In this sermon, Pastor Neil Carter emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's sin and need for God's love and protection. He explains that Jesus Christ, as God in the flesh, died on the cross to pay for our sins. By surrendering our lives to Him, we can experience the power of the Holy Spirit and be set free from habits, addictions, and mental struggles. Pastor Carter also shares a personal story about being tempted to deviate from God's calling, highlighting the need to stay focused on God's plan and rely on His grace. Additionally, he mentions the return of a group led by priest Ezra in 458 B.C., who taught the people how to rededicate their lives to God's purposes.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge P.O. Box 260 Lindell, Texas 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. I hope that you will open your heart to the truth of God's word. Remember that even in Ezekiel's day, God took him to a valley, and when those bones that he saw were raised up and stood, there was still no life until the breath of God came into them. Brethren, you can come to the house of God, and you can sing and shout, but until you open your heart to the word of God, you have no life. The word of God is the breath, the wind of God, as it is for you to me that will cause his kingdom to come within your life, will set you on a rock and establish your goings, as the scripture says, and give you a new song, a testimony. That testimony, I believe, is, among other things, that you'll be able to stand with authority and say, nothing can stop what God is doing in my life. You can stand against every lying spirit, every devil of hell, every circumstance that comes your way and say nothing, absolutely nothing can stop what God is doing. He's building something into my life. It's his kingdom. It's his power. It's all about him. I thank God for that with all of my heart. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, I thank you, God, for the knowledge that I have nothing. I am no one. It's all by your strength and by your might. God, everything I have, you've given to me. Everything I've become has been because of your power. What I'll be tomorrow, it's the result of how I choose to yield to your inner working in my life. It's all about you, Jesus. It's all about your power. It's all about your kingdom. I have no other testimony, but the testimony of your name. Lord, you say that if you don't build the house, then those that labor, labor in vain. God, I'm asking today, Lord, that you would come. There's not be a house of empty labor. These words would not fall to the floor, but God, they would find a lodging place in the hearts of your people. Lord, that your kingdom would advance in the kingdom of darkness and suffer great violence in this house today. Oh God, Lord, as truth is received in the heart, as Lord, the feeble are given strength. Those that are weary, Lord, are quick and enlivened by the power of almighty God. Lord, we thank you for your word. It is indeed a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. We love your word here in this house. Oh God, Lord, we thank you, God. You are the living word. We invite you to live in us. God, raise us up. Make us a testimony of praise in this city. Oh God, of what you and you alone can do. We give you all the praise, the honor and all the glory. Yours is the only kingdom, the only power, both now and forever. We believe it with all of our hearts. In Jesus name, Nehemiah. If you'll go there in the Old Testament, please. Nehemiah. Might as well go right to the index for many that are new Christians here to make it easier for you to find that book. Nehemiah chapter two. Now nothing can stop what God is building. I'll begin at verse seventeen and I'll be reading through to verse twenty in Nehemiah chapter two. If you attend Times Square Church, you need your Bible. If you intend on coming here, make sure you always have your Bible with you because we are a Bible believing and Bible preaching church. Verse seventeen, chapter two. Then said I unto them, Do you see the distress that we are in? How Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the head of my God, which was good upon me, as also the King's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Thobai the servant, the Ammonite and Yeshim the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, What is this thing that you do? Will you rebel against the King? Then answered I them and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us. Therefore, we his servants will arise and build. But you have no portion, no right, nor memorial in Jerusalem. Now in this particular portion of the scripture in chapter two, we are opting in and it's near the beginning of a work which God had called a man named Nehemiah to do on his behalf. Now Nehemiah was a faithful servant of God. He was a cupbearer to a king in a foreign nation that had once enslaved the people of God, but subsequently through the providence of God had released them and allowed them to begin to go home. Nehemiah had not been born in Jerusalem, but still he had a heart for the things of God and for his people. But he was a faithful man. And folks, if you want to ever be used of God, you and I have to be found faithful in that which God has already given us to do. Don't look to anything bigger. Don't look to anything more. If as of yet, you're not found faithful in the things that God has entrusted you with. Now I want to just go through a little bit of history just as a basis of helping us to understand what's going on here. Now the scene is after the exiled Jews had begun to return to Israel. There were three returns after their 70 year captivity in Babylon in the year 538 BC. The first group returned under the leadership of a man, a governor called Zerubbabel. And by 515, after much opposition, they succeeded in rebuilding the temple. And you know, the books, the old Testament prophetic books of Haggai and Zachariah are two prophets that God raised up when they faced discouragement to give them a word to tell them, continue to build in spite of the opposition. You know, that's the word that God will always send to his church, continue to build in spite of the opposition, in spite of what comes against you, in spite of what the enemy throws your way. God's word is all you need a faith in the word of God. Remember Zachariah in chapter four and verse six, he spoke these words to those that were laboring. He said, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. He was essentially saying, you have laid the foundation. You will put the capstone on this work and you will cry grace to the whole thing. Once it's over, you will shout grace to it. Thanks be to God. Those that truly know the Lord, allow God to come into their lives and begin to do a work. And when it's all over, it's not look what I did. It's grace. You shout grace. You shout it from the mountaintop. You shout it when you get up in the morning and you shout it when you go to bed at night, all of Jesus and none of me. Thanks be to God. Later on in the year 458 BC, a second group of those that were returning are led by a priest called Ezra. They came back and Ezra came and taught them how to rededicate their lives to the purposes of God. The temple had been built. There were some victories that had been won, but nevertheless, the people were in somewhat of an apostate condition. You know, the book of Ezra, how you open the word and and did God did a marvelous work among the people. Now, finally, in the year 14 years later, in year 444, this man called Nehemiah, I'd heard a report and the report that came to him is in chapter one, verses two and three. He says that Hanani, one of my brethren came, he and certain men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Now, this report that came to Nehemiah was basically saying that the work, the work of God was still incomplete. The people are still unprotected from their enemies. The wall, in a sense, symbolizes several things, but one of which, and certainly not the least, is that that's the wall of God's parameter, the wall of God's protection for those that are his and those that are within that wall, having the assurance that they are protected from all of the enemies that without that distinction are free to walk in and out and to bring accusation against the people of God. Now, the people are still unprotected from their enemies and are being afflicted and reproached. Now, the word in the original text for reproach is sherifah, and here's what it means. There's a finger being pointed at them. They are being blamed. They're being taunted and they're being mocked. Folks, I want to tell you something. The work of Christ is not yet complete in your life. If the enemy still has access to you, if he can still come in and taunt you and blame you and reproach you and mock the work of God that is going on in your life, there's still an incompleteness about what God wants to do in your life. And so he will send his word, and his word will build a wall round about you. His word will establish you, as the scripture says, as a praise in the earth. Now, Nehemiah was sent by God, in effect, to bring God's work towards his people to completion. The prophet Zechariah in chapter 2 and verse 5 states that the intent of God in bringing his people back is this. He says, For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Now, the glory is the kavod, which means the majesty, the abundance, and the wealth. God says, This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to build a wall around about you. This is a word to every believer who's here today. God says, If you're hungry for me, yes, you might be in the temple. You might have a heart that wants me. But if you are still open to the taunting and to the opposition of all your enemies, if you are still crawling around under constant condemnation, God says, I'm going to come to you. If you will open your heart to what I'm speaking, and I will build a wall around about you, I will protect you from your enemies, and I will be a source of wealth and abundance and majesty right in the middle of your heart and in your life. I will give you a testimony of praise in the earth. I will establish you, not by your works, not by your power, but by the indwelling work of my spirit. When you open your heart to my word, I will become a wall of fire around about you. You know what a wall of fire means? It's impenetrable. No chariot, no power of hell and darkness, nothing of the evil one can penetrate that wall and touch the heart of a child of God who knows who they are in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. This is the intent of God. This is what God wants to do. Put a marker near my, go to chapter Isaiah, please with me. Go ahead to Isaiah chapter 62. God says in his word what his intent is for his people. Verse one, he said, for Zion's sake, will I not hold my peace? And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory. And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. God says, I'm going to do such a work in you that I'm going to give you such a new nature that you will actually be called by another name. Folks, I want to tell you something. Those that have known Christ, if you've been growing in the grace of God, you ever take time to look back at some of those old pictures in the family album and take a look at your countenance and look at your face. If you have been in the Lord at any amount of time, you look back at those things and say, whoever that was is dead. There is now a new name written down in glory. There's a new name. Hallelujah. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. God says, I'm I am going to do something in you that will bring honor to my name, not to you, not to a church, not to an organization, but to me. I'm going to bring honor to my name because I'm going to do something in you and a royal diadem. In other words, there's going to be a power. I'm going to display my power in you. It's a diadem that was held in the hand of God that symbolized, to some degree, the power of God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken. Neither shall thy land anymore be termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah for the Lord delighteth in thee and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have set watchmen upon thy walls of Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence and give him no rest until he established, until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. God says, call out to me. Give me no rest until I establish you. My church is a praise in the earth. Give no rest to me. Now, Nehemiah endured much opposition to this call to have the city of God rebuilt and established, the wall of God around about his city rebuilt and established. And folks, if anyone tries to tell you that there's no trouble on the road to becoming Christ-like, it's most probable that they themselves have never begun the journey. I'll tell you that for a fact. Anybody that gets up and tells you, you come to Christ and it's all peaches and cream all the way through, well, they themselves have never left the starting gate. You different forms of opposition in his attempt to rebuild the wall and redefine as it is those that are inside and those that are outside of that wall. Yet I only want to speak of three, which I believe are common to all that would desire a full life with Christ. If you are here today and in your heart, you're saying pastor, I want to be all that Jesus has called me to be. I want to be everything. I want to open my heart and let him do everything that he wants to do. You're going to find that you're going to begin to fight fears within like Paul, the apostle did fighting without, there's going to be everything of hell and even things you didn't think about are going to come against that work in your life. The very first thing that Nehemiah encountered is the very first thing that you and I encountered when we first set our faces to having God do all that he wants to do within our lives. You find that in Nehemiah chapter two and verse 19, a spirit of mockery will come against you. Mockery. When Sanballat and the Hornites will buy on the servant, et cetera, et cetera, they heard it. They laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, what is this thing that you do? Will you rebel against the king? In other words, you, you know what it's like those that have walked with God in the amount of time and you have an honest heart to grow in the grace of Christ. You hear these voices that come against you, things that have controlled your life for years, things that have tormented your mind, thought patterns that have come into you, things that have become part of your character because they were spoken into your life as you were growing things such as you're stupid or you'll never amount to anything. Others may, but you may not. All these things that have come against you and some of them have even formed a rulership as it is in your life. They rule your thinking. They rule your path. They caused you to do the things that you did. They caused some to put drugs in their arm to look for relief. They caused others to seek relief in a more relationships. They caused others to do other types of things. And now, as you set your heart to live for God, these same voices, these former kings, these ones that have, in a sense, ruled among the ruins will come and say how foolish to think you can stand against the authority that has been established here in your life. Will you defy his power to rule? Do you think you can stand? Will you rebel against the king? Do you think you can usurp those of us here who preside over these ruins and have dominion over your life? Do you think so? You know, there will immediately be a challenge to the work of God. The moment you set your heart to become Christ-like, set your watch by it, there will be a challenge from everything of hell against what you are desiring God to do in your life. Now, these are arrogant statements from those who had occupied and ruled among what they were quite content to be ruins. There was all kinds of rubble strewn about. The wall was down. Mocking spirits, mocking people could come in and out. They could point the finger at the people of God. They could tell them, yes, maybe you're building something, but it'll never be the way it used to be. They will accuse them of all types of things. And as this man, Nehemiah, comes onto the scene, they opposed him with arrogance in their heart. Their statements were arrogant, but they disguised well-founded fears within. There was a fear that was in these mocking spirits that caused them to mock in the first place. I want to tell you something this morning. You set your heart to seek Christ and to seek the fullness of Christ, you will come up against opposition. But the reason you're coming up against opposition is because these spirits will and thoughts and patterns, whatever they are, they know that the moment you set your heart to seek God, their days are numbered. There is an arrogance which covers a fear for in chapter two and verse 10, says, when Sanballat the Horonite and Zubiah the servant, the Ammonite heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly. For there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. They were grieved in their hearts. They were afraid because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of God. And I want to tell you something today. A terror hits hell when anyone sets his heart towards being all that God has called him to be. When a weakest child, when the weakest son, the weakest daughter of God, whoever set foot in the house of God says, God, I am nothing. My life is a ruin, but I set my heart to let you do whatever you want to do in my life and make me whatever you want to make me. The moment hell hears that, there's a terror, a shock of terror that goes through hell itself. The devil himself knows and every demon of hell knows that Jesus Christ came to seek the welfare of everyone who had turned to Almighty God through his shed blood. The devil knows that he was triumphed over on Calvary. The blood of Christ releases even from the grave those that had gone on to be with the Lord before Christ died. The devil and all his hordes know the power of God. Matthew chapter 8, verse 29. You see Jesus coming into a place of tombs. It was called the Jurgisenes. There were two persons possessed with devils in that particular place running around, tormented, the scripture says, day and night. And when Jesus came on the scene, they cried out something very unusual. They said, what have we to do? What have you to do with us? What are we to do with you, thou son of God? We know who you are. And then they said something. They said, are you come here to torment us before the time? Have you come to torment? There was something in that statement. They knew that they had been triumphed over by Christ. They knew the presence of the son of God meant the end of their reign. Have you come to torment us before? Or will you let us run roughshod through this life or through these lives? Will you let us continue to dominate these lives? And as Jesus stood and just looked upon them, they knew their time to depart had come. And you know the rest of the story. They besought him. They said, well, if we have to go, send us into the herd of pigs over there and let us drown them in the sea. Hallelujah. Nehemiah chapter 4, again, verses 2 and 3. The mockery continues. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, what do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Now, Tobiah the Ammonite was by him. And he said, even that which they build, if a fox goes up, he shall even break down their stone wall. Mockery. Mockery coming against the work of God. Lying spirits saying that even if a fox, it'll only take a little thing that comes against this thing that God is building in your life and it will come crashing down. It's a feeble wall and it will not stand. Go with me to Luke chapter 13, please, in the New Testament. Luke chapter 13. Even a fox. You ever heard that? Have you ever had that spoken into your life by some voice coming from somewhere? All it's going to take is just a little thing. It won't stand. It won't last. It's too good to be true. It's not as strong as you think it is. All I have to do is send a fox against it. It's going to fall. You're going to go running right back to your old lifestyle once again. Luke 13, 31. The devil brought the same accusation, in a sense, against Jesus Christ. He says, the same day there came certain of the Pharisees saying unto him, get thee out and depart hence, for Herod will kill thee. In other words, they're trying to make him believe that Herod has power over him. And he said unto them, go ye and tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils and I do cures today and tomorrow and the third day I shall be perfected. Go tell him. Behold, I cast out devils. I do cures today and tomorrow. The word for do is epilatio, which is what it means. I finish. I complete. I perfect. I bring to an end or goal. I accomplish what I set out to do. He was saying, I am casting out devils. Tell him I'm casting out devils. Tell him the devil has no power over me. Tell him the devil has no power over what I'm doing. I cast him out. I cast him out at will. I do cures. I do things that are impossible. I'm doing them today. I will continue to do them tomorrow. I will bring them to completion. I will perfect them. I will bring them to an end goal. I will fully accomplish what I've set out to do. And the third day he said, I shall be perfected the third day. In other words, the word for shall be perfected is tele idol, which means I will have reached my prescribed goal. The living Bible says it this way. Jesus said, go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and doing miracles of healing today and tomorrow. And the third day I will reach my destination. Hallelujah. Go tell that fox that I am building something that nothing can triumph over. And this is what God is saying to you and I today. Tell every fox that comes against your life that tries to tell you it has power over you, that tries to tell you it can kill you, that tries to tell you it can destroy the work that God's doing in your life. Tell that fox, tell every fox that what I am building cannot be stopped. Tell them, tell every fox that what I'm doing cannot be triumphed over. It has been written and all who place their trust in my word will reach that place where I am going. And I have destined them to be the third day. I am going to perfect that which I have destined to do. I have come to seek the good of a people that will turn to me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Nehemiah, again in chapter four, verse four, did what you and I need to do. He began to pray and he prayed a certain type of prayer. He said, Here, O our God, for we are despised and turn their reproach upon their own head and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. Nehemiah prays that all mockers would be brought into captivity. Remember, the Bible tells us the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down, casting down every imagination, every high thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Captivity is captive. That's what the scripture says. When Jesus Christ wrote from the dead, he took captivity captive and gave gifts unto men, gave power unto men, gave his presence unto men, put an enduring seed in the lives of those who turn to him, a seed that cannot be triumphed over. It cannot be blown away because it takes root. It goes down deep and out of it comes a tree and there's life and there's fruit and there's lodging available in the work that God does in the lives of his children. Hallelujah. Send the markers to flight. Let God build around you that wall. You have to know who you are in Jesus Christ. That's why the understanding of the covenant is the New Testament covenant is so important. If you don't understand it, you need to get Pastor David's book on the new covenant unveiled. I obviously don't have time to go through all of that today. For those who know the New Testament covenant, you now know who you are in Jesus Christ. You understand the provision of God for your salvation. You understand the fullness of your righteousness is all by the work that he has done. It's been made complete through Jesus Christ. It's not of ourselves. It's all of him. You understand that the Holy Spirit comes into your life to lift your state as it is in line with your standing. Your standing is absolutely accepted with God through Jesus Christ. Absolutely entire, absolutely complete. You could have had the worst day of your absolute Christian life. You could have not read your Bible and feel totally condemned. You could have really lost it at work. You could have lost it at home. You could have lost it on the freeway on the way to church. You could have lost it with the ushers coming in to find your seat. It's been the worst day of your life. But I want to tell you something. It's not by works of righteousness that we have done. It's according to his mercy that he has saved us. You need to know if you are a genuine child of God, if you have a heart to live for God, the whole time you've had a bad day, Jesus has been standing before the throne of God presenting you, presenting your name, speaking your name before the father and the father who doesn't deal with you directly, but only through his son. There's one God. There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Jesus stands before his father speaking your name and God the father looks at his son and says, I received that brother. I received that that sister as the righteousness of almighty God because of Jesus Christ and God the father. Jesus now sends the Holy Spirit to come into our lives to sanctify us, which is which means lift our standing. This is a constant work of God to lift our our state as it is rather. I said that wrongly to lift our state in line with what our standing already is in Christ before the throne of God. Sanctification is an ongoing work. You'll never we'll never arrive. That's why the apostle Paul says I've not arrived, but I press on to the mark of the high calling. He's not talking about salvation. That was settled. That was secure. He knew that. But he's talking about going on to letting God begin to build in me what he wants in my life, giving him giving me an understanding. What is that wall? The wall is the understanding of who we are in Jesus Christ, what Christ did for us on Calvary, who we become when the wall is up. The enemy can't come in and point his finger at us anymore. Hallelujah. Paul said it this way. If God before us, then who can be against us? If God can be for us, who can stand against us? Jesus himself said their righteousness is of me. It is all mine. This is our righteousness. It's got nothing to do with our works. It's got everything to do with our faith in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Thanks be to God for his mercy. Thanks be to God for his grace. It gives us the liberty to grow. We don't have to have the finger of the devil pointed at us every time we make a mistake. Hallelujah. Cast the markers away. Cast them away. Get into this book and know it inside out. Know who you are in Christ. Ask the Holy Ghost to make it a reality to you and cast away every voice. Condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. Every tongue that rises to condemn you, you condemn that tongue. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Now the second battle, Genesis 3, 1 says the serpent was more subtle than any beast in the field. Nehemiah chapter 6 tells us that the second battle that we would have to face is a battle of subtlety. Chapter 6, verse 1, it says, Now it came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah and Yeshim the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had builded the wall and that there was no breach left therein, though at the time I had not set up the doors upon the gates that Sanballat and Yeshim sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I'm doing a great work so that I cannot come down. And why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you? Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner. Now Ono was near the border of Samaria. It was Sanballat's home turf. I guess if I can make a type, it's the devil's home turf. A day's journey from the work of Jerusalem that was going on. Now we ask ourselves the question, why a day's journey? Why does the devil want to get us a day's journey away from the calling of God, the work of God? Now it represents many things, but I want to speak about two of those things that a day's journey may represent. Number one, it's to cause you to embark on a path of pursuing the lusts of your own heart. The enemy will always come and try to sow discontent in your heart. If you are seeking God, he will come to you and say, well, the work that God is doing in your life is so wonderful that you shouldn't be here. You should be in another place. Come over to the plain of Ono, and let's talk about it. I've been there, folks. I know what the plain of Ono was all about. This is the end of side one. The work that God's called you to do, and you've moved a day's journey away from it, and all of a sudden, I remember standing on a platform one time. It's too long a story to go into, but I had a man come to my door. I was seeking God with all of my heart, and this man came to my door and told me that I needed him. That should have been a warning in my heart, which I didn't heed. I was young. And he said, I need you. He said, you need me. He said, the message God's putting in your heart needs to go throughout the whole country. And he said, I'm the man to do that. Now, that should have been a warning. That was Sanballat coming to my door and saying, I want to draw you. I was in the closet of prayer, seeking God, and the enemy was wanting to draw me out and send me into a battle that I was not prepared to face. And I remember letting him do and setting up an incorporation and all of these things. It took a long time to get out of renting an auditorium, and I remember that first night when the curtain went up, I had this sickening feeling in my heart. It was, oh no, I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I knew it right from that very moment, I was in the wrong place. A day's journey away from the call of God, discontent with what God has already provided and what God has already promised. You can be an usher. You can be growing in leaps and bounds in the knowledge of God, and somebody will come to you and begin to sow that in your heart and get you away from the calling of God, get you out of where you're growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and try to move you somewhere where you're going away from just a humble, submissive heart to the work of God, to a place of self-ambition and following the desires of your own heart. There is no growth. That is a zero growth place, folks. I'll tell you right now, the easiest way to get out of that is just repent of it. If it's in your heart, repent of it and go back to where you left off, the pathway of God. Now, Numbers 1131, you remember the story. Please don't turn there. I just shared with you the children of Israel were being led by God through the wilderness into a place of promise, and they began to murmur against the Lord because they got tired of the food that God was giving them. They got tired of the daily sustenance of this manna that the Lord was giving, and they began to ask for quail. And you know the scripture, the Lord sent them quail, and Numbers 1131 says that there were so many birds that were sent into the camp that it took a day's journey on either side of the camp to gather the quail. Now, there's a symbolism to that because this is what it represents is exactly what was going on in Nehemiah's life, an attempt to draw them away, an attempt to draw away a day's journey, in a sense, from the very heart of God. Proverbs 106 and verse 15 tells us that they waited not for the counsel of the Lord, but lusted exceedingly in their heart. And the Bible says he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. Folks, if you have a leanness in your soul, it's very possible that you're a day's journey away from the work of God. Also, the enemy knows that leaving the pathway of God for your life will only bring you into despair. In 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 4, we know the story of Elijah, but the Bible says that he took a day's journey into the wilderness, and at that place, a day's journey away from where he had once known victory, he lost heart and wanted to die. And don't think for a moment the devil doesn't know that. That if he can get you a day's journey away from the work of God, the call of God, there will be, if he can get you walking in self-ambition, if he can get you away from that cry of your heart that says, Father, not my will, but thine be done. If he can move you away from being content just to be who you are and where you are and growing in the grace and knowledge of God, if he can draw you out into the lust of your own heart and bring you a day's journey away from that which is really the only true work of God. In a sense, if he can take you out from behind the wall that God is building around your life, he can lead you into a wilderness place where you will lose heart and eventually want to die. And I believe some of you are here today. That's exactly where you are. But I want to remind you of one thing that the devil would not want you to know today, that it's only a day's journey to get back. It only took a day's journey to get away and it's only a day's journey to get back. And all you have to do is get up or wherever you are and say enough of this, enough of the self-consumption, enough of these vain plans and empty plans for my life and all this ambition about greatness and what I'm going to be and what I'm going to do for God. It's all amounting to nothing. Enough of this. I'm getting up and going back to that place where I knew the blessing of God, where God's blessing was upon my life. It's a pathway of humility, just getting up and acknowledging, God, I have walked away from you. I have left what you wanted to do in my life. I'm outside of the wall that you wanted to build around me. My God, how foolish of me. I'm just getting up and I'm going back. Nehemiah, again, chapter six. If you'll go there with me, you're already there, I believe this would be the last battle. Satan will try to instill in you the fear of personal harm or loss. If you persist in the work before you, the enemy will come and he will say, if you, if you keep on this path, it's going to cost you big time. Nehemiah chapter six, verse 10. Afterward, I came to the house of Shemiah, the son of Deliah, the son of Methodebel, who was shut up. And he said, let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. Let us shut the doors of the temple for they will come to slay thee. Yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. And I said, should such a man as I flee and who was there that being as I am would go into the temple to save his life, I will not go in. And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore, was he hired that I should be afraid and do so in sin that they might have matter for an evil report and that they might reproach me. My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these, their works and on the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear. So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month, Elal in fifty and two days. And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, that they were much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. They were cast down. The last thing they attempted to do to Nehemiah is to instill a fear in his heart that if that if Nehemiah, if I can, if I can liken it to what you and I may be going through today, the enemy will come and say, look, this has been great and you've allowed God to do a wonderful work in your life. But if you let this thing continue, you're going to wind up on the mission field. And you know, that's going to cost you big time if you go there. If you let this thing continue, you know, God's going to ask for your bank account. You're going to have to give up your car, your home. It's going to cost you big time. You're going to end up preaching on the street and get you might even get harmed by people like the apostle Paul did out there. And he's going to try to convince you that the fall of God, that you will suffer a loss. But folks, that's a lie, because the only loss, the only eternal loss this we may lose some things here on this earth, but these things on this earth are not eternal. That's what the devil doesn't want you to know. They're all temporal. They're all going to be dissolved. The apostle Peter says they're going to burn. They're all going to pass away. That which can be lost is that which is eternal. That which can be lost on in this world is only temporary. Remember, James said, where our lives are just a vapor. They appear for a season like a smoke, and then all of a sudden they vanish and are gone away. It's only that which is eternal that we are ought to be in fear, in a sense, if there is such a thing of losing the loss, the eternal loss that will be suffered is to the kingdom of hell and darkness itself. And the devil knows that if you press through and you're one of those that says, I will not stop until God does such a work in my life that he establishes himself through me as a praise in the earth. I will not stop until God's word has totally surrounded me until I know who I am in Jesus Christ. I will not stop until the mocking spirits without and within are all brought into subjection to the obedience of Jesus Christ. I will not stop until the Holy Spirit has dominion in this life, dominion in this heart, and it becomes the delight of my life to do the will of God and not my own will. I will not stop. I will not stop for that which can be lost, only lost is eternal. These things on this earth can pass away. Remember what Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 21, 18, he was telling them, he said, not a hair of your head is going to perish. That's incredible thing. Some people were going to get their heads cut off that he was speaking to. Some are going to be run through at the sword. Others were going to die. Violent death. Peter was going to be, as history tells us, crucified upside down. But he said, not a hair of your head will perish. You see, he was not speaking about this physical kingdom, not speaking about his physical clothes, his physical body, physical safety, not speaking about the here and now. Jesus was saying, I'm doing a work. I am building something. And it's not temporal. It's not temporary. It's eternal. It's not a physical kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. And if you'll open your heart to my work, not a hair of it will be lost. Nothing, nothing. The devil can't touch what I'm doing in your life. Hallelujah. It's an eternal work. Yes, you may suffer. Christians do suffer here on this side of eternity. Yes, some may even die. But God says there's a day coming. I'm going to blow a trumpet and not even death can have dominion over you. Not a hair, not a hair on your head is going to be lost. Not a hair. Hallelujah. I'm going to raise you up in fullness. You're going to be complete. You're going to be whole. You're going to be entire. The work I am doing cannot be triumphed over. Nothing can stop what I am building in the lives of my people. Hallelujah. John saw it, the apostle John. If you'll turn with me to Revelation, I'm going to close with this today. In Revelation chapter 21, John saw what God was doing. He saw it coming. And folks, you have to be able to see it. Otherwise, your whole concentration is on the here and now. And that's where the heart gets to be open to the lies of the evil one. When all we can see is now, all we can think about is present comforts. And we lose sight of what God is doing. We lose sight of the fact that he's casting out devils. He's doing healings. He's doing cures. And the third day, there's going to be a work brought to perfection. We lose sight of that. And we become prey to all the lies of darkness to stop the work of God in our lives. John 21, John says, he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Folks, if you trust Christ, you're going to be there. Do you know that John's speaking about a place that you're going to be? That's an incredible thought. When you think about it, we're going to be there. You might be my neighbor. Who knows? And I might be your neighbor. I don't. I will know as I'm known. You will know as you are known. Pastor David says that there'll be no need for introductions. I will know you. You will know me. There'll be no lies. There'll be no sign. There'll be no sorrow. There'll be no bad memories. There'll be no wounded hearts. There'll be nothing. There'll be an absolute entire work done by almighty God himself. Those who trusted him, those who walked with him here on this earth, he has brought to completion everything he promised he did. Hallelujah. Now, verse 11 says, having the glory of God and her light was like unto a stone, most precious, even a Jasper stone clear as crystal and verse 12 had a wall. What was it that he sent me to do to rebuild the wall? What is it that God wants to do to rebuild the wall of who he is round about our lives? Great and high had 12 gates and the gates, 12 angels and the names written thereon, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel on the three on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, three gates and on the west, three gates and the wall of the city had 12 foundations. And in them, the names of the 12 apostles of the land go to verse 21 and the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl in the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple there in for the Lord God almighty and the lamb or the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it. And the lamb is the light thereof. Now, folks, this is coming, but this is the type of what God wants to do in the spiritual realm. In all of his children here today, God says, I want to build you. I want to build you on a solid foundation. I want to put a wall round about you. I want your heart to open to my word and I will establish a glory of my presence within you. And you will be a light to those around you. You will be set upon a hill. You will not be able to be hidden from your generation. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. There shall in no wise enter into it. Anything that defileth, neither whatsoever work at the abomination or make it the lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Now, chapter 22, verse three, there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. There shall be no night there and they need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord. God gives them life and they shall reign forever and ever. They shall reign. This is what God is doing. This is where God is building. This is where God is taking you and I to. Is it not worth it to yield our lives to him? Is it not worth it to begin to let him build into our lives whatever he wants to build? Is it not worth it to walk the pathway that God has ordained for each of our lives? Is it not worth it to let him put within us and still in such a faith that we have the power within us as it is to cast away all every mocking spirit that comes against the work and the word of God? Is it not worth it to yield our lives to him as a living sacrifice, counting no cost on this side of eternity too great for the kingdom of God to not only advance in us, but to advance into this darkened society that Christ came and gave his life for? Is it not worth it to live for God? Hallelujah. There are some here today that I know that you are tormented. You bought the lie that God's work in you will never be completed. You bought it. The devil brought it and you bought it. And you're sitting here now believing it. There were certain cities in the New Testament, the Bible says that Jesus could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief. There are certain people that God just simply can't work in because they bought the lie that God is unable to complete the work that he's begun in their lives. Folks, it's a lie. This morning, ask God for a heart of faith to believe for what he has promised to do. Ask him for a heart of faith. If you don't have it, just admit it. He already knows it anyway. It's only you that's in darkness. Just admit that you don't believe him and ask him, God, give me a like the man came with a demon possessed child. And he said, Jesus said, if you can believe all things are possible. And he cried out and said, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. I believe as much as I can. But God, there's a limitation to my own faith. You've got to come and help me. You've got to take me over the line and give me a heart to believe for the impossible. Bring into captivity all thoughts that are sent to mock the word of God. You need faith to do this. You need to know the word of God to do this. You have to have in your heart what the thoughts of God towards the attacks of the enemy that will come against you. You cannot live the Christian life on emotions, folks. You have to have the word of God. You have to be breathed upon. It has to be enlivened by the Holy Ghost. There's no other weaponry to stand against the assault of darkness against your life. You have to know his word, but first you have to have faith. There's no point if you didn't believe my if I was a man capable of making promises and fulfilling all of them, which I'm not. There is no point to me making any promises to you if you don't believe me. There's no point to me telling you in the front row that after the service today, I'll meet your lunch if you don't believe I have the resources to do it. And many people come to church and read the Bible and sit in services and get greatly touched emotionally. But in their heart, they really don't believe that that the one speaking to them actually has the resources to finish the work that he started. The apostle Paul says, I am persuaded. I know he said whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've entrusted unto him against that day. Paul's saying, I know whom I have believed. I know who he is, and I'm persuaded that he can keep me. He can change me. He can mold me. He can build me. He can give me power. He can give me courage. He can do all things and everything he wants to do as I continue to yield my life to him and walk the path that he has for me. I know who he is, and I know what he can do. The Bible says that we are to be careful lest any of us allow an evil heart of unbelief to get ahold of us and end up like the children of Israel, standing right on the shores of promise and unable to go in because we do not judge him faithful who promised to keep us and change us. There are people here this morning that you can honestly say, I believe that you've been diverted. You are a day's journey from God's calling on your life. You've walked away. Selfish ambition has drawn you away from the place that God once had you, and you're empty. You're dry. You're like Elijah. There's a despair that's gotten a hold of your heart. Something inside. You'd even rather die than go on. I've been talking to some people in the last couple of weeks who have come to this place, men that I knew that are good, solid Christian men, but have come to the place in their life where they said, in a sense, I'm only paraphrasing for them, but I'd rather be dead than live this kind of a Christianity. A day's journey away from that place where God was once speaking to you and God was once touching you. It's not far to get up and come back. The gateway is called humility. The gateway is called God. I have a need. I have left off. I lost the joy that I once had, the faith that was brewing in my heart, the desire to live through God. Something happened to it. I feel like I'm a day's journey away from what you want to do in my life. It's just a matter of getting up and coming back. And others, you're just simply afraid you bought the lie that some kind of pain awaits you. I'll tell you, folks, there's not a pain that awaits you. Yes, there's momentary trials. But what did Paul say? The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that's going to be revealed in us. Speaking about Jesus, the scripture says, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame is now set down at the right hand of God. The joy of being the center of that new city one day, the joy of knowing you and I, an intimate fellowship for not only time, but for all of eternity, the joy of coming into our lives and the power of the Holy Ghost and finishing the work that he had begun, who for that joy, bringing up a people as it is, who have been born again by the spirit of God, transforming them and showing his power once again in the earth, showing this entire world that with God, all things are possible. People would lay hold of him by faith and trust him and believe and begin to change who for that joy endured the cross and despised the shame. Yes, I'm not going to lie to you today, as some preachers try to do and tell you that that the Christian life is just all rosy and happy. No, there can be some very hard times. Death can knock at your door like anybody else's door. Hardship can come to your house like anybody else's. But I'll tell you today, God will give you a strength that will cause the people around about you in the world to stand back in awe and say, how could this person have this testimony? How could this person be this strong? There's no other God can deliver. David himself said it in Psalm 40. He has established my feet, established my goings. He's given me a song that people shall see and fear and shall trust in the Lord. He has put a new song in my heart. You don't have to be afraid of the future. You don't have to be afraid. God has promised to give you courage and faith if you will acknowledge your need of him. God said, I'm going to keep you. I'm going to seal you in my father's hand, and nobody's taking you out of that hand. I'm doing something in your life. I am building something in you. It's eternal. It's eternal. It can't be taken away. Yes, you may have some sorrow. You may have some sighing on this side of eternity, but there is a day coming. I'm going to wipe away every tear. There's going to be no more sorrow. There's going to be no more sighing, no more pain. Former things are all gone. Not a hair, not a hair, not a hair, not a hair. Hallelujah. Would you please stand with me here in the main sanctuary in the education annex? If the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart this morning, I'm going to ask you to slip out wherever you are, especially if you're among those who are tormented in your mind by the powers of darkness. I'm going to pray a prayer of deliverance for you today and ask God to put faith once again in your heart. Would you slip out wherever you are? All those that are tormented by the enemy, those that are backslidden means you've been diverted from the call of God. You've been turned away through subtlety from the work that God has for your life. And today you say, I want what God has for me. I'm tired of being a day's journey away from the center of the heart of God for my life. I'm tired of the enemy wrecking my home and my marriage. I'm tired of him sowing discontent in my heart on the job and everywhere else. I'm tired of it. I'm getting up and I'm going back. I'm going back to that place where I knew the blessing of God. And again, those who are afraid, you don't have to be afraid of the future folks. You don't have to be afraid to open your door to your community. God will look after you. God's doing an eternal work in your life. If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you today, if you're backslidden, if you need to come back to God, if you're lost today and you want Jesus Christ as your savior, as we sing a worship course, I'm going to ask you to slip out of your seat. Please move in very closely here today. Give room for everybody in the education that you can stand between the two screens. And our pastor Neil will be there very shortly and be leading you in a prayer. How many good say this morning, Pastor Carter, I'd love to, I'd love to come back. I'd love to do all the things you're talking about, but I've never even dealt within the wall of God's love and God's protection. I'm a sinner. I'm not saved. I've never pretended really to be saved, but I find myself here today convinced of my sin and my need of God. And I'm tired of living the way I'm living. If that's you today, you need to know that Jesus Christ was God come down in the flesh. He died on a cross to pay the penalty for all of your sins. Now your sins are those things that you do that violate the laws of God. You don't have to tell one lie to be a liar for the rest of your life until that sin is forgiven. You don't have to steal one thing to be a thief for the rest of your life. You are branded a thief literally in the sight of God until the blood of Christ comes and washes that sin away. And the Bible says that sin separates us from God, not only here, but forever. But God was not willing that any should die. And so they became a man. He sent his son and paid the price for your sin. And if you will believe that he died for you, open your heart to him as your savior. And as your Lord, if you will confess him with your mouth, the Bible says that you will be saved. Bible says there's actually a pin in heaven waiting to write your name in a book that we read about called the Lamb's Book of Life. Those that have been redeemed, those that have been saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the son of God, on a cross 2,000 years ago. Unashamedly, I ask you this morning to join with me. If that's you, you may not be at this altar. You can be in the education annex, the balcony, the main sanctuary. But I'm going to ask you unashamedly because Jesus unashamedly died for you. He died high on a hill. He died exposed to ridicule and shame that he may take all your shame upon himself. And he's waiting now to confess your name before his father. This is an instantaneous thing. The Bible says when you receive Christ, the spirit of God comes and begins to live in you and you are born again. You are you. You are made into a new person. You're given a brand new birth. It's as if you have never sinned before. It's as if you've never done a wrong thing. Old things, the scripture says, are passed away. Old things are all taken away. The sacrifice of Christ blots out your sin and you're given a brand new start, a brand new life. It seems almost too good to be true, doesn't it? But it is true. You'll be the father that you've always longed to be, the friend that you never could be. God will break in the power of the Holy Ghost habits and addictions and mental struggles and torments. He will take care of all these things as you yield your life to him and you will have a testimony of the power of God. Like we do here, many of us in this church stand before you to say the words we speak to you are truth. God will do everything he said he will do. Angels in heaven are waiting to rejoice over even one sinner that comes to God in this house this morning. There's a silence, there's a stillness perhaps before the throne of God this very moment as all heaven waits for you to make that most important decision you will ever make in your life to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If that's you today, sir, madam, student, young person, whoever you are, would you join with me unashamedly and raise your hand and raise it up nice and high all through the sanctuary and hold it up high all over. Go ahead, up in the balcony, education act. Raise your hand, those that want to receive Christ unashamedly. Come into Christ. Hallelujah. Decision, sir, you'll ever make. You'll never make a decision greater than the one that you're making right now and all through the balcony too as well. Education act. There'll never be a decision in life that's greater than the one you're making today. You are giving the rights to your life to Jesus Christ to save you and to be your Lord from this day forward. God's going to do a marvelous work if you'll yield your heart to it and establish you and give you a testimony that will actually cause people to think that you're another person because you really will be by the Spirit of God. Let's all pray together for the sake of those that are coming into the kingdom of God today. Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. Jesus, thank you that you came to save me from the penalty of my sin, which is eternal separation from almighty God. I'm sorry for my sin. I don't want to live in sin anymore. I ask you, Jesus, this very moment to come into my life to be my Lord and my Savior. I open my heart to you. I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that your death on the cross paid the price for my sin. I believe that your being raised from the dead on the third day is evidence that as I trust in you, I too will be raised from spiritual death and given a new life, given new strength, given a new hope and a destiny of eternity in heaven with almighty God. I believe, Jesus, that you are the Son of God. I confess you with my mouth. Therefore, by the authority of the Word of God, this very moment, this very month, in this very church, at this very time, I believe I am saved. I am saved. I am saved. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Saved, saved, saved, saved, saved. This is the conclusion of the message.