Hello Everyone,

Listen to me “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Leaders know the value of determination.

You cannot be a leader unless you have some bulldog in you. You can't be easily discouraged. You have to keep going!

Neh. 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

When God's people want to build, the devil will cause people to criticize. The door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition. There is no easy way, lazy way, or cheap way to do the work of God.

1 Corinthians 16:9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

These 3 men are demon inspired, and they are always around! Just their names tell the story:

Sanballat means thorn, Tobiah means Jehovah is good, and Geshem means rain. These are the devil's 3 musketeers. Anytime you want to do something for God you'll run into these 3.

"Thorn" is a pain in your side. He's critical and throws cold water on all your plans. He questions your judgment and your motives. [19b-are you rebelling against the king?]

"Jehovah is good" walks around all the time saying, praise the Lord, and we love you, and God is so good...until the first time you make a decision they don't like!

"Rain" walks around with a cloud over his head. He's always gloom, despair, and agony on me! He brightens up a room, by leaving it!

He's the “Eeyore” of every adventure. And sadly, they don't recognize that that's who they are.

Barney Fife asked his friends to go get something to eat. They asked, where? "Oh, it don't matter to me, I'm easy to please." How about the diner? "No, the special is tuna casserole, I hate that." How about the drugstore? "No, everything tastes like medicine." Let's go to the Italian restaurant. "Nah, I just don't like my main dish concealed in a heavy sauce." So, where do you want to go? "It don't matter to me!"

The negative person has trouble recognizing themselves that way.

Leaders understand the value of determination.

That's their names. Now here are their methods:

They lean against the wall and laugh. And that peer pressure causes many to falter...they can't take the ridicule and they bow to the pressure.

But the only way to escape criticism is to do nothing and be nothing. Anything moving forward will cause some friction.

If you make decisions, they will be criticized.

Neh. 2:20 Nehemiah says, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

We WILL do the work of God, and we're not listening to you, and you're going miss out because you're not on board.

We have some great leaders, but we need more!

Because GREATER THINGS ARE STILL TO COME!

Pastor Phil