Family Fight Round 4: Week #6

Fighting For The Title Family Fight Round 4

 Introduction:  Over the past few weeks we have been giving principles on “How to Fight for Your Family Vs. Fighting With Your Family”

  • My Prayer is that you have received some help, encouragement and tools…

1 Cor 3:12-19

12 Take particular care in picking out your building materials. 13 Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. 14 If your work passes inspection, fine; 15 if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive — but just barely.

16 You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? 17 No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred — and you, remember, are the temple.

18 Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. 19 Be God’s fool — that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. (MSG)

Title:   “Fighting For The Title…”

  1. What is the Title?
    1. Can I ask you a very straight forward question…what constitutes the Title for you?
    2. Is it the American Dream of a Nice House, a lasting fulfilling marriage, a great job, success, a lot of money, a couple of kids, a dog named spot and retire one day…
      1. Listen that’s not bad…
    3. Is the title that you get rewarded with grandchildren because you didn’t kill your children
    4. It could be I want to enjoy life, have fun, a life filled with Peace, Joy and Love…and adventure.
    5. Is that the Title Belt for you…?
    6. If you had all of those things…Let me ask a question or Two:
      1. How would you respond when they are not present…?
      2. By you having these things…when it is all over and you stand before God…would you hear the words: “Well done good and faithful servant…”
  • I guess I’m asking “If you are going to fight for the Title…you better know what the title is…because the title determines your WHY”

Transition:  The Title is Tied To the Eternal…Everyone of us in this building was born on purpose and for a purpose…The two greatest days of a person’s life is the day they are born and the second is when they discover the reason they were born…YOU WERE BORN ON PURPOSE.

Some of you were born to be a mom or dad and raise great kids that make an impact in the next generation…

Some were given a Spirit of Entrepreneurism and God expects us to fund the Kingdom and the Work of God as well as take care of your family and the generations in your household…

Some are called to wait tables, take care of people, do tasks…

Some of you God has entrusted great gifts, influence and anointings…you are a 5 talent person according to Matthew 25…some of you are 2 talent people and some of us are 1 talent people…but we are not to compare talents we are to use our talents for the purposes of God…

I want to look at one man really quick and talk to you about the Ring…

Nehemiah:  If you don’t know who he was I will give you a brief description…he is a Jewish man who has been chosen to be the cupbearer of King Arterxeras…simply means Nehemiah has to taste all the wine and food before the king ate it in case it was poisoned by someone trying to kill the king.

Nehemiah loves his country and his family…but news has gotten to him that the walls of protection that guard his family is in ruin and he is saddened in the presence of the King…so the King gives him the permission and the resources to go and rebuild the walls.

Neh 4:1-18

4 But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish — stones that are burned?”

  • When you try and make changes and possibly have to rebuild…there will always be those who mock you and ridicule you…
  • When you are going to set some standards for your marriage and family…there will be outsiders that scoff and say you are crazy…
  • Maybe you are looking at your kids today because they are grown and you fill like you missed your change and there is nothing but seemingly Rubbish and Burnt Stones…
  • Maybe this is the feeling you have about your marriage…
  • Listen to me…there is always opposition for those who are headed in the right direction….

3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”

  • Don’t allow the same ole “small foxes” to come in and steal what God has been building in your family the past few weeks.
  • Solomon said, “it’s the small foxes that destroy the vine…”
  • The enemies of Nehemiah are asking a few questions to establish doubt in the hearers’ ears…and that is what the enemy does to you…
    • “What are these feeble Jews doing”
      • You’re not strong enough
      • You’re not smart enough
      • Your too far gone to change
      • Your children have no hope
      • You’re not spiritual enough
      • Do you really think you have the courage, boldness and strength to change?
    • “Will they fortify themselves”
      • They won’t do the work necessary to strengthen their marriage…
      • The walls of your family might be in ruin…your marriage and kids look like they are in ruin…and the Sanballat’s are saying…” Will they really Do the Hard Work of Fortifying and Rebuilding the Walls.”
      • Sanballat isn’t lying…It’s hard work to rebuild to make changes, to do things God’s way…
      • But We are Fighting for the Title…
    • “Will they offer sacrifices”
      • Can I get real…it is going to take more than a little ritualistic praise, worship and prayer to rebuild some things…
      • It is going to take some intercession, some fasting, some weapons you have never used before…IT MAY TAKE FORGIVENESS AND GRACE LIKE YOU NEVER KNEW WAS POSSIBLE
      • You are going to have to pick up the shield of faith again…
      • You can’t just get in the ring and throw haymakers…you’re going to have to Box with some skill this time…

4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! 5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.

6 So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

  • If you are ever going to win the title…you better have a mind to work…
  • A mind to do things differently
  • You hear it all the time in sports…”HE HAD THE WILL TO WIN”
  • Do you have the Will To Win…?
  • I’ve been through some stuff that knocked me out for a minute…and I was hearing the 10 count…but by the Grace of God and The Will To Win…I staggered back to my feet…
  • Devil you should’ve counted faster…because By God’s Grace I’m Back on My Feet…

 Anybody Staggered but Standing.

7 Now it happened, (went from bad to worse)  when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, 8 and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.

  • The enemy never fights Fair…they always put more than one in the ring of life’s fight…
  • Now it happened must be matched with Now Faith of Hebrews…
  • There are moments when you have to just have Now Faith…not yesterday Faith or Tomorrow’s Faith…but NOW FAITH

9 Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.

  • We Pray and We Watch….
  • You Pray Because you MUST know you are not fighting Alone…you have many in your corner…
  • Also, they are not fighting for what you are fighting for…You’re Fighting for the Title…
  • Elmer Towns said in his book “Fasting for Breakthrough” “You fast and pray as if it is all up to God…then you work like it all up to you.” 

10 Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”

11 And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.”

12 So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.”

  • Doubt, discouragement, hurt, pain, disappointment comes from the INSIDE
  • Man, I could see it from the enemy but now here it comes from the very ones that were supposed to be helping me…
  • ..the tribe of Praise is the one who is now declaring the doubt…Look what Praise is Saying…
    • 10 Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”
    • Do not allow your praise to come in agreement with what you see…
    • Don’t let your praise go sour on you…

13 Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

  • 3 Points
    • You Cannot Be Afraid…Fear will get you defeated.
    • Remember the Lord
    • Fight for Your Family

15 And it happened,

There is a Title at Stake…

ALTAR CALL

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