August 13, 2023 Synopsis

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker

Nehemiah 6:1-4 NKJV 
Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), 2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. 
3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” 
4 But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner.

1. INTRODUCTION 
2. When you are progressive and obedient to God, you understand the power of decisions. You also learn that everyone doesn’t mean you good. Not every invitation is a good invitation. Everyone doesn’t mean you good.
3. As you work your Vision, know that there will be forces that try to impede your progress.
4. Nehemiah is rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem and his success has revealed the insecurities of his haters. They want Nehemiah to come down and leave his work. They wanted to meet him in the plain of Ono. They secretly inspired to do him harm. 
5. Nehemiah, was so locked to his work, he said no to Ono. Ono can be a person, place, or thing. Ono is that thing that tries to lure you away from the work that God has assigned you to do.
6. Today we want to proclaim there comes a moment that we say “no” on Uno. We are not focused on the devil. We are working on our assignment or our plan. Know that everyday you wake up, there will be invitations to Ono.
7. Nehemiah has so many enemies, we couldn’t’ name them all in this text if we tried.
8. Nehemiah has built this wall. There were no breaches in the wall. Then, the enemy loved to come attack through the breaches of a wall. The gate on the front wall had not been hung yet. Historically, the enemy knew not to go through this door, because there would be guards there. This is why the enemy would use the breaches. Since the breaches were closed, this took away the enemy’s opportunity to attack.
9. The enemy says, “Since we can’t go in, let’s see who we can get to come out”. 1. When they sent messages to Nehemiah, he was rebuilding the wall.
10. If you were to google Ono, you would see that Ono is a real place even today. If you would check the distance, you would see that it would take Nehemiah around 13hrs to travel from the wall to Ono. Also, while trying to go there, there was a possibility that he could be attacked on the way or people could invade the wall while he was gone.
11. The bible gives us examples of things that have happened while the Leader was gone.
    1. David was absent from his camp in Ziglag, then the enemy came in and kidnapped the women and children.
    1. When Adam was absent from the Garden, Satan came in and tempted Eve.
    1. Mark 3:27 KJV says ²⁷ No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. – The enemy looks for an opportunity to attack in the absence of the strongman.
12. Nehemiah building the wall is not just brick and mortar. To rebuild the wall, he had to pray. It wasn’t just about building the wall; it was also about the restoration of the people. It was a symbol that they were on their way back as God promised. Right when you are about to bring things together, this will be the time you will be attacked. The enemy tries to prevent your blessing from coming to pass.

1. THEY RECOGNIZE THE FULL SCOPE OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS 
2. The enemy attacks you because he realizes how extraordinary you are as a Leader.
3. The predecessor traumatized the people in the text. They took their land and taxed them unjustly. Nehemiah decided he was going to help God’s people.
4. While building the wall, Nehemiah realized that God wanted the people to be blessed. Know that your assignment is not just for you. Your assignment is always for somebody else.
5. Nehemiah was so effective as a Builder, he built it in 52 days. People try to knock you off your assignment, because they realize your anointing.
6. There is no way you can do your assignment without being a person of prayer.
7. Nehemiah understood this. The only way we can do our assignment is by:
8. Talk In the Street – We use this as free advertising of what we are doing.
9. Trappings of Success – Whenever you are good at what you do; you have to remain humble. Remember that God can do this without you.
10. Target of Satan – Being a target just comes with the assignment. Every day you wake up, Satan has you in his bullseye.
11. Just Because They Didn’t Comment Doesn’t Mean They Are Not Watching 
12. You have to stay focused on what God called you to do. Just because the enemy doesn’t comment on your Post, doesn’t mean they aren’t watching everything you do.
13. They Can’t Deny Your Skill to Rebuild 
14. The enemy has to acknowledge what you are doing. They had to admire what Nehemiah did. He built the wall in 52 days, which hadn’t been done before.

1. YOU MUST REALIZE YOUR FOES AGENDA 
2. Why is the enemy so focused on your right now? This is why John 10:10 NKJV says “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
3. They Want You to Come Down to Their Level 
4. Nehemiah didn’t want to leave his assignment. How many times were you lured down from your assignment? Stay above it! Nehemiah chose to stay on the wall.
5. They Want to Harm and Hinder You 
6. The enemy wanted Nehemiah to come down, because they wanted to cause him some harm. If you win, you will have an impact on Satan’s agendas.
7. You must stay focused on what God told you to do. Most of the drama we experience in life, happened in Ono. God is about to heal you and bring you out of your Ono.

1. YOU MUST REMAIN FOCUSED ON YOUR ASSIGNMENT 
2. What is it that God told you to do?
3. Nehemiah understood the weight of his assignment.
4. Some Things You Need to Delegate 
5. Sometimes you have to send the message and not the Main Messenger. Nehemiah sent a message by someone else, telling them the enemy that he could not leave his work and come down from the wall.
6. My Assignment Is Too Big to Accommodate Small Minded People 
7. When you dream big, you don’t have the time to be with people that don’t want anything.
8. You can’t even share your Visions with everyone. Some people can’t handle where you’re going.
9. You are reading this today, because God wanted you to be around people that wants big stuff. When you think outside the box, there is nothing that will cause you to miss what God has for you in this season.

• I REFUSE TO FALL FOR THEIR APPEALS 

1. As Long as You Are Achieving, The Enemy Will Keep Trying 
2. The Bible says, they kept trying. Before this time next week, you will have at least 3-5 invitations to Ono. Regardless to the invitations we get, we must realize that we don’t have the energy to fool with anything that is going to pull us away from our assignment.
3. We are not going to turn away from what God has assigned us to do.
4. Some of you have too much openness to people in Ono. Your almost done, don’t give up your assignment just to go to Ono.
5. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down, but God promised to restore them. Nehemiah asked if he could build the wall and God allowed him to do so.
6. Nehemiah is gives instructions as how to build the wall.
   1. Be Consistent – You have to stay with it
   1. Be Creative – You have to be willing to do what hasn’t been done before. Nehemiah built the wall in record time.
   1. Be Cunning – You have to be wise enough to know what the enemy is up to and cunning enough to know that you need to close up the breaks in the wall.

• Get Used to This Level 
• Get used to the level of the wall.
• We are at a new level. We are pressing towards the mark of the high calling.
• Consider this:
  • Have you ever watched the moving map of a flight? On longer flights, the height changes many times.
  • There is a difference between Height and Altitude.
• Height is vertical distance of an object from the ground.
• Altitude is based off above the sea level. It is influenced by air pressure.
  • How does a plane fly? Most pilots like to fly as high as the plane can go. The higher that plan flies, the less fuel it burns, because there is less pull on the plane. In like manner, the higher you stay, the less stress you encounter.
  • When you fly, you experience turbulence. Lift makes you fly. This is influenced by air, not the engines. When you go to a higher altitude, the air gets thin.
  • How then do you decrease lift? Increasing the altitude will decrease the lift.  The airplane then is in competition with the lift.
  • If the thrust decreases and airspeed decreases, the lift will become less than weight, and the aircraft will start to descend, so to go higher, the plane must be lighter. We must then decrease the weight.
    • Don’t this sound familiar? The Bible says to lay aside every weight that so easily besets us.
    • We can’t get our lift, because we have too much weight! Nehemiah can’t come down, because he has gotten used to this level(lift) that he is on! He won’t come down from the wall just to go to Ono. We have to be like Nehemiah and say no to Ono!