Listen as Dr. Michael Youssef begins this episode of Leading the Way. I know some people come to the Lord looking dour. and prune-faced and tight-lipped and I want to plead with you. Learn how to come to His presence with joy.
But that doesn't mean you fake it. No, no, no, no. Just take a few moments and think about the God of glory leaving His splendor, pleading to death on the cross, and then rising again for you. That will give you joy. That will give you joy.
Welcome to Leading the Way Audio, featuring the passionate Bible teaching of Dr. Michael Yusuf. When you look at the life and experiences of Nehemiah, you see God using an ordinary man to motivate ordinary people. unifying them and their love for God.
so they can change their world. It's a pointed reminder that you can impact your world too. Thank you for listening to another episode in Dr. Youssef's series, Rebuilding Our Broken Walls. Let's get right to it.
Listen with me to today's message from Dr. Youssef on leading the way. Whenever you are doing the will of God. Whenever you are obeying God's vision for your life. Wherever you know that you are following God's vision, not your own, nothing, listen carefully, nothing.
Can you say nothing? Nothing will ultimately succeed in preventing you from accomplishing the will of God in your life. Nothing.
Now, that does not mean that the enemy of our soul is going to throw everything at you, including the kitchen sink. I mean he will throw everything we've been seeing it throughout the series. But God's power of perseverance and persistence is going to work in you in such a way that is going to baffle everybody. It will frustrate your opposition. It will neutralize your attackers.
It will silence your enemies. It will uplift your friends. It will encourage the discouraged. And it will bring joy to the heart of God. Nehemiah's people He and his team, they faced horrendous opposition.
They faced incredible obstacles. They faced crippling discouragements. From even those who supposed to be encouraging them. Those who are in leadership. They were criticized by their friends.
They were attacked by their enemies. They faced unbelievable obstacles. And yet, they persevered and they persisted and they moved forward with God's vision of rebuilding. Yeah. God empowered them and gave them victory.
Beloved, listen, there can be no little doubt today That if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, who stand on the authority of the Word of God. as the inspired, infallible word of God. You will. Not your might. Not possibly, but you will face opposition.
Even from some people who call themselves Christians. Years ago.
Someone said the incubation of godly character breeds people of godly vision. The incubation of godly character breeds people of godly vision. What does that mean? What does that mean? The difference Between a vision that is from God and a human vision, which some people have, and that's fine.
I'm not against that. But the difference between the two is godliness. That's the difference. And that's a great difference. God.
in this church through the years. We got pressed from every direction. From people well meaning people, trust me, they're all well meaning. They want us to adopt their vision. They wanted us to acquiesce to their plans.
They wanted us to implement their ideas and their opinions. But every time I go to the Lord in prayer, God says, Michael, stay the course. Stay the course. And thus, by God's grace and God's power and God's strength, we stuck to God's vision, and we will as long as He gives me breath. What are those qualities?
of characteristics that characterize Nehemiah's godly vision. There are four in number. Let me share them with you very quickly. The first characteristic is humility.
Now this is a word that is bandied about, used by a lot of people, very few practice it.
Some even don't know what it means. What does humility look like? Listen carefully. Drawing attention to ourselves. And the importance of our opinions, and the importance of our ideas.
Pride of ideas and pride of effort All of this produces disastrous consequences. But when humility is a deep characteristic of a person, When humility is a deep characteristic, then I will accept the trials and the opposition and the humiliation that may come my way. That's what we're seeing here throughout those nine messages. Because in the final analysis, God is going to use these trials and those difficulties and the opposition and all the stuff you go through. to strengthen you and strengthen your resolve.
Amen? Secondly, first humility, secondly passion. Here's the problem with the word passion.
Some people think of somebody who speaks with emotions. I mean, he says he's passionate.
Now that's just caffeine. Yeah. Yeah. Understand the difference. Passion It's not an outward emotion.
Passion Is ordering your priorities and the priorities of your life to conform with God's vision for your life. Can I get a witness? Look at Nehemiah. And see how many times since they began to rebuild the walls, and we've been seeing it over and over and over again. They stayed the course.
Never altered their priorities. That's passion. Thirdly, endurance. When you know that you are obeying God's vision for your life, and not your selfish ambitions. You will endure.
Not you may you will endure. When you have God's vision for your life, Your conscious focus is always on the unseen reality. Nobody else can see it but you. I know that creates problems for you, but that's okay. I submit to you that Nehemiah endured because he could visualize God accomplishing the vision that he gave him from the very beginning of the rebuilding of the wall.
Now There are some people who constantly worry and fret, and they always get bent out of shape as soon as they get criticized. Ooh, we're being criticized.
So what? They criticize Jesus. Who do you think we are? No, we'll be immune from criticism. As soon as opposition mounts, they want to run.
And Nehemiah said, Shall a man like me run? Never. Others who think that if they are obeying God's vision for their life, Everything is going to fall in place. Everything is just going to work out, hunky-dory. I got news for you.
We are in a state of war, and sometimes your enemy. Satan will use people in the church to attack you. Therefore, we should not be surprised that God's vision at times appears to be thwarted. Don't be surprised. But.
You never get discouraged because you know it's his vision and you know he's the one who gives you the strength. But you stay the course. Why? Because you know that he who's in us is greater than he who's in the world. And the fourth characteristics is adaptability and innovation.
I often say, and some of you heard me say this. That we have no sacred cows in this church except the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So nothing except the gospel. And for that, I'm willing to die. I will die slowly, I'll die fast, but I'm willing to die for the gospel. Everything else is open to adaptability and innovation. Everything else is open to new thing and new program.
I tell my team all the time, I said, hey, if something doesn't work, just scrap it. Try something different. Only the Bible is sacred.
Now These character qualities will empower you not only to have God's vision, but you will keep God's vision and that you will maintain God's vision for your life.
Now, we have been seeing in Nehemiah and his team throughout this great book. Look with me, please, in this chapter 12. Verses 27 to 43. We come to the end with the dedication of the wall to God. It is time now to praise.
and celebrate. The people of Israel have endured humiliation. They have endured defeat. They have endured mockery. They have gone through a long time of exile.
They have mourned over the broken walls and over the broken lives. They have mourned over the broken city. But now, They have gone through a time of renewal, a time of restoration. And now it's time to celebrate. When you know that you are following God's vision for your life, Every day should be a day of celebration.
I know it's not, but it ought to be. Because problems come and go. Difficult people come and they go.
Okay. Hardships come and go. Challenges come and go. But their underlying attitude should be is a life of celebration and joy. The English reformers who reformed the Church of England.
These people. actually died for Christ. fighting the dark ages and medieval church. Like Archbishop Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer, those great reformers in the Church of England. But what they did in their fighting these wars with the medieval church.
They, at least, the fruit of that. is they call Sunday and particularly communion as celebration. In fact You hear me say, we're going to celebrate communion. That is the fruit of victory over the dark ages in the medieval time. Because to the medieval church, and to certain extent in some churches now, communion is a very somber.
Very sad. Very sorrowful occasion. Do you know why? Do you know why it is? Because they believe that the priest actually is offering Jesus up to God all over again.
That's what the mass is. Imagine that. And the Anglican reformers said, no, Sunday and Sunday communion and Sunday morning worship should remind us that we have been redeemed from sin, that we have been reassured of our salvation, that we are heirs to the living God, that we have been buried with Christ and now risen with Christ. It should be a reminder that we don't belong to the world. It should be a reminder that we are pilgrims on our way to heaven.
That's what Sunday is. One of my great heroes that I quote a lot, Charles Spurgeon. A preacher from yesteryear. He was speaking to a group of pastors one time. And here's what he said to them.
He said to them, When you speak about heaven, Let your face light up. Let it be irradiated with a heavenly gleam. And let your eyes shine. To reflect glory. And then he stopped.
He said, when you preach About hell.
Well Your ordinary faces should do. But listen, listen, listen. There is a serious dimension to this celebration. I don't want you to miss it. This was not a a mindless blowout of a party.
There was a serious dominion. Look at verse 30. Yeah. When the priests and the Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people and then the gates and the walls. They set them aside.
Then There was a celebration. You see, we saw on the last message: before you can ever have true joy in your life, there has to be a confession. There can be no true joy without real confession. Why? Because there can be no peace with God without the peace of God that comes in through confession and repentance.
I know it my own daily walk. If I have any unconfessed sin in my life, ministry, whether it be preaching or even one-on-one ministering to people, I feel my words hitting back at me. And that is why I often take time to repent. I take time to confess and come clean before God before I can minister to anyone, whether it be one-on-one or in public. Why?
Because cleansing must come before serving. Purification must precede ministry. Sanctification must come before celebration. And here, at this time in the life of God's people. Purification had to take place first, then is the time to experience the full joy.
Verses thirty-one to thirty-seven. He said, I had The leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. Why he mentioned Judah by name. He singled him out. See, Judah represented the leadership of God's people at the time.
And earlier on, We saw how these people at the leadership were getting wobbly knees. And that was beginning to really discourage Nehemiah. There is one thing you can face the opposition and the attack of the enemy. It's another thing when you have your leadership scutting wobbly knees. And that is why he deliberately said, and I got the people of Judah to come up first.
They're the ones who are really losing heart. I'm going to put them up there on the top of the wall first. These are the key people. And when they lost heart, it became a discouraging time. You and I know.
that leadership Makes or breaks. It makes or breaks A company? A business? It makes or breaks a ministry. It makes who breaks the church.
Leadership is vitally important from the beginning in the Scripture. In addition to Judah, he brought up on the wall a great number of musicians. I mean, there were singing and they were dancing and they were jumping up and down on the wall. Why? What is Nehemiah doing?
Listen carefully. He's doing something very, very important. Back in chapter four. You know what Sambala, Tobiah, and all those miserable Geshim and all those people were saying? In verse 3 of chapter 4, they said, This wall is so flimsy, if a fox goes on top of it, it will break.
Are you with me? Nehemiah was saying, Hey, Sambalat, Tobiah, look at this, look at us. We're all of us. We're standing up there, jumping up and down, praising God. The musicians, the instrumentalists, all of us.
We're heavier than a fox. I didn't say that, but he's making the point. And the wall standing and fallen, look at us, you miserable enemies of God.
Okay. Look at the hundreds of people singing and dancing on top of the wall. And it's the wall standing.
Sometimes I feel like I want to jump up and down. When the enemy is after me, I really do. I recommend it to you. Do it, but just do it when you're alone. Because you will need to show Satan the joy of the Lord.
I challenge you to do it. Tell him. Satan, you can't defeat me. You cannot take away my salvation. You cannot steal my joy.
You cannot separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. You cannot take me out of his hands. Tell him Satan. You might bark, but you can't bite. Because on the cross, Jesus knocked out your teeth.
Hey, Satan. Satan, you can stir people against me all you want, but God is always with me. You may create obstacles and difficult circumstances all you want, but you're a loser. Hey Satan, I know you read the Bible. And the Bible said that you know the Bible and you tremble at the word of God.
Read it some more and remember, Satan, that when you are in the lake of fire, I will be reigning and ruling with Christ. That when you are in chains, I am jumping up and down in heaven. When you are bound, I am now and for eternity will be blessing the Lord. Try it sometimes. Try it sometimes.
Look at verses thirty-eight to forty-three. Try to use your imagination. Nehemiah was leading two choirs. Not one, two. One from one end, one from the other, and they're going to meet in the middle somewhere.
And they were dancing and lifting hands up to the Lord. And and and if you use your imagination, don't think about choirs in our modern sense with flowing robes and hymn noles in hand. And think of a bunch of wild Pentecostals. Haha. Singing.
and rocking the house and you get close. You get close to it. Yeah. Here, Nehemiah is describing that day. Here's he sat.
He said And on that day they offered a great sacrifice. rejoicing because God had given him great joy. You see, they were rejoicing so loud that people far away could hear their joy. The enemies can hear their joy. The weak need who stayed away could hear their joy.
I know some of you go to football games and basketball games and baseball games. God bless you, keep doing it, but that's okay. You know what I'm talking about with the roar of the crowd and the band playing, and some of you shout your voice hoarse for your team. For what? I'm not going to go there.
Bye.
Okay. But when you come to the real celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, when it comes to the real celebration of your salvation, my goodness, you can't even move your lips. Listen, listen. When we celebrate the Lord, we sing to Him. We're singing for one another, we're singing to Him.
We focus on His unique presence. With us in worship, because he said he indwells the praises of his people. And when Nehemiah said they sacrificed unto the Lord, what is he saying?
Well, you see, some people can sing, and it's okay, they can mouse the hymns, but then they got their pocketbook sealed. There are some people who can sing the songs, but they keep all their time to themselves. Never sacrifice any time to serving the Lord and serving His church, serving His people. They don't want to sacrifice anything of value. or anything that would cost them something dear.
They want to worship God on the cheap. That's why they sacrificed to the Lord. No, no, no. See, the meaning of the word worship comes from the Latin worth ship. This is where it comes from.
Worthship. And so the question is, what is the Lord worth to you? What is he worth to you? When you worship God, are you going to show Him His worth? Just singing a few songs?
No. It's a total sacrifice. It's a total sacrifice, a total job. Worshiping God does not mean you give Him the crumbs and the leftovers and the discarded stuff. No, no, no, no.
It's not what you give him that which costs you nothing. No. But only you can decide what a sacrifice to you is. Because whether a sacrifice to you might not be a sacrifice to me, you know what God wants from you. Believers, please listen to me.
I know some people come.
So the Lord looking dour and prune-faced and tight-lipped and I want to plead with you. I want to plead with you. Learn how to come to His presence with joy. Now that doesn't mean you fake it. No, no, no, no.
Just take a few moments and think about the God of glory leaving His splendor, pleading to death on the cross, and then rising again for you. That will give you joy. That will give you joy. Thank you for taking time today to listen to Dr. Michael Youssef and Leading the Way audio.
And if you'd like to spend time with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor talking about what you heard today, or any other day, reach out to ltw.org slash jesus. As we bring today's episode to a close, I do want to take a moment and speak with Dr. Youssef about his book. Saving Christianity? And I say it like that because it does have a question mark on the end.
Dr. Youssef, will you take a moment and explain why you titled your book Saving Christianity? The reason I called the book Saving Christianity is because I heard some church leaders, believe it or not, who said that we need to save Christianity. And by that they meant we need to change it in order to save it. Christianity does not need to be saved.
We need to be saved. And that is why I wrote this book. In which I show clearly from history, from scripture, why the Christian faith is under attack and why we must never, never, never try to water it down, change it, cut it down to size in order to please the fallen, sinful culture.
So I urge you, you must read that book. What are some of the ways that you feel like this book can help equip listeners as well as their families and their friends and churches in these unique times in which we live?
Well, there can be no doubt in anyone's mind, not just me, but any reasonable person, that the Christian faith is under attack. And believe it or not, Not just from the outside, it is from the inside of the church. There are so many people in the pulpits who are bringing doubt. And the average person sitting on the pew said, Oh, I wonder if you know, Reverend Smell Fungus is really right on this. And they bring doubt to their ability to understand the gospel.
But we don't need these people. You don't need me even. You need the Word of God. And that's all I'm doing. I'm pointing you to the Word of God in order to establish you to stand against the waves of doubt that is coming from churches and coming from church leaders and coming from well-meaning.
Christians. Get your copy of Dr. Youssef's book from Leading the Way Today. Call a ministry representative right now, 866-6666-6666-6666. six two six four three five six.
Saving Christianity. It's available all this month when you give a gift of any amount to leading the way. You can also order at ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.
Mm.
