Elevation with Steven Furtick - It's Your Door

Episode Date: July 24, 2022

How are you defending what God gave you? In “It’s Your Door,” Pastor Steven teaches us the importance of putting practices in place that will guard our hearts when the enemy attacks. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey there. Before we jump into the amazing message today, we wanted to let you know about our upcoming tour, starting in just a few days. We're heading out in the month of August with our friends, Carrie Job and Cody Carnes,

and we're coming to a city near you. We're going to have an amazing time in the presence of God. Every single time we gather, he's faithful to meet with us and do something new and fresh in our heart. So we hope you'll join us. Yes, we're going to be. in Dallas, San Antonio, Omaha. Soup balls. We're going to be in Toledo, Dayton.

We're coming to you, Knoxville, Huntsville. Yes, we're also going to be in Louisville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York. So come out, join us, bring your friends, bring your family, everything you need, tickets and information is at elevationworship.com. We'll see you soon. All right, how many are excited about God's word going into your heart right now? That's what has to happen, y'all. The Word of God has to get in your heart. Up here in your head, you just got a history lesson.

Oh, no, maybe you got a little motivational saying. If it gets in your heart, it goes home with you. If it goes home with you, it can help you in your real life. Not your church life. Not this little time we share together, but the whole expense of your existence as a human being. And that's what I'm after, and I believe that's what God is after today. So may he speak something life-changing in this place. I'm going to let you be seated.

I've got a few different scriptures to read, so go ahead and take your seat. Man, it gets hard to hold these sermons all week while I wait for you to get here. Really does. I feel like I got these boxes to keep coming, and I can't hold all of them. So that's what's been like this week with the scriptures. But one scripture that I want to make sure we look at today is, from Nehemiah, chapter 6, verses 1 through 4, and Nehemiah, chapter 7, verses 1 through 3. And some of y'all might have post-traumatic stress disorder when I say, Nehemiah, don't worry,

I'm not starting a building project for the church today. It's about the only time Nehemiah gets to come to church when they're raising money for a fellowship hall or something. Hand me another break. But not to be corny about it. but I believe God is building something in each of us. And that God's construction project in your life related to your character, your contentment, that's what I mean when I say the hard work of happiness.

Holly mentioned it when she made the announcements. That's what I've been working on in my own life. I realize that, man, there's an easy way to get high and feel happy. Not necessarily just off of drugs, you know. It could be food, it could be gossip. There'd be a lot of different drugs, you know what I mean? You just have your own little pill bottle, but it might not be something physical. It might be something very internal.

And then to realize that to truly in a sustainable way know the joy of the Lord, well, that's going to take work. So not to bore you with all the details of how I got here, but in Nehemiah chapter 6, verse 1 through 4, I want to share with you just a really brief glimpse into something that I think it's going to be so simple that some of y'all won't listen. Some of y'all won't listen. It'll be so simple that some of you are going to shut me out right now. But sometimes we need practical strategies for spiritual battles. Sometimes we do.

Go Naman and dip into Jordan. What in the world does that have to do with my skin? What in the world does launching a fishing net on the other side of the boat have to do with being the disciples? But the Lord will give you something practical sometimes. Everybody say practical. By the way, I hadn't even greeted the e-fam yet. Hello to our e-fam all over the world. Let's thank God for them.

Right here from Valentine. Quick question in the chat. What state, what city? What state, what city? If you're in the United States, shout out to our pop-up church in California. today. Where are they in California today? Riverside. Y'all make some noise for Riverside. Pop up, praise, party, and Riverside. Amen. So good, so good, so good. So let me know the city and state that you're in right now as we go to the Word of God, Nehemiah chapter 6. All right, the Lord's

going to shift something in your life today. Nehemiah, chapter 6, verse 1. When word came to Sanballot, Tobiah, Gesham, the Arab, and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it. You're not bragging. But I mean, he's been through a lot to get to this point. This was a hard project. Here's how hard it was. They couldn't do it for 80 years until Nehemiah got there.

They kept trying and it would stop and they'd get discouraged and they'd stop and they'd be opposed. They're trying to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, right? They've been in exile, right? I'll take a little history lesson real quick. Just real quick, just real quick. I will not stay in this very long. But the background is they've been in Babylon. About 50,000 of them, the Jewish people, came back to Jerusalem, but the city was in bad

shape because it was still ravaged. So it came in waves. Zerababababal took a group back, and he helped to rebuild the temple. And then after Zerabababal, and you can always remember that he's the one who built temple because Zerubababel rubble he had to work with the rubble that he had and build what he could, but he couldn't do everything. It came in waves. God sent Ezra after Zerubababal had been there a little while, and Ezra started preparing the people's hearts. Now that the temple was in position, he had to get the people ready. Quick principle. In the Old Testament, God had a temple for his people.

In the New Testament, God has a people for his temple. He lives in you. Now, the challenge of Bible application is we don't want to make it entirely external or entirely internal. If I just take this text and start talking to you and make it mean whatever I want, we can come to some pretty crazy conclusions, as I'll show you in a minute. But at the same time, if I just tell you about Zorubabelle and Ezra and Nehemi and 536 BC and all of these things, you're like, what did I really get up this morning for history? I got my diploma in 1983, so I didn't have to learn any of this anymore.

And then you'll be totally checked out. And that's not the point of the Bible anyway. All of this is written for examples. It's the living word of God. It is not a dead history of a people who happen to live in a certain place that we can study from afar. It is meant to get inside of it. That's my challenge for Bible preaching, because I've got to get you to see that while they are rebuilding the city, God is rebuilding your soul. Your soul is like a city.

And this brings up a question. If your soul is a city, what's the crime rate? Your soul, your mind, your will, your emotions. Now, your spirit, that's perfect. That's what Jesus, when Jesus saves you, he gives you the Holy Spirit. There's nothing wrong with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't need upgrades. The Holy Spirit doesn't have bugs and glitches.

The Holy Spirit doesn't buffer. The truest part of you, if you belong to Jesus, is light and truth, and it is the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. So that's your new nature. When you do something crazy and say, I'm just keeping it real, no, you're not actually. That's not the real you at all. That's the you that you remember. But to really learn this new way of thinking requires that God does some work,

not in our spirit, but in our soul. If your soul was a city, just putting this out there before we read all of this, how's the economy? Is it a lot of poverty, of compassion? Are you in compassion fatigue? That would be poverty of compassion. Do you have a poverty of empathy? Only can see things, how you can see things. So if your soul is a city, God has given you charge over it.

You are elected as the mayor of the city of your soul to develop and defend what God gives you. Amen. Pastor Stephen, you are on fire today. You only read a half a verse, but you are preaching. I have to encourage myself. I cannot rely on y'all to know when I'm preaching good. Give them proverbs the proverbs verse. This will make it clear.

The writer of Proverbs, most people believe Solomon wrote. the majority of the Proverbs. You got it? Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. Did that scripture feel like it should have had your name by it, or are you doing real good? If your soul is a city, what's going on inside? I see your sneakers. I see your smile. I see all of that. I'm asking about the city of your soul, that stuff. Only God really sees that. And if Solomon did write Proverbs, he would be the perfect one to tell us that when you don't have self-control, you're like a city with no walls. Just anything can get in, anytime. Because that's exactly what he let happen, not only to his own heart, but to the nation. You remember, Saul was

the first king of Israel. David came after him. Solomon, David's son, took the throne next. And the Bible says he was the wisest man who ever lived. The only time I can find a sort of contradiction in the Bible is that if he's the wisest man to ever live, how did he have 700 wives? So to me, I'm still working on that. That's the mystery of God right there for me. But the Bible says that he did something crazy.

He left the influence of the foreign women. that he loved, turn his heart. This is the literal language of it. Second King's 11th. It says he let them turn his heart from the Lord. So he started to let things come in, not directly, pay attention, but indirectly. He did not turn toward those gods. He turned toward those people, and those people turned him toward those gods. We are far more easily influenced than we realize. And like a city without walls. Just anybody, anything, any thought, any feeling, any impulse, anything you want to do, anything you want to say, anything you want to look at, anything you want to watch, anything you want, anything can get in when you do not see your soul as a city and realize that you have the

responsibility to defend it. Now, I wish I could tell you different. I wish I could tell you that when you turn 25, somebody's going to come in your life and make you happy, and they will help you deal with all of your dysfunctions, and you will meet the right person, and they will make you whole. But if you are half, and they come into your life, and you are half, then they will make you, watch this, they will not make you whole. They will make you go through a living hell as you realize that what you thought was in another person could only be found in God. I got to work on my city. I got to work on myself. I got to work on what's within. I got to work Let's go back to Nehemiah, because now I think you're ready. He said, when we got the wall built, they did it in 52 days with the help of their God.

So this is something to celebrate. And there was not a gap left in it, verse 1, Nehemi 6, though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates. Sandballot and Gresham sent me this message. Come, let us meet together. in one of the villages on the plane of Ono. But they were scheming to harm me, Nehemiah says. So I sent messengers to them with this reply.

And y'all, I'm glad Nehemiah was skilled as a builder because he did not have the gift of a preacher, because he missed the most obvious layup in the history. Watch this. Come meet with us on the plains of Ono. And Nehemiah said, I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why wouldn't you start the response with, oh, no. Come on, y'all like my humor. You didn't pay anything. It's not like you need a refund for the ticket.

So they say, meet at the planes of, oh, no, he says, oh, no. He didn't say it. I'm putting it in there. He should have said it. I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop? Well, I leave it and go down to you. Now, this is the part I like, because this gives me an indication.

You don't just fight spiritual battles once, and they go away. Look at verse four. Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same answer. So he's persistent about this because he has priorities. And we'll come back to priorities in just a moment. But skip over to Nehemiah 7, verse 1. They keep trying to get him to come. He won't come.

They give him a false prophecy. They try to get him to go in the temple and close the doors. They're like, hey, come, somebody's killing you. You need to hide in the temple. He's like, if I hide, I lose my credibility. I know what you're trying to do to me. Why should a man like me run and hide after God brought me this far? If God enabled me through letters from Artaxer, he's to come here and rebuild this wall and help me do it in spite of all this opposition, you think I'm going to go run and hide in somebody's house right now, not me.

Oh no. You wouldn't do it. It wouldn't quit. So now look at chapter 7, verse 1. And I never heard anybody preached. Chapter 7, because it lists a bunch of names of everybody who came back after the Babylon captivity. And so this is like a skip most of the time in the book of Nehemiah.

Just read right past it. But I saw something so important that I thought we should spend this entire sermon on it. Nehemiah 7, verse 1, after the wall had been rebuilt, and I'd set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, musicians, and Levites were appointed. And I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother, Hananiah, along with Hananiah, the command of commander of the Citadel because he was a man of integrity. That doesn't mean he's perfect. That means he's one person everywhere.

Same person here as the same person there. Whole, integer in math. You remember that? That's what he's saying. He had integrity and he feared God more than most people. I kind of like the shade of meaning behind that, more than most people. better than all these other bombs, so I take them. But really, when he says he's a man of integrity, we realize that he is appointed because of his character. And look at verse three. It says,

I said to them, the gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. And while the gatekeepers are still on duty, had them shut the doors and bar them, also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their post and some near their own houses. Y'all, if I could call this, study what I want to call it, what I really want to call it, I would call it self-awareness as a form of spiritual warfare. But the more I thought about that, I thought they will never remember that when they leave. I don't hardly even remember it and I just said it. It's so clunky.

So instead I'm going to call it, and I want you to look at the person next to you and tell them the title that I think you probably can remember, say, it's your door. It's your door. It's your door. I need your prayers as always because God continues to have to help me to focus my priorities. I am constantly having to deal with the Holy Spirit about my priorities. It's almost like a bath or brushing your teeth. It's like if I don't do it a couple times a day, I start to notice in my attitude.

in my thoughts, in my conversations. And I can be the pettiest person. Last week, I told you that I'm very protective as a father. When my kids are in the ocean, I turn into safety steeds. You know, y'all come in, you're too deep. It's really annoying, and I know it while I'm doing it, but I'm just scared because I just don't want. I don't know. I'm getting old.

I know I'm getting old because Elijah went to get five napkins last night, and I freaked out. Just last night, this is recent. But see, even that goes back because my dad used to tear the paper towel in half and say, you don't need a whole paper towel. Half a paper towel was all you need. What in the world you need with a whole paper towel? You need to learn how to manage it. He had a whole system for folding it and get through with half paper towel.

But he grew up poor. So now you carry all these things into your adulthood. I don't know where this one came from. I can almost hear my mom's voice in my head. But somewhere along the line, my children all had a meeting and decided relatively recently, that none of them was ever going to close a door in the house ever again. Not a door to a bedroom, not a door to a pantry. Definitely not a door going outside.

I mean, I'm just walking through the house all day, and I hear my mom's voice. That's the craziest part about it. I hear my mom's voice. You are cooling off the outside. And then she used to yell. You know, she would yell. she would yell, you're letting the cool out. You're letting the cool out. Shut the door. You're letting the cool out. Or if it wasn't that, shut the door. You're letting the flies in. So I'm either letting the flies in or the cool out. And I am so petty. I was walking through the house just the other day. And there's a door. And there's a door. And there's a door. And I'm closing the doors. And I'm doing a little speech under my breath. That's fine. I'll just be the official door. closer around here. I got nothing better to do. It's not like I lead a global ministry. I got

nothing better to do than follow y'all and close the doors so that the dumb dog that y'all made me by won't get out and get hit by a car. That's what I would love to do. Today is close the doors behind y'all. And I promise when the Lord speaks to me, sometimes it is so basic. He said, this is like, I don't know if it was the Lord. It was a thought that went through. in my mind. Wonder what would happen if you were as concerned about what you let in your heart. No, no, no, I didn't get to the best part yet. Because you're talking about I'm letting the, I'm letting the flies in. Okay. But you let the fear in. Don't seem to be very concerned about that. So I wonder what would happen if you would be as concerned about what you let in your heart

as what's getting in this house because the door is open. I wonder what would happen if you were as concerned about what you let in your heart, and this is the one that got me, and what you let out of your mouth. So everybody do this. We're going to talk about that in a minute because that's your door, whether you realize it or not. That's your door. And that's your door.

You all with me? And that's your door. And that big old elephant-sized brain that you're carrying around up there that knows all of that math and science. That's your door. Because Nehemiah builds the wall, and they've got the structure, and the city is spacious and large, but the people aren't back yet. I don't know if you noticed the detail, but is pretty significant if God put it in the Bible.

Anything God put in the Bible, I'm like, Lord, that seems random, but it must not be revealed to me what's in it. And he said in chapter 6 verse 1, that when his enemies, everybody say enemy, when they heard that I had rebuilt the wall, the whole thing and didn't leave the gap in it, but look at verse 2, or verse 1 part B, excuse me, though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates. So we got two things happening in the scripture. Nehemiah is making progress for God, and he receives an invitation from his enemy, all at the same time.

He is making progress for God. He's getting this wall built. If we could get a wall, we can get an educational system. If we can get a wall, we can worship without being worried that they're going to come and get us. If we can get a wall built, ah, but he said, after the wall was built, that was the first wave, now I had to set the doors in place so that in the daily comings and goings, we could have assurance of protection so that when we did what we did in the course of our lives, whether worship or work, we would be protected. I've got to get these doors in place. If I don't get these doors

in place, this wall isn't going to do me any good. Because if I get a wall but no doors, nobody can go out. But if I have a wall without doors, anybody can just get in. So I got to have a wall and I got to have some doors because I'm making progress for God, but I'm receiving an invitation from the enemy. So this is a question. I'm bringing it right to 2022. What do you do when you are making progress for God, but you receive an invitation from an enemy? An invitation from the enemy. Not a physical enemy. Remember, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. So Sanballot, he's over at Samaria in the north, and Tobiah is over the Ammonites to the east, and Gresham is over the Arabs to the south. But we're not talking about geography.

here are we? We're talking about psychology, theology. We're talking about your sandballots of self-pity. Your Tobias of temptation. Your gashems of what starts with a G. Glutney! We're not supposed to preach about that sin in church. No, that's that a mess. How about we go with grumbling? I like grumbling. He said it was an enemy. And they asked me for a meeting. The enemy didn't ask Nehemiah, can we come in and destroy your credibility. Why would the enemy do that? You would say no.

He said, let's talk. I'm hearing the rumors about what you build. Let's talk. It's an invitation. Let's talk. Hey, get that situation on your mind that you don't see any way out of and play out every hypothetical scenario of how it could go worse than you. ever possibly thought, let's talk. Count up everybody in your mind who ever left your life and they were supposed to be there

for you and they're not. Think about how they failed you, mistreated you, and think about the fact that they're probably off somewhere right now on an island happy without you driving a Ferrari. Let's talk. Think about the fact of everything that you don't have and I want you to go look at everybody else who has everything you don't have and I want you to put together a perfect conglomerate of all the people that in your imagination have something that you don't have and then compare your image of them to your reality.

reality of yourself, let's talk." And Nehemiah's like, oh no, which gave me a lesson. When the enemy speaks to me, Satan doesn't get to give me a command. He can only make a suggestion. So I see it like this. A lot of us in making progress in our walk with God or in the ways that God is working in us, the ways that God is working in us. I hear a lot of sermons, by the way, about God will work it out.

Those are great sermons for shouting and clapping and celebrating. But what about what God is working in? It is him that works in you to willing to do according to his good pleasure. So when God is working in you and actually making progress, and then you receive that invitation from the enemy, what do you do with it? The first thing is to realize that just because he invites you doesn't mean you have to go. Now, if you don't belong to Jesus, then you've got to go because you're a slave to sin. So the enemy can just lob any accusation at you that he wants to, bring you down, pull you

down and beat you to death. But if you belong to Jesus, if you belong to Jesus, you are not under the jurisdiction of Sambalit or Tobiah or Gashem or any of the enemies that threaten the stability of your soul. What I'm trying to say is, if he purchased you with his blood, Jesus, that is. Satan just doesn't get to invite you out of that state of being seated with Jesus into a state of feeling sorry for yourself. You don't have to go. Feel the spirit of, oh no, coming on me today. Oh, no. It's your door. It's your decision. Hey, Nehemiah, they want to meet with you, no. Nehemiah, they want to meet with you, no. Nehemiah, they want to meet with you, no. Nehemiah, they want to meet with you, no. Four times no, because I got something greater, because I got something higher, because I'm working on something important. Because if I come down and talk to you, it will invite me into the sabotage of the self-destructive patterns that this conversation will initiate. I'll be discouraged. I'll be discouraged. I'll be discouraged. I'll be

How well do you know yourself in order to realize, oh, this is an invitation from the enemy? How many have you got an invitation from the enemy this week? And the rest of you just got an invitation from the enemy to lie in church. I hate it when they do that. I don't know. I've actually been praising him this week and rejoicing in him. He is my rock. And I get these invitations at the strangest times when I'm making progress.

When I get the wall built, get a little wind, feeling pretty good, getting ready to go forward. Okay, maybe I will forgive them. And then I see them. I noticed that all through scripture, right when they get to the Red Sea, Pharaoh's like, I'm not so sure I want to let them go. That's because they are almost good. gone. Sometimes when the enemy starts talking to you, crazy stuff, discouraging stuff,

worthless stuff, distracting stuff, that's how close you are. That's how close you are that he's inviting you back. Look, the wall is built. So, Sandballet knows if they get the wall built, all the trade is going to start going through Jerusalem, not through Samaria. I'm going to lose money if I let him go. Come on down and talk to me a little bit. Let's just talk about it. No big deal. Just talk a little bit about it.

Because the devil isn't dumb enough to show off your door with face pain on, looking like the joker, laughing all crazy, to talk to you about destroying your life. Just to get you to crack the door. I don't know if I want to hear this today, Pastor Stephen, because when you said the door, I thought you were saying about the door of the opportunities that God has for me. Like, God is shut, to open the door that nobody can shut. I'm looking for God to open the door for me because, you know, I'm kind of, I'm an entrepreneur is what it is, and I just need the Lord to open the door for me because, you know,

people don't really see my giftedness in our work. They really don't understand what I'm capable of. But, you know, I'm anointed. I'm anointed. I'm anointed. I'm anointed from the top of my head to the souls of my feet, but nobody, I just need the Lord to open the door. I didn't need the opportunity.

I've been wanting to sing up there on that stage, Pastor Stephen, but I need a place to try out because I really am a good singer better than some of the people you have up there right now. I'll tell you that right now. And Pastor Stephen, I'll just get an open door if I could just get a chance, if I could just get a meeting. That's fine. God opens doors. Let's all shout real quick that God opens doors.

Let's get it out of our system. God opens doors. Now shout about it. Y'all are the most Episcopal, non-denominational church I've ever preached at in my life. You all are Presbyterian today. I don't know. Sometimes I think y'all meet in the lobby. Today, let's give him Pentecostal.

Today, Presbyterian. We're going to be Catholic today. I don't know what y'all do out there. And watch this, watch this, watch this. Because you belong to the light, not the darkness. When the enemy invites you, you don't have to go. You don't have to go. If you belong to Jesus, there are some scriptures that apply.

to you that do not apply to those who don't call on his name. So you get to say, greater that is than he. So the devil says, come on down here and let's talk about how weak you are. Oh, no, greater is he that is in me than I'm doing a great work for God. God's doing a great work in me. I can't be distracted right now by that. You have that power because of the spirit, not your own self-power, self-will. None of that.

I'm not talking about that. That will put you in the fetal position, suck in your thumb, eating macaroni and cheese for the next 16 days. I'm talking about what Nehemiah knew. I'm doing a great work for God. I'm doing a great work for God, and God is doing a great work in me. So the enemy's invitation, one way the Lord showed it to me, he said, it's an invitation, not a subpoena. Satan can't subpoena you. He can't tell you you have to do anything.

The devil made me do it. I don't think he did. I think you went to Trader Joe's. I think you bought the chips. I think you bought two bags. I think you ate both of them. I didn't see the devil put anything in the cart or pay for it. I'm keeping it PG. That's what I'm talking about food. We could go way deeper with this if this was a men's conference.

Delilah. We could talk about all kinds of stuff if it was a men's conference. It's too early in the morning for me to do that kind of stuff. But think about it. Think about it. While he's making progress for God, the enemy gives him an invitation. And the way he responds to that invitation, not reacts to his feelings. is going to be the most important thing about what happens next. Because remember, he's built the wall, but there's no doors. The Lord said I was going to be speaking to somebody today who loves Jesus, making progress. You've seen some freedom in your life. When you came to Jesus, you gave up the things that you didn't like,

and now he's working on the stuff that you do. But you keep waiting on God to take struggles away out of your life. any addiction, any pattern. That's between you and God. I won't sit here and name everything and start listing it. But I want to show you today what Nehemiah did at a vulnerable time. Now, nothing is vulnerable unless it's valuable. When did they start the attacks?

When the wall started going up. Nobody messed with Jerusalem when it was lying in ruins. And the devil will never mess with you as long as you're serving him. He'll bring you water. The devil will rub the sunscreen on you if you go out there and serve him. Oh, no. Oh, yes, he will. He absolutely will.

The devil won't tell you no. The devil won't tell your flesh, no. The devil won't message you at all. But the resistance kicks in in your life when you really start getting to a different level and you really start pursuing something different than just satisfying your own flesh. That's when it kicks in. Progress, for God, the wall is built. But the doors aren't in yet.

He said, I was vulnerable to the attack in that moment because the doors weren't there. How about your doors? How about your doors? Wide open, tightly shut. The doors of your heart. What you let in, what you let out. I'm going to need to move this from the metaphorical level. How about your social media intake levels?

Wide open, tightly shut. Give me a visual. This is wide open. This is tightly shut. How are you doing with the doors? Show me how you're doing with your doors? We'll start with the social media doors, all right? Let's do the diet doors.

The diet doors, how's the diet doors? How's it doing? All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. How about the judge not, lest ye be also judge doors? How's those doors doing? I had a weird door the other day that the Lord was dealing with me about. Everybody say doors. I'm talking about doors.

I know it sounds so boring, but some of the biggest breakthroughs in your life will be from boring stuff that you don't want to do. I could pick 5,000 scriptures that people would shout over when I read them, and Nehemiah 7 isn't one of them, because I was preaching about doors. Nobody ever shouted over a door. But if I preached on the walls of Jericho and they shouted and they fell, we would all Shout over walls that fall down, but what do I do after they fall? I still got a fight We shout over all the wrong stuff

You should be shouting that they got the doors in We're gonna be so happy when you get your doors in place. I could almost see it this week when I was praying I wasn't just studying with books out. I was praying God Show me why these people are so vulnerable to the enemy's attack Show me why I am he said because you always focus Focus on the attack. You never do anything about it before it comes. You have no doors, no priorities, no order.

Everything is important. Want to go to church today? Well, yeah, I guess so. The boat's in the shop, and there's no kids having any games. The weather's kind of like too hot to be outside or weather's too cold to be. The weather has to be like perfectly mediocre to get people in the south to come to church. No priority to it. priority to it. I'm not fussing. Yes, I am. I'm fussing at you. Because I am tired of the devil

just coming in, picking off you, picking off your kids, just stripping you of everything God gave you because you let the door open. Because you don't know what time it is. Because you don't know what you got inside of you. Because you don't know how valuable it is. Because you don't know who you are. I'm doing a great word. to preach, baby. I'm going to help somebody today. It's the doors. It's not the devil. It's the same devil that somebody else isn't giving into. Same devil, but they have doors. I asked her one time, how do you not be so negative? Amy? I said, how do you not be negative? I need to learn how? How do you do it? And Chunk says like, she just doesn't pay any attention to it anybody else is doing.

That's kind of cool. So she has like, a closed-door policy on judging what somebody else ought to be doing with their life. Well, that might help me. I told Holly the other day in a moment of vulnerability, something that I needed. Not from her, she's amazing. Something that I felt like I needed from God. This woman is so bold. Oh, man. Now, she's always saying nice stuff. She was always saying stuff like this. I wouldn't be able to hear it. It was just like a different tone. She just shifted the tone all of a sudden. She said, well, if God gave you that, you wouldn't do anything with it.

No. Before, I could close my heart in that moment or I can realize she is so exactly right that the way I received this correction. Or I could say, get behind me, San Vallette, Tobiah and Gresham. I'm doing a great work. What good is that going to just close the door on the person who's closest to me? who's telling me, I'm watching your life. And you've got a pattern. And you're not going to get any power until you change the pattern.

So I tested. You ever read about Gideon in the Bible? He put a fleece out before the Lord. He said, Lord, if it was really you, and he put it through a series of tests. They call it fleece in the Lord. Fleece, testing, see if this is really God or not. So I put out a fleece. I say, give me an example of one time I had the chance to do that.

You're like, you're being really obscure. We don't know what you're talking about. Exactly. It's personal. I said, give me an example. She said the exact one that had just happened the day before. Okay, I'll tell you what it was. Not specifically, but enough where you can get the taste of it.

It was letting new people in my life. I don't trust anybody. I got a closed-door policy from anybody that I didn't know back when my hair was platinum blonde or buzzed off. That's what we were talking about. She said, you know, you keep asking this and that. God to show you new things and do new things. Even if God sent them, you wouldn't trust them and let them in. She's saying, it's your door. It's locked so tight that God can send answers and you won't open. It's your door. I said, give me an example. She named the person that had

texted me the day before that I didn't text back because I don't trust them yet. She named them. She didn't know they texted me. I don't think she went through my phone and found it. She just said it like a prophet. But you see what I'm saying? It's your door. It's not that God didn't give the opportunity. I didn't open the door to it. And that happens. And God works in waves, see? First came back Surababal, then came Ezra, then came Nehemiah. He did all these things in waves. He works in waves in your life. And you have to be open to what God is doing now. You have to. But at the same time that Nehemiah is celebrating the this awesome victory with the exiles that have come back.

I mean, even that, he could have been so discouraged that only 10% of the people came back from Babylon. I don't know if you knew that or not. They didn't all come back after 70 years. Some died. Some had already built nice homes. Some of them had never even really heard that much about Jerusalem. So now he's working with the remnant of what's left, but he's not discouraged.

He builds. He's attacked, but he's not discouraged. He builds. He refuses to let the door of discouragement. lead him into the depths of despair. I think the way he was able to do that is in Chapter 7, verse 1 through 3, very clearly enunciated. He calls a meeting. He's like, let me tell you what we're going to do. Sandballot, Tobiah, Gresham, they're not going to stop. And I say that over you. These thoughts of insecurity, these pangs of worry, these problems that go on in your head,

they are not going to stop. They will daily, sometimes in certain seasons, sometimes in your high moments, sometimes in your low moments. What I'm basically trying to say is that the enemy is going to attack you at all times. They're not going to make it through the season. I'm just going through an attack right now. Well, I knew that because you're breathing. You know how I knew you were under attack?

You are above ground. We are not at your funeral. So I assume the attack, but the question is, what are you doing about the attack to make sure that you don't have to fight the devil hand to hand? It's harder to fight him once you let him right there in your living room. It's harder to fight him once you let him so close. I'm telling you, the devil is a grappler. That's what he wants us to get you by your throat. That's what he wants us to get you in isolation.

That's what he wants us to get you saying, well, I'll just do church online now. I don't go anymore because I would stop going in pandemic. I really don't pay attention while he's on there because there's 50 things going on, but I don't come anymore. Everybody who came to church physically clap. I am applauding you for being here. Miameo was like, look, can I come down here? Can I? Okay. I want to make sure. I don't scare y'all. Can I come over here? Can I? Y'all aren't used to seeing me this close? I look shorter like this, don't I? I look bigger on the screen, that's for sure. Hey, I'm going to these doors real quick.

Come on, come with me, you mighty man of God. Come with me, mighty man of God. You behave. Yeah, yeah, yeah, come with Dr. G. Come on, come, come, come. I need Hanani and Hananiah and Hananiah. Hananiah. That's in Nehemiah.

Yeah, this is going to be good. I got the right guys. You think I got the right guys? You think I got the right guys. You got me if they mess this illustration up. I'll come back for you. Put up Nehemiah 7-1-3 because this is what we got to do. The Bible says, guard your heart. Everything you do flows from it. Above all else, guard your heart. Above all else.

So here's the door, and we'll just use it to illustrate. Hanani and I, Hananiah, Hananiah, Hananiah. Nehemiah said, look, give me Nehemiah 7-1. I want to illustrate this. I don't know why I picked the door farthest away for us to come all way up to. That's just the one I picked. That was kind of dumb, but here we are. How y'all doing? Did I come to the right side of the church? How's your doors? Has the devil been knocking at your door, trying to discourage you, trying to tell you you you ain't crap? But he says it's stronger than that. But if I said what he really said in church, you wouldn't, you would turn it off. Come on. Meet with us on the planes of, oh no. so I can keep you from doing what you're going to do, so I could keep you from raising your daughter.

Because you keep thinking you can't. That's an invitation from the enemy. And you got the wall built, but I just got to wonder about your doors. The Lord has been speaking to me about my doors. He said, it's your doors. That's the issue. And look, Nehemiah said, I got the gatekeepers, the musicians, and the Levites. Are you a singer?

That's good. That's self-awareness, right? He knows his doors. He's like, uh-uh. This door right here, you don't want to hear me saying. But I will tell you one thing, though, the Levites. Go back to verse one. Show you this real quick.

Enter his gates with Thanksgiving. Enter his courts with praise. So this is a unique move that I kind of like being up here with y'all. This is a unique, I always look at them down there. This is kind of fun, you know, change it up. This is a unique move because the Levites were supposed to sing in front of the temple, but drastic times call for drastic measures. And Nehemiah knows we're very vulnerable right now. So the Levites who led the praise service, who led the people in praise, he moved them out to the gates of the city to set a tone.

That we need God's help, that we need God's glory, that we need God's protection, we need God's wisdom, we need God's perspective. So he moves the Levites out. He's like, I know y'all normally sing at the temple, but for now I need y'all at the gate. And you have to set praise at the gate in your life sometimes to just get up. And almost if you even have to fake it, fake it. If you have to fake it, fake it. Sometimes driving to church, it's real early when I get here and I won't feel my sermon, but I'll just start driving down the road like I do.

I'm thinking about my sermon, I'm not feeling it, I'll just start going, And my car's not self-driving, so I'm taking my hands off the wheel every time I clap. So I've got to be careful, start slapping my leg or something. But I have to put the Levites or the praise at the gate. Because I can't get here and wait to see how y'all feel to see how I'm going to preach and do my job. So I've got to put praise at the gate, enter his gates. You see what I'm saying? But these guys weren't Levites.

These were guards. And he didn't just put him at the gate. He gave instructions. Look at verse 2. So powerful. Wow. Never saw Nehemiah 7 before. I put Hanani and Hananiah

because you had integrity and fear God. Verse 3 says, I told them the gates are not to be opened until the sun is high. That's unorthodox because you're supposed to open the gates. When the sun comes up, he said, we're under attack right now. So I need you to keep the gates shut until we have full light and until everybody is wide awake. Because I know we're vulnerable. And I can't just open the gates right now because the enemies are threatened because we're making progress.

Hear me, your enemy is threatened because you're making progress. He's threatened. That's what the attack is about. That's what it's been about. Oh, the devil's just picking on me. No, he's not just picking on you. He has actually studied you. He is more aware of you than you are aware of you.

Your proclivities, your patterns, your past, he knows all of that because he is after your purpose. If the wall isn't built, he doesn't come to wage war. That's what it's been about. Listen to me. That's what this is about. That's what the attack is about. So Nehemiah is like, okay, this is an unusual time. We're going to do an unusual thing.

Keep these gates shut until the sun is hot, until it's hot. Basically saying, until noon, keep the gates shut. Keep them shut a little while longer. So let me ask you something. In this season of your life where you've been struggling with depression, some of you've been having panic attacks, some of you've been having waves of anxiety, I mean, who doesn't?

Some of you have been having suicidal thoughts. Some of you're not suicidal, but it's just like hard to explain. It's like a low-flying, low-grade sense that you can't get any victory and sustain it. So I want to tell you something you can do. Keep the doors shut while it's dark. Keep the doors shut while it's dark. Put a time frame on it. I don't care.

Seven days. I'm not looking at anything on social media until I read a scripture. Blas, just talk. You act like I told you all to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to the whole. You act like I told you to die on the cross. I'm not talking about a crown of thorns. I'm talking about keeping the gates shut until you have light. That's why you've got to start your day with God.

That's your door. I don't care. How many of you all wake up at crazy times of the night thinking crazy thoughts? Put a sermon on your phone and put it in your ear until you go back to sleep. The doors closed in the dark. That's not the time for you to be alone. You don't even have to. I will preach to you.

I will do pillow talk with you. Through the phone, through the app on YouTube. I'll talk you through it. Or another preacher that you like better, who doesn't scream so much. But keep the doors shut when it's dark. You need light to fight the enemy. Holly, you hear me down there, baby? I'm telling them, it's the door.

Your thoughts are the door. Your eyes are the door. Your ears are the door. Dude, I do not just let anybody talk to me about anything. I don't rebuke them, but I pivot. People always want to come up to me and talk about other churches and other ministers and how this person fell and that and the other. And I'm like, hold up, man.

Look at Nehemiah 7.3. This is me. He said, put some of them on the post. And look at the end of the verse. And some near their own houses. That's my verse. That's my verse. I got to guard my own house. I got to guard my own heart. I'm not letting that door come in. You know, the door to feeling really horrible about yourself is through judging others. Because now you're going to become a victim of your own judgments. Can y'all handle a little bit more? I mean, here's the door. You've got to go. You've just got to go. You've got to go through Hananiah and Han and I, but you're

I think we should put some real bodyguards at the doors for people who leave in the invitation of my sermon. I mean some real bodyguards who are barely saved leave during my invitation. But think about this door, and this may not be the best door to do it, but I'll ask you a question. Is this door closed? Is it open? Hand and I.

He said, it's cracked. Isn't closed. Cracked isn't closed. For the season you're in right now, look, I'm not telling you go home and only watch Disney movies. That's not what I'm preaching about today. But I'm saying for some of the attacks you've been under, the ones that really matter because they concern your purpose, he said make sure not only that they don't open the doors

until it's noon so we can fight in the light, not in the darkness. Because the enemy wants to fight you in the darkness. He wants to fight you alone. He wants to fight you in ignorance. He wants to fight you in despair. But look at verse three. It also says, before the guards go off duty, okay? Fellas, before you go off duty, have them shut the doors and bar them.

And to bar them means put your hand on it and make sure it's shut. God is going to put some of you in a season of shut up. I probably shouldn't say that. I was reading Joshua 6.1 when they went in the walls of Jericho. And look what Joshua 6.1 said, in the King James English. Now, the city of Jericho was straightly, shut up. Come on, pastor, that's not what it means. It means that nobody was coming and going. I know. But look at verse 10, what Joshua told them to do while they marched around those walls. Joshua commanded the people saying, you shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice.

Neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout. Then shall you shout. Because I'm concerned if you just say what you feel in this season, you are going to speak yourself right into Satan's attack. I'm in a season of shut up. Because what God has for me is too great, right? He brought me to Jericho. This is the first city of the promised land. And God said, I need you to just take a sabbatical right now for my.

other people's opinions. That's your door. You can't stop them from posting. You can't stop them from talking. You can't stop them from hating. You can't stop them from disliking. You can't stop them from being idiots. But it's your door that lets their voice in. Even if they talk around you, it doesn't have to get in you. Come on. You know I'm preaching the truth. This is why you're quiet. Okay, let's do it. Let's do it. Don't shout. Just everybody. Close your door. You know how many times I had to do this this week while the Holy Spirit was giving me this message? I mean, I start to complain, and I'm just letting it out, right? No, you're letting it in because your words have power.

And you keep describing the same problem, these stupid walls of Jericho, all this stupid situation, all this inflation, all these gas prices. That's a good icebreaker for like three weeks. But come on, is that all we're ever going to talk to each other? about is what's wrong. Maybe God wants to put you in a season of shut up so he can bring you into a season of shouting. Listen, it's not the devil defeating you. He doesn't have any power over you that you don't give him, not with Jesus inside of you. So we've got to get serious about our joy. We've got to get serious about our peace. We've got to get serious about our mind. We've got to

get serious about our sanity. We've got to get serious about our mental health. We've got to get serious about all this stuff and God is bringing a prophet to you today. Like Holly said to me, what would you do with it even if God gave it to you? If God gave you peace, would you protect it? If God gave you a relationship, would you defend it? How is the city of your soul? I'm walking around today just wondering, how's it going in there? You got those doors up yet?

I want to see you next week. I'll probably be here next week. How about you? And I just want to be like, where did you close the door this week? And just go like, you know what, man? You don't even have to offend anybody. You do not need to go up to people this week. It's Love Week for crying out loud.

Don't go off to people like, no, I'm sorry. I'm in a season to shut up. You shut up. I can't talk to you anymore. You're toxic. But I'm saying, are we praying for God to the deliver us from devils that he has given us the power to defend ourselves from. It's your door.

And I wonder if I was as concerned about what's getting in and coming out, would I be having to pray to God about half the stuff I'm praying to him about? Stand up, I'm done. Clap those hands. Give God praise. Was that good teaching today? Did you receive something? Come on, if God spoke to you, give him a praise.

Don't praise me. If he brought you a word, that was him, not me. Amen. So I want us to get better about one thing in this church. I think this is the most amazing church in the world. I love being your pastor. One thing I want you all to stop doing so much is running like right when I get ready to dismiss like it's over.

If the sermon doesn't even make it out this door, it is not going to give you victory in your life this week. So every location, just stop where you are, just stand up for a minute. Let me pray with you. Let me pray that what you heard today, because the Holy Spirit was speaking to you. I could see it in some of your eyes. You look like a deer in the headlights of the Word of God. Like you're looking at your spouse.

Did you talk to Pastor Stephen this week and tell him what I was doing? Get a restraining order on this preacher. I think he's been sneaking around my house. I think he's got some cameras up. That's my new goal. I want to preach so full of the Holy Spirit that you put a restraining order on me because you think I'm stalking you during the week. But how cool will it be that you will have a reminder of this sermon even when you leave today?

You go through a door and then through another door and then you get in a car, I guess. I don't think you're getting on a camel. is in Jerusalem. This is the city of your soul. And every door that you open and every door that you close, I want you to begin to think about how you're defending what God gave you. I want you to do for the city of your soul, what Nehemiah did for the city of Jerusalem. He said, I put the doors in place and I gave orders. I didn't just assume we're going to be okay because God is with us. I put the doors in place. And I said, you can open them then. You can't open them Now, y'all, even in my daily disciplines, I am so unfocused.

I am so unfocused when I go to do a physical workout, I can't take my phone in the room to do a workout. I know myself. I have to put my phone in another room. And did you know the new iPhone has an off button? Anyway, that's a special feature. I'll show you how to use it sometime. It's amazing.

And then a lot of times, watch, when I shut that off. and just do my workout and focus, the Lord will give me my sermon because I closed the door. They just give it to me. But you've got to close the door. What did Jesus say? When you pray, Matthew 6, 6, go in and close the door. You can't pray and ask God to defend you from the devil for stuff that you left the door wide open to. He'll help you.

He'll give you grace. But don't you want victory too? I want victory and grace. I do. And so one way we let God in, we just lift our hands. So do that right now. That's not a charismatic thing. Stop it.

People do that. People do that at football games when they're excited. People do it in a war when they surrender. So you could throw your hands up. And I love what Revelation 320 said that Jesus was speaking to the church and he said, here I am. I stand at the door and knock. And if you hear my voice and open it, I'll come in and eat with you.

You've been sitting at the wrong table all week. You've been sitting feasting on the wrong thoughts, worrying about the wrong stuff. For some of us, it's obsessively checking our bank balance. Yeah. It doesn't always come through something that's so evil. But once we open that door, the devil just has this way. But not today, Lord. we hear your voice and we hear your knock and we're open in the door to you.

Come, Lord Jesus. Into every heart that's open to you. Some hearts are hardened, but a lot of these hearts today, Lord, they're really serious. They're sincere. They want your presence. So come, Lord. Just say it if you mean it. Say come, Lord.

He will hear that invitation. He'll respond to that invitation. Say it again. Say come, Lord. Come, Lord, Jesus. The door of our hearts are open to you. We invite your presence, your peace, your joy, your wisdom. Show us this week where we need to put our hand on the door and make sure it shut.

Conversations we need to have. Conversations we need to discontinue. We want to be right with you. We want to be in a peaceful place. I bless you and I thank you for the privilege of sharing your word today. I thank you that it won't return void. It will accomplish that what you sent it to do. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at elevationchurch.org slash give. And thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.