 I want to speak to you a message that I will call, throw Tobiah out. Throw Tobiah out. I want to speak to you about a person in the Bible. He's really a footnote in the history of Nehemiah. His name is Tobiah. Tobiah, he lived around 445 BC. He's mentioned in 13 verses in the Bible and his name is really synonymous with negativity, ridiculed toward God's people and God's work. During the time of Nehemiah, Nehemiah was a cup holder for the king of Persia, and he received the permission to go and fortify the walls of Jerusalem to rebuild its walls and to rebuild its gates. As he arrived in Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and to seek the good of Jerusalem, he encountered right away this guy named Tobiah. Tobiah operated with two other guys who helped him. Tobiah was one of the governors placed by the king of Persia over the areas that he conquered, and Tobiah, he was very frustrated with the fact that Nehemiah wanted to rebuild something and bring good to the children of Israel. Tobiah is dead. He died long time ago. I do believe that this attitude and the spirit of Tobiah continues to live today, and that's what we want to talk about. I want to compare Tobiah to a demon. The reason why is because he's a perfect picture, a shadow of how demons operate and what they do even today. The first thing I want to mention about Tobiah is Tobiah attacks from the outside, but always seeks to move on the inside. Let me give you just a short little history. Tobiah spent most of his time attacking Nehemiah, discouraging him, intimidating him, threatening him. He even hired prophets to bring fear into Nehemiah, to discourage his hands from war, excuse me, from work. Many times he challenged him and said, I want us to meet outside, over there and over there. He sent letters, he wanted to discourage the work of Nehemiah. And then when that did not work, Tobiah, what he did is he aligned himself with some people in Jerusalem. And then when that did not work, when Nehemiah was gone, Tobiah moved in into the temple of God and took rent, not in Jerusalem, in the actual temple of God. And guess which room he rented? The treasury room. That's like a vault in the bank. That's where he decided to live. This guy was a governor appointed by the king of Persia. What is his problem with Nehemiah? Like leave Nehemiah be. He attacks him from the outside. He creates alliances on the inside. And then he looks for access to move inside. He doesn't occupy the temple. He occupies a room. Clear picture of how demons operate. Number one, attack from the outside. I'm going to give you a few verses. In Nehemiah 2.10 it says, Tobiah was deeply disturbed that someone wanted to seek the well-being of Israel. Nehemiah 2.19 he laughed and mocked at Nehemiah. Nehemiah 4.3 he despised and re-approached their work. Nehemiah 4.78 after some progress he conspired to create confusion. Nehemiah 6.2 he invited Nehemiah to a meeting with intent to harm him. And Nehemiah 6.13 he hired prophets to cause Nehemiah to be afraid. And I love this because in Nehemiah 6.3 this is what Nehemiah says. So I sent messenger to them saying I'm doing a great work so I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you? But they sent this message four times and I answered them in the same manner. Demons love to attack Christians from the outside first. When you are born again spirit filled, you are called to rebuild the walls of your city, of your family, even of your own mind. You are on the assignment from God, the king of kings and the Lord of lords. When you serve him as a cup bearer, he will give you an assignment and that assignment will be to build something. He will give you a call to build your family. He will give you a call to build new mindset in your own life. He will give you a call to raise your children. He will give you a call to start a small group. He will give you a call to start a ministry. Every Christian has a call from God. You might not have a call to build a temple but you will have a call to rebuild the wall. You will have a call from God. The moment you begin that work, listen to me very carefully, Tobiah will start bothering you. Tobiah is completely at peace when you are not doing anything for God. Because you become honestly no threat to him. But the moment you begin to do the work of the Lord, the moment you begin to cast out demons, heal the sick, tell other people about Christ, you must understand this is not to scare anybody to do ministry but this is to encourage us that God is building up people who have a spine, people who are strong in God. I am not in any way saying if you do ministry the devil is going to attack you. What I am saying is if you do anything towards God, Tobiahs will come out out of woodworks. They will come out out of nowhere and they will try to intimidate you. They will try to laugh at you, mock you, discourage you. Sometimes they will do it through a nightmare and sometimes they will do it through the things not happening as fast as you thought. Sometimes he will use your family, sometimes he will use people close to you who will mock, not understand, discourage you. Sometimes he will use the external circumstances to say look you did this, your life is worse. You are trying to serve God, your life is not getting better and you must be strong in your mind. You got to make up your mind that if demons can attack you from the inside, they torment you from the inside. But if you are delivered and you are doing the work of God, it is normal to experience Tobiah trying to be a thorn in a flesh in your life. You must differentiate between demonic oppression and spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is you are building the wall and somebody is not happy and somebody tries to intimidate you. Somebody tries to discourage you. Somebody tries to wear you down. Somebody tries to take you down. Somebody tries to send you some kind of bad dreams, bad prophets or maybe bad circumstances and you have to have this strong resolution to cling to your calling. Stay connected to your assignment. I love what Nehemiah says, I cannot come down to you. I'm doing a high thing for God. Keep on talking to Tobiah, but I'm going to keep on building. Keep on sending those discouragements, but I'm going to keep on going. Stick to your assignment. Stick to what God called you to do. Do not let your hands be discouraged. Don't listen to everything Goliath says about you, David. He wants to intimidate you. He wants you to make you feel less than. He wants to make you feel like who do you think you are? Cute little boy. You came against me like I'm a dog or something. You know, you should just go back. Be with the shepherds. Be with the sheep. But David, he did not allow the temptation of intimidation to take him out of his assignment. I've been in ministry long enough to know one thing. Tobiah is a real. They can come through other people. They can come in your own voice. This buzzing little like a fly constantly buzzes and makes you feel inferior. Sometimes you take three, four days too fast. The first day, you get this nightmare. You're like, man, what is happening? Do I need deliverance? And there's a difference. You'll know the difference between demonic oppression on the inside and demonic attack on the outside to make you stop doing what God called you to do, to make you be discouraged, to make you be cautious, to make you be too careful, and to make you feel like, oh my goodness, to live in phobia, to live in confusion, and to live is like, I don't want to do the work of the Lord. I don't want to do a small group. I don't want to volunteer anymore. I don't want to give too much anymore. Why? Because my finances are suffering. I don't want to help other people. Why? Because somebody just attacked me. Somebody lied about me. Somebody betrayed me. I want to be too careful and to calculate it into cautious. But be what may am I? I says, I cannot come down to you. I have a great work that I'm doing. God called me to do this work. I just want to encourage you. Clean to your assignment. Clean to your assignment in the face of your attack. Stay to your position when you're facing opposition. Stay in your position when you're facing opposition. To all the naysayers. To all the secret haters. You have to say what Isaiah, what Nehemiah said. I'm doing a great work. I cannot come down. That means I'm not stopping. I'm like a bulldozer. I'm pushing through. I'm serving God. Come hell, high water. I'm going to be winning the lost. I'm going to be preaching the good news. I'm going to be loving people. I'm going to be serving people. And I'm not stopping that. Because this is what the Lord called me. And he has given me the strength. Jesus says, in this world you will have tribulation. And Jesus did not say, so stop serving. He says, be of good cheer. When the tribulations come against you, be of good cheer. Lift up your head. Square your shoulders. I have overcome the world. And he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. If you're going through a breakup. If you're going through a breakdown. If you're going through a difficult financial situation, this is the enemy wants you to stop your assignment. He wants you to stop building. There are demons on the loose. There are Tobias on the loose. The moment the king sends you to build the wall. The moment the king sends you to start a ministry, the enemy will right away send a Tobiah. Tobiah will never throw a physical punch. He will open up his mouth. His strongest weapon is his mouth. His strongest weapon is accusation. His strongest weapon is intimidation. His strongest weapon is confusion. His strongest weapon is negativity. His strongest weapon is discouragement. And that's why you have to pull up the shield of faith and shut them down. Shut them down. Shut down those arrows of the enemy. Shut down the voice of negativity. Shut down the voice of doubt. Shut down the voice that says you won't make it. You won't survive it. Your best days are behind you. Your life is over. You have to shut them down. Lift up the shield of faith. Great warrior of God. Lift up the shield of faith. Great woman of God. Great man of God. Because greater is neither is inside of you than the one that's in the world. You will send on the assignment and you will finish your assignment. You will run your race. You will keep your faith. Every Tobiah will die. Every Tobiah will fail. No weapon formed against you. Will prostrate as the Lord and every tongue that rises against you. You shall condemn. Come on somebody give God a shout of praise. Give God a praise right now. Confuse those Tobias right now. Come on somebody. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. So many people when they embark on doing anything for God it throws them off. When they see confusion. When they see when your own mind becomes a battlefield and you must discern. It's not always because you're in sin. Sometimes it's because you're in your assignment and it's completely normal to let the enemy create these little circumstances or create these little mind wars. This mental fog that just comes on you like a cloud. You're like what is happening? Keep on. Keeping on. Like one of the men said never, never, never give up. If you're going through hell keep on going. If you're going through the valley of the shadow of death make sure you're still moving. Don't stop. Don't park. Don't drop your nets in here. Don't pitch your tent in here. Keep on going. If you're going through a challenging time right now this is Tobias trying to discourage your arms discourage your legs and discourage your strength. He wants to discourage. He wants to diss on your courage. He wants to diss on your enthusiasm. He wants to diss on your fire. He wants to diss on your prayer life. He's standing. He's dissing on you. He's discouraging. He's mocking you. He's just he's saying who do you think you are? You're not holy enough. You're not good enough. You're not anointed enough. You're not strong enough. You're not connected enough. Look at your past. Look at your yesterday. This is Tobias out there so that he can stop the work that God calls you to do but you gotta tell that Tobias I'm not coming down to you. I will hold my position in the face of opposition. I will cling to my calling in the face of the criticism, in the face of the attack. Number two, I want you to notice about Tobias when he attacked from the outside he couldn't succeed. Didn't stop Nehemiah. In fact, Nehemiah was moving forward. Then what Tobias did is he relied on his alliances. Tobias was strengthened through his connections. He by himself was weak but Tobias had two other guys that call him the Three Stooges of Nehemiah. Tobias aligned himself in Salabat, Sanbalat something along those lines that's how he pronounced his name I think. And Gashem in Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 19 and Nehemiah chapter 6 verse 1 and these three Stooges they were governors under the king of Persia. Sanbalat was the governor over Samaria. He married the daughter of the son of a priest and Gashem was the chief of the Arab south of the Palestine. So Tobias most of the cases when you see Tobias in the book of Nehemiah he doesn't come by himself. He's too weak. He's too cowardly. He always comes with two other guys. He always comes with his brothers and Tobias loves to rely on alliances but that's not what his strength really lied. Where he got closer to the temple to be inside of the temple it's when he aligned himself, aligned himself, connected himself to the priest. Let's read Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 4. Now before this Elias Sheeb the priest having authority over the the storerooms of the house of our God was allied with Tobias. For some dumb reason the priest of God makes an alliance with the enemy of God's work. Let me say that again. The priest of God makes an alliance with the enemy of God's work. Few things I want to highlight. One, whatever enemy you're battling with be very careful not to go into covenant with that that is lingering longer than it should in your life. Where you allow the season of discouragement to become something where you are now a discouraged person and discouragement is who you are. You're just a negative person. It's just who you are. It's now what you are. So many people go into covenants with those things God fully anointed them to conquer. People become homosexuals like that where they simply say well this is just who I am and everyone should accept it. But if you track them down you will see that's not they didn't believe this all their lives especially those who grew up in Christian circles. They believe that this is not something who they are. This is something that they battled with. But after a while when you battle with something for so long you can get exhausted and it can get tiring where you will say you know what there is an easy way out and the easy way out is if I just accept it if I just make it who I am the culture will support me the culture will embrace me there are laws right now in my favor everyone if they say anything against me I can take him to court and it's easy to make covenants with things God calls you to conquer. Now if you are not a Christian in this room today this doesn't apply to you you can make a covenant with whoever you want to make a covenant with and honestly God is not your judge one day he will but right now you are your own God you can make up rules as you go you can do whatever you are you got the freedom but if you are a Christian who claims that Jesus is your Lord you have no right to come up with your own constitution based on your experiences. Come on somebody when I came to the United States I came without speaking English I came at the age of 13 I have no right to invent my own constitution when I became a citizen of the United States I have to embrace the constitution of the nation that I live in if I would have come to the States and said well guys I'm from Ukraine I just want to let you know y'all we're changing constitution why because a Ukrainian arrived in the States no they'll deport me back to where I came from they're like dude if you want that constitution you got to go to that country in this country we have a different constitution so my friend when you become the citizen of heaven when you become the child of God there is a constitution that you cannot amend you cannot change this constitution and you gotta stop altering it you gotta stop changing it to fit your weakness you gotta stop changing it to fit your lifestyle you gotta start changing it you gotta stop changing it to fit your compromise this constitution is so powerful it can change your homosexual tendencies it can change your lustful life it can change your addiction it can change your abusive patterns it can change your past this word is so powerful it can change you if you stop changing it but the bible says that to buy a made an alliance with the priest it's happening today when people make alliances with the enemy sometimes because they're so discouraged it's been so long the battle has been prolonged you're like you know what I don't know if I'm gonna ever win let me just make a deal let me just sell out let me just make a covenant but another part where people make covenants with and I want to touch on specifically when you make inner vows I will always be like this when you make inner vows in response to an alcoholic father I hate him I'll never be like that these inner vows vows are alliances with the enemy in response to painful circumstances you make this very deep emotional inner vow you're opening the door from the enemy attacking you on the inside to the enemy now coming in closer and closer to having a foothold on the inside when you develop soul ties with people that you have no business having soul ties through sexual immorality through very strong unhealthy dependence on your mom or on your dad on your pastor the bible says the men of Judah their soul was attached to David the bible says that jacob's soul was attached his life was wrapped up in the benjamin even the rest of the siblings knew if benjamin something happens to benjamin jacob will take his own life it's over for him that's not healthy when you wrap your life around somebody that much that people know if that person is gone you can't move on the bible says David his soul was attached to jonathan my friend when you are married to your spouse you have an emotional tie that's completely healthy when you have children you have an emotional tie to them that is completely healthy but there comes things where they become unhealthy where your life is now wrapped up and it's controlled by an emotional tie by a soul tie and we have to be very careful because the bible says god wants to break i'm gonna read to you the verse it says that the enemy wants to break our soul into pieces in psalm chapter seven verse two it says lest he tear my soul like a lion rendering it in pieces while there is none to deliver one of the ways the enemy likes to get a foothold in is through soul ties inner vows and some christians i prayed for one person for deliverance who verbally contractually made a covenant with devil himself in exchange for sex and money while claiming to be a christian we prayed for one young man you can see the video on youtube who when his brother died he went to a cemetery digging up dirt and asking satan to enter him while he was catholic now i don't understand how people would do that but you must understand is that your ability to make vows inner vows alliances and soul ties does not disappear when you become a christian how could tobaya make an alliance with the priest i can't explain that but it happened watch your heart protect your mouth when you are in the battle when you're in the spiritual war zone when things are difficult because the enemy is putting pressure on the inside so that you on the outside so you can cave in on the inside and you can just snap he was just saying you know whatever happens and you start going around maybe cursing your destiny cursing your children and like rachel when she was bursting her son you know and she called him ben oni meaning the son of my suffering because she died in the process of delivering him and jacob is like that's not gonna happen jacob is like yeah my mama called me supplanter i lived with that for half of my life cheating lying cutting corners he's like this kid is not going to become the son the son of suffering he went and he right away switched his name he said the son of my right hand called him benjamin why because he's like this kid is not going to live his life suffering just because he was birthed in suffering i'm going to go and cancel that he's not going to have those words over him be careful what you pronounce be careful these deep-seated convictions that you develop in the process of difficult marriage in the in the process of going through a very difficult time in your business with your children and you start saying this i wish i would have never had them you know would have been better for me to do this or that you know what this sucks i hate this and you begin to kind of release that and these are deeply convictional words that take root and the enemy might not enter in but he already got the code he already got the keys and the third place we see tobaya not only he's putting pressure on the outside he develops an alliance with somebody on the inside and the third place we see and want you to notice when he really succeeded when Nehemiah took a trip to Babylon as long as Nehemiah was there tobaya even though he could probably squeeze himself in there was a boss in town there was a sheriff in town there was somebody who was watching over everything he couldn't do anything but when Nehemiah goes back to the king that he was serving as a cupbearer tobaya like a slithering snake comes into the temple he's asking right away for a room i'm thinking i'm like dude why do i need the room you're a governor you probably have your own palace because the enemy always wants to have a place inside he might not possess you he can't possess you as a christian but he's not seeking to possess you as a christian he just wants a room maybe it's your anger room maybe it's your speech room maybe it's your bones the health of your bones room maybe it's your marriage it's what you do when all the kids are asleep your wife is asleep and the room of what you browse on internet that room maybe it's some other he just wants a room and in this case he got the best room he got the room with all the finances the bible says tobaya didn't hurt anybody he didn't kill anybody but what he did when he lived in that room is that levites stopped receiving their monthly paychecks and levites all left the temple went to work why because tobaya was bottlenecked all their salaries now he didn't kill anybody he didn't hurt anybody he just stopped the flow of finances for the people who are supposed to work in the temple and Nehemiah comes back and he sees he's like what is tobaya doing in the temple to buy us like i got the keys who pushed you into the temple the alliances that i made have opened the door for me and they gave me a room in the temple i love Nehemiah this guy was brutal i want you to see what Nehemiah does Nehemiah 13 verse 6 and 7 but during all this time i was not in Jerusalem for in the 32nd year of the king of Babylon i had returned to the king then after certain days i obtained leave from the king and i came to Jerusalem and i discovered the evil that aliyah sheb had done for tobaya in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of god when your Nehemiah goes on vacation your tobaya comes in to move and rent your rooms Nehemiah speaks of your commitment to prayer Nehemiah speaks of your bible reading Nehemiah speaks to your consistent life of discipline in what you watch and what you hear Nehemiah speaks of you going to sleep a little bit earlier waking up a little bit earlier Nehemiah speaks of you reading books instead of just watching entertainment Nehemiah speaks of you on Saturday instead of just going and watching the boat races and getting little sipping saints a tipsy christian you're coming and helping at the new church Nehemiah speaks of you not staying up late because after 10 o'clock you're not going to do anything productive by going to sleep early waking up and being in god's word that's what Nehemiah speaks of when your Nehemiah goes to Babylon please understand tobaya comes in i demonstrated many times in this service if we turn off this lights the darkness the tobaya is going to walk in right there instantly i don't have to invite the darkness i guess let's try it the moment light goes out guess what happens darkness comes in when Nehemiah leaves tobaya comes in he didn't come to rule the temple he just come to occupy one room there's a room of you as a husband there's a room of you as a father there's a room of you as a male there's a room of you as a man there's a room of you as a businessman there is a room of you as a minister there's different rooms your soul is made out of rooms even demons returning back said we will return to our house they see our body our soul as a house and every house has different stories as an attic as a basement has different rooms and what tobaya wants he knows he can't get the spirit because the holy spirit lives in there but through our casualness through our weaknesses through our sins he wants to slither slip in and begin to occupy one rule and maybe your life is not demonized but you're constantly missing and noticing levites aren't getting the checks you're noticing something is not right with my health doctors can't find it something is not right with my finances it's almost like there's a hole in my pocket what is happening and i want to ask you a question today has Nehemiah left the temple has tobaya got inside what has replaced your relationship with the lord the enemy can't get in and not always he seeks to kill and destroy sometimes he settles for stealing my brother and my sister-in-law had an incident that was on the news where they forgot to close the garage doors in a wonderful safe pascoe and the garage doors were left open and they were so generous not only their Subaru was inside of the garage they just left the keys inside of the Subaru now there was some guy on the bike roaming around that saw that as an opportunity now he didn't see the fact that it's not his he never went inside of their house he didn't harass them he didn't threaten them he didn't do anything bad to them he simply went in got the keys and drove that car out from the garage and that's really how the enemy operates how tobaya operates when you open your garage and you leave the keys inside he might not come in with the gun and beat the living lights out of you but he will just take something that you left vulnerable now thankfully lily lily my sister-in-law the guy really stole from the wrong couple because my sister-in-law works in one police department my brother-in-law works in another police department literally this was a really really bad decision he should have stole from somebody who does not work in police departments and they have a really good insurance that if they wouldn't find the car the insurance would pay him more than the car was worth so like it was it would work out for their good in spite of their situation but the problem is that he was not found until he went and he stole something else from somebody else and then the police caught him they found the car thankfully the car wasn't damaged the car was restored the car was was was brought back but they learned a very valuable lesson after this happened I from the outside in when I heard this story I was like you know what I need to improve on security in my own house because it has been more than once that I left the garage doors open okay the next day some salesman was roaming around our neighborhood selling security and usually I'm one of those guys when somebody comes to selling stuff at my door whether Jehovah's Witnesses Mormons or salespeople I have one word and that's one word get behind me Satan that's it I just closed the door I don't want whatever you're selling I'm not interested this time I was like come on in inside tell me more and my wife had me and I I got security system I got alarm this morning the jackal went out to the to the bathroom outside it triggered the alarm the alarm beep beep beep you got five seconds and police will come and so now even my own dog can get arrested because of the security system in the house so I just want to encourage you when you hear a testimony of somebody else may it remind you to lock up your own garage doors may it remind you to secure your life by the blood of Jesus and the word of God may it remind you close the garage doors close the windows set up the password in your life listen dedicate your life to more holiness dedicate your life to walk in the feet of God dedicate your life to walk in prayer and to walk in fasting dedicate your life to holiness why because only then the enemy cannot touch you he cannot get inside he cannot take your car he may try to oppress you from the outside he may create spiritual warfare by my friend you will be safe and sound because Jesus Christ is the Lord and he is the savior of your soul