His power and His mercy by Pastor Ed Young

What did the wrong they influence you to do that you would not have done if they hadn’t been around? Those are some deep questions, penetrating questions.

This New Year we’re thinking about what’s in store for us. And if we could see what God wants to do in our lives we wouldn’t believe it. God is that awesome. He’s that’s amazing. He has some giant stuff for us to do by His power and by His mercy. But we have got to think about they. The sway of they. The wrong they will keep you in the fray and the right they will keep you above the fray. Who are they? Have you ever tried to chase down they?

Whenever I think about “they,” though, I think about my boy Nehemiah. Nehemiah, a man mentioned in the Old Testament, knew about the sway of they, because Nehemiah did something that they said could not be done. Nehemiah had a cush job in the Persian government. He asked permission from the king to leave and to rebuild the city walls around Jerusalem.

Now that seems weird to us because we’re thinking, “Okay, what’s so big and bad about city walls? Who needs city walls? Why are city walls important?”

Well, in our day they’re not. But back in the day, 440 B.C., city walls were huge because city walls provided protection. Also, in Jerusalem, they provided an opportunity for the Jews to worship in the temple. They could have protected worship in the temple.

So, Nehemiah asked for permission, and because the favor of God was on his life, the king of Persia gave him all this money and all the supplies to rebuild the city wall. Nehemiah was a great leader, a great difference maker. He wrote a book in the Bible. If you have your Bible’s turn there, Nehemiah 2. I’ll begin reading with verses 19 and then I’ll go to verse 20. Then I’ll skip over to Nehemiah 4 and we’ll close it down.