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Enemies Rising Focus on God Ezra 3:1 · Life For Toledo

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  This is Pastor Daniel Stevenson.
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  I'm director of the SolidSide Life Station
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  and pastor of New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church
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  of East Toledo.
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  And you're receiving this message
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  because you opted in to be encouraged.
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  I'm thinking today of Ezra 3.1.
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  And Ezra and those who've gone home
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  to rebuild the temple after the exile
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  in the land around Jerusalem,
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  and they're thinking about getting started,
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  and they look out and they see
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  that they're surrounded by enemy.
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  There's all kinds of people who wanna cause a problem
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  for God's people as they're trying to do the things
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  they're supposed to do.
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  And so they've gotta make a plan,
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  take a course of action, take some steps.
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  What am I gonna do?
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  You know what they do?
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  They turn, they build the area of worship in particular,
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  the altar, and begin sacrifices to God.
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  They begin holy worship to God, the best they know how.
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  That's a lesson for us.
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  When things look tough, when things look down,
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  when there's enemies all around, what's our priority?
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  What are we gonna do?
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  We're gonna get our crawl up, defend ourselves,
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  attack our enemies, train ourselves,
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  build better defenses.
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  No, that's not it.
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  What we're going to do is turn toward the Lord
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  and do the things of the Lord.
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  Do the thing that the Lord sent us to do,
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  which is to worship him.
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  God is looking for worshipers in spirit and in truth.
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  John 4, he's looking for people who will put their lives
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  on the line for him, who will focus on him,
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  sing his songs, do his work, serve him, study,
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  be the church.
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  And if you put God first, he'll take care of all the rest.
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  When you see your enemies encroaching,
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  remember to put God at the center.
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  Be encouraged today.
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  If you need growth, look for plenty of opportunities
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  coming from the Life Station very soon and from New Heights.
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  And then at the same time, I would encourage you,
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  download our app.
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  That is gonna be a great way in the future
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  that you're gonna be able to keep track
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  of what's going on through these ministries.
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  If you don't have a smartphone, don't worry,
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  we're gonna try not to leave you out.
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  Make sure that you're in our texting group for updates.
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  What's that?
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  You don't text?
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  Don't worry, we'll try not to leave you out.
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  Give us a call, let us know you wanna be kept abreast
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  of everything that's going on to the Life Station
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  and through New Heights, and we'll do our best
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  to keep you in the loop.
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  And we'll see you soon.