want you to do more. You said you could do more than I can ask or imagine. So I'm asking, but I'm expecting that you're gonna38:28 do more than I ask. I love Romans 8 28. All things God is working for my good. That's my promise. That's your promise. Whatever I'm going through, whatever I'm experiencing, whatever's comingShow more
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