Building Godly Strongholds

Introduction:
Slide 2 NLT - II Corinthians 10:3-5, 3We are human, but we dont wage war as humans
do. 4We use Gods mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the
strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5We destroy every proud
obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and
teach them to obey Christ.
The context for teaching and preaching concerning strongholds is normally a negative
context concerning spiritual warfare and removing strongholds of flesh and evil spirits.
Stronghold G3794 to fortify, through the idea of holding safely; a castle.
But today I want to talk about the positive context for strongholds.
Nehemiah:
I want to take you back into the history of the OT today and then we will come back to
the present day and the Spirit application.
The Bible is a book of Covenants.
Covenant Encarta 1) a solemn agreement that is binding on all parties. 2) the
promises that were made in the Bible between God and the Israelites, who agree to
worship no other gods.
Covenant Thesaurus agreement, contract, treaty, promise, pledge.
The Bibles Four Covenants:
The Abrahamic covenant that Abraham would be blessed, his name great, he would be
the father of a great nation, those that blessed him would be blessed, those that cursed
him would be cursed, and through him all the earth would be blessed.
The Palestinian covenant expansion and renewal of the Abrahamic covenant with Israel
as a nation.
The Davidic covenant the house, kingdom, and throne of David would be established
forever.
The New Covenant (Grace) salvation through Faith in the shed blood of Jesus.
Nehemiah is all about the Palestinian Covenant.
Slide 3 Three Returns from Exile:
1) Zerubbabel leads the return to rebuild the Temple as recorded in Ezra 1-6.
Approximately 538-516 BC.
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2) Ezra leads the return to rebuild the spiritual condition of Israel and re-establish the
Law as recorded in Ezra 7-10. Approximately 458 BC.
3) Nehemiah leads the return to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem as recorded in Nehemiah.
Approximately 444 BC.
In Chapter 1, Nehemiah hears from his brother Hanani concerning the condition of
Jerusalem, and in particular the fact concerning the walls of Jerusalem being torn down.
In response to this news, Nehemiah mourned, fasted, and prayed.
Even though he was in a favored position in the natural as the Kings cupbearer, he was
still willing to get involved and obey God, not matter the cost personally.
Nehemiah prayed and wept and sought God about condition and vulnerability of
Jerusalem, the place God had chosen for His Name to be honored!
Chapter 2 is about Nehemiah getting the permission and sponsorship of the king to return
to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls, and his actual return.
Slide 4 NLT - Nehemiah 2:16-18, 16The city officials did not know I had been out there
or what I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans. I had not
yet spoken to the religious and political leaders, the officials, or anyone else in the
administration. 17But now I said to them, You know full well the tragedy of our city. It
lies in ruins, and its gates are burned. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and rid
ourselves of this disgrace! 18Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had
been on me, and about my conversation with the king. They replied at once, Good! Let's
rebuild the wall! So they began the good work.
Slide 5 Map of Jerusalems Walls and Gates.
In Chapter 3 we find that en, women, the high priest, priests, temple servants, goldsmiths,
perfume makers, merchants; they all came together to rebuild the walls.
Slide 6 NLT - Nehemiah 2:19-20, 19But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab
heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously. What are you doing, rebelling against the
king like this? they asked. 20But I replied, The God of heaven will help us succeed. We
his servants will start rebuilding this wall. But you have no stake or claim in Jerusalem.
Sanballat - san-bal'at; cf. Akkad. Sin; The moon god; "has given life" - he is called
"Sanballat the Horonite" meaning he was probably from Horonaim in Moab. He was
apparently a civil or military commander in Samaria under the Persian king, and opposed
everything that was to the benefit of Jerusalem.
Tobiah - to-bi'a; "good is Jehovah" - formerly a slave at the Persian court, had been
appointed governor of the Ammonites. He was aligned with a priestly family politically
and through his sons marriage, creating for him a strong faction among the Jews. Afraid
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of losing his power and influence, he joined Sanballat in opposing the rebuilding of the
walls and everything was to the benefit of Jerusalem.
Geshem - ge'shem; "shower" - an Arab, was an inhabitant of the Arabian Desert
(probably the chief of a tribe) and like most of the tribes on the eastern frontier of
Palestine were against the Jews and Jerusalem. As Bedouin wanderers and warriors, they
opposed a strong state of Israel and Jerusalem because it limited their places of plunder.
Slide 7 NLT - Nehemiah 4:1-3, 1Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were
rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, 2saying in front of his
friends and the Samarian army officers, What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think
they are doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a day if they offer enough
sacrifices? Look at those charred stones they are pulling out of the rubbish and using
again! 3Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, That stone wall
would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!
All those around Jerusalem opposed the work being done by Nehemiah and Israel in
rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
As a result of the attacks against the work being done on the walls, here is what
Nehemiah had the people do:
Half of the skilled workers worked while half stood guard with weapons.
The common laborers worked with one hand, and the other hand holding a weapon.
They had a trumpeter stationed ready to sound the alarm and call everyone together for
battle because the work was very spread out along the walls.
The workers never took their clothes off and carried their weapons at all times!
They finished building the walls of Jerusalem and fortified it in 52 days; an absolute
miracle!
Tactics Used Against Nehemiah:
False accusations accused him of rebellion against the king of Persia, and of trying to
set himself up as king.
Intimidation.
Distraction trying to meet at Ono.
False prophecy trying to get Nehemiah to hide in the Temple.
Nehemiah continually prayed for strength.
Replacing Strongholds:
We are taught to repent when we come to God, which is to turn from sin.
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Turning from sin is synonymous with removing it from our life!

But it isnt enough to repent, but we must replace evil with good, carnality with
spirituality.
Slide 8 NLT - Luke 11:14-26, 14One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who
couldnt speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were
amazed, 15but some of them said, No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power
from Satan, the prince of demons...
In verses 16-23 is a discussion of where Jesus received His power, and that a kingdom
divided will fall.
24

When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when
it finds none, it says, I will return to the person I came from. 25So it returns and finds that
its former home is all swept and in order. 26Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more
evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse
off than before.
KJV swept and garnished.
Garnished G2885 to put in proper order, decorate; specially to snuff (a wick).
If carnality and sinful behavior arent replaced with spiritual disciplines and Godly
strongholds, a person will end up worse than before!
In II Corinthians, Paul equates strongholds with thought processes; mindsets!
Through repentance we transition from carnality to spirituality.
We transition from selfishness to selflessness.
We transition from me first to God first.
This transition cant be processed and preserved without building strongholds.
The Jews with Nehemiah has to WORK and FIGHT!
Conclusion / Application:
Slide 9 How To Build Strongholds:
1) Conscious decisions
2) Habitual behavior.
Through conscious decisions and habitual behavior, we build Godly strongholds in our
life.
Habits create strongholds.

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Prayer, the Holy Spirit, and the Word are what enable us to make the conscious decisions
and create habitual behavior.
Strongholds are not built in an hour, a day, or even a week or month; they take time.
Just as sinful and evil strongholds are built in our lives over time; so too are Godly,
spiritual strongholds.
Strongholds Worth Building: Faith, faithfulness, God first, etc.
Is it possible to build a stronghold in another persons life?
The answer is yes!! Otherwise there would be no therapists in the land!
As parents, we are responsible for building strongholds in the lives of our children by
making the conscious decisions for them, and making spiritual disciplines and behaviors
habitual.
Strongholds of faithfulness, God first, generous financial giving had to tear down guilt,
fear, legalism!
By faith, the strongholds we establish will prevail and persevere.
The more Godly Strongholds we have, the less the enemy will fight us; he will choose
easier targets!

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