Does The Word Still Move You? – Nehemiah 8 – [Against the Odds] – Brent Phillips – Encounter Houston

Nehemiah 8:1-3 "All the people assembled with a unified purpose at the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had given for Israel to obey.

So on October 8 Ezra the priest brought the Book of the Law before the assembly, which included the men and women and all the children old enough to understand. He faced the square just inside the Water Gate from early morning until noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people listened closely to the Book of the Law."

Are we allowing The Word of God to truly fill up or lives and give us the strength to do what it is that God has called us to do? Gaining a wealth of knowledge from The Word means nothing if we aren’t willing to act on it and live it out.

The moment we start saying, “We aren’t going to allow The word to change us” is the moment that God will stop speaking.

When last did The Word move you?

You know when you hear a word from God, and you didn’t have to write a single word down but something got written down on your heart. When last did you allow The Word to move you like that?

We must ask the question: “What are we going to do with The Word once we have heard it?”

Nehemiah 9:1-3O "October 31 the people assembled again, and this time they fasted and dressed in burlap and sprinkled dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners as they confessed their own sins and the sins of their ancestors. They remained standing in place for three hours while the Book of the Law of the Lord their God was read aloud to them. Then for three more hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord their God."

How we deal with the truth when you realize there is sin in your life?

We can’t fill ourselves up with a bunch of “almost” verses. To almost give our all to God, to almost give all our life to God, to almost allow God to take it all.. Because almost doesn’t count we must be willing to do it all for Him.

We must repent for every little sin and with that repentance comes joy. It brings freedom.

No longer can we accept our little sins we must repent so that The Word can move us to live a life that reflects a life found in Jesus Christ.

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/does-the-word-still-move-you-nehemiah-8/

The Strain of Battle – Nehemiah 4 – [Against the Odds] – Brent Phillips – Encounter Houston

There’s a tiredness that sleeping cannot fix, it doesn’t matter how much rest you get, you always wake up feeling more exhausted and fatigue than the night before. It is because the tiredness is in your soul. You have been in the battle for so long and you have yet to see the breakthrough.

You can probably think of a time when you wanted to give up? When you threw up your hands and said “I can’t do this anymore!” Everybody has had a moment like this and some of us are in that moment right now and others are bound to experience it in the future.

Up to this point in our series we have seen the multiple obstacles that Nehemiah has had to face with people trying to set him off course. This week we will see the strain that Nehemiah is going through to keep everyone in the battle.

Nehemiah 4:10-11 "Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.” Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work."

Not only does Nehemiah and these people have an impossible task of rebuilding the walls, now they have people that want to kill them, you now have difficulties coming up again impossibilities.

Nehemiah 4:12-13 "The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!” So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows."

The devil likes to make you think that everyone is talking bad about you when in reality it is only one person that is saying all of that and the enemy has amplified their voice in order to try and get you to quit.

We will lose some battles but we must remember that the war has already been won.

When Nehemiah facing some of the most difficult obstacles he never let that stop him from planting the seeds that God has called him to plant. We too must continue planting the seeds that we have been called too.

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/the-strain-of-battle-nehemiah-4-never-give-up/

Build your Gate – Nehemiah 3 – [Against the Odds] – Brent Phillips – Encounter Houston

Courageous(n.) – the ability to do something that frightens one. Even when you are scared you are able to do it because what is waiting on the other side is worth is all.

Only a courageous person can step out of the comforts of Heaven knowing that where He was going that man would tear Him apart, hate Him, reject Him, and try and destroy him. Yet, because of the reward at the end He did it. We must remember that The Spirit of the most courageous person that ever walked on the earth is inside of us and we have the ability to do something even when we are scared of it.

Our life is like a bag of seeds and we can choose to sow God or chose to sow the world with the life we are living. Are you living it with a great cause? Are you truly living for something great? Living your life for Jesus is a great cause and He wants us to give it our all. The moment that we give Him everything is the moment that He can give us everything and we can begin to find our satisfaction in Him.

Until we are willing to risk it all for Him we will never know how much He has for us.

Nehemiah 3:1-3“Then Eliashib the high priest and the other priests started to rebuild at the Sheep Gate. People from the town of Jericho worked next to them, and beyond them was Zaccur son of Imri. The Fish Gate was built by the sons of Hassenaah.”

We were created to be extraordinary. And all it takes is for you to speak up inspire those around you to be extraordinary.

Nehemiah 3:13-15 “The Valley Gate was repaired by the people from Zanoah. The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son of Recab, the leader of the Beth-hakkerem district. The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallum son of Col-hozeh”

Have you ever noticed that a church stops growing at a certain size? It stops because the people of the church forget that they were called to be wall builders. And as a believer we are all called to be a wall builder. It is time that we are start building the church and stop maintaining it.

Nehemiah 3:28 “Above the Horse Gate, the priests repaired the wall. Each one repaired the section immediately across from his own house.” All that Nehemiah did was come and show the people the problem that they had become to accept in their everyday lives. The same God that enabled Nehemiah to inspire a nation of people to rebuild the walls of their city is the same God that is inspiring us to rebuild the church in our nation."

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/build-your-gate-by-brent-phillips/

Dealing with Difficult People – Nehemiah 2 – [Against the Odds] – Brent Phillips – Encounter Houston

As long as you’re on this earth you are going to be dealing with difficult people but the good news is that you do not have to let difficult people limit or ruin your life or stop you from accomplishing what God has for you.

We see in Chapter 1 of Nehemiah that Nehemiah had received immense favor from the king to go and make a difference by helping rebuild the walls in Jerusalem but Nehemiah was about to encounter the most difficult situation he had yet encounter and that was difficult people

Nehemiah 2:10 “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of my arrival, they were very displeased that someone had come to help the people of Israel."

When you decide to step out and do something great or do something to make a difference not everybody is not going to be willing to support you. Why, because we expose things in peoples lives. When everybody is complacent everybody is happy, when one person wants to get out and make difference it makes everyone else look bad so that want to pull them back in to the background or back into the system to keep them quiet.

The Devil is happy with a church that is full, but the devil is not happy when the church is effective.

Jesus didn’t have any trouble from anybody until He wanted to make a difference and Nehemiah didn’t have any trouble until he was willing to make a difference.

When you decide to go after God and make your life count you’re going to face opposition every time because you are becoming some one who is dangerous to the enemy because you began to expose the light into the darkness.

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/dealing-with-difficult-people-nehemiah-2-2/

Dealing with Difficult People – Nehemiah 2 – [Against the Odds] – Brent Phillips – Encounter Houston

As long as you’re on this earth you are going to be dealing with difficult people but the good news is that you do not have to let difficult people limit or ruin your life or stop you from accomplishing what God has for you.

We see in Chapter 1 of Nehemiah that Nehemiah had received immense favor from the king to go and make a difference by helping rebuild the walls in Jerusalem but Nehemiah was about to encounter the most difficult situation he had yet encounter and that was difficult people

Nehemiah 2:10 “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of my arrival, they were very displeased that someone had come to help the people of Israel."

When you decide to step out and do something great or do something to make a difference not everybody is not going to be willing to support you. Why, because we expose things in peoples lives. When everybody is complacent everybody is happy, when one person wants to get out and make difference it makes everyone else look bad so that want to pull them back in to the background or back into the system to keep them quiet.

The Devil is happy with a church that is full, but the devil is not happy when the church is effective.

Jesus didn’t have any trouble from anybody until He wanted to make a difference and Nehemiah didn’t have any trouble until he was willing to make a difference.

When you decide to go after God and make your life count you’re going to face opposition every time because you are becoming some one who is dangerous to the enemy because you began to expose the light into the darkness.

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/dealing-with-difficult-people-nehemiah-2-2/

There is so much that God has for us to experience and yet we have become content and comfortable with the bare minimum. We should be making the most of what the Lord has for us.

You are favored, you are the head and not the tail, you are above and not beneath, you are more than a conqueror, and He gave His son to die for you! Favor means advantaged and as a child of God we are favored by our Father. He loves you no matter the conditions.

We should be showing others what living for the Lord looks like. It won’t always be easy but it will be worth it and one day we will be delivered from it all..

The video this this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/favor/

The Power of One – [Against the Odds] – Brent Phillips – Encounter Houston

Something that we hear so often and fall into the trap of, is that it isn’t about you, but truth be told it is absolutely about you. You matter!

God made it all about you when we sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for your sins.

This is your time! The power of one has a huge influence and there is always something that you can do to make a difference. Will you be the one that is willing to make a difference in our world today

Nehemiah 1:10-11 "The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me. ”In those days I was the king’s cup-bearer.”

Nehemiah’s prayer wasn’t a prayer saying Lord would you please send somebody to make a difference and solve this problem. It was Nehemiah praying Lord I am going to go and I am going to make a difference and I need your help doing it.

Nehemiah knew what the power of one meant and was willing to make a difference for his people! He didn’t say Lord if it’s your will he just assumed that it was and believed that The Lord would show him how.

It is the power of one that is willing to stand up and make a difference when everyone else is sitting that soon becomes the majority.

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/the-power-of-one-nehemiah/

Risky Business – Nehemiah 1 – [Against the Odds] – Brent Phillips – Encounter Houston

Many times we go to bible study, church or we will even read a book and we are looking for something that we don’t know. When the power of the Christian life is what we already do know. Its living for Jesus, its giving it all for Jesus, its prayer, and being transformed by His Word. Our walk with the Lord isn’t about doing something brand new, but doing what has already been said.

A hero can be defined as somebody who is willing to risk his or her own life in order to save someone else’s.

There is a big disconnect between where our heart longs to be and where our heart actually are. We long to be a hero but our culture has taught us that we need to play it safe, that we shouldn’t take risk. A smart person is a safe person.

But, What if in order to truly experience life we had to take some risk? The bible is filled with a bunch of people who were risk takers such as Nehemiah

Nehemiah 1:1-3 "In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem. They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”

Nehemiah was concerned with the conditions of Jerusalem and asked how things were going. And in Nehemiah 4 we see his response to the how things were.

Nehemiah 1:4 "When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven."

Nehemiah’s response is much different than how we tend to respond to questions we ask today. When situations are critical and in desperate need of someone’s help our response should be the same response as Nehemiah’s was. But instead we stay comfortable and assume others will handle the situation.

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/risky-business-nehemiah-1/

How will I respond? Brent Phillips – Encounter Houston

2 timothy 1:6 "This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you."

When did he receive the gift? When he had hands laid on him, the laying of hands is something that is very important. Something special happens when we lay hands on others like God has told us to.

Is there something you have let go of or have forgotten that needs to be fanned into flames again? Maybe it was missions, sharing the Gospel with loved ones, healing, prophecy etc..

God wants to use you we just need to have our flames fanned once again.

It is amazing what we allow ourselves to get use to once we live with it for a while. We have become to use to living like normal human beings that we’ve forgotten that we are sons and daughters oh the most high God.

What is considered normal behavior in the Kingdom of God isn’t normal behavior on earth. We need to realize where it is that we really come from and not conform to a world that is telling us to go another way.

Where are we today when it comes to the word of God? Does God’s word still have the authority to change our lives or do we hear a sermon that stretches us and we think twice about it because we just aren’t sure.

Acts 19:1-6 "While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.” Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied."

When we come to Christ we are sealed with the Holy Spirit for all of eternity, but God has so much more for us to encounter and to pull out of heaven that we didn’t know was there.

God’s word has laid it out for us so clearly if we would just read it with fresh eyes and an open heart instead of depending on commentary to do it for us.

Are we willing to experience the things of God that we have not heard of with the chance of going to even greater places that we have not yet experienced or will we allow our unwillingness to to stop us at the door?

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/how-will-i-respond-by-brent-phillips/

Why do we need the gifts? Brent Phillips - Encounter Houston

There is always the temptation to have a bible study that does what people are comfortable with because we must keep the people happy. NO! Not that we don’t to make people happy but their is One that we are to keep happy far more than people.

If we aren’t making Him happy then what does it matter, if we aren’t honoring him none of it matters. We so desperately need The Lord and in the face of pressure we must always choose to please the Lord over people.

Why do we have to talk about the gifts? Why do we need the gifts? Because you can’t carry out the plans of God without the tools of God and those tools are his gifts

We are told to lay our hands on the sick and heal them. Which is impossible, but when we do what God has said and operate in His gifts amazing things happen.

If you want to live a defeated life without the power that God has for us we don’t have to talk about the gifts but if you want everything that God has for us then we have to talk about the gifts, and if we didn’t have to talk about the gifts than it wouldn’t have been in The Bible.

All of us have been given a spiritual gift. We all have been told to be the light of the world and the gifts enable us to be what He has called us to be.

Acts 4:23-24 "As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them."

Acts 4:29-30 "As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them."

Why are they asking for something? Because they have a challenge that is greater than what they can do, they have to do something that is beyond their natural ability and they are in need a divine intervention to enable them to carry out the task that has been given to them.

Why do we need the gifts?

1 Corinthians 12:7 "A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other."

How do I find my gifts?

Galatians 6:9-10 "So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone — especially to those in the family of faith."

We know that gifts have been given to us in order to help others, so when we begin to help others it is then that we can begin to discover what our gifts are.

The video to this Podcast @ http://www.neverjustexist.org/why-do-we-need-the-gifts/