Cooperation

Well, we're going to come now to that essential, a building that gave the ministry called cooperation. Cooperation. Going to go back to Nehemiah, going to read chapter 4 this time, verse 17 and verse 18. Nehemiah chapter 4, verse 17 and verse 18. Thank you Jesus. They which builded the wall, and they which bear the burdens, with those that laid it, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one, had his sword girded by his side, and so he builded, and he that sounded the trumpet was by me. Nehemiah. Now we're the gateway of God to the world. Now that has to register upon us. We're the gateway of God. We, listen, through us God desires to pour himself. He never poured the spirit out on Jerusalem. He poured it out on 120 people, and that river flowing them touched that city. We have seen something, you know, just talking of the preparation of the gate, but there's other thought on preparation, hand preparation. That is, get yourself, you know, the mind of God, get a hold of God. There are five ingredients, I believe, that are of just a natural process of things that'll bring success for anyone, especially in rebuilding that gate of God. Five things. First of all, there must be a will in people. See, you can't drag people into this. So those that are not with us, John said, they left us because they never were with us. They never were a part of us, but a will in people. See, that, but to produce that truly will in people, there has to be a noble purpose. That man of God has to hear from God. Where he's going to lead me, I want to know, is it worth going? See, there has to be a noble purpose, but third, that then there has to be a burning passion. That's the reason there must be a constantly refueling of that Holy Spirit waiting. But there must be then, the man of God must put that vision in that people to know, you know, this is what we are, and this is the reason we're here. But then there must be a tenacious persistence. Now, we have to build this into the body. And it'll transform our lives and consequently transform the lives of those people that we touch, if those things are built within us. Now, to rebuild God's gate, that's ministry, that is the gate of ministry, there must also be that cooperation. The man of God cannot do it by himself. We saw in lessons on the church that the present church system is one of great hindrances to God's doing His work. We separate the church into professionals and the laity, not realizing that all of us are members of the body. All of us must find our particular place in that body. All of us must function in that place if there's going to be a full expression of Christ. Three things are required to gain the cooperation of the people. Now, God must put this in your spirit, has to be. The rebuilding of God's desired ministry in that city, God must put it in our spirit. Now, verse 17 and 18 gives the first thing necessary to gain the cooperation of the people, a crisis. That's the first thing. They must know where we're at. They must know what we're facing. They must know this is not every day as usual. See, the days of Noah were characterized marriage, giving in marriage, business as usual. There must be brought to this, see, if you don't recognize the crisis, then you'll never on this earth be able to recognize the cure. There has to come. Nehemiah came to the people, here's what he said, you see the distress that we're in. That always is a crisis. You see a people, they're distressed, there's something wrong, something happened, something taking place. He said, you see the distress that we're in, how Jerusalem lies waste and the gates thereof are burned with fire. He said, we walk it out. You see what we're in. Now, the Hebrew word for distress used here has three basic meanings. And the first one is, you see how we're inferior to the enemy, that there's more of the devil here than there is of God. That's the meaning. He said the distress, that's the first meaning of that word distress is inferiority to the enemy. If there's no gate, no true ministry in the city, then Satan holds sway and demons are in charge. I don't care. If there's not a real Holy Ghost ministry in that city, that's the way it is. That's the way it is. Now, principalities, power, rulers of darkness, wicked spirits, four battalions of evil walk roughshod over that city. We must know and understand that unless we can get the host of heaven into our city, we are inferior to that devil. Unless we can get God on the move. Now, the demon spirits incarnated in flesh will keep yearning over us, despising us, and putting us down. Now, in the distress, Nehemiah calls the attention to the prophet. Isn't that amazing? You know, that priest will do well. I'm telling you, that priest must somewhere become a prophet. Amen. You notice it. He calls attention to the prophet, always in those troubled times. When things have to be brought back, we saw that, to the truth of God, then that prophet comes on the scene. It's heartbreaking to see pastors scrambling around to get into various clubs. I don't know whether that happens out here or not. I'm not interested in membership, but I'm sure interested in that prophethood, not H-I-T, but H-E-T, propheting, that man of God. When people are brought into church through carnal means, we only compound the problem. It means being outnumbered, right in the church itself. If there's more of God in your city because you are God's gate, then if there's not more of God in our cities because of our being there, then those demons come up out of the bowels of hell, and we're in distress because we're outnumbered. We're outnumbered. We must be that gateway of ministry through which God can come if we're going to overcome the distress. There's a pressure everywhere. Families, both man and wife have to work. Things are going up. Things are falling apart. There's a distress out there. Amen. But God must be allowed to get into this thing, and the church is what it's supposed to be. But the second meaning of distress is the inability to rise up to the standard. Church, for the most part today, is unable. You see them resorting to psychology, psychiatry, every other kind of a thing. Not able to rise up and be the answer, she's still trying to find the answer. We cannot rise up to the standard if there's more demon power in our city than there is of the power of God. How are we going to rise up against that if that's the truth? When the enemy comes in like a flood, only the Spirit of God can raise up that standard against him. To raise up the standard, the Holy Ghost must have a gate to come through. Now that's a settled fact. There must be that vessel through which he can come through. Individually and collectively that is so. We'll never restrain sin as long as there's more of the devil than there is of God. That's the first thing you see when real revival comes, there's restraint on evil. There's restraint on evil, always. We must become the vessel then through which God can pour himself. We will never rule out murder, adultery, hatred, envy, strife, all of these kind of things that have become so prevalent. And every day they're going all the way down to grade schools. They're finding even in the lower grades this kind of a thing teachers are having to deal with. And because the law, they can't really deal with it anymore. These things will always be there. You can see the distress that we're in. That's what the man of God said. But the third meaning of the word distress is the opposite of the first meaning told. It means the enemy is superior to us. Instead of us being inferior to the devil, it means that he is superior to us. But God has put the solution to the problem in our city, in us. God has put the solution. Do you hear the key? God put in the bosom of that man of God, and he must put it in that church, the key and the answer, the dominion to the problem. We're not going to usher in the millennium, but God did put it in us. The second thing needed, though, to build cooperation is a challenge. Nehemiah said, Let us arise and build that we be no more a reproach. Think about that. Let us rise and build that we be no more a reproach. What is a reproach? It's a disgrace. God's people being overrun by the devil is surely a disgrace. Us not being able to handle things as they come. When God has promised us power to do all this. Join the rotary and the devil will pat you on the back. You just go. But all the time, God sits in heaven with his hands tied. All the time. God has deposited the kingdom inside of us. But until we're willing for him to break this clay pot of carnality so that that power can come out, then there's absolutely nothing God can do. As long as our desire is me and what's in it for me. But till we're willing to be broken for that power to come, then there's not anything that God can do. God's work demands a human vessel. What is a reproach? In Job chapter 1, verses 6 through 9. When the sons of God, you know, come into council, the devil shows up. This is where he becomes the accuser of the brethren. Now, he's been looking down on your area, my area, this area. And he says to God, I know that you put the church there, but I still control that area. I still control it. Satan shakes that bony finger at God and says, Beaumont belongs to me. Raleigh belongs to me. Reproach means the object of the shaking finger. Object of the shaking finger. That's what the word reproach means. That devil's shaking that finger. I know you put him there. Satan says to God, because the church has failed, that area belongs to me. And there's nothing God can do at that point. Because God deposited, I give you power to do that. And if we refuse to exercise that power, then it's not going to happen, folks. We can sit back and wish things would get better, or we can bind that devil. We can take control of things there that are hindered, this thing. If we come together in the way in prayer that God wants us to, comes against those things. I'm talking, the gun shoots every direction. We must, and we'll do that. God has deposited the power to break the yoke of darkness in us. Because the kingdom is in us, what we do will determine the fate of people that would be saved. That's what it was in Corinth. That's what it is here. That's what it is everywhere. Now, the third thing necessary for cooperation is covenant. Covenant. Then I told them of the hand of my God that was good upon me. Now, the word for good is the word tov. And tov is the opposite of ra. That means inferior to the enemy. It's the opposite, the word tov. See, God has put the solution to the problem inside them. And it's the oil of the Holy Ghost. See, that's what he said. I put the solution to the problem. Amen. God's hand upon me for good. That is, he's put the solution to what you're looking at, fellas. That's what Nehemiah said in here. Right in here. God has put his hand upon me for good for the breaking of this demon power. That's what he said. That's what Nehemiah said. And that's a parable. That's all things were written aforetime was written for our learning and admonition on whom the ends of this world is come. Now, for the breaking of demon power, but more than that, for the releasing of the power of God. Now, the word for hand is y-a-d, yad. Now, the yad of God. That's the Hebrew word for hand. Now, the word yada is one of the Hebrew words for praise. I don't know any of this. I just got Strong's Concordance. You know, I mean, I wish I knew, but I don't know. But thank God, some people do. But the word yada is one of the words for praise, and according to him, it means to extend the hand open and upward in worship and adoration. That's what the word yada means. The yad, hand of God, is God's scepter. That's God's scepter. Nehemiah said, in fact, the hand of God is with me to eradicate this reproach. This city's tore up. This church has been a mess long enough. It's going to come back. God's put his hand on me to eradicate that reproach. Let us rise up and do it. Let us stand. Let's tell that devil, you've gone far as you're going. This is it. That's what Nehemiah said. That whole thing is in ruin. That's a picture of the church. As soon as you're sitting here in Jerusalem, total ruins. The walls are down. Everything they ever believed is scattered everywhere. Half-breed Samaritans are overrun. Demon-possessed are there. Everything's being said there that ought not to be said. But Nehemiah said, the hand of God is with me to eradicate this. That's the yad of God. God has put in me, when he called me here, whatever is necessary to stop the wagging finger of Satan over this community. Amen. God is done. Let that church be the church. I don't care how big or how small it is. Let it be. You let things begin to happen, amen, that men cannot explain. And all of a sudden, they begin to wonder what's going on down there. There's something happening. Nehemiah said, then I told them God had touched me with his scepter. Oh, hallelujah. God touched me for this cause. Church, God has touched us with his scepter. We have been knighted for the cause. The cause of building God's gate in that city, in wherever that God built. Rebuilding the ministry in the area and reclaiming it as a kingdom of God ground. Reclaiming for that. Nehemiah was able to tell them, I got a word from the king. Now, the word rhema is a divine commission. That's what it means, a divine commission from a kingly authority. He told them, in fact, I've got God's rhema for this town. I've got God's message for this town. And if you're called there, you better have that message for this town. You know, wherever we're called, we better have that message. It is in my bosom like fire, and it will not be quenched. That was his testimony too. It's in my bosom like fire, and it will not be quenched. The hand of my God that was good upon me. When the people heard this, they said, we'll arise and build the kingdom. When they heard that, they said, we'll arise and build the kingdom. God has knighted us for the task. We have his anointing. We have his authority. We need to rise up and build. Understand why that we're here. Not to be intimidated by organization or nothing else. Just to know God has put his hand upon me for good. That means he's anointed me to break this demon power that men can come to God. The powers of darkness in the city prevent men from coming to God. From this place, God said, break those powers so that men can walk out and come to God. Cooperation. Hallelujah.