WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:19.920 me please to the book of Nehemiah. Those of us 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:21.679 who have been through the 40 days of purpose 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.660 remember Rick Warren's statement from his book 00:00:24.660 --> 00:00:28.710 that says, it's not about you. We have begun 00:00:28.710 --> 00:00:32.429 to understand that life does not circle around 00:00:32.429 --> 00:00:37.109 us, that it's all about God really, and yet the 00:00:37.109 --> 00:00:39.689 amazing thing is that God has created you and 00:00:39.689 --> 00:00:45.049 me for a purpose. You are no accident. You are 00:00:45.049 --> 00:00:48.009 not cosmic junk that God has simply thrown out 00:00:48.009 --> 00:00:53.030 into existence. Your being in the world is not 00:00:53.030 --> 00:00:56.420 meaningless. It has purpose to it. And while 00:00:56.420 --> 00:01:00.159 it's not all about you, it does include you, 00:01:00.179 --> 00:01:04.120 for you are his workmanship, created in Christ 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:07.500 Jesus for good works, which God has ordained 00:01:07.500 --> 00:01:12.040 beforehand that you should walk in them. Life 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:14.560 is not about you, but God does have a reason 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:18.079 for you to be in the world. God has formed you 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:21.900 for a particular purpose. He has shaped you in 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:26.939 a particular way. He wants to use you. And your 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:31.640 task in mind is really, in one sense, very simple. 00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:38.599 Your task in mind is to simply be available to 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:43.739 God. Now that's simple to say, and it's simple 00:01:43.739 --> 00:01:46.920 to hear, but it's much more complex, isn't it, 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:51.579 in carrying it out? We want to be usable to God, 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:53.920 and yet there are so many things that often stand 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:57.969 in our way. One of those things is what I want 00:01:57.969 --> 00:02:01.390 to talk about as we come to the book of Nehemiah. 00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:04.409 The title to this series in Nehemiah, and it 00:02:04.409 --> 00:02:06.969 won't be a long series, but the title of the 00:02:06.969 --> 00:02:12.729 series is this, Living on the Edge. Because you 00:02:12.729 --> 00:02:17.069 see, to be used by God, you must be willing to 00:02:17.069 --> 00:02:22.870 risk. You must be willing to risk. Camping out 00:02:22.870 --> 00:02:28.300 in your comfortable zone. really places you off 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:33.319 limits as far as God's intent is concerned. You 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:38.240 cannot play it safe or hedge your bets with God 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:42.620 and still be truly available to him. You must 00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:48.620 be willing to risk yourself for God. Is that 00:02:48.620 --> 00:02:52.120 where you are today? I'm not suggesting that 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:56.439 we should be risky in a foolish sense. but in 00:02:56.439 --> 00:03:02.099 a deliberate sense of abandonment, giving up 00:03:02.099 --> 00:03:07.500 the self -created security zones that we build 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:13.500 carefully into our lives. I believe that God 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:18.259 wants all of us to live on the edge. By that 00:03:18.259 --> 00:03:22.580 I mean he wants us to live at the point where 00:03:22.580 --> 00:03:28.620 we are no longer in control. We put ourselves 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:35.139 in a place where we risk it all if God doesn't 00:03:35.139 --> 00:03:41.300 come through like he promised he would. If you 00:03:41.300 --> 00:03:43.719 look at the Bible, you find that that's where 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:49.639 the heroes of the Bible lived on the edge. Abraham, 00:03:49.659 --> 00:03:52.979 for example, had a wonderful comfort zone in 00:03:52.979 --> 00:03:56.219 Ur of the Chaldees. But God said to Abraham, 00:03:56.259 --> 00:03:58.599 come out from there, I want to show you another 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:03.580 place that I will give you. And based upon that 00:04:03.580 --> 00:04:10.280 promise from God, Abram stepped out. He began 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:13.620 then to live on the edge. He left behind the 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:17.600 security zone of Ur of the Chaldees and he risked 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:21.000 it all based upon God's calling in his life. 00:04:22.699 --> 00:04:29.129 Consider Moses. Moses who was raised in the glamour 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:34.850 and the power of the leadership of Egypt and 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:38.730 yet who willingly forsook all of that to live 00:04:38.730 --> 00:04:43.730 on the edge with God. Now he got a little ahead 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:47.569 of God it seems when he was 40 years of age and 00:04:47.569 --> 00:04:50.089 so God sent him back for a graduate degree that 00:04:50.089 --> 00:04:55.670 took another 40 years. But eventually he stepped 00:04:55.670 --> 00:04:59.230 out in faith and he stood before Pharaoh standing 00:04:59.230 --> 00:05:02.329 right on the edge and he said, let the people 00:05:02.329 --> 00:05:08.810 of God go. Or think about, for example, Gideon, 00:05:10.230 --> 00:05:13.889 who was called by God to fight against this massive 00:05:13.889 --> 00:05:20.810 army of about 135 ,000 allied Amalekites and 00:05:20.810 --> 00:05:27.089 Midianites. 135 ,000 of them. He was able to 00:05:27.089 --> 00:05:31.769 muster together an army of about 32 ,000 to fight 00:05:31.769 --> 00:05:37.250 against them. He's already out here on the edge 00:05:37.250 --> 00:05:40.949 because he's called this army together. And then 00:05:40.949 --> 00:05:47.029 God says to him, too many Gideon, too many. You 00:05:47.029 --> 00:05:52.990 need to send home everybody who is afraid. massive 00:05:52.990 --> 00:05:56.670 departure of soldiers. They went every direction, 00:05:57.569 --> 00:05:59.829 leaving him with only a fraction of what he had 00:05:59.829 --> 00:06:05.370 to start with. And so God said to him, sorry 00:06:05.370 --> 00:06:07.870 Gideon, still too many. So we're gonna go down 00:06:07.870 --> 00:06:10.110 to the brook here and have a little test. And 00:06:10.110 --> 00:06:13.259 the ones that lap up the water. out of their 00:06:13.259 --> 00:06:16.100 hands, those are the ones that you want to be 00:06:16.100 --> 00:06:18.600 in your army. And so Gideon went down there with 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:20.779 his calculator and he began to add all these 00:06:20.779 --> 00:06:23.860 numbers up and pushed total and it came up with 00:06:23.860 --> 00:06:33.819 300. 300. 300 against this army of 135 ,000? 00:06:34.259 --> 00:06:36.720 God says now we've whittled it down to size. 00:06:38.889 --> 00:06:41.430 What was God doing? God was saying, I've got 00:06:41.430 --> 00:06:44.990 a mission for you Gideon. Here's what I want 00:06:44.990 --> 00:06:47.529 you to do and I want to get the credit for it. 00:06:48.050 --> 00:06:50.689 I want you to do something Gideon that nobody 00:06:50.689 --> 00:06:54.629 can explain apart from me. And you know the story 00:06:54.629 --> 00:06:58.009 and how it unfolds and how that as a result of 00:06:58.009 --> 00:07:00.529 those 300 and what God told them to do, which 00:07:00.529 --> 00:07:05.009 is so unusual, they didn't even have a sword 00:07:05.009 --> 00:07:10.279 in their hand. But as a result of it, 120 ,000 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:15.500 of the enemy were killed. A great victory for 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:20.980 Gideon and for the Lord. And then I remember 00:07:20.980 --> 00:07:24.639 the three friends of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:29.100 and Abednego. These three Jewish fellows who 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:33.379 refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's image and 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:37.269 who because of that stepped out at the edge. 00:07:38.310 --> 00:07:40.509 They left behind the comfort zone where everybody 00:07:40.509 --> 00:07:43.250 else was kneeling and they remained standing 00:07:43.250 --> 00:07:48.170 in this large plane, very visible to all. They 00:07:48.170 --> 00:07:50.149 lived it right on the edge and because of that 00:07:50.149 --> 00:07:54.250 they were thrown into the fiery furnace and they 00:07:54.250 --> 00:07:58.949 didn't burn. They lived through it and the king 00:07:58.949 --> 00:08:02.930 recognized the greatness of their God. I mean, 00:08:02.930 --> 00:08:06.500 you go down the list, folks. And time after time, 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:11.600 you see that those that God blessed were people 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:17.360 who deliberately chose to live on the edge. And 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:21.379 I want to add another hero to that list. It is 00:08:21.379 --> 00:08:28.839 the man whose name is Nehemiah. Nehemiah. Nehemiah 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:33.519 comes from the name Nehum. There's another book 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:37.799 in the Bible, another man, represented by that 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.299 name, but the name means comfort. When you add 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:47.539 the suffix onto the name, I -A -H, Nahum Ayah, 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:52.960 you add on the name for God, Yah, so it means 00:08:52.960 --> 00:09:01.779 God comforts. Nahum Ayah, God comforts. God shows 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:05.299 us in Nehemiah, a man who was willing to live 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:10.100 on the edge. Nehemiah leaves you and me an example 00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:12.340 of what this is all about, to live this kind 00:09:12.340 --> 00:09:15.659 of a life. And what we wanna notice today in 00:09:15.659 --> 00:09:18.879 chapter one is that living on the edge begins 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:25.919 with your vision. You see, vision comes from 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:31.669 God. God creates it. in our lives. Vision is 00:09:31.669 --> 00:09:36.529 seeing the desired result, whatever it is, and 00:09:36.529 --> 00:09:40.409 then beginning to form a plan as to how to get 00:09:40.409 --> 00:09:45.870 there. That's what vision is. Living on the edge 00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:50.649 with your vision means dreaming of something 00:09:50.649 --> 00:09:55.970 that only God can do and then stepping out in 00:09:55.970 --> 00:10:01.330 faith to work with Him. And we see Nehemiah doing 00:10:01.330 --> 00:10:06.809 that. I'd like for Steve St. Mary to come back 00:10:06.809 --> 00:10:08.649 up here for a moment. I didn't know Steve was 00:10:08.649 --> 00:10:10.710 going to be up here earlier until I got here 00:10:10.710 --> 00:10:13.669 this morning, because I've been gone this week, 00:10:13.809 --> 00:10:15.490 and it's good to be back with you, by the way. 00:10:16.330 --> 00:10:18.389 But Steve, I'd just like to talk to you a moment, 00:10:20.309 --> 00:10:23.230 because you moved to this valley about 2000, 00:10:23.389 --> 00:10:27.820 wasn't it? And you found Los Gatos Christian 00:10:27.820 --> 00:10:31.360 Church about 2001 or so, and you've been very 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:33.539 involved in our ministry here. And by the way, 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:35.620 we thank you for your involvement in helping 00:10:35.620 --> 00:10:38.659 us in outreach and with the ESL program and so 00:10:38.659 --> 00:10:43.759 forth. And then you experienced what a lot of 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:45.500 the folks here have experienced, the loss of 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:48.480 a job in your field, which was, tell me again, 00:10:48.700 --> 00:10:53.279 biochemistry? Biotechnology. Biotechnology. And 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:56.659 that field sort of has dried up in some respect 00:10:56.659 --> 00:10:59.960 for what you do in that field. And so you went 00:10:59.960 --> 00:11:01.659 through a period of what, a couple of years without 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:03.720 employment? It's been a little over three years. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:07.379 Three years. And what did God do in your heart 00:11:07.379 --> 00:11:11.120 during that time? Well, we had a little conversation 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:14.299 as I was looking for work. A little conversation 00:11:14.299 --> 00:11:17.299 with God. That's good. Just to have a little 00:11:17.299 --> 00:11:22.639 talk with Jesus. Yes, we did and he impressed 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:26.639 on my heart that I Shouldn't leave the area that 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:28.860 I had been starting to work with the church and 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:33.200 that I should continue that so I began looking 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:37.879 in the area and the assumption I had was that 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:41.740 I would work here for a few years and Then eventually 00:11:41.740 --> 00:11:43.919 go to Russia because I've been thinking about 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:47.559 that for a number of years. I first visited in 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.740 95 But God had been laying on my heart to do 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:55.059 something with Russia since the 1970s So this 00:11:55.059 --> 00:11:58.539 is a longtime dream Really that you've had and 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:01.539 eventually you plan to go Yes, but now here you 00:12:01.539 --> 00:12:03.659 are unemployed thinking that you're going to 00:12:03.659 --> 00:12:06.659 find a job in your area and Continue to work 00:12:06.659 --> 00:12:09.039 toward that goal and God began to show you that 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:11.570 it was sooner than, rather than later. That's 00:12:11.570 --> 00:12:14.610 what he did, all right, yes. And so how did the 00:12:14.610 --> 00:12:17.129 ESL thing come together? What happened there? 00:12:17.350 --> 00:12:21.289 Well, it happened right, like a month after I 00:12:21.289 --> 00:12:26.210 lost my job, that the church wanted to begin 00:12:26.210 --> 00:12:29.409 an ESL program. And so I had time available, 00:12:29.990 --> 00:12:32.350 and there's an interest I had. I'd actually taught 00:12:32.350 --> 00:12:36.710 English or language arts for a number of years. 00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:40.679 but usually not to internationals. So I was really 00:12:40.679 --> 00:12:42.480 intrigued by the idea. There was a good team, 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.580 and I said, yeah, I'll be involved. And since 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:47.639 I had a lot of time, I got nominated to sort 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:51.779 of lead it and spearhead it. Worked well that 00:12:51.779 --> 00:12:55.419 way. And so as you got ESL experience, God began 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:58.820 to formulate this vision for Russia in a particular 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:01.799 direction, didn't he? Exactly. I had my idea. 00:13:02.179 --> 00:13:05.139 It was to work and prepare some things and then... 00:13:04.990 --> 00:13:08.389 learn the language, and then finally go. Well, 00:13:08.389 --> 00:13:10.190 God said, wait a minute, I've been equipping 00:13:10.190 --> 00:13:14.990 you with this fine ability. Go get a degree that 00:13:14.990 --> 00:13:17.990 says you're official at teaching it, and I'll 00:13:17.990 --> 00:13:20.490 make arrangements to get you over there. And 00:13:20.490 --> 00:13:22.970 he kept his end of the bargain. I'll be going 00:13:22.970 --> 00:13:25.029 this Wednesday. All right, we praise the Lord 00:13:25.029 --> 00:13:26.870 for that. Steve, do you feel like you're stepping 00:13:26.870 --> 00:13:30.429 out over the edge a bit here? Well, yes. I know 00:13:30.429 --> 00:13:32.250 the answer to that, that's why I asked. Yeah, 00:13:32.309 --> 00:13:35.529 it became obvious to me. About the fourth day 00:13:35.529 --> 00:13:38.210 I was in the country looking for jobs that without 00:13:38.210 --> 00:13:40.070 the language it was going to be difficult to 00:13:40.070 --> 00:13:43.149 survive there doing the things I wanted to do 00:13:43.149 --> 00:13:45.870 which is meet Russians and get involved in their 00:13:45.870 --> 00:13:51.809 lives and Even shopping It's really really helpful 00:13:51.809 --> 00:13:54.269 to know the language. So I'll be going there 00:13:54.269 --> 00:13:57.090 You know somewhat crippled from the standpoint. 00:13:57.090 --> 00:13:58.990 I won't be able to communicate as effectively 00:13:58.990 --> 00:14:04.080 as one normally would like to But you can read 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:07.019 McDonald's, so you can find a restaurant, at 00:14:07.019 --> 00:14:10.639 least. The stop signs all say stop. Oh, do they? 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:13.679 In Russian, but they say stop. Okay. Well, Steve, 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:17.220 what I'm seeing in your life is what we see in 00:14:17.220 --> 00:14:19.600 Nehemiah. And this morning, thanks very much 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.080 for sharing a little bit of your journey. And 00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:23.600 I'm glad we had prayer for you today as you head 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:28.539 off as a tent maker missionary, really. But what 00:14:28.539 --> 00:14:31.440 we see and happened in Steve's life... is similar 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:32.960 to what happened in Nehemiah's life. You see, 00:14:32.980 --> 00:14:36.539 there's a process to vision. It doesn't just 00:14:36.539 --> 00:14:40.440 happen all at once, normally. There's a dream 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:45.679 that generates in the heart. It comes because 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:49.659 one makes himself available to God. And then 00:14:49.659 --> 00:14:52.480 there's a period of listening and waiting and 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:57.460 praying. And after this process has been fulfilled, 00:14:57.929 --> 00:15:02.970 God then makes the vision clear. Now I want you 00:15:02.970 --> 00:15:05.710 to notice with me what happened in Nehemiah's 00:15:05.710 --> 00:15:09.009 case. And as a result of watching him and walking 00:15:09.009 --> 00:15:12.429 along with him in his experience, my prayer is 00:15:12.429 --> 00:15:16.610 that you and I will be willing like him to step 00:15:16.610 --> 00:15:21.590 to the edge in our lives. That we will be willing 00:15:21.590 --> 00:15:26.629 to move out of the safety margins that we build 00:15:26.629 --> 00:15:29.750 in to protect ourselves. Because you see, it's 00:15:29.750 --> 00:15:33.970 only when we're willing to do that that God can 00:15:33.970 --> 00:15:37.509 really use us. Now in Nehemiah's case, this process 00:15:37.509 --> 00:15:42.529 of the vision begins with Nehemiah seeing the 00:15:42.529 --> 00:15:46.190 need. That's true with you and me too. You see 00:15:46.190 --> 00:15:50.330 the need. That's the first step in the process. 00:15:51.009 --> 00:15:54.399 Vision doesn't happen in a vacuum. I think some 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.919 folks believe that a vision happens when you 00:15:56.919 --> 00:15:59.179 get down on your knees and you pray for a vision 00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:02.799 and God zap, zaps you in your imagination and 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:04.740 your mind and suddenly you have this vision, 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:08.240 but that isn't normally how it works. Nehemiah 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.899 saw the situation in Jerusalem. Let's read about 00:16:11.899 --> 00:16:16.240 it. The words of Nehemiah, son of Hakaliah. In 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:19.779 the month of Kislev in the 20th year, while I 00:16:19.779 --> 00:16:23.299 was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my 00:16:23.299 --> 00:16:26.639 brothers, probably one of his blood brothers, 00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:31.759 came from Judah with some other men and I questioned 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:34.559 them about the Jewish remnant that survived the 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:39.320 exile and also about Jerusalem. They said to 00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:42.460 me, those who survived the exile and are back 00:16:42.460 --> 00:16:46.039 in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. 00:16:46.740 --> 00:16:50.299 The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its 00:16:50.299 --> 00:16:54.340 gates have been burned with fire. Now we need 00:16:54.340 --> 00:16:56.220 to have a little background in history here. 00:16:57.299 --> 00:17:00.559 The people of God, the nation of Judah, had forsaken 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:04.519 the Lord, and therefore he had sent them into 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:08.539 bondage to Babylon. Through Jeremiah the prophet, 00:17:08.599 --> 00:17:13.319 he said this bondage is going to last for 70 00:17:13.319 --> 00:17:19.970 years. That 70 year period began with the Babylonian 00:17:19.970 --> 00:17:25.849 assault on Jerusalem in 605 or 606 BC. Now Jerusalem 00:17:25.849 --> 00:17:28.890 was not destroyed at that time, but the capital 00:17:28.890 --> 00:17:32.329 was conquered and Nebuchadnezzar the king took 00:17:32.329 --> 00:17:35.809 away some captives and he put the nation under 00:17:35.809 --> 00:17:40.089 tribute or taxation to himself. And so the clock 00:17:40.089 --> 00:17:42.829 on the 70 years began to tick at that point. 00:17:43.829 --> 00:17:47.329 Tens of thousands of people over several years 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:52.960 were displaced to Babylon. A number of years 00:17:52.960 --> 00:18:00.980 later, in 537, 538 BC, Cyrus, who had founded 00:18:00.980 --> 00:18:07.400 the nation of Persia, conquered Babylon, took 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:11.079 over its territory, assumed the position of the 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.299 ruler of that vast region that today we call 00:18:14.299 --> 00:18:18.609 Iraq, Iran, and so forth, parts of Turkey. Cyrus 00:18:18.609 --> 00:18:21.750 was the mighty king of this whole area after 00:18:21.750 --> 00:18:25.769 he defeated Babylon. And because he wanted to 00:18:25.769 --> 00:18:29.230 ingratiate some of the captive peoples to himself, 00:18:30.049 --> 00:18:33.309 he released a number of them, including the Jews. 00:18:33.829 --> 00:18:36.130 And of course, that's what the Bible focuses 00:18:36.130 --> 00:18:43.730 on. And so in these years, 537, 538, Cyrus decreed 00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:47.390 that the Jews could return to their homeland. 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:49.779 Now, if you do the math, you see that that's 00:18:49.779 --> 00:18:53.839 about a 70 -year period of time. If you want 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:57.319 to read his decree, you can read it in Ezra, 00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:01.900 chapter one, beginning in verse two. He decreed 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:04.359 that the Jews who wished could return to their 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:07.740 land, and the leader of them was to be a man 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:11.640 by the name of Shesh Bazar, which was his Babylonian 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:15.940 name. He was apparently an elderly man. He, along 00:19:15.940 --> 00:19:19.980 with a younger leader, by the name of Zerubbabel, 00:19:20.779 --> 00:19:24.980 and a man who was acting as the priest of the 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:27.720 Jewish people, a religious leader by the name 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:31.160 of Jeshua, or Joshua, led a number of people 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:35.740 to go back from Babylon to the city of Jerusalem. 00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:40.599 They were given the authority there to begin 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:45.660 to rebuild their temple. These first returning 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:50.880 exiles, laid the foundation for the temple building 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:53.880 in Jerusalem. Remember, it had been destroyed 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:58.000 by Nebuchadnezzar some 70, not 70, but less than 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:03.299 that, some 58 years or so, 56 years before this. 00:20:03.619 --> 00:20:06.519 It had been destroyed. And so they came back 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:11.400 and they began to lay the foundation in 536. 00:20:13.079 --> 00:20:16.039 There was some. opposition to their work by the 00:20:16.039 --> 00:20:19.259 enemies of the Jews. And so it stopped for a 00:20:19.259 --> 00:20:21.460 period of time and then it restarted. Another 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:23.740 foundation was apparently laid because some years 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:27.579 had passed. And finally the temple, a reduced 00:20:27.579 --> 00:20:30.160 temple, not as glorious, but at least a temple 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:37.279 building was dedicated in March of 516 BC. Now 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:40.400 that dates about 70 years after it had been destroyed 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:45.500 in 586. So there's several 70s. It depends upon 00:20:45.500 --> 00:20:48.180 which 70 you want to attach yourself to to see 00:20:48.180 --> 00:20:51.000 which one Jeremiah may have been speaking about 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:54.180 by the Spirit of God. But the interesting thing 00:20:54.180 --> 00:20:58.160 about this is that while the temple was reconstructed 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.559 in 516, the city itself, the walls of the city, 00:21:03.660 --> 00:21:07.700 the gates of the city were not rebuilt or restored. 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:15.039 Many years pass. Interestingly, about 70 of them. 00:21:16.339 --> 00:21:20.559 And in late November or early December of 446 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:26.019 BC, Nehemiah receives the information that we 00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:28.200 have just read about in the first chapter of 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:34.400 this book. Now what did Nehemiah see as he heard 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.339 this report? Well, he saw some facts about the 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:44.210 people. and about the place. About the people 00:21:44.210 --> 00:21:47.470 he heard that the exiles who had been living 00:21:47.470 --> 00:21:49.609 there now for a number of years were in great 00:21:49.609 --> 00:21:55.309 trouble and disgrace. Great trouble and disgrace. 00:21:55.690 --> 00:21:58.829 Do you know that that's always the result when 00:21:58.829 --> 00:22:03.829 we forsake the Lord? None of us can ever forsake 00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:06.910 the Lord in our lives without experiencing trouble 00:22:06.910 --> 00:22:11.480 and eventually disgrace. We need to learn that. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.420 And regarding the place itself, Nehemiah saw 00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:20.299 in his mind the fact that the wall of Jerusalem 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:24.079 was broken down and that its gates were still 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:28.460 burned after all of these years. The survivors 00:22:28.460 --> 00:22:32.240 were weak and vulnerable because of that. Oh, 00:22:32.259 --> 00:22:35.559 the temple, a temple had been rebuilt, but the 00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:39.150 city was vulnerable to attack. They were really 00:22:39.150 --> 00:22:43.509 the victims of their enemies still. This once 00:22:43.509 --> 00:22:48.170 great people of God had been humbled and now 00:22:48.170 --> 00:22:52.029 he learns that they were also defenseless and 00:22:52.029 --> 00:22:56.349 something stirred inside of this man whose name 00:22:56.349 --> 00:23:02.309 means God Comforts. He gained some information 00:23:02.309 --> 00:23:06.289 here. He saw the need. I wanna ask you a question. 00:23:06.349 --> 00:23:11.579 What do you see? What do you see? That's an important 00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:15.920 question. Now the fact is that we all see what's 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.819 closest to us, and that's our own stuff, right? 00:23:20.259 --> 00:23:22.880 We naturally see that, and there's nothing wrong 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:26.019 with seeing our own issues and needs and problems, 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:30.079 et cetera, et cetera. But God wants us to see 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:33.799 beyond ourselves. In Philippians chapter two, 00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:36.740 it says each of you should look not only to your 00:23:36.740 --> 00:23:40.119 own interests, but also to the interests of others. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:42.880 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:47.640 Jesus, who looked to your interests and to mine. 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:51.500 You and I are bombarded with information every 00:23:51.500 --> 00:23:57.140 day. We naturally set up certain filters in our 00:23:57.140 --> 00:24:00.420 lives to screen out things that we don't have 00:24:00.420 --> 00:24:05.740 time or interest in. What do you permit in the 00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:13.220 inbox? of your life. What do you see? What filters 00:24:13.220 --> 00:24:18.140 have you created to keep some things out? Right 00:24:18.140 --> 00:24:20.720 now, all of us see the suffering of thousands 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:23.900 of people who are affected by Hurricane Katrina. 00:24:25.700 --> 00:24:28.900 We are aware every day of the suffering of the 00:24:28.900 --> 00:24:32.700 people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, 00:24:33.420 --> 00:24:36.559 and the displaced people. and our hearts go out 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.019 to them. We see that, we have that information. 00:24:39.940 --> 00:24:42.240 In fact, there's so much, it's almost an overload 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:47.720 of it, we may feel. You may also see a friend 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.140 who is hurting, perhaps someone that you work 00:24:50.140 --> 00:24:55.099 with, or a relative of yours who's going through 00:24:55.099 --> 00:24:58.480 a time of great crisis in his or her life, and 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:04.440 you see that, you see it. You may also see the 00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:07.539 needs of lost people around you We are all going 00:25:07.539 --> 00:25:10.299 to be reminded of this in a powerful way as we 00:25:10.299 --> 00:25:13.319 get into the next month the the festival theme 00:25:13.319 --> 00:25:17.980 for global outreach this year is To the ends 00:25:17.980 --> 00:25:21.839 of the earth and it's based upon the psalm Psalm 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:25.700 22 and the verses 27 and 28 that say, all the 00:25:25.700 --> 00:25:28.759 ends of the earth will remember and turn to the 00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:30.859 Lord and all the families of the nations will 00:25:30.859 --> 00:25:34.420 bow down before him for dominion belongs to the 00:25:34.420 --> 00:25:37.980 Lord and he rules over the nations. And we're 00:25:37.980 --> 00:25:41.099 going to be called upon once again to remember 00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:44.440 not only our own needs but the needs of those 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:47.299 who are lost. in the nations of the world and 00:25:47.299 --> 00:25:50.079 who need yet to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:55.420 Do you see that? What do you see? This morning 00:25:55.420 --> 00:25:58.059 we were reminded in this wonderful slide presentation 00:25:58.059 --> 00:26:01.319 and the words about the opportunities right here 00:26:01.319 --> 00:26:04.460 in our own area, in our own region, to reach 00:26:04.460 --> 00:26:07.859 out to the lost. And we see what God is doing. 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:22.039 because the Anti -Christian Liberties Union may 00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:25.460 hear about it and try to stop it. Now what's 00:26:25.460 --> 00:26:28.720 happening is perfectly legal, but you can expect 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.140 that at some point there may well be a challenge 00:26:31.140 --> 00:26:34.019 to it because there are people who don't want 00:26:34.019 --> 00:26:36.960 this kind of thing happening in the public schools. 00:26:38.380 --> 00:26:41.579 So we want to be very careful about that and 00:26:41.579 --> 00:26:44.130 yet we want to be involved. Do you see how you 00:26:44.130 --> 00:26:46.650 might be able to fit into that? Do you see the 00:26:46.650 --> 00:26:49.809 opportunity that's involved here? This is absolutely 00:26:49.809 --> 00:26:54.210 of God. There's no other way to explain God's 00:26:54.210 --> 00:26:56.809 people being able to minister to the children 00:26:56.809 --> 00:27:00.190 in all of these schools in our region for us 00:27:00.190 --> 00:27:03.009 to be involved as a local church. What do you 00:27:03.009 --> 00:27:06.329 see? Do you see the needs in our own ministry 00:27:06.329 --> 00:27:12.569 here? The needs that are apparent in In children's 00:27:12.569 --> 00:27:15.390 ministry, for example, or in your mid -sized 00:27:15.390 --> 00:27:18.130 group, a place, a role that you can have there. 00:27:18.150 --> 00:27:21.369 Do you see the opportunity for you to use your 00:27:21.369 --> 00:27:27.450 gifts? Do you see? We're thinking here of a physical 00:27:27.450 --> 00:27:31.670 need that Nehemiah sees. And it leads me to ask 00:27:31.670 --> 00:27:34.730 the question, do you see the need that we have 00:27:34.730 --> 00:27:38.970 as a church to improve our physical facility? 00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:43.960 We're doing that stage by stage and I thank God 00:27:43.960 --> 00:27:45.720 for what's happening. But you know what that 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:49.059 does? It creates a contrast, doesn't it? When 00:27:49.059 --> 00:27:51.819 you go up and you see the renovated rooms and 00:27:51.819 --> 00:27:53.799 then you walk into the other classrooms, you 00:27:53.799 --> 00:27:58.599 see wow, these classrooms need help. When you 00:27:58.599 --> 00:28:04.160 drive up to our church, what do you see? You 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:07.099 see a large building and a beautiful campus, 00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:10.380 but you also see a building that that desperately 00:28:10.380 --> 00:28:14.640 needs to be updated. God is doing a new work 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:17.019 in this church and we give God thanks for it. 00:28:17.019 --> 00:28:19.779 He is stirring us up. He is creating health in 00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:22.500 our congregation and the life that is apparent 00:28:22.500 --> 00:28:25.960 here, and it is apparent, is so refreshing and 00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:28.640 wonderful. I worshiped elsewhere last Sunday 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:33.359 in a congregation that Jeanette and I love. We 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:35.500 were part of it for a good number of years in 00:28:35.500 --> 00:28:39.210 our lives. But I gotta tell you, it was so good 00:28:39.210 --> 00:28:42.529 to be here and worship this morning and to sense 00:28:42.529 --> 00:28:48.269 the Spirit of God free and doing work in our 00:28:48.269 --> 00:28:51.029 lives and drawing us to the feet of Jesus. It's 00:28:51.029 --> 00:28:55.529 a wonderful thing to see. The temple is being 00:28:55.529 --> 00:29:01.210 reconstructed, but the walls, if I may draw a 00:29:01.210 --> 00:29:06.230 parallel, the gates are burned. And we have a 00:29:06.230 --> 00:29:10.109 building that needs to be updated. If we expect 00:29:10.109 --> 00:29:12.410 to have a ministry that is going to be vibrant 00:29:12.410 --> 00:29:15.029 and healthy and attractive to the people of our 00:29:15.029 --> 00:29:20.490 community in five years or 10 years, then we 00:29:20.490 --> 00:29:24.990 need to do some work here. And we have recently 00:29:24.990 --> 00:29:28.309 learned that we do need to do some work that's 00:29:28.309 --> 00:29:31.950 not even visible. We have structural problems 00:29:31.950 --> 00:29:35.390 again in this worship center. which will bring 00:29:35.390 --> 00:29:38.990 back memories or visions or dreams or nightmares 00:29:38.990 --> 00:29:43.430 for some of you from a few years ago. And we're 00:29:43.430 --> 00:29:45.829 still trying to understand what that means and 00:29:45.829 --> 00:29:48.509 what it's going to entail of us. And we hope 00:29:48.509 --> 00:29:52.390 to have that information soon. But do you see? 00:29:55.170 --> 00:29:58.069 If I were to bring you to my house and you walked 00:29:58.069 --> 00:30:02.210 into my garage, you would say, I thought they 00:30:02.210 --> 00:30:07.410 left tornadoes in the Midwest. But you know, 00:30:07.410 --> 00:30:09.890 I walk into my garage and I hardly see it anymore. 00:30:11.670 --> 00:30:14.630 You know how that is? You just don't see it anymore. 00:30:15.730 --> 00:30:18.029 And that can be the case with us in coming here 00:30:18.029 --> 00:30:22.730 to church. Do you see our facility like the first 00:30:22.730 --> 00:30:26.009 newcomer sees it, first time newcomer sees it? 00:30:26.910 --> 00:30:29.450 Where they put their children and what the building 00:30:29.450 --> 00:30:32.309 looks like and the doors and all of those things. 00:30:32.990 --> 00:30:38.299 What do you see? Nehemiah saw in his mind this 00:30:38.299 --> 00:30:42.220 information. Now I don't know what else was going 00:30:42.220 --> 00:30:45.140 on in Nehemiah's life. I don't know if he had 00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:47.920 a wife, the Bible doesn't tell us. Did he have 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:53.940 children? We don't know whether he did. Did he 00:30:53.940 --> 00:30:56.819 have a one -horse chariot or a two -horse chariot? 00:30:57.539 --> 00:31:01.259 I don't know. Was he short on hay? What did bales 00:31:01.259 --> 00:31:03.619 of hay cost? in that day so that he could keep 00:31:03.619 --> 00:31:06.660 his one horsepower chariot going. I don't know, 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:08.859 I don't know what his concerns were, but the 00:31:08.859 --> 00:31:11.039 point is that Nehemiah looked beyond whatever 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:14.700 was going on in his life to see the needs where 00:31:14.700 --> 00:31:19.079 God was pointing him over in Jerusalem. And he 00:31:19.079 --> 00:31:25.319 saw the people. And he saw the physical situation 00:31:25.319 --> 00:31:32.230 of the city. He saw. The second step in the process 00:31:32.230 --> 00:31:35.430 is this, that you feel the pain of what you see. 00:31:38.029 --> 00:31:42.470 Nehemiah felt pain in his heart because of the 00:31:42.470 --> 00:31:46.369 information that God planted in his mind. What 00:31:46.369 --> 00:31:51.490 he saw went right down into his very soul and 00:31:51.490 --> 00:31:55.150 he felt deeply the reality of the situation in 00:31:55.150 --> 00:32:00.750 Jerusalem and it moved him. It moved him to tears 00:32:00.750 --> 00:32:05.569 and mourning. In verse four it says, when I heard 00:32:05.569 --> 00:32:13.410 these things, I sat down and wept. For some days 00:32:13.410 --> 00:32:17.910 I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God 00:32:17.910 --> 00:32:23.609 of heaven. If a vision is going to come together, 00:32:23.910 --> 00:32:28.049 folks, information must move us to compassion. 00:32:28.900 --> 00:32:33.680 That requires that our hearts be sensitive. A 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:36.480 danger that we face is the loss of sensitivity 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:42.799 in our hearts due to multiple appeals. That can 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:46.240 even happen in a great crisis like this Katrina 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:52.319 disaster. We build up a callus to protect ourselves 00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:56.400 and clearly we have to determine that we can 00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:00.509 do this or we can't. We can't do that. We don't 00:33:00.509 --> 00:33:05.089 have the capacity to do everything. But in our 00:33:05.089 --> 00:33:09.789 hearts, do we feel the pain? God gives us the 00:33:09.789 --> 00:33:14.369 ability to empathize. A question. Not only what 00:33:14.369 --> 00:33:21.309 do you see, but what do you feel? Of what do 00:33:21.309 --> 00:33:25.170 you see, what touches the emotional core of your 00:33:25.170 --> 00:33:28.039 life? Years ago I heard somebody say that there 00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:30.960 are three questions you can ask a person and 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:34.140 based upon the answers you will know their character. 00:33:35.740 --> 00:33:40.279 Question number one, what makes you laugh? Question 00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:44.819 number two, what makes you angry? Question number 00:33:44.819 --> 00:33:51.299 three, what makes you cry? If somebody honestly 00:33:51.299 --> 00:33:53.400 answers those questions they will tell you about 00:33:53.400 --> 00:34:02.190 themselves. Nehemiah cried over Jerusalem. What 00:34:02.190 --> 00:34:07.289 are you crying over this weekend? You say, well 00:34:07.289 --> 00:34:09.269 it's the hurt that I feel because of what I'm 00:34:09.269 --> 00:34:12.809 going through. God bless you. May He comfort 00:34:12.809 --> 00:34:16.070 you. May He come alongside of you and lift you 00:34:16.070 --> 00:34:19.530 up. But oh friend, you need to look beyond just 00:34:19.530 --> 00:34:26.099 your own things. Out there, what do you see? 00:34:28.579 --> 00:34:31.199 How do you feel about that in your heart? What 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:34.059 is touching the emotional core of your life today? 00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:38.599 That's the second step of the process. Here's 00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:41.340 the final step. The final step is this, that 00:34:41.340 --> 00:34:45.039 you turn to God. You see, Nehemiah not only wept, 00:34:45.079 --> 00:34:48.480 he prayed before the God of heaven. He put the 00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:53.590 situation in its God context. The problem that 00:34:53.590 --> 00:34:57.590 he saw and which touched him so deeply was completely 00:34:57.590 --> 00:35:02.809 beyond what Nehemiah could handle alone. And 00:35:02.809 --> 00:35:06.769 so he turned to the one who could resolve it, 00:35:06.929 --> 00:35:13.070 his God. Does your vision take into account the 00:35:13.070 --> 00:35:20.610 size of your God? Information that produces compassion 00:35:20.989 --> 00:35:26.989 brings us to connection with God. We turn our 00:35:26.989 --> 00:35:30.329 eyes above. Now, I'd like for us to track along 00:35:30.329 --> 00:35:32.269 with Nehemiah's prayer, but we're out of time 00:35:32.269 --> 00:35:35.050 to do that. But notice in verses five through 00:35:35.050 --> 00:35:38.489 11, this wonderful prayer that wells up out of 00:35:38.489 --> 00:35:42.550 his heart, and it focuses upon what he says down 00:35:42.550 --> 00:35:48.889 in verse 11. He says, oh Lord, let your ear be 00:35:48.889 --> 00:35:51.409 attentive to the prayer of this your servant 00:35:51.409 --> 00:35:54.050 and to the prayer of your servants who delight 00:35:54.050 --> 00:35:57.789 in revering your name. Give your servant success 00:35:57.789 --> 00:36:02.590 today by granting him favor in the presence of 00:36:02.590 --> 00:36:08.610 this man. You say, who's that? What's he talking 00:36:08.610 --> 00:36:11.130 about? Well, we're gonna talk about that next 00:36:11.130 --> 00:36:14.409 week. We'll see what he means. But here's what 00:36:14.409 --> 00:36:17.659 I want you to notice. that through this season 00:36:17.659 --> 00:36:23.320 of mourning and fasting and then prayer, turning 00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:29.340 to God, a vision formed in Nehemiah's heart. 00:36:31.019 --> 00:36:33.659 He knew he could not handle, this was bigger 00:36:33.659 --> 00:36:36.619 than he alone could handle. He turned to God 00:36:36.619 --> 00:36:40.780 and God not only showed him the need, caused 00:36:40.780 --> 00:36:44.340 him to feel as he felt about it, But in his heart, 00:36:44.480 --> 00:36:47.880 a vision began to form as to how that might be 00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:52.519 addressed, and it involved him. And it involved 00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:58.539 him stepping way out of his comfort zone. He 00:36:58.539 --> 00:37:01.719 had to get out there on the edge of things and 00:37:01.719 --> 00:37:10.380 risk everything. That's the way it is. if God's 00:37:10.380 --> 00:37:12.559 going to use you. You say, well, I'm not a Nehemiah. 00:37:12.679 --> 00:37:16.760 No, neither am I. But you are who God made you 00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:20.360 to be. And right now there's something that God 00:37:20.360 --> 00:37:26.539 wants you to see. Or if you see it, God wants 00:37:26.539 --> 00:37:33.050 your heart to be broken by it. And if your heart 00:37:33.050 --> 00:37:35.409 is broken by it, then God wants to hear from 00:37:35.409 --> 00:37:38.869 you so that he can begin to plant into your heart 00:37:38.869 --> 00:37:44.690 and mold in you a vision that will involve a 00:37:44.690 --> 00:37:51.829 plan to address what you've seen. The result 00:37:51.829 --> 00:37:54.670 of this process is that God births a vision in 00:37:54.670 --> 00:37:58.590 your heart so that you can experience God in 00:37:58.590 --> 00:38:02.880 ways that you would not otherwise. What I want 00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:08.400 to exhort you to do today is to live on the edge 00:38:08.400 --> 00:38:13.480 with your vision. And walk through this process 00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:18.699 with God in your own life. And let God show you 00:38:18.699 --> 00:38:21.300 things that you could never dream of on your 00:38:21.300 --> 00:38:27.920 own. Let's pray together. With our heads bowed, 00:38:28.139 --> 00:38:31.500 are you walking with God today? Do you know Him? 00:38:31.849 --> 00:38:36.929 Do you know him as your Lord and Savior? Are 00:38:36.929 --> 00:38:39.090 you in fellowship with God or are you like the 00:38:39.090 --> 00:38:42.590 people of Judah? You had forsaken the Lord and 00:38:42.590 --> 00:38:45.730 you're living in disgrace and trouble. Friend, 00:38:45.829 --> 00:38:49.010 there's a loving and caring and patient and faithful 00:38:49.010 --> 00:38:52.809 God who's opening his arms to you today and he 00:38:52.809 --> 00:38:56.650 wants you to come to him. I hope you will. Come 00:38:56.650 --> 00:38:59.980 running to him. Jump into his arms, he's ready 00:38:59.980 --> 00:39:04.460 to receive you as a loving father. Oh, child 00:39:04.460 --> 00:39:10.679 of God, may God give you the vision that fits 00:39:10.679 --> 00:39:17.000 your life and fits who he is that will bless 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:22.480 the world. And Father, to that end, I pray that 00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:26.139 you will give us the vision. the very first and 00:39:26.139 --> 00:39:28.340 most important vision, and that is of yourself. 00:39:29.780 --> 00:39:33.340 Be our vision. And as we focus on you, then create 00:39:33.340 --> 00:39:37.639 in us that ministry vision, that outreach vision, 00:39:38.260 --> 00:39:42.320 that involvement vision, that ministry vision 00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:47.800 that you're calling us to. In Jesus' name, amen.