To we going over Isaiah the 61st chapter the third through the fourth verse Tyler my message is we're commissioned to rebuild the walls of God to rebuild the walls of God Jeremiah the 61st chapter and starts off about it says the Spirit of the Lord God is up on me and Because the Lord had anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He had sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all that mourn, to grant to them who mourn in Zion the following, to give them a turban instead of dust on their heads as a sign of mourning, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment expresses of praise instead of a disheartened spirit. So they will be called trees of righteousness, strong and magnificent, distinguished for integrity, justice, and right standing with God. the planning of the Lord that he may be glorified, then they will rebuild the ancient ruins and they will raise up and restore the former desolations. And they will renew the ruined cities. Now, I'm looking at this as God doing something in us and he's done something in us. But where there's the exchange as to from, I tried to jump off from last week as he was our wall, our wall of salvation. He was our wall, that wall was protection, a bulk wall, bulk wood, a hedge. And as being that hedge, that wall, He is replicating himself in us. What he started at the beginning of creation saying, let us make man in our image and our likeness, he's continuing to do. And as he does that, we have to be strengthened as a tree, a tree that is planted. Now we have to keep studying and reading our Bible and keep the whole context of the Bible in mind. But he says, as a tree planted, and there's a lot of references as a tree planted by the water and the strength and its lacking of barren conditions, but continually watered by the streams of water, which is symbolic of his word and his spirit. The book of Job said, as a tree is cut down, will it live again? and we know that it would, it would spring up, and it talks about the tree in the book of Isaiah, and then the book of Daniah has Nebuchadnezzar as a type of Christ, as a type of king of kings, but we see that Nebuchadnezzar was a flawed vessel. Not Nebuchadnezzar was full of pride. He was rotten on the inside. What he was had to be rebuilt or redone. And as that rebuilding and redoing, he still was a servant of God, but there was a reformation that had to come in his life where God When he was at the height of his prime, God hewed him down. God hewed him down and made him as an animal for seven years. During that seven years of time, God grew him within. He changed and made Nebuchadnezzar, renewed Nebuchadnezzar, and made Nebuchadnezzar a different man, a new man. And he was still his protection. He was Nebuchadnezzar's protection, like he's our deliverer, our protection. He's our salvation. But during that time of Nebuchadnezzar Reformation, a rebuilding, he had to rebuild himself also, as God tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trouble. And there's things that we have to of necessity accomplished and he's given us of his spirit to accomplish those things. So it's the spirit that working in us both to will and to do it. We want to keep some of those analogies, those metaphors running through our mind or what we are and what we are coming to be. Now, a tree, I kind of listening to some things about trees this weekend, studied on the trees or whatever. A tree's growth is three or four, very rapidly, three or four months out of the year. But then the rest of that year, the tree is growing, but what it's doing is strengthening the growth that it had produced. And that's what we do, we strengthen what God had placed in us. If we righteousness, he imputes his righteousness unto us, but we hunger and thirst after his righteousness, and we grow in his righteousness and his image and his likeness under his protective hedge. As Job was a perfect and upright man, but during all that time, God had a hedge around Job, a protective hedge around Job. But within that hedge, to re-fortify, the reinforcing of that hedge, making it a fortress, God being the walls, but Job was a man that was perfect and upright, so he walked in God's word and God's ordinances, his statutes. And that's what strengthens us walking in his word in his statues. And that's what brings us to the point of being as God is as we walk as he walk as we accomplish the thing he accomplished. Doing that trees period of growth that has grew in that three or four months. You see a tree over the years, it develops rains. Each one of those rings designates a year of growth, and that's how they determine the age of that tree. And during that time, it's a lot of things that each layer, each wall of that tree, as it's being produced, it's a whole lot that each layer go through. It's like each layer of our life, each year of our lives, there are a lot of things that we go through. There's gonna be a lot of suffering and trouble in our lives. And trouble is not always bad because what trouble serves to do, it strengthens you. There's lessons to be learned in all things, and going through suffering, we can rejoice in healing. We can rejoice and look unto God, and that's how our obedience is made perfect, and that is through suffering. Through proper suffering, if we were to adhere to God's word, in other words, we have to learn to go through what God's putting us through in life without murmuring and complaining. Without whining, we need to keep God's rules and regulations. We need to walk in his way. And the only way we could do that is through the grace of God, by his grace, through his spirit. The spirit that works in us, that leads us and guides us in spiritual growth. Because the walls that we are building are not physical walls, they are spiritual walls. And in that spiritual growth, God has placed us in the world. He has planted us in the world. He had planted us good seeds. And we're to extract from the world, extract from the troubles, extract from the relationships and things in the world to bring forth fruit, to be a strong tree. You know, as an analogy, I'll talk about it toward the conclusion here, but he calls us cypress trees. You know what makes trees strong or whatever, and I told you trials and tribulations, is when the wind blow a tree. A lot of times trees kind of bend or move, you know, a little movement through them and the more branches and things on them, the more wind accumulates or whatever. But the more that tree resists and stand up to that wind, the stronger its resistance gets, the stronger that tree grows. the stronger the strength of that tree because of the wind that comes. There's gonna be winds in our lines. There's gonna be many a storm comes in our lines, but God allows those storms when he allowed his hedge to be moved back. Job said, if you would just move the hedge. And God allowed him to lose material things. He allowed him to lose his children and things. But what that did is gave Job a clear insight to God. If we realize that God is with us, he's our wall, he's our protection, and he's with us in the fiery den. That he's in that fiery furnace when we're going through the fire, God is right there with us. We have to find Jesus because he says, Lord, I'm with you and I'll never forsake you, I'll never leave you. So a part of one of that ring in our lives is staying attached, staying with a proper relationship to Jesus Christ. He said, if you would abide in me, we have to abide in Christ. We have to abide in Christ, but we also have to be putting the old man to death. I was reading scripture this morning, came from the book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah, the 10th chapter. And I don't just give you these things idly. These are things that you should, these are things that reinforce, that strengthen your walls. And don't just read that 10th verse. Maybe read that entire chapter, first chapter of Jeremiah, where he's called in Jeremiah, just like he called us. He say he had formed him in the womb. He had formed Jeremiah in the womb and he wanted Jeremiah to be strong. He wanted Jeremiah to be vigilant because the minute you get God's working on you to strengthen you, the adversaries will come up to hinder you. When you go to raising God's walls, the adversaries will be there. That's why he says that he prepared a table in the midst of his enemies. And that's what God's doing. He's giving us a blessing right here in this world. In the midst of this world, He's placed us right in this thing. What we have to do is trust Him, have to have faith in Him, have to have belief in Him. He says, see, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdom to uproot and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow to build and to plant. So what are we uprooting? What are we destroying? What are we breaking down? And it's the walls in our lives that we're breaking down. It's like Nebuchadnezzar, we have to die to self. We have to put the old man to death. Because as I talked to you last week about the thoughts of man is continually wicked and the thoughts of man is continually evil. We have to bring every thought into captivity. Because we have a pugnacious attitude. A lot of us love to fight, love to be argumentative, and love to be combative, and all of these things. Well, these things has to be destroyed because that's not part of God's nature, what would make you strong. Those things are the world, those things are the strongholds that Satan has placed in your life because of emotional development. And to protect yourself, you've developed a strong heart and say only the strong survive. And I know how to protect myself and I'm independent. I can pull myself up by my own bootstraps, but God says it's not good for man to be alone. He was gonna make a help me, the helper for it. Nehemiah went back to build the walls in Jerusalem. He had to analyze the situation. In the analyzation of the situation and organization of the situation, he realized what was required to build the walls back at Jerusalem because the walls were torn down around Jerusalem. you see that's the way a lot of us in our lives we've gotten into the church we've gotten right maybe with god and had salvation or whatever and cyrus had sent them back and they had completed the temple and a lot of the old men wasn't too satisfied with the temple that was built or whatever because it didn't resemble the old temple they didn't have the splendor and the glory in the old temple but jesus says the reason that old that new temple would be more glorious than that big old building or whatever, because he was going to come and dwell in that temple. He was going to live in that temple. And that's why we realize this is a metaphor for our lives, that he's going to come and dwell and live in our lives. We are the temple of God. He's building us a spiritual house. He's building him a place to dwell in. So we have to build with material he gives us to build. You know, remodeling a house and doing some rebuilding, there's a lot of times some walls have to come down or whatever, but there's a lot of work before you can pull some walls down because a lot of interior walls are bearing walls. They're what they call bearing walls. They hold a lot of weight. There's a lot of strongholds in our lives. There's a lot of things, emotional and love interests and children and relationships and things that hold a lot of weight in our lives that are barren to us. And he says you must hate mother, father, sister, brother to be my disciple. you have to start combating some of those things that are keeping you from doing or accomplishing what God has for you to do, from building the walls, from building back the way he wants you to build back. As Nebuchadnezzar was building back, just like Nehemiah, they were building the walls, and Nehemiah analyzes any, a lot of those that was building on Nehemiah's wall, they build right in front of where they lived at. They built the wall up in front of their own houses. But during that time, a lot of them had to hold the spears and weapons of war in their hands while they built. But a lot of them stayed there in Jerusalem to build because going home would be too far for some of them that wasn't building in front of their homes. So they dwelt there, they slept there, they worked there, everything was done on site. The only time they poorly closing things off was to wash them. Sometimes we have to cleanse ourselves. We have to wash ourselves. We have to be clean. We have to notice what we're doing, but we have to continue to work. And what drives us and helps us to work is faith in the Lord. That's what his spirit does. The spirit of the Lord shall accomplish this, the zeal of the Lord of hosts, that hunger for righteousness to be established in him because we know that he's our protection. He says, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Lambs in the midst of wolves. And as we are sent out, we go about. He says, listen carefully. I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as wise as serpents and as innocent as does. Have no self-serving agenda. Don't work for yourself. You're working for me. That's what should be motivating you. Motivate interest. If there's a wall in there with you that loves self and loves to lavish and desires of accomplishment. And that's one thing, that's why pride gets in there. We have to tear those things down. That's why we have the hammer. His word is that hammer that we use. He says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and personalities of darkness and high places. We have to pull down those ways of thinking in our lives that's focused up on us. on our family, on things that's ours, mine, what I have, my achievement, my reputation, all of those things. He says, beware of men whose nature is to act in opposition to God, because there were those that came in and says, if a fox run up on that wall, he would tear that wall down. They ridiculed him, they mocked him, and they made fun of him. They tried to deceive him. And you have to watch those. There are a lot of people mocking you behind your back, mocking you to your face. There are a lot of people ridiculing the work that you've done, ridiculing your church, ridiculing things in your life. But you have to learn to work in the midst of criticism. You have to be able to ignore things that people are saying about you and to you. Because they were trying to destroy them and the interior walls were being built required the enemy to get inside to do you harm. And if you read that book of Nehemiah, the enemy got inside the establishment. They were married into the family of some of those people. And you have certain ideas and things that come up. And tearing down the walls is not as easy as we think. And if sometime you think you're doing a great work for God or doing a work for God, but it's a work for self. It's a work to get you ahead and not God. It's not at his direction. You're not being led by the spirit of God. And so sometime the things we establish it in everything, we have to get direction from God on how to be. That's why prayer is one of the tools that we use to accomplish this, is in conversation with God, talking to God. And what man would say he pray enough? I don't think I pray enough. Daniel prayed so many times a day, but he didn't feel he prayed enough. There are many great men, and they'll tell you one of the avenues is to stay in communication with God. I ask God to help me strengthen my prayer life. praying for others and praying and being an intercessor in prayer. So there are those that would cause you bodily harm, for they will hand you over to the courts and flog you in the synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as witnesses to teach, witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say for what are you to say will be given to you within that very hour. For it is not you speaking, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death and the father his child and children will rise up and rebel against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by everyone because of your association, because of my name. But it is the one who has patiently persevered and endured to the end who will be saved. So you see, salvation wasn't complete. They had salvation, but he says, we must endure to the end because there are a lot of people that quit. They give up, they walk away, they say the job is too hard. You have no pleasure in quitters, and it's gonna be a tough road to hoe here. These things are going to be a tough road to hoe. It's going to be a long walk here. And as we look at Jesus talking to his disciples and sending them out, we can't... I see this Christian nationalism where they have, and they may use Nehemiah's pattern here or whatever, but when we analyze this, our weapons are not colonel, so that Second Amendment right, talking about exercising your Second Amendment right, he said, he who kill with the sword shall be killed with the sword. So we see here when he's protecting us, some of them will be put to death in his name. Some of them was going to die, but they didn't go down fighting a physical fight. They had won spiritually. As they stoned Stephen to death, he was saying, Lord, forgive them. And that's what the world is looking at us. That's what they're looking at Christian nationalism. They say, well, this is not Jesus. This is not an authentic Christianity, because some of the characteristics are not there. They're lies. In their walls, their preachers are preaching and teaching the word, but they're using untempered mortar. Now one thing about untempered mortar, you can put the building together or whatever, but when the wind comes, you've been building with wood, straw, hay, it's gonna tell. When those wood winds come against and the storms of life come, you've been building with the wrong product. It's untempered mortar, and they are not doing as the Lord had told them to do. And that conspiracy of preaching the word, they were preachers, but they wasn't God-sent preachers. They sent them on a fool's errand. It says there's gonna be many wolves out there, but a lot of them are wolves in sheep's clothing, so they gonna be inside where you are. they will be in the interior portion of this thing. So Nehemiah prayed and they tried to deceive Nehemiah and they tried to work against him and they tried to infiltrate him. And you know, Nehemiah told some of them that wanted to come inside and said, let us help you build. They were married into his family. He says, no, you can't help us. You can't have a part in this. And that's one of the gospels and the preaching that we hear is tolerance. compromise. We can't compromise the Word of God. We can't tolerate evil doing. We cannot tolerate guile in all of these things because all of that's not temperate. That's untemperate. That doesn't go in the building. We have to be careful how we build. Now Paul says there's a wise master builder. It was those that he had to turn over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Now we see if they're part of the church, they'll come through that destruction because they remain within the borders of God. In other words, they remain in that hedge of protection Because they keep the word of God even though they lose their lives. They like Joseph's though. He slayed me yet Will I serve him don't let nobody get you out of God's Word When you building when you rebuilding this wall Everything is Christ Everything goes through Christ bring every thought into the captivity and obedience of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Yes, now that second point is preaching the word. I That's the tool He gives you. That's the building component. That's what He spoke in the beginning, the Word. Now, He had given us dominion to build and to tear down and to build up nations, and it would draw people. So there's an effect of the Word. There's a lot of time that there's an effect of things that you may not feel right away, but it's working. It's working within. Sometimes you can take, if you get clogged up and you get congested and everything, you can take a laxative or something and it may be a day or two before it works or whatever. There are some now that are more gentle and works over a while, but interiorly, it's working. If God's word is in us, it's working. Those that wait up on the Lord. We can't get ahead of the Lord. You know, a lot of people go ahead and drink something harsh. You know, I think it's prune juice, olive oil, castor oil or something, and that's pretty rough on the body. But we learn that each point piece is fitly joined together. We have to allow God to work within us. We can't get ahead of the Lord. We have to walk following after him. Those that are led by the spirit of God are the children of God. And it's his word that we are necessarily led by. So how about us? Do we realize God has assigned us to build the walls as well? Everybody has a job in building those walls because we see that this is a spiritual fight that we got in. This is not physical. We have to study to show ourselves approved, but we have to build according to the way He saved Bill. Ezekiel, the 22nd chapter, the 25th through the 30th verse, says the conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured people. They have taken treasure and precious things. They have made many widows in her midst. Her priests have violated my law and profaned my holy things. They have not distinguished between holy and unholy. That's the problem there. He says, pursue holiness and follow peace with all men, for without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. see but they had made a distinction between that which is holy and that which is not holy see holiness requires a repentance, a turning from self, a death to self because that's material you can't build with unless God built the house we're laboring in vain we have to build using the things of God and you had priests and prophets that bought We're not making these distinctions between what is holy and what is not holy. He says, not have they made the difference between the unclean and the clean. They have hidden their eyes from my sabbaths, so that I am profane among them. That Sabbath was important because that Sabbath labeled us, it was a sign between us that God, the Lord, the God of creation is our Lord and Savior. He's our rest, He's our Sabbath. Jesus Christ, He says, enter into His rest, enter into Him. See, He's doing the work. He does the work and He say, it is finished. All we have to do is walk therein. You have to walk like that. The owner of that dog, he's walking that dog on a long leash. He could have a short leash, but he's at the command of the owner. God's our owner. Sometime he have a long or short leash with us down, but we have to walk with him. But what's up, he has to humble us though. Well, you know, if you have a homo dog, you know, you could speak it. That dog's gonna sit down, he's gonna lay down, he's gonna stop. Come back here. He could be running after somebody and when he gets to that, and they all say, come back here dog. He knows who's in charge, that dog is meat. He's not a weak dog, he's like a pit bull. He has that fighting, he's built, he's stout, he's strong. But at the command of his owner, at the command of God, we know that we are strong, but we have to humble ourselves unto God. We have to humble ourselves. When we hear his call, we have to say, yes, Lord. Because what? He's feeding us, he's providing for us, he's sheltering us. And without him, we can do nothing. But just like the dog, he's man's best friend. He's your friend when you're friendly. Your dog is your friend when everybody else don't like you or whatever. He says, her princes are in the midst of like wolves tearing the prey to shed blood, to destroy people and to get dishonest gain. All gain is not good gain. A lot of people say, well, if I win this, if I do this, if I do that. God says labor, though. That's why he gave man work to do. But it's always somebody out there with a get rich quick deed. And he tells us to beware of quick riches. Beware of those things. He says, for profits plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, thus says the Lord God, when the Lord had not spoken, the people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy, and they wrongfully oppressed the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall. You look for a man that make a wall and to stand in the gap before me and on behalf of the land that I should not destroy it. Are you that man that's gonna say, here I am, Lord, send me? Are you gonna stand in the breach? Are you gonna fill the hole? Are you gonna plug that hole? Are you gonna help build that wall? That's what our commission is. This is the only way to break down these strongholds is by preaching. So that's all the weapons that we use. It's word. It's word is like a hammer. Jeremiah says, the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah, the 25th through the 32nd verse. See, I'm giving you the word, and you have to assimilate that word. I'm not gonna fill it with a whole lot of meat, and I'm gonna tell you, if you would do like those cows that we were talking about, if you let this go into your stomach, if you let this go into your mind, but ruminate upon it. That's what a cow do, he eat, you know, he eat, and then he go, lay down somewhere. A lot of time he'll lay down or sit down or whatever. Look like he's over there chewing or whatever, but what he's doing is belching and moving. He's moving that what he's eaten to different compartments or to different chambers to nourish him and to provide for him. There's four chambers in that one stomach. And that's what we do. We should meditate upon God's word. We should chew on that. We should be filled with the word. Think on these things. That's what you're doing today instead of thinking about the world or progress or whatever. How shall a man purify his ways? hide the Word in his heart, to fill himself with God's Word. That's when God tells us to meditate on the Word day and night. When you lie upon your bed, when you're going about, when you're doing things, think about man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word. That those walls are being built. That's really the growing time. Now you've came in here and got an hour of preaching or whatever, but you chew on that the rest of the week. You ruminate on that the rest of the week. He says I have. It's Jeremiah. He says 23rd chapter Jeremiah 25th through the 32nd verses. I've heard what the prophets have said Who prophesy lies in my name? Saying I have dreamed I have dreamed visions on my bed at night How long shall this state of affairs continue? Yes here the anything in their hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of deception of their own heart, who think they can make my people forget my name by their contrived dreams, which each one tells another just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal. The prophet who has a dream may tell his dream, but he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. You see, Jeremiah's talking about the same thing Ezekiel about preachers going around here lying on him. And I tell people, you got to watch sometimes when he's preaching and everything. When a man come to you quoting the scriptures, that's how Satan came to Jesus, quoting the word of God. Has God said? Yeah, God has said and his word is true. But do you understand what he said? See, a lot of people are telling us what God says and don't understand themselves. Is the word assimilated? Has it become a part of your being? It is who you are? Is it part of your nature? He says, what has straw in common with wheat? Says the Lord, is not my word like fire that consumes all that cannot endure the test? That word that's preached, that word, it's gonna test you. You're gonna be tested, and it's like a double-edged sword. The same people you cut with it now, it'll turn around and cut you now. That same word applies to you. You're a hypocrite now. Be careful. By your words, you're gonna be judged now. By them same words, you're gonna have to give account for every idle word that you speak. He says, it's not my words like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the most stubborn rock in pieces. Therefore behold, hear this, I'm against the false prophets, the counterfeit prophets, says the Lord. I am descending on them with punishment to punish these prophets who steal my words from one another, imitating the words of the true prophets. Hear this, I'm against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their own deceitful tongues and says thus, says the Lord. Hear this, I'm against those who prophesy false and make up dreams says the Lord have told them and have told them and have made my people error and go astray by their lies and by their reckless boasting Yet I did not send them or command them nor do they benefit and hence the life of the people in the slightest way So you remember I told you that second verse I left that those two verses to come back to next week the first of the two Second verse but he says when he came he says he had came to preach Liberty to the captives to open the eyes of the blind But he also said to preach the day of vengeance and that's what we're doing at this time the rubber beats the road here there's become a time when all the tubs have to stand on their own bottom and Judgment is going forth. God is bringing judgment in the world. So we see a judging time. We see a time when there really is a fight, but we're not using carnal weapons here. We're using the word of God. That's our sword, the word of God. He says, this is the sword. This is a rod. This is a hammer and it'll break anything in pieces. That's like a rock, you know. Some rocks you have a little hammer that bounce off of it. But if you bring a sledgehammer. You have to bring something really hard to hit it in God's word. It rightly busts it wide open. There's nothing more powerful than God's word. God spoke and says, let light be. God spoke and a man can die and God can speak and a man will live again. No matter what they want to hear, We must preach and teach sound doctrine because there's a good time coming time when they have itching ears Wanting to hear that which pleases them which tickles their fences a lot of people like to hear money coming or whatever But they don't like to hear how bakla says you think it's bad now you wait. It's gonna get worse and it's coming It's gonna get worse and it's gonna get really bad But the just shall live by faith Second timothy 4 2 2 5 said preach the word Preaching in season and out of season. Be ready when the time is right and when it is not. Keep a sense of urgency, whether the opportunity seems favorable or unfavorable. Whether convenient or inconvenient. Whether welcome or unwelcome. correct those who error in doctrinal behavior. What's the word doing? It's a correction. That wall that it's building, it's making that tree upright, you see, because some trees lean. They start to lean from the weight of the limbs and branches up on them. You know, sometimes we can have too many people start leaning and depending upon us, and it'll start to cause us to bend. I had from fruit trees that were so barren, so much of whatever, and I was trying to prop them up or whatever, and the limbs start splitting. It was so much satsumas and oranges and things on those limbs because of the weight of the fruit. Sometime a lot of people getting in your pocket, this one getting in your pocket, it's a lot of things. You can't support anything in everybody. See, he made Nebuchadnezzar, he says, you like this tree and all of the birds will come and nest in that tree. You see, and God's the only one that a tree that all of us could come and nest in, he's our shelter. He's that tree. And he's making us trees of righteousness, making us just like him. But we looking at him as that one source. But when you try to be God's to other people and everything, you better make sure God is your source and you're not doing that of yourself because you know what? People will get and get from you and break you down and after you broken down and broke and can't do nothing, they'll go find somebody else. They'll leave you in such a horrible condition or whatever. And it was all of your own being because you were trying to be looked up to others and trying to be something that you really want. You was trying to cause them to look up to you and cause you to look good in their sight. And you wasn't pointing them to God because when you point people to God, they become independent of you. They realized that we're all one in Christ Jesus and each one of us has a job to do and you was just a help. But it's like an entitlement program, it wasn't meant to live on all your life. It was just nurturing you till you get in a position to help yourself. to you get in a position to walk in God, to you get in a position to you start producing fruit. But as the prodigal son was, he had wasted his inheritance. He didn't have anything no more. So now all he was gonna be able to was to go cling to the older brother. And that's why the father says, son, all I have is yours. He was changing his heart, say, because now it's your job to be your brother's keeper. If God gives you that duty, if God gives you that responsibility, he's gonna supply you with those things to do it with. No matter what they wanna hear, you preach God's word, correct doctrine, warn those who sin, exhort and encourage those who are growing towards spiritual maturity. That's our job, to preach and teach, making disciples of all nations, but we must teach God's word faithfully. With inexhaustible patience and faithful teaching, for the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instructions that challenges them with God's truth. But wanting to have their ills tickled with something pleasing, they will accumulate for themselves many teachers, one after another, to satisfy their own desires and to support their errors. that they hold, and will turn their ears away from the truth, and will wander into myths and man-made fictions, and will accept the unacceptable. But as for you, be clear-headed in every situation. Stay calm, cool and collective, and steady. Endure hardship without flinching. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill the duties of what God has given you to do. See, because they might want to hear money coming, but you might need to preach, sell all that you have, and give it to the poor and take up your cross and follow after me. The rich young ruler didn't want to hear that. That was hard to hear. You know, and that's what I said. Sometime what we do, we go to the churches, we go to the people that are like us, birds of a feather flock together. They don't want you preaching against sexuality. Because sexuality comes down to what's sacred with God, what's clean with God, and what's unclean. Because he says in the book of Romans, they were giving themselves over to sinful and inordinate passions and desires, men lusting after men and women after women. And now they want you to preach that we're all the same and that we just love one another. God says man and woman or a man shall leave his mother, father for his own wife. They should cleave together as one flesh. But if that's the body of Christ, that body can't be something that's antagonist of God's word because it didn't reunite man and man and woman and woman. sounds like hate speech and that's what the government's and that's what the people want to come after you because why you establishing a bulkhead you establishing god's word here this is a wall and you can't scale to get over this wall god's word is a palm line and you have to line up with the words. You can't move that wall. That's our protection because if we lose that protection, we open ourselves up to STDs. We open ourselves up to all sorts of sexual transmitted diseases. We open ourselves up to family problems and everything. And Satan wants to attack the family. Build that wall and stand in the breach of the wall and say, this is what's a man and this is what's a woman. That's what Titus did. He sent Titus to Crete because Timothy was a little bit weak and he had infirmities of the stomach and of the flesh or whatever. That's why he says drink often. Drink a little wine, you know, for the infirmities of that stomach. He sent Titus to Crete because Crete and Crete, that was a different breed of people. That was a different style of people. That's the one that Paul says are liars and are slow bellies or whatever. Those are the ones where the Philistines came from. Listen to what Titus says. He says, but as for you, teach things which are in agreement with sound doctrine, which produces men and women of good character whose lifestyle identifies them as true Christians. That's the problem we have today. There's one man that's running for president that has a bit more character. He may be older. It's not always the leaning tree that's the first to fall, though. He may be older, but the character is there. But if you have a lifestyle, if you have a demeanor, you have something that doesn't identify you as a person of God, as you are a rebel rouser, it tells what type people that follow that tree. Because if you have a tree, there are little saplings that develop up under that tree, a little seedling that fall off from the tree. That's why they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. All those things from around that tree is of that bad tree. A bad tree can't produce good fruit. Bad tree cannot produce good fruit. He says, older men are to be temperate. dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in steadfastness, Christ-like in character. We're being planted as trees of righteousness here. He says older women similarly are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor addicted to much wine. He didn't say no wine, he says, but not addicted to much wine. Teaching what is right and good so that they may encourage the young women to tenderly love their husbands and their children. To be sensible, pure, makers of a home where God is honored, good natured, being subject to their own husbands. Subject to their own husbands. so that the Word of God will not be dishonored. So we see all of those characteristics, all of those feelings and emotions, all of that morality is walls that are in the ring of that tree that's forming year after year. They're interior walls, they're in the hedge within that border, within that protection of God. But anything outside of that, anything contrary to that is not a wall God built, and we need to use that hammer to tear it down. We need that hammer. This last point, I'm gonna be quick with this last point. Pillars of righteousness, pillars of righteousness. Verse 61 of Isaiah, I mean, verse 3 of Isaiah, the 61st chapter reads, It says, to appoint unto them that morning sun, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for morning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified. You see, this is all so God could be glorified. He wants us to be called trees of righteousness. just like a tree that shall not be moved. We're planted in God. God is our source of nourishment. God gives us joy for mourning. That suffering that we were going through, he says, suffering don't last always. Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. So they may sleep in the Lord. They may be persecuted in the Lord, but God pays off. God's gonna reward you. His promises are sure. There's a hope that God giveth you that you can take to the grave because we know God's gonna raise you up at the ladder of David and says, here's your pay right here. I told you you had eternal life. You will only sleep but a while. Come on in here and inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for you. See, he gives you a joy and a peace that the world cannot take away. So as I conclude this, Isaiah 16, 21 says, then all your people will be uncompromisingly and consistently righteous. They will possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. See, because he had told us to fret not thyself because of evildoers. Now the earth could be full of all of those that are righteous. This is righteousness fulfilling the earth. You remember the evildoers are gone. You're not gonna even remember that they were there. This is when the earth will cry out. This is what the whole creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. Are you putting on Christ? Are you putting on your robe of righteousness? Are you being clothed in him every day? Can God call you a tree of righteousness? Are you part of the Lord's planning? All those walls that's being built up in you by the Holy Spirit. Listen at, you remember in Isaiah he says Ephraim is joined unto his idols and let him alone. But God didn't leave him alone. God doesn't leave us alone. God turns us over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. He didn't leave Nebuchadnezzar alone, even though he cast him out into Pasadena. grass and hair and claws and for seven years he was out here in all of the weather. God has us in the world. We are in the world like the lambs in the midst of wolves. There are those that want to take advantage of us, deceive us and misuse us and abuse us. But we just keep our head down and say, Lord, you've given me this. I'll take it. I'm following you. It has to be God sent, though it has to be through God. Make sure God is in there. Don't do it because you just have a suffering complex. You just like to be mistreated, or you don't have any good sense or whatever. Ask God for sense. If any lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. God liberally gives you that wisdom. God gives you everything. God is your source. That's why I say, in those rings, once you have salvation of God, we requisition God for everything. In prayer and supplication, we let our requests be known unto God. And we know we have that petition we asked of him because if he's our protection, he's our supply He says ask the father anything in my name in that he'll do Now notice he says that he'll do not just that he'll give because it's not just stuff sometimes God you you may ask God to remove you any man and See, that spouse that you're tied to, that children or whatever, you ask God to give you peace. Now, sometime peace may have to come. He removed all of Job's children. Now, we don't know what was going on, but he did move them. You know, sometimes, David, if you read some of those prayers of implications, and I told you we have to get rid of the false prophets, we have to get rid of all of those that follow after those that are evil and wicked doing, those that love unrighteousness, those that love their sin, those that love darkness rather than light. We have to speak those things into existence also. We just can't speak niceties. All of that goes in making the pudding. It's a lot that goes into making the pie. He says we have to speak those things though. Sometimes they have to speak curses upon people. From this mountain they spoke blessings, but from this mountain they spoke curses. In other words, I'll give you this and I'll do this if you do that. It's conditional because if you don't, I'm a God that seeks vengeance and I'll destroy. He has to stand on his word. He's steadfast and immovable to his word. He's gonna accomplish his word. Satan says, thou shall not surely die. But God says, Adam, I tell you, the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. You see, I'm building you up to obey me and to listen at me. You'll be here forever. But I'm not going to have to keep tending this garden, he says. I shall be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily. He will take the root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout out. His beauty will be like the olive tree. And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow will again rise and grain. they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wines of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who have answered and will care for you and watch over you. I'm like a luxurious cypress tree. With me, your fruit is found, which is to nourish you. You remember in Revelation, he says, this is the tree of life. Eat you of it freely. This is for healing. This is for restoration. Eat of that tree of life. But he had banned you from that tree in the garden. He said, let's put man up this garden before he eat of this tree and live forever in this condition. I can't have him knowing evil. See, that's what Satan did to you. He gave you the knowledge of evil. He says, I got to put him out so he can't know good and evil. See, God's going to fix us in this last day. He's going to fix us in the end that we don't know of evil. We don't know of horror pictures. We don't know of disaster. We don't know of crime because he will give us peace and joy. We're not going to worry about anything. Whoever is spiritually wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is spiritually discerning and understanding, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them. But transgressors will stumble and fall. Somewhere along the line, God will sort you out. He had planted good seed in a tree that my heavenly Father hadn't planted, it shall be hewn down at the root of the tree." He's going to hew down any tree. And you remember the devil came along and planted tares. But as they grew up, God says, let them grow together. I'll separate them when I'm come. See, we got an ax in our hand, we got the word of God. We're chopping at that tree, we're chopping at that tree. We will get rid of it root and branch through the preaching and teaching of the word of God. That's the judgment, that's the vengeance of our God. But those that see us doing that, he's preparing a table for us in the midst of our enemy. The wicked see this and they want to get to it, but you're not going to enjoy this because these is for those who are my children. He says, who is my mother, father, sister, brother? But those that do the will of the father, that's who's going to enjoy eternity. That's for who is going to enjoy eternal life. That's who are the trees of righteousness. Those are the ones that are rebuilding the walls. Heavenly Father, help us to rebuild those walls.