 Here in Nehemiah chapter 2 we pick up the story. It's an incredible story I love the book so much because it has to deal with a man of incredible character The more you study Nehemiah the more you look at it. You begin to read how much character He was not anything except the cup bearer and what is interesting about cup bearer in those days You think well, I know what it is. It's just somebody who tastes the wine. Well, he did he was responsible for that He would keep the king alive, but he also would taste the food But even on top of that the main responsibility of a cup bearer is that he Would stand in front of the king's house and the door and no one could go in Unless they went through Nehemiah not even the wife Not even the family could go in to the king's palace now Why would that be well, you know that many of the kings were killed by their brothers and so on Many of the kings were killed by their wives. So the most trusted Man in all the kingdom guess who Nehemiah a Jew So here is kind of an interesting thought Daniel the same thing He had an excellent spirit and you remember he said that I have the purpose in my heart that I I'm not going to eat That meat and because he purposed when he was 15 years old He was able to stand in the lion's den when he was 90 So if I'm going to stand when I'm 90 years old with the lion It's because of what I did when I was 15 years old he purposed they didn't like it But he said listen at the end of ten days You will see that we're ten times better and ten times wiser And so the unit of the king's palace it's okay. We'll try it and sure enough They brought Nehemiah they brought I should say Daniel and he was ten times better And so Daniel went from kingdom to kingdom to kingdom He went from Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom to you remember the Meda Persians kingdom Cyrus Darius He went all the way up to the sages kingdom So he went through four kingdoms and here's what they said about him We're not going to find anything that we can find against him unless we come against his god And Daniel was a man who prayed and that's what they went after and so when the edict was written by Darius That he would once again throw anyone who would pray to any other buddy, but him then he realized the mistake he made So they threw Daniel in that lines then the next day Darius came and said king king or Darius or Daniel Daniel. Are you alive? He's no king live forever the god who my sir continually he has sent his angels to watch over me and All of a sudden we begin to see a pattern Caleb had an excellent spirit at 85 He could begin to climb a mountain and out do any kids at all So there's a thing about this excellent spirit It means that you are filled with the anointing of God that the work of the Holy Spirit is all over your life And that all of a sudden if you're dating you're not messing around trying to touch her or trying to mess around See how far you can get you're trying to respect her And you're trying to honor her and you want to put God first And you don't want to mess around more than she doesn't want you to mess around in other words She has found somebody who has an excellent spirit every other guy is into one thing and that's it And so all of a sudden you think well Why did I end up with this guy because when you were dating he treated the waitress horribly? He was on his best behavior, but he couldn't do that right either And so you got what you got and because you looked on the outside We could never pray this prayer God if it's not your will take him out of my life No, can't pray that God he's finally the guy who want well didn't pray the prayer well God You always take away the things I give you well great. Let him do it one more time See what why are we afraid of giving God everything and what happens is we think no this one I'm gonna make a decision and do you realize the mistake you made what about Hezekiah God said to Hezekiah You're going to die get your things together. What did he do? Did he trust God? No, he turned over and wept and beg God with all of his heart God Please give me 15 more years and guess what finally God just said okay. I'm tired of your weeping You can't you're crying too much. You're a king. I can't believe this. So you have 15 more years What did he do in those two 15 years or 15 years? He did two major things that just messed everything up number one He had a boy named Manasseh and Manasseh was the guy that cut the prophet Isaiah in half That's not a good thing Secondly one day he opened the house of Treasury up to Nebuchadnezzar so he could see what was inside the house of God You see because of those two acts All of a sudden Jerusalem would now be under attack because of his foolishness when it's time to go home Guess what you want to go home? You don't want to beg God plead with God or stay longer with God you want God to do what he wants to do Nehemiah the same way He's a cup bearer in chapter one and chapters two all the way through chapter six He's gonna be a construction guy. He's gonna build the walls now. Let me tell you how incredible this is He built the walls around Jerusalem if you guys are carpenters like I am 52 days it was done. That is almost impossible To build a city wall in 52 days and it says to buy it and sand ballad. They were completely bummed out How did he do it? He had everyone working the kings. He had the priests. He had the scribes He had every single person doing the work and guess how he did it He made everybody work in their own backyard. So if you were doing your backyard, you were doing it And all of a sudden your wife said hey, honey that Little crooked isn't it so you have to go back and straighten it out And then all of a sudden I live next to you and so all of a sudden I finally realized well Your brick has to overlap my brick and so we have to work together And then over here Dave's over here and he's trying to do it, but he got sick So guess what you and I had to go over here and help David We built our walls and they were the most magnificent Someone else said hey, I think I'll put a waterfall on my wall You know and they built this wall and they did it for the glory of God and the walls were connected in 52 days But he taught him how to work and he also said I didn't take what belonged to me the money I was a at that point. I became a builder. I had right to be a governor, but I didn't take the money I slept with them. I ate with them We had one sword and we had a trowel we worked and we fought and he taught his people how to do it And so we see and then verses chapter 7 all the way through 13. He became what a governor So you could say in chapters 1 through 6 he rebuilt the walls then in chapter 7 through 13 He reorganized their lives and what do I mean by that he got into their life He made him break up because they married women outside of the Jewish faith He made them reorganize their life and he brought back the glory of God This guy was incredible, but he was a cup bearer And so the last thing you could do is you did not want to get the king upset How important was it? Well, let me say this Daniel said from the going forth of the commandment to rebuild and restore the wall Shall be what 170,880 days so from March 14th 445 BC when exerces told him to go to the day that Jesus Christ came in on a donkey 32 AD was exactly 170,880 days in other words it was like 69 weeks or 69 times 350 or 360 days in a year Babylon encounter and it was to the date So it started from that day he went into the city and one last thing before we dive in he was 900 miles away So he was having a time of his life until one day the brothers came and his own brother came and said hey Have you heard how bad it is in? Jerusalem Ezra went to rebuild the city or rebuild the temple Rebebel did the same thing they rebuilt the temple, but then it been a few years So Nehemiah found out though the temple was built the enemy was coming in and the people were going outside Intermarrying so you had this lack of separation Nehemiah his burden just began to go crazy So he didn't know what to do and here is the probably the golden nugget of all nuggets in chapter 1 When all of a sudden he hears the news It was at the beginning of the year in chapter 2 where we're going to read right now Four months later. So guess what? This is the heart of this man for four months. He prayed he fasted He wept and he mourned those four Adverbs that's he's just a bam bam bam. He mourned he fasted he prayed and he wept So guess what when it was time he was ready. So I want to teach you Why you want to learn how to pray and if I could do my kids again? I teach them how to pray I think I was a good dad I don't think I taught him how to pray the way I want to even now in our church We're getting on Sunday night We're praying as a congregation and every day at 3 o'clock we pray as a church and that has changed our lives So if I had to do it again, I would teach my kids how to pray Why because teachers are a dime a dozen, but those that can touch God Those that can communicate to God those who understand what it is to speak to God Those are the ones that God's gonna do great exploits through and so it's so important to understand this And so if you're going through a tough time I'm gonna ask you to give it four more months if you're thinking about divorcing your spouse I want you wait four more months if you're thinking about quitting your job wait four more months Because I want you to make sure you're right on tune and not in the flesh And so we're gonna see this in a very profound way of what he did So the character of Nehemiah comes out He was a cup bearer as I mentioned to you before and we find out that the king said three questions to him Exerces number one and verses one through three. He questioned. Why are you so sad? That's a bad day because the king could kill you if you made him sad Then in verse four and five the question. What is it that you want? In other words, this king was really good. What is it that you want? Tell me and then number three question in verse six through nine How long is it going to take so this came was really together. Tell me how long you're going to be gone Are you going to come back? Yes? I am but during these four months. It was not a time of waiting It's a time of preparing and that's where I believe Christians make a big mistake. They're waiting for God to do some I don't think that's where it's at. I think you have to start preparing when your heart's ready and that woman's heart's ready God will bring the two of you together But he could be speaking to her and you're not ready because you're just waiting for God to do some well Hey, guess what you better be preparing or God could be preparing a job for you And God could be pairing the work for you or the ministry for you and God preparing your heart and when God sees it time then he brings it together and that's what you want more anything in your whole life You want to give God time and we don't we mess our lives up and we give God a week to get together Just give God time and space and you cannot believe what he can do in and through your life So he was full the spirit Nehemiah. He was absolutely a guy that did not quit on the job He pondered what God spoke to him. He went down He looked at the rubbish and I want to give you three things to think about jot these three things out Because if you don't get anything else out of tonight, I want you to understand three things that are so important in your life Number one you have to see God through the rubbish You have to look at all the things in your life and see God for instance when semi I was cussing and cursing David and Joe Epps said can I take them out? Davis said no, how do I know that God did not send semi I to deal in my heart? I don't know my life has not been right I've been in sin. This guy could be really a guy from God. So don't touch him I deserve what I'm getting right now. Let him alone later on. He was killed, but right now He didn't know so could David see through semi I and see God working in his life If he could he wouldn't touch semi I unless God told him to so number one look at what you're going through Maybe you're overweight. Maybe you're just going through a tough time physically the pain in your life Do you see God through that situation if you can that's great It says that the donkey could not even go over the top of the rubbish. It was so bad So he had to get off he had to walk himself and then it says he pondered this in his heart He for three days he walked around and just look at the problem of everything in his life And that's exactly what happened at Jericho. They walked around they walked around they walked around for seven days on the last day seven times thirteen times Finally it dawned on them. They can't bring this down. It's too big. This Jericho has mocked them This Jericho has embarrassed them if it was going to come down God was going to do it from inside out And that's exactly what happened. So you've been trying to tackle this thing destroy this thing Maybe it's pornography you've been trying to deal with it. You can't do it. No, you can't why? Because you are into the realm of a supernatural evil So it's gonna take a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit and it's gonna take God in you to give you the strength to walk away from it Because you're in bondage and why you weren't paying attention Satan begin to wrap it and your brain took it further and further And your lust took it further and further now you want to get out of it and you can't So what do you do? Well, you can get help that's great Or you can bow your knee and ask God to show you that the Baptist in the Holy Spirit And now you're going to attack it in the realm of the Spirit because the moment you bow your knee heaven's gonna go crazy And the moment you confess heaven's gonna go crazy Now you're going to be able to attack this thing in the realm of the Spirit because it won't come down It will not come down. It's like a marriage. You cannot figure your husband out and I can't figure my wife out I just can't I mean I got married to her remember in one week So I walked up and say hey, are you going with anybody? No, do you like anybody? No, will you marry me? She was sure So I called my mom and I said mom. I'm getting married next week. Well Stephen. What's your last day? I was I don't know I didn't ask her My mom said are you on drugs again? No mom well worked out don't do that But it worked out and so, you know, that's not the best way to do it But we've been together, but we had to learn certain things in our life So here he's saying, you know, number one, can you see God through the rubbish number two ready number two? Can you see God through people? That means that you can see God through your wife. I don't know We've gotten a big fight the other night. No, can you see God through her? Bob says don't go to bed with wrath on your heart. Make sure you kiss her make sure you tell you love her Well, you know what that's like. I know it's like jumping out of an airplane at 30,000 feet with no parachute You're gonna die. You know, it's hard, but you know, it's just true humble yourself So can you see God? No, I'm so bitter. I can't forgive. Well, that's interesting So people who can't forgive people who are bitter basically don't see God in another way They see what these people have done. But what about this? What about yes, they've hurt you but their life is miserable and you have the freedom to set free and you won't you think God's gonna be upset with you absolutely You are gonna be thrown into the debtor's house You're like the king that forgave that one brother and then he went out and grabbed somebody else and when the king found out that you Were unloving he went and got you and threw you in prison be careful And then thirdly he was able to see God in government He was able to look through the trash and the lies and everything else and see at the end of the government There was a king of kings and Lord God's government. So I have I'm able to go to bed at night I know too much, but I'm able to go to bed because I know one day Jesus Christ is gonna come Secondly, I know that behind my wife and all things she's gone through There's a God that loves her and loves me and thirdly I know no matter how much rubbish there is in my life God is wanting to show me something and I have to see him same thing with the boat He put the disciples there to teach him a lesson. What was the lesson? They had to see God So in that storm he didn't get in the boat He stood there so they could see who he was Secondly, he spoke to them so God wants you to hear him and God wants you to see him in the storms of your life Otherwise, what's the purpose of a storm and by the way, didn't he say go to the other side? Didn't he say that what that's the word of the Lord God told these disciples go to the other side That is God's word. How can you sink if God told you that you see God told them But they didn't believe the word of God, that's the problem So here is a guy at Nehemiah that had everything going for him and he had this incredible heart and he finished well 52 days he was done. Gehazi, he didn't finish well Solomon, he didn't finish well. We know pastors. They don't finish well. Well, I want to finish well That's important to me. So let's take a look at Nehemiah four things I want to teach you this morning that I think are really really really important and we find four words I'm going to give you number one a word, you know, so well patience. How many of you have patience? Don't raise your hand Patience You know, why does your wife tell you ten times to do something because you don't listen? So she has to tell you ten different ways, you know, do this do that take out the trash Well, she has ten ways to tell me to take out the trash. Why because I don't she knows I'm not listening So listen these year second word persuaded. Are you persuaded? Are you absolutely persuaded that God's for you? Not against you. Do you know that his thoughts are for you and not against you? They're not evil, but they're good to an expected end Do you know that God does not withhold unless he's more gracious at the end? Do you know that God's thoughts for you are more than all the sands the seas? Do you know that when you look at heaven and see the clouds those are the dust of his feet? He flung the stars into existence. He measured the universe with his right hand look it up a span What's the span nine inches if you're a carpenter nine inches? 18 inches and Then the reed was 10 foot tall, so they grab a reed. That's a 10 footer. They do a cabinet 18 inches That is nine inches. He measures the universe with nine inches of his finger. I like this one the best He takes his right nostril Opens a red sea There's a big God we're talking about you know, but but our our God can't do nothing. He's not for us because Cancer gets capital C and Christ is nowhere, but I had cancer small C Christ is a big capital You see, you know when you look at this you begin to realize so let's look at and then number three You have to prepare. Are you prepared at number four? Are you persistent? Steve how are you gonna pull this together? I'm gonna show you it's really kind of fun It's all in verses one through nine. Let's take a look at number one. How do I deal with obstacles number one? How do I deal with them say put your kids in there? Put your marriage in there put your business in there put your church in there doesn't make a difference How do I deal with my physical health spiritual does not make a difference might be impatient number one lesson You have to learn patience. Look what he says in Nehemiah chapter two verse one It came to pass in the month of Nisun April four months after What he said what he said in chapter one in the twelfth year of exerces the king that wine was before him I took up the wine gave it unto the king now I had not been before time saddened in his presence In other words, he had been able to keep it somewhat together. He was quiet before God But notice the first thing he did he was what he was waiting on God. He did not complain He did not go grab a phone. He didn't call anybody. He didn't tell anybody He bowed his knee before God built that relationship. So the same thing happens when you're flying I flew a leera jet one time and the pilot, you know, I was I was doing pretty good job And and all of a sudden he says we got to make a correction. I said why he says your two degrees off I said well, he said the way you're going we're gonna happen Hawaii But we're gonna die because we're gonna run out. Yeah, okay So I corrected it did great every no one knew and so all of a sudden he says now we just dropped a thousand feet and You're on a head-on collision with another plane. Oh That's not good. What happened? Well when you turn back you didn't give it, you know, the thrust it needed And so as you turn the drag dropped it down So I brought it back up, but I went too far 4,000 feet kept their wings straight everything cool He says now you're way out. So we got to bring it back down. So when you're a loss, what do you do? First thing you do you climb why because you don't want to hit a mountain number one rule in the plane you climb That's what you do in prayer number two. You communicate. You don't say hey, how are you doing down there? Talking to this guy down in the station. Hey, I'm lost up here. I don't know where I'm going. You don't do that You say get me down quick Because you don't know what you're gonna hit you don't know how much gas you have You're lost number three. You have to once again confess You can't be saying hey, how's it going down there? I just want to talk. You know, I'm just up here No, you want to say I am lost now guys have a hard time with it Guys have a real difficult time with GPS because they don't like that woman. Tell them what to do and They so for some reason they don't believe that satellite they think they know better Though they don't know what streets in front of them and that's how I like does they cannot accept it I have guys on my staff that argue with that thing day and night drives me crazy I don't like those guys and then all of a sudden, you know, so they get lost now Let me give you an example the wise men. When did they finally find Christ? How old was Christ? two years old They follow the star, right? He says that Christ was in the house, so I just kind of blew the whole major thing didn't I? Sorry, but he was in a house two years old. Well, that makes sense because guys get lost now put a woman They would have found him in two weeks Because they go to gas station a guy goes to gas station. Hey, what I'm lost. Okay Go here go there turn right turn left turn right right right left and the wife just say oh lord Jesus help me father the guy gets back and the wife says you got I got it right here got it Honey, did you write any of that down? No, I didn't I got it's okay He has no idea what he's talking about. He's lying So again, we see you have to wait because when all of a sudden with Heather, I had to wait 15 years I had to wait and three scriptures. God gave me be still and know that I'm good be still Be quiet Stephen and know that I'm done stand still and see the salvation of God Remember that Moses and then you remember what Naomi said to Ruth set still till he's done his work So it's not you telling me or me getting information Why am I in this mess because my broken relationship with God? God? I'm lost. I need help The first thing me am I did because he was such a great guy was he had the ability to turn to God I don't know what to do. Sometimes God shows you something about a spouse. You go tell him Now did God tell you to do that? No, then why do you tell him? Well, he told me that doesn't give you right You will tell somebody if God spoke to you. Why do you speak to you? I don't know what you asked God Did he give you a green light yellow light or red light? What do you mean? You know, well if God shows me something about my wife, am I just gonna walk in and tell her what God showed me I don't think so. I did that didn't work Well, why doesn't you're the head I know I'm gonna have issues the neck and she turns it any way she wants So I got to make sure so sometimes God says green light go for it sometimes God says yellow light Sometimes God says red light. Don't you dare share what I shared. I gave you that information. Check it out to pray for your wife Well, I never thought about that. I know why because we just move too quick. We don't wait He prayer is waiting on God. He waited for four months and what was he waiting for? He was not going to ask the king. This is what he said God you hold the king's heart in your hand So God you do it. Well, I'm not getting a raise. Well, why should you get a raise? Well, I'm working hard No, the Bible says that Promotion comes nothing the East or from the West but where You want to say it but from the Lord Promotion comes not from a boss or somebody else. It's God giving you that promotion So some people I've been with you 13 years. No, you've been with me one year 13 times You see every year you're not growing you stop growing So when God sees you consistent when God sees you growing then God begins to call you But he's looking for that excellent spirit So prayer it says in Isaiah 30 verse 15 for the say the Lord God the holy one of Israel in Returning and rest shall you be saved and quietness and confidence shall be your strength. You said name So where's your strength? You're gonna mount up the wings of eagle from what fly you're gonna run and not faint You're gonna walk and not stumble in other words day that wait Why are you waiting because you don't know what to do? You thought you did but it wasn't right But the moment you bow a knee heaven goes crazy Because now you're looking for a super natural answer to a situation and remember Satan only attacks in Relationships and we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and he comes and he tries to destroy our marriages and our Relationships and our guys and girlfriends and whatever it might be he wants to destroy us So we need to wait on God in Psalm 27 13. I had fainted unless I had believed and waited and Then one more in Psalm 37 34 wait on the Lord Keep his ways and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land when the wicked are cut off thou shall see it wait Secondly not only did he wait but secondly check it out How do I deal with these obstacles being persuaded look at verse two and three he was persuaded Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick interesting This is nothing else but sorrow of heart Nehemiah Then I was very afraid and said to the king let the king live forever Why should not my countenance be sad when the city and the place of my father's Scepticers liest waste and the gates thereof are consumed. You see he did not lie He did not hold back. He was absolutely persuaded. This was the moment. He was gonna speak white He had been praying for four months when you are praying and you're asking God to open a door Guess what he does? You opens the door What I have found out is people when they see that they don't want to do anything. What's what are you gonna do? I don't know But what are you praying for? I don't know What would you like God do? I don't know Why were you praying? I don't know We're gonna name you I don't know You know, it's like, you know, or all of a sudden you've been asking God to do something then the phone rings Would you like to change your job? I don't know What have you been praying for last year? Give me a new job. Could it possibly be or what did Moses do when he was to go through The Red Sea he's praying And what did God say now's not the time to pray now it's time to move. You see he was out of balance Sometimes we should be moving When we should be doing that, but we're praying sometimes we're praying we should be moving sometimes we're moving we should be praying in other words You can't be in the perfect harmony into you are together It's real simple study Well, Steve, what's the problem? Why am I always out of whack because you're not in whack with Christ if this is Christ And this is you what's the cross when God wants to go this way you don't want to go So you can have all these wrong relationships, but is it the person? No, is it you? Yeah Will ever be the church? No, will ever be my wife? No, it'll always be me Why because if I get right with God everything else turns through it's there It's right here against you and you only have I sin so it's not other people It's me either. I'm not communicating or I'm not standing or I'm not doing this thing But I'm letting this stuff eat me up. That's not what you do. You go before God you wait you seek you pray fast You're serious You're in desperate need for God to work and secondly you're persuaded now why? Because all of a sudden the king says well, what's wrong? The king answered you Four months and did me am I see I'm afraid no me am I you've been asking God to speak to the king to speak to you Guess what he's doing? See, we're not real tuned in spiritually and guess what he says. Yes He says how can I be any other way? I'm kind of bummed because my people are destroyed and that's a good answer number three so powerful number three Goes on to say how do I deal with obstacles and here it is number four is the biggest point being prepared I don't understand when you begin to pray God begins to prepare your heart. What do you mean? Well when you are quiet before God God begins to speak to you I have a book. I carry around my journal. I write everything in it God speaks to me I write it down. I read my Bible. I write things. I never go anywhere without my journal And because it is the moment where God begins to speak and so here all of a sudden it says pray without ceasing So I've been praying without season But all of a sudden I'm praying but who is God changing tell me is he changing the king or is he changing me? Is he changed my wife? No, I wish but no change me because she comes up She goes where would you like to have dinner tonight? I said, oh, no Not this one. What are you talking about? I said honey. We're talking about something. No, what honey? I just don't want to talk about this Steven. What's wrong with you? Nothing, honey Where would you like to eat tonight and honey? Can we just like you pick it? I'll just go wherever you want to go and She's starting to get mad with me. I said, okay. I want to go out back. I don't like out back Why we have to go there? You know, I thought you wanted me to pick it Every single time it happens. So I said, I don't want to go down this road to just pick it So, you know, it's like but I here's what God shows me. I I haven't the button still there She can still push it. See God finally took the button out with my daughter So she could push it all day. I didn't move none of these things moved me Neither that I count my heart dear that I might finish the course with joy the ministry that God has set before me And I'm not gonna be moved my husband to do what he wants I'm not moving if he moves and you move the distance between you two are bigger if You don't move and your kids move the distance is not that far But if they move and you move the distance is way out of the way You have to stand in the ground You have to stand there and so he prepared he says in verse 4 Then the king said to me for what does thou make a request? What do you want? I don't know I just hate that, you know, tell me what you want. Well, I think he what he says this is what I want to do He says here So I pray the God of heaven and Philippians 4 6 be careful for nothing But in everything by prayer supplication with thanksgiving let your request be known to God You can be very crystal clear you can speak it with authority and then psalm 37 verse 5 Commit thy way into the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass Do you know that there was a time you probably read it in Ezra where he stood? He read the word of God and the people stood from day to night. I think I want that in my heart Why did they do that? Well, there's a reason why because Why do all these people stand before Ezra? We would not do that where there was a reason when they came back into the land Ezra was reading the word of God. He came across the genealogy He began to read and every name if your name got read that means you own the house inside the city And you got it back for free. So you think you stand there and listen to it You bet your life would if you didn't hear your name, Rick You'd have to go outside the city and live. So people are motivated by the word of God And so we realize here he was prepared and then he check it out that one last one How did we deal with this obstacle by being persistent three things? This is what me am I want to do and this is what will happen with you if you wait four months If you just give God a moment of your time If you just believe God with all your heart and soul and mind that God will never let you down Three things and this is the am I speaking to the most powerful man of the country at that time He's not number one. I need your permission look at verse five and six I said to the king if it pleased the king here you hear that if it pleases you If I serve it has found favor in my sight that thou would send me to do it I don't want to go by myself. I want you to send me then I know it's good You see I don't want to call DC and say can I come up there and speak I don't want that because I don't know if it's gone But if they call me, I know it's gone and what I what they're gonna get is I'm going to hold the word of God I'm not gonna call Neil and say can I come on Fox because I'd be scared to death, but if he calls me I Know it's gone. So I'm not gonna hold that That's the authority God wants you to like he goes on to say in verse six The king said to me the queen also said he by him for how long shall the journey be good question And when will thou return so it pleased the king to send me and I set him a time He later on we read three years. I need three Because not only do I want to rebuild the wall. I want to get the people together great things are good. I Will send you out. It's a heathen king. How do you change a heathen king? How do you take a mayor? How do you change the president? I say how do you do change a CEO? You pray your heart's up. God will wake him up in the middle of the night It could be that how do you reach a kid that you love that's out there like my daughter? You can't reach him, but you can sure say God you hold Heather Heart in your hands with you and you're a better father than I am with you help her Sure Steve. I'd love to help you Will you forgive her? If you don't forgive her stupid no matter what I do is not gonna help you And by the way, you have been living in darkness Because you are unwilling to forgive so your soul is dark and you've been teaching the people of South Bay and you've been in Edges about killing right there. And so I realized that it's light and darkness number two Not only I need permission. I need your permission sir number through to I need your provision I need your provision Verse seven and eight more over I said into the king if it please see very polite if it please the king Let a letter be given to me of the governor's be on the river and then verse eight a letter Also to the keeper of the king's forest because I need to make beams in the city and in the walls and over the gates and I need to have the timber for the side of the gates and the tops and and For you know the king studs and everything else. I need to have these okay fine. I need two lives. Okay, great. You got Really so when did all this come to him? Well, I tell you what when he's praying he's thinking when I'm beginning to build I'm thinking how many doors how many this I'm just thinking but when he's praying He's thinking okay if he asks me I better have an answer I want to have an answer so we think that have an answer for every man Is that just Christ is that just that or is that your boss at work? That's your boss at work They finally say hey come on talk to you. Well, I haven't talked to CEO for a long time. Well, I'm here. What are you gonna say? I don't know If he says what do you like do you like anything would you like it? Yeah? I would by the way, thanks for calling me up here, and then you tell them what's on your heart you're not afraid of anybody and then lastly not only do I need your Your your Permission second I need your provision with third. I need your protection first night He says then came to the governor beyond the river and gave them the king's letter Now the king has sent the captain of the army of the horsemen with me That's so cool, you know because all of a sudden you realize that Nehemiah had an army Because the king wanted him back the king wanted to make sure this was successful But Nehemiah still had to prepare everything, but all I'm saying is to me when I read this I Think it was God working in Nehemiah. It's like don't you it was God speaking in Nehemiah So here's what I think happens We get so hurt so bitter with God that we forget to let God in and then we get upset with God because Well What did Martha say if you would have been here my brother would not have done what did you say he's not here see Or what did Peter say? No, I'm not gonna deny you and Jesus at Peter before you hear the cup for three times. You're gonna deny me No, never Peter Satan has ripped you and Satan was gonna beat you But I have prayed that you are going to overcome and when you do you're gonna straighten the brother So all of a sudden Peter was there. I don't know the man Guess what? He's warming himself by the fire of the world. He had the Holy Spirit But now he has this fire of the world. He walked a far off. He took a whack at the servant of the sword of the flesh I don't know where his fisherman gets a sword. He's out of he's totally in the flesh. He's not yielding He's not surrendering. He's swinging. So when I started swinging, I'm in the flesh Finally, he walks the far off. He's warming himself and then they kept coming out to Peter Curse it be the man. I don't know the man And Jesus the Bible says and mark mark and Jesus looked and Peter looked and the rise hit and Peter remembered That's why I need God to speak to me like he's never spoke to me ever before in my life that I'm doing That's more important than a Sunday morning a large church or anything else And I can tell you that you can have your children back You can have your marriage back, but somebody has to pray and Jesus said I don't find men willing to pray And who is going to stand in the gap? The only way you can solve your problem is you have to understand why you have the problem You've got them because you were not there. You've got to get back You have to be okay. You have to be persuaded because we lose heart. We lose focus We have no confidence and here's what he says. I under right here if your heart condemns you You have one greater God But if your heart does not condemn you you have access to God So either way you're fine You can come to God and God will give you his heart or you can run into God because you have access with them But never is there a time in your life that God doesn't love you all the things that we Lose and suffer because we will not simply give God