Time to Build | Week 6 | Daniel Goulding | Echoes Church

So, the the date was 09/22/1999.

It was supposed to be one of the most pivotal and important days in in NASA history. See, in the late nineties, the question that was being asked was about the the long term viability of human life on the planet Mars and so NASA had assembled what was supposed to be a rock star team. They they got the best and the brightest of the the NASA people. They brought in the best from industry and they assembled what they thought was a

superstar team to launch what was called the the Mars Climate Orbiter. See, they'd already had some satellites that were around Mars but this was going to be the most technologically advanced satellite that we had ever put into orbit and again, you've gotta understand to even get a satellite to Mars is a is an audacious task for us to try to accomplish. Once once launched from Earth into space, it will take almost a year

and some 500,000,000 miles of travel to get from Earth into Mars. Well, that had happened. They they launched this satellite into space. The teams were excited and the day finally arrived on 09/22/1999 where the satellite was going to move out of space and they were going to bring it into

Mars' gravitational pull and the plan was to have it just begin to orbit around Mars so they could begin to measure all of the atmospheric pressure. They could begin to understand weather systems and whether there was water on the planet and the moment happened where NASA's best and brightest was gathered in an air force base in Florida. They were all watching as they began to make the final descent from out of space into Mars' gravitational pull. Everybody was there. Hundreds of people, almost almost ten years of work, some $150,000,000

went into this moment that all culminated 09/22/1999. As the team began to make the final descent from outer space into Mars'

orbit, it was in front of all of their eyes to their shock and their horror that they began to realize that this satellite was moving much too quickly, but they couldn't stop it. And what eventually happened is it it blew right past Mars' gravitational pull and it went right into Mars' atmosphere. And in a moment in front of everybody, it was incinerated in front of their eyes.

And what took ten years to ideate, which took countless hours to put together, again, almost $150,000,000 invested into it disappeared in a moment. The logical question then became asked, what just happened?

Did it hit a meteor? Was an alien somehow involved? Like, what what just took place? What did we witness? So, they put together an entire team to begin to unpack what took place on that catastrophic day, 09/22/1999. You know what they concluded?

You know what the finding was that caused this whole thing to be ruined in front of their eyes? What caused a $150,000,000 to literally be burned up with no data received from it?

They realized that there was one lead engineer from Lockheed Martin that was sending data to the team at NASA about the final propulsion components of what is gonna take to get the right amount of thrust to get the satellite into Mars' gravitational pull, but not so much that it would push past it and get into its atmospheric pressure causing it to incinerate in a moment. They realized that that guy

had been calculating the entire thing using yards when everybody else had been using meters.

And all of a sudden, all of his measurements that seem so precise and were so accurate were just this far off and what happened was is the thing that was supposed to give them a bunch of information ended up being wasted in front of their eyes. The big takeaway was that a guy that was really distracted

led to something being destroyed that was supposed to be life giving. The reason that I start there is because I I believe that you and I are living at a really interesting time in human history.

Sociologists say that we are the most distracted group of people in the history of the world. We are more distracted than we've ever been before. You realize that on death certificates today, they've added a new cause of death that's called distracted walking.

We're supposed to be the most like advanced civilization in the history of the world yet at the same time, we're falling off of cliffs as we're taking selfies. We're just randomly stepping off of curbs going into traffic because we are so distracted. Here here's why I think that matters to us. The precursor, what we will see today in Nehemiah chapter six is that often times, the precursor to destruction

is distraction. And if the enemy can't destroy you in this season, he will do everything he can to distract you. I wrote down this way if you're taking notes. Here's what I want to try to unpack with you. If the enemy can't destroy you, he will distract you because distraction is a stepping stone to destruction.

Often, the thing that precedes utter destruction is just a season of prolonged

distraction. Then you wake up one day going, wait, how how did I how did I get here? How how did my life veer so far off of course? And now I'm sitting in a spot going, man, I I never in a million years thought I would have ended up here. Yet, if you're not careful, distraction will take you to some really destructive places. Again, if you're just joining us, we've been walking through the book of Nehemiah, essentially a chapter at a time. Looking at the life of this guy that began to believe that god could use his life to make a significant impact. See, Nehemiah was living in exile but he was a Jewish person and he had learned because his brother came back to visit him that the people in Jerusalem were were really struggling because the walls around their home city hadn't been rebuilt and so he began to pray and ask that god would use him to make a significant impact and he started to lead the rebuilding efforts around Jerusalem and he got the project started. He envisioned the people and he started to assign the task. He says, everybody work on the wall that's right in front of your house and they began to get the wall erected again. They began to do things that nobody else had been able to do and they face all types of opposition

along the way, yet Nehemiah persevered through almost all of it. In Nehemiah chapter six, the wall is about to be completed, and we're going see Nehemiah's enemies

take one last stab at getting him to come down off of the wall, and it's a pretty simple tactic. They're going to try to just distract him from the most important task that he's been assigned to do. I believe that every single one of you sitting here today that there is an assignment that god has given you. There is something that you should be putting your hand to. You've gotta understand that the enemy is going to try to do everything he can to distract you from that same task. Here's how the story begins. Nehemiah chapter six verse one. It says, Sambalat, Tobiah, and Geshem, the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained.

Though they had not yet set the doors and the gates. So the wall is done. They just haven't put the gates on yet. So verse two, so Sambalat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of, oh no. Okay, If anybody ever invites you to a place called, oh, no. It's an easy one. You just say, oh, no. I can't go. Okay?

But I realized the Bible jokes, you gotta take the low hanging fruit ones. Alright? But I realized they were plotting to harm me. Okay, here it is. So, Nehemiah understood a pretty simple thing but it's profound when you begin to understand the the implications of it. See, Nehemiah knew who he was

and he also knew in this season what was the most important thing that god had asked him to put his hand to. The thing in his life that he couldn't not do and I would venture to guess in every single one of our lives regardless of our upbringing or our background or our our faith experience

that every single one of us, if we could sit down and go, okay, right now in this season of my life, what is the most important thing that I can't afford to not do?

And it will change in different seasons of our life but in every single one of them, there will be things that are the essential thing that we we must do but if we're not careful,

we will allow ourselves to be distracted from the thing that we're supposed to be doing and if you're anything like me, man, I am as ADD as it gets. I'm in the backyard doing one thing. I'm doing 12 other things. I'm like, what what did I start out here doing?

And here's the thing that I've learned. Here's the thing that I think Nehemiah did almost better than any of us. He realized that the things that we get distracted by, they're never as important as the thing that we get distracted from.

See, Nehemiah understood this powerful principle that we've got to learn in, lean into, and learn. See, the things that we get distracted from are usually the most important things.

And the things that we get distracted by are really not that big of a deal. But the question is, why do we give them so much time? Why do we give them so much energy? And I think sometimes it's because we we don't actually know. We aren't operating

with what our true north is in this season of life. And here's what I want to ask you to do this morning. Literally, right now, sitting here in the season of life that you're in, current circumstances, current reality,

current phase of raising children, or trying to get from being single to marry, trying to get through college, trying to go from, you know, working to retire, whatever phase you're in this morning,

the question is, is what is the most important thing for you to accomplish in this season? What is the thing that you can't afford to not do for some of you? That one thing could be

it's a habit you need to break. For some of you in 2025, you what you need to spend time focusing on is that habit that you need to finally get rid of that maybe it served you in a season before, but it it cannot carry with you into the next season. For some of you, it's a project that you need to finish. For others, it could be a relationship that you need to restore.

For some of you, it's a relationship. You don't need to restore. You you need to retire some friendships.

For some of you, it's a debt that you need to pay off and for others of you, don't get mad at me but it's the degree that you finally need to finish. Okay? You've been 10 you've been 10 units away for the last six years. Alright? Just just finish that dang degree, right?

The question in every season of life has to be, god, what is the thing right now that I can't afford not to do? Because I promise you in 2025, there's a lot of things you could do. There's a lot of things that you will think you you have to do.

But I wonder what is the one thing you can't afford to not do. See, Nehemiah understood who he was and he understood that his assignment

his assignment was working on the wall. His assignment was to rebuild a wall. He wasn't even a construction guy but he knew this was the job that god had asked him to do and he was refusing. He refused to be distracted by anybody that was trying to get him to come and do something other than that. See, these three guys we just read about. We've seen them throughout the story. These are the guys that are the rulers of the neighboring

regions that they live in the towns around Jerusalem and they for years have been taking advantage of the people of god and they have after every leader has tried to come in and do what Nehemiah attempted to do to rebuild the walls, their intimidation efforts have worked and they've run those people off but Nehemiah is unwavering.

He is not moving. He's the guy that says, I'm finishing this project and they realize that he's serious. It doesn't matter what they've tried, they can't stop him and so they come to the conclusion that we we need to kill him. So they send a messenger to Nehemiah and they say, hey, come meet us and just have a conversation with us But Nehemiah understands what what we just read, that they were plotting

to harm him. See, Nehemiah understood the tension that you and I need to learn to live in. The tension between what we want most in this life and what we want right now.

Sometimes the reason that we give up the things that we want ultimately is because we settle for the things that just feel very urgent. Again, I wrote it down this way if you're taking notes. Don't let the urgent distract you from the ultimate.

There will always be pressing things that come up. There will always be things that you you you must address. You have to go deal with them because they just feel like they're on fire. But sometimes those things that feel very pressing could be the thing that leads to your your death and your demise.

Had Nehemiah agreed to the request, he literally would have been killed, but he had enough insight to understand,

now I know who I am. And I know in this season of my life what is most important. And because I know what my true north is, it makes it easier to determine what I'm going to say no to. Look at Nehemiah's response to these guys that he realizes are plotting to harm him. Verse three says, so I replied

by sending this message to them. I am engaged in a great work so I can't come. Why should I stop working

to come and meet with you? It's such a powerful visual if you can see it. It's Nehemiah up on this wall and he's literally up here working going, why would I step down from up here to come down to your level to do these things that are beneath me in this season? See, Nehemiah understood, I I can't not do this and yet the enemy is going to try to come in and distract you from doing the thing that is ultimate for you in this season. The question is, is what is that ultimate thing for you in this season of life?

It's not always the same thing but it will be a moving target. For some of you who are just now starting to have kids, things that you did as a single person. There's habits and things that you you used to do that won't serve you in this season any longer. I remember when my my son was born, my daughter was, you know, two years old.

My my newborn son is there and one of things I used to do, I was working sales at the time. Everybody after work, it's what everybody did. It's how we decompress. It's how we got rid of stress. We would go and play Call of Duty together on Xbox. Alright? Any Call of Duty people out there? Come on, somebody. Right? We would play Call of Duty for hours. Right? And it was awesome. It it was fun. And I remember I was like, man, I'm just gonna do this forever. Like, this is so great. And I was literally sitting there with my newborn son in between my knees, holding his bottle with my chin as I was playing video games with my buddies.

And my wife walked in was like, yeah. So this is like, this is not working for me. You know? I'm like, that's fine. You know? Like, it's it's fine. And I had a decision to make because there was these competing values in my heart.

Like I liked having friend like fun with my friends. I enjoyed decompressing. There was things about that that that were true and real but also my my life was changing. I was in a different season of life and most of the guys I was playing with were were single

but I'm now a young dad with a wife that I'm trying to say, hey, like, look, I I value you and I want you to be able to unplug and I want to spend time with with these kids and I had to make a decision in that season for right now, what is the most important thing? What is the great work that god has asked me to put my hand to? Because here's what I believe about every single one of you. I believe that right now, there is a great work that you are supposed to be doing. There is something incredible that you are supposed to be doing with your life. You're not here randomly.

God has an incredible assignment on your life. It's why the story of Nehemiah is so important for us to understand. There's no miracles in this book. It's just a guy that realizes,

wait, god can use an ordinary, normal person like me to make a difference in this world, to have a significant contribution with the time that I've been given, and and life can be more than just the the rat race. Wait, I can make such an investment with my time that I can begin to impact generations beyond me. Yes,

but you've gotta understand, it's going to require you to say no to some things in your life. You're going to have to understand who you are and you're going to have to learn a powerful principle that don't give up what you want most for what you want right now.

See, the thing is is sometimes the reason and the way that we wake up five years down the road going, wait, how how did I get here? You weren't willing to sacrifice what you wanted right now to get what you wanted most.

I don't know if you've ever been there. We're like, you you and your spouse are like, you know what? This is the year.

This is the year where we're getting out of debt, right? We're going to pay off all of our bills. We're going to get out of credit card debt. We're going start living differently and you have like resolve

on Monday morning and then you get home from work and you're sitting there like tired, sitting on the couch, and you pull up your phone and you're scrolling Instagram, and you're like, dang, do these ads, they know what I'm thinking, right? Like, I I need this thing, right?

And all of a sudden, you give up what you want most, which is spiritual, which is financial freedom, which is financial margin, and you all you sacrifice it for is what you want right now. This is the tension that we have to learn to navigate on this side of heaven.

The tension between what we want most and what we want right now and it will change in different seasons of our life. For Nehemiah, he understood who he was and he understood what god had asked him to do in this season and so here's his response. He says that I'm engaged in a great work. I can't come down. Why should I stop working? And four times verse four, four times,

they sent the same message And each time Nehemiah told them the same thing. See, they thought that what they were dealing with was Nehemiah was a scheduling conflict. It wasn't a scheduling conflict. It was a priority conflict. Because when you predetermine

who you are and what you can't not do, it makes it much easier to say no to the wrong things. But if you don't predetermine what you're not going to do, all of a sudden, there's all this time in our calendar to fill it with all of the wrong things. It's funny in my season of life right now, I find myself where for years,

I was praying that god would open the doors of opportunity. I find myself today in this season praying a much different prayer. I find myself going, god, teach me, show me

which opportunities are the right opportunities and which ones are just a waste of time and which ones are taking me from my my ultimate purpose because I'm in a different season of life. My kids aren't little anymore. My daughter's a freshman in high school.

I see the window closing of the time that I have influence into her life.

I see that the season is closing of her being in my home where we get to be. My wife and I, the primary voices into her life and so it informs how we make decisions. It informs what we're trying to do because this is in this season the most important thing to us. I wonder what it is for you.

I wonder what the most important thing is in your life. Our our staff right now is reading through a book that I couldn't encourage you enough to read. It's written by a guy named Jim Collins. It's called Good to Great and he basically does a study of all these businesses that broke out of this this kind of barrier that he would have called good companies and they became great companies and he walks through what it really means to be a great company but essentially, his conclusion of the book is that the reason that a lot of companies will never get to great is because they settle for

good and sometimes, good is the enemy of great. I'm telling you, it's the same thing that is true in our marriages and in our homes and in our relationship with Jesus. Often,

the things that we want most, the things that we are trying to pursue, the greatness that we want to aspire to. The reason we're not experiencing it is because we're we're settling for just some good things.

And this is the tension for us. Is often we think that we have to choose between like evil things, bad things, and good things and I at least that doesn't that that isn't how it often works for me. I I wrote it down this way. The enemy's greatest distractions that they aren't bad things. They're usually good things that steal you away from

great things And sometimes what we need to learn and be asking God for is the discernment to learn the difference between the good things and the great things, the immediate things, and the ultimate things, and we have to make a resolution in our heart that we are not going to give up the ultimate for the urgent.

Here's the thing that I hope you understand that you are right now. It's not coming one day. It's happening right now every single day with every small decision that you make. You're writing the story of your life. Make sure it's a story that's worth telling. Every decision you make Monday through Friday,

everything that you say yes to, all the things that you refuse to say no to, those are the culmination of the story that is your life.

You're writing it right now and I know you want to live a beautiful story and to live a great story but think about it right now. All the decisions you're going to make this week without a true north, you will just settle for anything and eventually, those decisions will add up to be the legacy that your children and your grandchildren will talk about you.

The question is, what is the story that you're writing? Is it a story that you will be happy with? Again, the the book of Nehemiah is my one of my favorite books for so many purposes

it's just one that there's there's no supernatural moments. There's no big miracle. It's just a guy that realizes, wait, I can do something with my life. God can use me to make a significant impact and he becomes steadfast on running after that. He he refuses

to settle for second best but I think one of the things that Nehemiah does, there's so many principles in here for us to learn from especially for those of us who are living here in America because culturally, we're sitting in kind of a a similar moment where we're almost these exiles living in what feels like a more and more pagan land. There's there's principles in here that we have to learn and and one of them that Nehemiah does better than anybody. What I see him do consistently

is his ability to discern between people was just unparalleled to people in the Bible. What I mean is is that Nehemiah had an unbelievable ability to understand.

Okay, who am I dealing with here? Is this somebody that is just foolish and they're they they don't understand what they're asking of me or are these people like Sambalat and Tobiah? Are these evil people that I need to draw a hard line in the sand in? And and what I want to try to do with the last couple minutes that I have with you is I want to show you for some of you your greatest distraction,

it's not a what, it's a who. Again, wrote it down this way that often the greatest, the enemy's greatest tool of distraction, it isn't a what but it's a who. And when you miscalculate people, you misidentify

people, you are setting yourself up for more harm and pain than you could ever possibly imagine. I remember when my sister and I were in high school and we went to the beach one time. We're like walking out onto the beach and my sister sees this girl. She's like, oh, that's my friend. So she literally she throws her stuff down. She sprints after this girl and she tackles her on the sand. She's wrestling and she's laughing to then realize when she stands up, that that's not my friend.

I I have no idea who this person is that I just wrestled with on the ground. It was hilarious and the lady was gracious. But again, when you misidentify people, you you will interact with them inappropriately.

See, we say these things all the time to our kids that like, again, I understand the premise of it like, treat everybody equally

but you've gotta understand the scriptures are clear that not everybody are people that should be in our life and have equal access to us. See, the scriptures talk about three different types of people. If you go read the book of Proverbs, it says there's three types of people in this world that we need to learn to figure out and to navigate and ultimately

discern.

Okay? There are what the scriptures call wise people. There are then simple or foolish people as Proverbs will call them and then there's this third category of people that are called evil people. See, Sambalat and Tobiah, these were not just foolish people that Nehemiah could have influenced and won for the kingdom of god. These were evil people who intentionally or not were literally furthering the agenda of the demonic.

They were advancing not god's kingdom but the enemies and Nehemiah had this unbelievable ability to discern them, okay? Three things real practical. Who are these people? How do we discern them? And then more importantly, what is our response to interact with them? The first type of people that the scriptures tell us about is that there's there's wise people.

See, the scriptures refer to wise person as a picture like this. Okay, just for visuals. This is what a wise person is in the scriptures. It's a it's a shepherd.

This is somebody who's leading the flock. This is somebody who's been walking with Jesus for a period of time. They they've taken the scriptures and they haven't just understood them but they've began to apply them. They are they are living out the the practical realities that are revealed in scripture. The the book tells us that the book of Proverbs tells us in chapter nine verse 10 that the fear of the lord is the foundation of wisdom.

These are people who fear god more than they fear man and they fight fear with fear.

I overcome the fear of this world, the fear of people accepting me by understanding that the fear of the lord is what begins all wisdom. These are people who don't just talk about the things of god. They they live the things of god. The wise people, these are the people we need to be hunting for, okay? When you are young parents, these are the families that you look at to go, hey, you raise children that look like how I hope my kids look one day. These are the people that you need to pursue. Ask them to go out to dinner and I'll give you some indicators of what to look for, okay? When you first look at their hair, they usually have little or it's white, okay? And then you ask them,

you ask them, hey, how old are you? And their numbers usually start with a five, six, seven, or an eight, okay? Those are wise people. What we can't do is when we're looking for marital advice, parenting advice.

We go to TikTok and listen to people that have no kids give advice on parenting. I'm like, bro, shut up. Like, what are you, what are you talking about? Like, until you, until you have kids, you don't get a voice, right? Like, you don't get to speak on parenting until you have some kids.

And yet, I think sometimes the loudest voices in our life unintentionally

are influencers on Instagram. And I'm telling you, there are incredibly wise people in God's church that we need to be seeking out. You need to go, hey, can I take you out to dinner and ask you some questions about how to how to date my wife and how to make my marriage stronger?

You will laugh but I have a mentor that I meet with every two weeks. That's a 65 year old woman who's literally one of the greatest prayer warriors I've ever met in my life.

And I asked her, said, your relationship with Jesus is what I hope mine looks like one day. Will you teach me to pray the way that you pray? Will you teach me to spend time with God the way that you spend time with God? Again, another indicator that you know you're speaking to the right people is when you ask them, hey, do you have TikTok? They ask, what what is TikTok? You're like, you're perfect. You're perfect. Okay?

Wise people. These are the Nehemiah's. These are the few that have lived life long enough to go through some things. But if we're not careful, we will be tempted to disregard the generation that has come before us. The reason that a multigenerational

church is so important is because we get to learn from the wisdom of those who have gone before us. Wise people are the ones you invite into your life. You allow them to influence you. Okay, the second group of people that the scriptures talk about, these are simple people. Again, Proverbs calls them foolish people. It's not necessarily a derogatory term. It just means that we haven't been following Jesus long enough to really allow these things to soak into our lives. We're not really living them out yet but there's a very clear difference between a simple person and an evil person. Okay, again, for pictures, for metaphor, a simple person, the scriptures refer to as

a sheep.

That there are sheep without a shepherd. All have gone astray, the scripture say. That we're just wandering and what a foolish person or a simple person will do is when shown, hey, here's what the scriptures say compared to what you're doing. They don't resist it. They aren't fighting against it. They just they just don't know. It it's ignorance,

not arrogance. They're willing to change their mind. They just don't they just don't know yet. I would have to say again, everybody in the book of Nehemiah between wise Nehemiah and evil, Sambalai, and Tobiah.

It's all just a bunch of foolish people trying to figure out our lives. Again, it's not a mean thing but it's the bulk of us sitting here today.

I love walking through and living life with people who are trying to figure out what it means to walk with Jesus. I was sitting with a couple the other day and I said, hey, I think you should read the book of Ecclesiastes and next time when we get together, we'll talk about it and the guy said, that sounds great. I'll order the book and we'll we'll talk about it. I'm like,

you have the book. Like, it's it's in the Bible. You know, it's like one of the books of the big Bible, you know, like and again, like, I I love the fact that they're willing to say yes and they just they just don't know what they don't know. When I was a pastor in San Diego, there's a time when we used to like do the offering and we pass the buckets through the row and watch what everybody put in like it's always that weird moment. There was this guy in our church, true story, that literally was a massive drug dealer but he was learning that like, okay, god wants us to honor him with what we've been given and so when the bucket went in front of him, he literally took out a bag of weed and put it in the bucket

and just passed it forward and then every person after him, they had a decision to puff or pass, right? Like it's you you gotta you can't not take the jokes, right?

See, it's not it's not an evil person. It's somebody who's just understanding like, okay, it it takes some time to figure out what it means to follow Jesus and and apply this stuff. These are the guys that after service and again, I I love it. It there's nothing offensive to me about it but they're like, bro, that was a hell of a talk you just gave. You know, I'm like, okay, you're new around here. Like, that's awesome. Like, I I love it and it's okay for people to be in our lives who are foolish but here's what you've gotta be careful of. These are people that you influence them but you don't let them influence you.

These aren't the people that you're spending every single day with. They're a part of your circle of friends but it's also with a bunch of wise

people and now, again, here's where I think the most damage is done that I've seen in fifteen years of being a pastor where the most damage is done is when you mistake somebody that you think is foolish and you allow them into your life but they're not a foolish person. They are what the scripture say is an evil person.

Whether they know it or not, they are actively, they are actively pursuing and advancing the demonic kingdom on this Earth. See, Sambalat and Tobiah, they they were not just foolish people that Nehemiah could win over. These were evil people that he needed to keep out of his circle of influence.

And if you're not careful and you think that an evil person

is a foolish person, you will allow them to speak into your life and it can cause more destruction than you could ever possibly imagine. Again, just to finish the visual illustration, the scriptures refer to evil people. The picture is this right here. Okay? It's a cat. I'm just kidding. I have a cat. Okay? Don't get mad. Cats are awesome. That's just a joke. The scriptures talk about evil people as wolves.

But here's where you have to be really careful. Evil people don't walk into your lives with a sign on their forehead saying, hey, I'm an evil person. See, the Bible says that they are wolves that are dressed as sheep,

and you will think that they are sheep but they're not. They're evil and they're out to destroy every single part of who you are. The scripture say that the the angel of darkness masquerades as an angel of light and you and I have to seek God to have discernment like Nehemiah to understand. Am I dealing with an evil person or am I dealing with

a simple person that I can begin to influence? But if you allow an evil person to come into your life, I'm telling you, you are setting yourself up for more damage and more destruction than you could possibly imagine. And here's where we have to be careful. A lot of these people, they sit in pews on Sunday mornings, and they claim

to be a follower of Jesus. Some of the best advice I've ever been given, I give to you this morning. Somebody said, just because they say that they're believers, doesn't mean you should believe them. The scriptures say that wisdom will be known by her deeds.

See, we don't listen to what people say. We we watch how people live. The people that I'm inviting into my life to have influence, to have a voice, to speak into situations,

they are people that I've been watching for quite a while. They are people that I have seen, not just what they've said, but what they've done. I ask wise people into my life. I keep evil people with every bit of intention that I have away from my family. I keep our circle small. I go, wise people, you're gonna speak into stuff. Foolish people, I'm gonna try my best to influence you, but I can't be so close to you because I'm easily pulled back into these things.

I have to make sure that I'm the one influencing them and they're not influencing me. But evil people, I don't even waste my time. Just like Nehemiah, understand that God has asked me to do a great work. I am not going to come down from the wall to meet with you. I can't convince you. And some of the hardest things for me as a people pleaser is I wanna answer every critic. I wanna answer every email,

and I just can't do it. I I can't win over every single critic. It's it's not my responsibility,

but I do have a responsibility to the thing that god has asked me to do in this season. I wonder what it is for you because here's what I want to show you. Nehemiah is a story of what can happen with somebody that understands who they are and they understand the power of the people that they link arms with in this season. Again, Nehemiah chapter six, if you skip down to verse 15,

here's what happens with Nehemiah and the people that he's linked arms with. It tells us in verse 15, so the wall was completed on the twenty fifth of a low in just fifty two days. And when our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid.

They lost their self confidence because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. Nehemiah,

understanding what was most important to him in this season and the power of the people that he was linking arms with, was able to accomplish in fifty two days what hadn't been done in a hundred and fifty years.

I wonder what's been in ruins in your life for a long time that you could begin to rebuild with the power of god's anointing on your life and the power of the people that you link arms with. Here's the question I have for you. What is your wall?

What is the thing in this season that you know that you know that you know that you can't afford to not do? There's a lot of things that you could do. There's a lot of things that you might feel like you you need to do. But I promise you, there's probably only one, maybe two things in this season right now that you can't afford to not do.

And when you get laser beam focused on what it is that you are called to do in this season of your life, it will begin to drastically alter the way that you make decisions. You need to predetermine today who it is that you're going to be. You need to predetermine

what you're going to say yes to and what you're going to say no to. And for some of you, the real question is is what are some of the obstacles that you need to remove? What are some of the things that maybe served you in seasons past that you can't carry with you into this season?

That is gonna constantly be a rock in your shoe that's going to take you away from your purpose, your meaning, the significant life that god has called you to live. For some of you, the question you need to wrestle through this morning is, what what do you need to eliminate in your life?

What have you allowed to be with you that you can't take with you moving forward? For some of you, again, it's not a it's not a what but it's a a who. Who do you need to eliminate? I don't mean that practically, right? Like, I don't mean that actually. Don't don't go kill anybody this week. But

who is it in your life that maybe, maybe they served you in seasons past. Maybe you guys were great together then but but you're kind of going in a new direction

and god is doing a new thing in your life and it's not that they're they're bad. It's not that they're, you know, evil and malicious people but you just can't continue to live life with them the way that you have.

Because I'm telling you, if you are not laser being focused on who you are and what is ultimate to you in this season, you'll just get burnt out by satisfying all the urgent things that pop up every day. But if you can begin to realize that in every season,

regardless of circumstance, regardless of our current reality, there's always something that is the one thing that we can't afford not to do and we begin to put all of our energy and effort towards that thing. You can see some things rebuilt in fifty two days that have been down and in ruins for potentially

hundreds of years. I wonder what it is for you. I wonder what the thing is that you can't afford to not do. Let me pray for you. Father, god, I ask, lord, that you would show us where distraction has settled in. God, we might not be sitting here today feeling the weight of destruction

but if we're not careful, if we keep walking down the path that we're on, allowing distraction to lead us and guide us, That father, distraction is always the precursor to destruction and there is a real enemy that wants to destroy the work that you're doing inside of marriages

that is trying to destroy the work that you're trying to do in finances and and in homes and in businesses and father, I pray today that you give us discernment.

Holy Spirit, you speak to us. You show us who it is that can be in this in this season with us and give us the courage, the boldness, and the willingness to say, yes to the right things and no to the wrong things. Father, I thank you for ruins that will be brought to revival

because of people today realizing what it is that they're supposed to give their life to in this season. It is in Jesus' holy and precious name all god's people said, amen and amen.