This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. Hello and thank you for tuning into this podcast, which is a part of the Jesus Breaks the Chain series on Truth Network. I'm evangelist Michael Bowen. I pray that the Lord blesses you greatly and you receive this word in love and in truth.
This podcast is titled The New Wall. I want to open it up with some scripture. This is from the New King James Version translation, Proverbs 25, 28, whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down without walls. The NIV translation says, like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. Now, when we look at self-control in the word, self-control is a fruit of the spirit, and lacking fruit in a spiritual sense is a big problem for a Christian, for a believer, for a child of God. Because he says in the word, you will know them by their fruits.
Hallelujah. If you have good fruit, then you will know that you are filled with the spirit and bearing the fruits that God is producing through you. God says a lack of self-control, which is one of the fruits of the spirit, is serious.
It's a very serious thing. It's like a city without any walls. And when there is no protection, a thief can easily come in to steal, kill, and destroy. John 10 tells us who this thief is. It's the devil. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I have come that they may have life and have it full. There are at least 12 Hebrew words that have been translated wall in the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. While many appear just a single time, there is one that is used more than all the others.
It's called chalma. Strong's H2346, the Hebrew word chalma, which appears 133 times in the King James version of the Bible. More than 100 times it is used to refer to the defensive walls of a city, signifying protection from danger. So God is equating this lack of self-control as a wall of protection. So self-control is that wall to protect you.
Hallelujah. Proverbs 18, 11, the wealth of the rich is their fortified city. They can imagine it a wall or chalma too high to scale. So chalma here is safety for the rich behind the wall. 1 Samuel 25, 15 through 16, yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us.
And the whole time we were out in the fields near them, nothing was missing. Night and day, they were a wall or a chalma around us the whole time we were hurting our sheep near them. So here chalma refers to safety and protection for the shepherds. Walls offer protection from an enemy and can provide the vantage point from which to warn of danger in the time of war.
Walls create a place of safety for those behind them. The word chalma or wall is found more often in the book of Nehemiah than in any other book in the Bible. Nehemiah is a treasure box full of wisdom regarding walls. I believe that the book of Nehemiah contains lessons that can be applied to our own lives today. This book opens up when Nehemiah, who was in the city of Shushan in Persia, and received visitors from Jerusalem who brought sad news. Nehemiah 1 verse 3, and they said to me, the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire. So after this period of mourning, Nehemiah took action. He requested and received permission from the king of Persia to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls.
The story continues Nehemiah 2 verses 1 through 6. And it came to pass in the month of Nisan in the 20th year of king Artaxerxes when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I'd never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, why is your face sad since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of the heart. So I became dreadfully afraid and said to the king, may the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs lies waste and his gates are burned with fire? Then the king said to me, what do you request?
So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs, that I may rebuild it. Then the king said to me, the queen also sitting beside him, how long will your journey be and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me and I set him a time. So Nehemiah here, he received a letter from the king. He takes off equipped with those letters from the king, authorizing the journey, giving him timber from the king's forest and a small escort.
Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem. Once there, he was discreet and secretive. He did not announce his intentions to everyone. I want to tell you right now, when you open your mouth too much about the work God has given you to do, it opens up a door for the enemy and other people to try and stop that work. You must have self-control.
You must bite your tongue. Be quiet. When God speaks to you, do not go and tell everyone unless God instructs you to do so. Have some self-control in wanting to speak about the great things that God is doing through you or is preparing to do through you. You don't always have to act like a prophet and announce what God has told you. Some things are only between you and God.
They're only to be shared at an appointed time for his purpose, for his reasons. So, Nehemiah, having already encountered the displeasure of the local authorities, Nehemiah did not tell anyone of his intent to rebuild. The first thing he did was secretly inspect the city's walls and gates by night in the darkness. We know we can see him as he moved throughout the city to take a look and see all the damage and to be able to form his plan on how he was going to rebuild all that was destroyed, burnt, and broken down. Another thing, it is also important to accurately know the scope and size of the job God has given you before making specific plans to complete the task.
This is what Nehemiah was doing. You must always count the cost. Luke 14, 28 through 30, for which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish, lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying this man began to build and was not able to finish. You have to understand that it's better to, when God speaks to you and gives you a command to do something, it's better not to go tell everybody right up front what you're about to go do. You need to bite your tongue, have some self-control, and go estimate what it's going to take for you to complete this work that God has called you to do. If God has called you to it, he will see you through it. If God has called you to do something, he will provide the provision and the power and the knowledge to complete this task.
We must also understand that there will be opposition to the pursuit of God's plan through you. The apostle Paul knew this and so did Nehemiah. 1 Corinthians 16, 9, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, Paul says, and there are many who oppose me. Paul's telling him there are many that oppose him and all that he's been called to do for God.
Nehemiah 4, 7-8. Now it happened when Sambalat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashedites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. I tell you right now, when the Lord speaks to you and gives you instruction to do a work from him, just know all hell and many people are going to come against you. The devil will use even people closest to you to try to subvert the plans that God has placed in your heart and the good works that he has called you to do by the power of his might and his Holy Spirit. Ephesians 6-13 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Now this scripture is telling us the attack comes through the spiritual realm from the rulers of the darkness and through the people who allow themselves to become jealous and envious of the good work and vision God has given you. Jealousy is a bitter root. It causes so much, so many problems in the kingdom amongst brothers and sisters in Christ, amongst believers and non-believers, and we should be always on the lookout when this creeps into our hearts or if we see this into the hearts, inside the hearts of other people through their actions. Jealousy is defined as a strong negative emotion stemmed from insecurity, fear, concern, and anxiety over a potential loss of something of great personal value. You see, jealousy is rooted in fear, and we know that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and sound mind. Jealousy is rooted in insecurities and anxieties, and all those things that we are told to cast those things upon Jesus because he cares for us and cast our worries, which is just anxiety, on him. So, jealousy is not a good thing, and it's not a good thing to have when you are working for God. In Numbers 5 14, the Word of God says jealousy is a spirit. Jealousy comes from fear, and God did not give us that spirit of fear that I just spoke about. The devil will use people against you to throw stumbling blocks in your path. Sometimes he will use the people that are closest to you, like I just told you before.
They do not even realize they are being manipulated by the enemy to be a stumbling block. The devil is cunning and baffling and very sneaky. Always be on the lookout for his devices and schemes. It says in the Word that we are not ignorant of the devices, the devil's devices, the enemy's devices. 1 Peter 5 8-9 says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in faith, knowing that the same suffering are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Paul even says in his letter to the Corinthians that we are not ignorant of the devil's devices.
A device is defined as a plan, method, or trick with a particular aim. In this case, the particular aim of the devil is to destroy you and the good works that God has given to you. I'm going to read the scripture that I've been talking about, that we are not ignorant of the devil's devices. This is in 2 Corinthians 2 10-11. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive.
For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us. For we are not ignorant of his devices. We know the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy, and that he is a liar and the father of all lies. So we need to always be aware that he and his demonic companions are always trying to stop what God has called us to do.
And he definitely does not want a new wall to be built. Do not let jealousy and envy creep into your life. Identify it when you see it in the lives of others who come against you, when you're about to step out in faith for God, to complete the task that he put before you, to complete the good work that is given to you since before the foundation of the earth. Matthew 16 21-23 says, from that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised alive. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, he said, this shall never happen to you. Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me.
You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. You see, Peter was one of the closest disciples to Jesus, and Satan got into Peter and tried to cause Peter to be a stumbling block, just the way that the devil can creep into people around us and use them against us to be a stumbling block. Just be on the lookout for the stumbling blocks that they was trying to place in your life.
Forgive those stumbling blocks. You have power over them. Remember, you have power over them and forgive the people that come against you because they are being used by the devil to stop the work of God, the move of God in your life. Jesus told Peter, get behind me, Satan, because Peter was going against the will of the father. We must never confuse our own will from the will of God. Be careful when God is speaking to you that you are not filtering it through your own expectations, your own hopes, your own desires, your own emotions and feelings, because you may end up getting it wrong. Do not try to filter things through a carnal mind or the flesh. These are words from the Spirit, from the Holy Spirit, and they must be discerned in the Spirit. We move by the Spirit of God, not by our own understanding and strength, and not because of our feelings and emotions. We are not hindered by the spirit of jealousy and the envy of others. Zechariah 4 through 6 says, not by might nor by power, but by spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
Get outside of your feelings, people. They will lie to you, especially the evil twins of jealousy and envy. Proverbs 27, 4, anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? Proverbs 14, 30 speaks of it again. A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones. And again, Job 5, 2, for wrath kills a foolish man, and envy slays a simple one. Envy is to desire something which belongs to another person.
It could be their physical appearance, their job, their wealth, or even the excess of their ministry and how God is using them mightily. I say, don't be jealous. Don't be envy.
We're all on the same team. I say, be happy for your neighbor, that he or she is being used mightily by God. Be happy for them. See how you can help them. Get into that plan of God.
Offer yourself as a friend and as a support and love them and help them and help them be successful in God. We're all on the same team. That team is team Jesus. We are all brothers and sisters in the faith. We are here to encourage and support one another in the totality of God's work, everyone doing his part. We all have different talents and different gifts, and God will call us to do different parts in the grand plan of things. When we all work together, each doing his or own, God assigned part, more souls will be saved. Whose side are you on anyway? Your neighbor who is being used by God or the devil who wants to destroy them and stop the will of God. Shame on you if you are doing this.
Shame on me if I'm doing this as well. 2 Timothy 1.7 in the New King James version says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. The NIV translation says, For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. Some of us need some self-discipline, some self-control, a sound mind. We are going to end up like a city broken into and without protection. We'll end up with nothing but broken down or unfinished walls. Proverbs, I'm going to go back to it, 2528, says, Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. We build walls in the kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit, not of our own strength, but through the strength of God and with the building block, spiritual fruits of love and self-control or self-discipline. We love our neighbor as ourself, and we have self-control over our feelings and emotions. And we do not let jealousy and envy invade our hearts and our minds and rule in our flesh. James 3, 13 through 18 says, Who is wise and understanding among you, let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder in every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. I want to tell you right now, the ministry that God has given you, it's not yours. It belongs to Jesus Christ. If you get confused and you lack self-control and you start to think that it is yours and you start to build it for yourself, for what you can do, for what it brings to you, and you do it out of selfish ambition, it will fall to the ground and burn to ashes.
I promise you, I've seen it time and time again. We work unto the Lord. We are here for Him. We are here to further God's will in this earth, which is the salvation of souls and not for our glory, but for the glory of the Father.
Hallelujah. I love you and Jesus loves you. And He wants to do a good work through you and through your neighbor, but jealousy and envy can get in the way.
Do not let it invade your life or your hearts or your minds. 1 John 4 20 says, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar for who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him that he who loves God must love his brother also. If you have jealousy and envy in your heart towards a brother or sister, then that shows that you do not have love in your heart for them.
And that shows that you're not loving God. And that's a problem. And we all need to confront that. Jealousy and envy is in the flesh. And we have this flesh that we have to deal. It fights with the Spirit every single day, for the flesh is the enmity with the Spirit and the Spirit enmity with the flesh.
It's a battle of the flesh versus the Spirit, the Spirit versus the flesh. Which one are you gonna let rule in your life every day? I say let love rule. I say let God rule in your hearts. Let God rule in your minds. Let Jesus Christ renew your mind.
Hallelujah. Brothers and sisters, do not let your feelings and emotions rule over you. Rise above them. Rise above the spirit of jealousy.
Let God put it under your feet in Jesus' name. Let love rule. Let a sincere heart that is happy for a move of God lead you. For a move of God in your own life and a move of God in others, be sincerely happy for your brother and sister who's being used mildly by God. Because it might even open a door for you to move into the work that God has called them to do, that God can use you to support them and help them and bring you into a new ministry or a new work or elevate you to a new anointing. But if you have jealousy and love, you're gonna come up against a wall.
You're not gonna move any further. You will not be allowed to move further by God in the work that he has called your brother, your sister, your neighbor, or the plan that he has, if you have jealousy and envy in your heart, if you do not have self-control to keep the jealousy and envy out of your minds and hearts. 1 Corinthians 3, 4-7 says, Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy.
Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. When you let the spirit of jealousy into your hearts, and you become jealous of your brother or sister, then you open up the door to hate. Then you become fleshly and carnal, and the spirit will not move through you. You will become a dead vessel, a vessel that cannot be used by God.
Anything that you wanted to do from this point forward, if you have jealousy and envy in your hearts, it will be stopped. Then you will be moving in the flesh. You'll be working in your flesh, and there is no power in the flesh. The power is in the spirit, and you will not see any fruit come forth in your ministries, in your work that you think you're doing for God. You're not working for God when you have jealousy and envy in your hearts.
You're working for yourself. You're working for the flesh, and I say you're working for the enemy. Galatians 5, 19-26 says, Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
This is how serious it is. If you have jealousy and envy in your hearts, it says to me right here, in this word, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then it goes on in verse 22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, or longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That's what we started this thing with, self-control.
That great wall that is a wall of protection is self-control in your life. Against such there is no law, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires. And I'm going to add there, has crucified the flesh with its jealousies and envies. Starting in verse 25, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
And I'm going to add this, we're having jealousy in your hearts. Begin to build a new wall today. Build a chalma now, one that God can use to protect you from the attacks of the enemy and protect you from the dangers of this world.
Set the wall's foundation with the cornerstone of Jesus Christ and then build from there. This is our only hope for success. This is our only hope to be used mightily by God. This is our only hope to gain knowledge and wisdom and understanding of the good works that God has prepared for you to do since the foundations of the earth were laid. Matthew 7, 24 through 27, Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to be a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was the fall. Use the building blocks of love and self-control so God can finish his good work that he started in and through you and then he will continue through you the rest of the days of your life.
For as long as you have breath in your lungs he can use you to further his plan of the salvation of souls. I love you all and I pray that you too can find the freedom that I've found in Jesus Christ. Jesus breaks the chains. He is my Lord and Savior and the cornerstone that has been laid that my new life in Christ is built upon. God has given me a mission to build a new wall that is for his glory. Everything I do is centered on my relationship with Jesus Christ and my work to help others come to know the one true living God that saved my soul from addiction and hell.
This is the greatest life I've ever lived, living my life in Jesus Christ. God bless you all. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Thank you for listening. For more information on Michael Bowen's ministry Sons and Daughters of Thunder, visit sonsanddaughtersoffunder.org and remember there is no addiction in Jesus Christ. Jesus breaks the chains. This is the Truth Network.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-05-29 16:43:07 / 2023-05-29 16:53:51 / 11