Pastor Alan is on the road and you're invited. Check out pastorallen.org for more information. But if you live in the Carolinas, you're invited to a men's event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on February 27th. And if you're in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, join us at the Epic Conference open to all in late February. Plus, catch Pastor Alan preaching at Sojourn Church in Carrollton, Texas on March 1st.
All the details at pastorallen.org. Yeah. Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical, faith-filled vision for your life. May your delight in Christ and His vision for your life so far exceed Every other earthly desire that no enemy-conceived distraction could ever pull you from God's good plan. Nehemiah's simple declaration to his detractors points the way: I'm doing a great work, I cannot come down.
In the famed tale of Odysseus' return voyage, the hero had learned of the mythical sirens whose beautiful voices lured sailors ashore where they'd meet their demise.
So Odysseus ordered his men to plug their ears and to strap him to the mast, shackled. though Odysseus was fiercely drawn to the siren's song. When mythical Jason later sailed that sea, instead of plugged ears and chains, Jason brought aboard the finest musician on earth who would play the lyre and flute more beautifully than the siren songs. And they sailed victoriously by the island, kept safe by a transcendent sound.
So I bless you to delight in the sound of heaven and live undistracted by the noise of earth. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. You hear what he's saying? He said, I'm too blessed. and too favored.
In this household, to cave in to this temptation. Because in the end, I am loved. And I'm not settling for a perversion of love. I am not insecure, and therefore I don't need this. I'm secure in the favor of God.
That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Nehemiah, Dreamer, Builder, Warrior, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now.
For a limited time, this can be yours for your donation to Allen Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860.
Again, by phone, 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program, but now let's get started with today's teaching. Here. is Pastor Alan Wright. Ooh.
There is a kind of distraction that. That comes with this rumor-mongering, and there's some part of us that's tempted to get distracted by. fixing all the made-up rumors. But then there's even a worse. Temptation we see here towards distraction, and that's to fall.
for a made-up prophecy. Verse 10. When I went to the house of Shemiah the son of Deliah, the son of Mehedabel, Who was confined to his home? He said, Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they're coming to kill you.
They're coming to kill you by night. Shemiah is some sort of prophet that Nehemiah, at least initially, trusts. He must have been a trusted Jewish brother. And thought he was on the same team. He meets with him, and Shemiah says.
There is a plot to kill you, and so come with me and go to the temple.
Now Nehemiah was not a priest. He was not entitled to the inner part of the temple unless, according to one stipulation of Jewish law, if there was a definite threat against your life, then you could go into that place and find sanctuary and safety there. And so that's what Shemai is saying. Come with me, I'll take you into the temple, you'll be safe there. And So Shemaya offers this as if it's a legitimate Prophecy.
But he'd been hired. And Nehemiah, by discernment from the Holy Spirit, mainly, he knew it. Verse 11. I said, should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live?
I will not go in. And I understood and saw that God had not sent him. But he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sambalot had hired him. You know what it means to use the Lord's name in vain? It's not these unthinking people that say GD, although that's bad.
Using the Lord's name in vain is to take God's name. and use it. to try to validate Your own flesh. That's what Shemiah did. He took money.
Because he was known to be a prophet. That maybe he could prophesy to Nehemiah and get him to the temple away from the protection of all his people. or sambalat. could destroy him. Discern.
Discern. So somebody has a word from the Lord for you Normally, a word from the Lord, you know what it does? It encourages. It strengthens and it comforts. And if it's not doing that, It's not from the Lord.
It's just not. And if the word is a word of warning, It is for your protection. but it is not for you to be taken away from your mission.
So if there's a word that merely arouses fear, and takes you off the task. that God has given you. Nehemiah knew That God wasn't calling him away from his work because he'd been repeatingly calling him to it. and he had discernment from the Spirit. And so he wasn't distracted, even by a religious sounding.
word. He said Should a man such as I run away? Not me.
So Many other kind of distractions can come, but you see those three that were so strategically used, I think, by hell itself through Sambalat against Nehemiah, and he overcomes all of this. How do we, by the gospel's power, overcome these kind of distractions in life? That's what I want to know. I don't want to just know how did Nehemiah do it, and I don't want to even just know how was he thinking about it, but I want to know what is the gospel? What is the good news of God's finished work through Jesus and his great love for us?
How does that change us? How does that empower us to overcome distractions that would keep us from the mission of God? Go back to this at verse 3. Here's the first part of that answer. I sent messengers to them saying, I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down.
Four times they came and they kept saying the same thing and he kept saying the same thing. I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. Say it with me. I'm doing a great work, and I cannot come down. He said, I am about something greater.
I have seen into the heart of God. And I have seen the beauty that is there. And I have seen the riches that are in the life that is with God. And it's so much better than anything sambalat you could ever offer. I can't come down.
This is too great. I've shared this illustration before, but I can't think of a better one than this. Odysseus, Homer's Odyssey, is also called Ulysses. He's returning from the Trojan War and he's warned about the sirens. These mythical demonic-like, monster-like.
creatures that are on the island that manifest as beautiful women who sing these beautiful, beautiful songs. The siren's songs are said to be so beautiful that nobody can keep from bringing their ship ashore where then they are attacked and destroyed.
So Odysseus is warned about this, and what he does is he instructs that all of his sailors will have wax put in their ears so that they cannot hear the songs. But he needs to remain alert so he doesn't have wax in his ears. Instead, he says, Strap me to the mast. And they shackle him to the mass and they rope him in. And he instructs the sailors: under no circumstances, no matter what I tell you, do not release me from this mass.
And sure enough, as they sail by, the songs of the sirens are so beautiful. One of the sirens, even Pretends and sounds like Odysseus' own wife Penelope, and everything within him wants to go, but he's strapped to the mast, and so he cannot. There's an urge within him to go. But he is restrained. It is a picture of The law.
You could strap yourself in by law and say, I won't be distracted, I won't be distracted. But there's another story that It's later told in the mythological literature about Jason. Who he knowing about the mythical sirens in their songs. decides to do something different, a whole together different strategy. He doesn't have wax put in a sailor's ears.
and he doesn't have himself strapped to the mast. Instead, he hires The most beautiful and wonderful musician in the world, Orpheus. who can play the lyre and the flute, in such a beautiful way that there is no other song as beautiful. And instructed them as we ride by and the sirens sing their songs, Orpheus play. And so they did, and Orpheus played, and the song of Orpheus was more beautiful than the siren's songs.
and they sailed safely by. The Puritans used to speak of being seized by a greater affection. This is too great. For me to give it up now. When you live in the power of the gospel, you live in the beauty of the holiness of God.
That's what we need. Not more law that simply straps us in, though we really have a desire that we'd rather be with the sirens. There's something more for us, and that is that we become enamored. By the goodness of God. I love what Sam Storm says about this.
Pleasure in God, fascination with God, excitement about God is the power. for purity. Yeah. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series.
Parents, are you ready for some good news? You can have a low-pressure, high-expectation home by God's grace. If you want your children to be their best without hounding, threatening, or pressuring them, there's good news. God's grace works in parenting. Shame and pressure offer only fleeting motivation while creating long-term, toxic anxiety in a child's heart.
But children thrive in the environment of grace.
Now, for the first time, Alan Wright has joined with his wife Ann to produce eight video sessions that blend humor, deep gospel insights, and loads of practical advice to equip parents and grandparents to raise their children in homes filled with grace and blessing. Use the videos for personal growth with your spouse or with your small group. The DVD album comes with a detailed study guide as well. When you make your gift this month, we'll send you the DVD album as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Make your gift today and start raising kids by the power.
Of the gospel. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty.
That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. And the second thing that we learn is shown in verse 11.
about how there's gospel transformation. He said, I said, should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple? I'm not going. You know what he said here?
I'm not going to go talk to you, and I'm not going to go to the temple, and I'm not going to stop this work. Because that's not who I am. This is the deepest, most powerful kind of change that happens in the Christian's life. Is you rooted and established in love? You having been bought with such a dear price.
You haven't fallen in love with the Savior. You haven't been given security by God Himself and knowing that you are new in Christ and the old is gone and that you are an heir and a co-heir with Christ Himself, that you haven't been chosen in Him from the foundation of the world or blessed with every spiritual blessing in Him. When you know yourself as a holy one set apart unto God, when you know this is your identity, it changes everything. It makes me think of Joseph, who was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, and then in his slave master's house, he was favored. And the slave master himself was trusting Joseph with more and more, but he was.
He was tempted by the master's own wife, Genesis 39:8. Joseph refused, and he said to his master's wife, Behold, because of me, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he's put everything that he has in my charge. He's not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you're his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness and sin against God? You hear what he's saying?
He said, I'm too blessed. and two favored. In this household to cave in to this temptation, because in the end. I am loved. And I'm not settling for a perversion of love.
I am not insecure and therefore I don't need this. I'm secure in the favor of God. Because in the end, beloved, extraordinary resistance to distraction and sin does not come by extraordinary self-will, but by extraordinary self-worth. That's not who I am. I'm doing a great work and I can't come down.
You know what he's saying? God's too good, and his stuff's too good to distract me now. And I I am not that kind of person.
So I'm going to keep on working on the task that God's given me. That's why the gospel changes you so much. And if you want to be secure like that, and know yourself loved like that? Here's how you can know it. You think about Jesus, the greater Nehemiah.
The true builder and dreamer and warrior. Who came for you? In Luke's Gospel, the whole narrative pivots. At verse 51, in chapter nine. that early on.
Now it came to pass. when the time had come for him to be received up. that Jesus steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He set his face like flint. to the cross.
Nothing else. in the end could distract him from it. He could sweat blood. and still say, not my will, but yours be done. He could be talked about.
He could be talked up and talked down. But he became eagle-eyed towards his mission. And everywhere he went, people tried to pull him away from it. They want it all as time. for him to explain himself, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
About why you did this or why you did that, justify yourself with the religious leaders. They might as well have said, let's go meet in the valley of Ono. They spread rumors about him. He's a lawbreaker. He's a blasphemer.
He's. Associating with the wrong people. He's a false prophet. He just wants to overthrow the government. And most of the time, Jesus.
Didn't say a word. He just kept on healing the sick. He kept on ministering to the poor. He kept on teaching the gospel. and he kept his face like flint.
towards the cross. They used every religious argument to try to stop him. They stirred up religious controversy. He's healing on the Sabbath. That's work.
He's touching lepers. That makes him unclean. He's associating with women and Samaritans. If they knew what kind of woman this was that was here touching him now, then he wouldn't allow it. He certainly is not a prophet.
And he just kept going. to that cross. For you and for me. Until one day he's hanging on that cross. And they tried one more time.
If you're the Son of God, come down. and save yourself. And he said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And the more they said, come down.
Come down. He said. in his heart. I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. And he gave up his last breath.
And the earth shook. and graves began to rumble. And he went into a tomb for you, and on the third day... He walked right out again. Establishing your victory.
and for anyone who would trust in him. He said, I'll become your sin, and you become my righteousness, and you get a whole new life. And though I'm the firstborn of creation, you'll be my brothers and sisters, and you will live forevermore in victory. I'm so thankful the Messiah. had the eye of an eagle.
Not a chicken. You're doing a great work. Whatever it might be that God's given to you, it's great in his eyes. May you Know it, feel it. Not puffing you up, not being prideful about it, but.
Being aware. What God gives you is more beautiful than anything the world could ever distract you with. And you are a child of God. Holy unto him.
So when the distractions and the rumors come, Decide. Not true, and I can't stop. and get all involved in that because That's not who I am. You were made Not for chicken eyes, but eagle eyes. And that's the gospel.
That's Pastor Alan Wright, our good news message today, the fight for focus from the series Nehemiah. Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day. In just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life.
Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free, and just to click away at pastoralen.org. I don't want to pressure my kids and I sure don't want to shame them, but I do want them to try hard and be all they can be. That's the desire of every well-meaning parent.
For over a decade, Alan Wright has been teaching all over the nation about the toxic effects of shame and the amazing power of the gospel of grace to heal and set free.
Now, for the first time, Alan has been joined by his wife Ann to produce a video series about shame-free parenting. It's called Good News for Parents: Raising Grace-Filled Kids in a Pressure-Filled World. The eight DVD video sessions are chock full of humor, deep gospel insight, and loads of practical advice. Use them for personal growth or with your spouse. They're also perfect for use in your small group.
The DVD album comes with a detailed step-by-step study guide as well. When you make your gift this month, we'll send you the DVD album as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Make your gift today and start raising kids by the power of the gospel. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give to day, we will send you to day's special offer.
We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. or come to our website, pastorallen.org. back here now in the studio with Pastor Alan at the conclusion of this teaching today, the fight for focus, it's it's not just a message of don't get distracted, but also don't get discouraged.
Don't let them get you down. It's a strange blessing to end the message with, but I'm blessing every listener for eagle eyes rather than chicken eyes. The chicken who can see only about 50 meters and he's got eyes that are good for foraging on the ground, seeing up close seeds. and insects. and you know eyes on the side of their head So they can see predators and terrible night vision, but they can see things up close.
And then there's the eagle. the soaring eagle that wow. Just uh if you could exchange your eyes for an eagle's You could see an ant crawling on the ground from the roof of a ten-story building. This is this is, I mean, God made equal eyes like that.
Well, we're talking about something in the spirit here that You could see in a penetrating way. Towards the though it might feel like it's in the distance. towards that goal that God has planted in your heart, And not be distracted by just the things that are in your immediate presence all the time. The distractions are trying to pull you away from the ultimate vision. And I'm blessing that ultimate vision that's really from God that's down deep in your heart.
It means there's going to be a lot of spiritual opposition. There are going to be a lot of tricks the enemy tries to play, and a lot of things that just try to draw you into conversations that don't even need to be had. and you can stay focused. by the grace of God. Thanks for listening today.
Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastoralan.org.
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