Have you ever had a big vision for a project or a big change in
your life that you were hoping to implement?
Maybe you were starting a business, maybe you're
renovating your house or, or starting a, a new fitness goal.
And we, we just began the new year back in January, the
beginning of this month, and many people had fitness goals.
Or maybe you had a spiritual goal, a big vision for how you
were going to grow in your faith this year.
Well, early on in the book of Genesis, we see a people who had
a vision for a massive project to build a city as high as the
heavens. Now, as people begin to
multiply, they begin to be less room.
And so they needed to spread out and and they wanted to prevent
that from happening. They wanted to keep everybody
together in one place. And so they cast a vision.
Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in
the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be
dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
Now, if we look at out on the outside, it doesn't really sound
like that bad of a thing. I mean, isn't it good for us all
to stay together? But the problem was it was in
direct disobedience to God. God had a different vision after
creating man in Genesis 1. God bless them and said to them,
be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.
Then after the flood, he confirmed this again.
God bless Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth. God had created man in his
image, and he had commanded them to fill the earth, to subdue it,
to bring order, to yield its riches, and to accomplish God's
purposes so that God would be glorified and His glory would
fill the earth. But rather than seeking to
glorify God, the people were seeking to make a name for
themselves. And so God came down and
confused their languages and they were forced to disperse
over the face of the earth. Did you know that you can have
an incredible vision for your life and for your future and be
working against God? When God came down to look at
the city, when he came down to look at the tower, look at what
he says. He says, behold, they are one
people and they all have one language.
And this is only the beginning of what they will do.
Nothing they propose will be impossible for them.
As humans, we can do amazing things when we work together and
yet find ourselves working against God.
And Scripture tells us, unless the Lord builds a house, those
who build it labor in vain. It doesn't matter what you're
seeking to accomplish in your life unless the Lord is working
with you. You are working against Him and
therefore working in vain. What vision do you have for your
future? What are you trying to
accomplish in your life? Are you trying to make a name
for yourself? Are you working with God or
against Him? This morning we are continuing
our sermon series through the book of Nehemiah and we're going
to be encouraged to pursue a God sized vision for your life.
Nehemiah was willing to give up his his little happy version of
his life and what it could be for a God sized vision of what
God was doing in the world. He wasn't concerned about his
own name, his own welfare, making his name great.
He wanted God to be great. And this morning, we're going to
be encouraged to follow his example.
And in order to pursue a God sized vision for your life, you
must seek a God sized opportunity, share a God sized
vision, and submit to a God sized God.
Let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank you for your
word to us. You have given it to us in your
love and Your grace, and we praise you for it.
And we pray, Lord, that it would lead and guide us this morning,
that Your Spirit would be at work in our hearts, in our
lives, drawing us to yourself, that we may know You, that we
may know what you have in store for us.
Lord, would you open our eyes by the power of Your Spirit to
behold wondrous things, to see how a man of God was faithful to
the vision that you laid on his life?
And Lord, would we all be faithful to live for the vision
that you have given to us, that we may seek to bring glory to
You and make Your name great? Would You strengthen us together
to fulfill the calling that you are giving us?
We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. We're going to be picking up in
Nehemiah chapter 2, verses 11 through 20, Nehemiah chapter 2.
And at the beginning of this book, what we were introduced to
Nehemiah. Now Nehemiah is an Israelite.
He's he's a cup bearer to the king, King Artaxerxes, who was
the king of Persia. And this is where the Israelites
had been sent into exile because of their disobedience to God.
But at this time, God has allowed a few remnants to go
back. And they are trying to rebuild
what was broken. They're trying to build what was
torn down. And as we begin that story,
Nehemiah's brother comes back and the report isn't good.
Jerusalem lies in ruins. And so Nehemiah spends the next
four months in desperate prayer to God.
And during that time, God gives him a vision, gives him a vision
of what he wants him to do, to return to Jerusalem and rebuild
the wall around Jerusalem. And God confirmed that this was
his vision. As we learned last week from
Pastor Jake's sermon, God confirmed that vision through
King Artaxerxes. He, he shaped his heart to allow
Nehemiah to go back, not only to allow him to go back, but to
write letters so that he could have safe passage through all
the provinces. Not only that, to put to provide
the timber that he was going to use to rebuild the walls.
Not only that, but He also sent him with an army escort.
And in all of these ways God confirmed that He was the one
working behind the scenes. And so we pick up a Nehemiah
chapter 2, verses 11 through 20. I'll read that portion now.
So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.
Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me, and I told no
one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem.
There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode.
I went out by night to the Valley gate, to the Dragon
Spring, and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of
Jerusalem that were broken down, and its gates that had been
destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the fountain
gate into the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal
that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by
the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and
entered by the Valley gate, and so returned.
And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was
doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the
nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem
lies and ruins with its gates burned.
Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer
suffer derision. And I told them of the hand of
my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that
the king had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up
and build. So they strengthen their hands
for the good work. But when Sandbullat the
Horonite, and Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Gesham the
Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us, and said,
What is this thing you are doing?
Are you rebelling against the king?
Then I replied to them, The God of heaven will make us prosper
and we his servants will arise and build.
But you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.
The first thing that you must do to pursue a God sized vision for
your life is seek a God sized opportunity.
Now remember, Nehemiah was in a pretty good situation.
As cup bearer to the king, he had access to the king, he
probably had wealth and comfort, and as the King's most trusted
servant, he may even have had some influence.
But God interrupts his life, his life, his vision of what life
could be with a God sized opportunity.
And as Nehemiah mourns the situation in Jerusalem, God
begins to put that vision on his heart of what he is calling him
to do. And now he's in Jerusalem and he
seeks out this God size opportunity and we learn from
him as he seeks this opportunity that we should seek God in
secret. Look at verse 12.
Nehemiah says, then I arose in the night.
I have few men with me, and I told no one what my God had put
into my heart to do for Jerusalem.
Later in verse 16, he says the officials did not know where I
had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews,
the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were
to do the work. And so Nehemiah at this point in
time keeps to himself what God is calling him to do.
He is seeking God secretly now. He's been there for a few days
and even as he goes out and takes these few men with him, he
doesn't even tell them what he's doing or what he's planning.
He's still seeking God in secret.
He's still praying and asking God to show him exactly what he
wants to do and how he can begin to strategize to to accomplish
this vision that God is giving him.
The next thing you must do when seeking a God sized opportunity
is seek God in the rubble. Look at verses 13 through 15.
As Nehemiah goes out, he says, I went out by night by the valley
gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected
the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that
had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the fountain
gate into the King's pool, but there was no room for the animal
that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by
the valley and inspected the wall, and turned back and
entered by the valley gate, and so returned.
Nehemiah had heard about the destruction of Jerusalem, but
now he was seeing it first hand. He'd heard about the walls that
were broken down, but now he was walking among the rubble.
In some places they couldn't even walk because it was so
broken down. He heard about the gates that
had been burned with fire, but now he was looking at the
charcoal stained wood and stone with his own eyes.
And after seeing how bad things were first hand, Nehemiah now
understood personally how bad the situation was and how they
could rebuild what had been broken.
Now Nehemiah was seeking this opportunity that God had given
him, this vision that he laid on his heart.
But he was doing it in secret. He was looking in the rubble, in
the brokenness to see how bad things were.
But this is where the God sized opportunity was in 1926, just
just northwest of Los Angeles, CA, the Saint Francis Dam was
completed after two years of construction.
William Mulholland was the manager and the engineer and he
was overseeing the project. And, and as the project was
nearing completion, they began to fill the dam with water and
they noticed some cracks and some leaks and the water was was
getting through in some areas. But.
But Mulholland said, you know what, this is just normal,
normal cracks, normal wear. He wasn't concerned about it.
And so they continued to fill the dam.
On March 7th, 1928, the dam was filled completely for the very
first time. And and Mulholland went around
and inspected everything and he said, I said it's safe, the dam
is good. Five days later, the massive
concrete wall collapsed, sending billions of gallons of water
rushing down the Canyon. 5 towns were completely flooded,
thousands of homes destroyed. More than 450 people were
estimated to have died. After an investigation, they
found that the cracks weren't normal.
They weren't normal wear and tear.
It had actually been determined that the rock underneath the dam
wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of all the concrete.
William Mulholland was cleared of criminal charges, but he
accepted full responsibility of the disaster.
Now his his failure was a failure to take the warning
signs seriously. He wanted to take the easy way
out. He wanted to to do the easy
thing and not have to go back and fix the problem.
And isn't it so tempting for us to do this in our lives?
We see cracks, we see the leaks, we see the damage, we see the
brokenness coming through in our life, and we don't take it
seriously. We don't take the necessary
steps to make change in our life.
Maybe you're convicted that your relationship with the Lord isn't
as good as it should be. You're not spending time in the
Word. You're not spending time praying
a crack. Maybe you've been giving into
sin more frequently and you're and you're beginning to justify
it a little bit more, a leak. Maybe you've allowed bitterness
to creep in to your marriage or a relationship or or with a
fellow believer or a family member.
You, you find yourself getting more angry, less willing to
forgive another crack. These are cracks.
They're leaks in the wall of your life.
And if you ignore them, they will lead to disaster.
But the reason it's so easy to ignore them is because it's hard
to sit in the rubble of your life, isn't it?
It's hard to sit in the brokenness.
It's hard to actually go there and go.
This is the pain that I'm experiencing.
I'm having to confront myself with the damage in my life and
that's not easy. And so we avoided.
It's easier to to pretend it's not there.
It's easier to pretend like, oh, it's not that big of a deal, but
it will lead to disaster. What we need to understand is
that all of these cracks, even though we don't want to go
there, they're God sized opportunities for God to do
something in and through us. But we must be willing to seek
God in secret. We must be willing to sit in the
rubble and to seek Him as He shows us our heart and shows us
our life and shows us what changes we need to make so that
we can bring glory and honor to Him so that He can do what He
wants to do in and through our lives.
It's hard, it's painful. Nehemiah didn't want to see the
disaster. He didn't want to go and and
inspect all the rubble and feel all of the pain, but he knew
that that's what God was going to use to help him rebuild the
wall and cast a vision for the people.
And in the same way, we need to be willing to go to the
brokenness to seek God and what he's trying to do in and through
us. The next thing that you must do
to pursue a God sized vision for your life is share a God sized
vision. Now Nehemiah recognize that this
problem was much bigger than himself.
He was going to need help, help from others and also help from
God. And now is the time for him to
share his vision and to call the people to join him in the effort
and the vision that God has laid on his heart.
And the first reason that Nehemiah shares his God sized
vision is that a God sized vision requires teamwork.
Look at verse 17. Then I said to them, you see the
trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates
burned. Come, let us build the wall of
Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.
Notice first that he says, you see the trouble, you see it.
I don't have to tell you guys how bad it is.
You've been living in this mess. You've been living in it.
You know how bad it is. And then he relates himself to
them. He says you see how bad the
trouble is that we are in. Remember that he came from
Persia and now he came in, but he associates himself with his
people. This is our problem.
Together we are in this mess. Come, let us build the wall
together. This is going to take all of us
working together to rebuild this wall.
It's going to take teamwork. We need to join hands and work
together for what God is doing. It's bigger than any one of us.
And as we rebuild the wall, we'll remove that shame that is
on us right now and instead it will restore our glory.
And he's not concerned about their glory as a people.
What Nehemiah recognizes is that when God's people are receiving
glory and are well thought of, God gets the glory.
Nehemiah is concerned about God's glory.
The second thing that we see is Nehemiah shares his vision is
that a God sized vision requires God.
Look at verse 18. He says I told them of the hand
of my God that was upon me for good and also of the words that
the king had spoken to me and they said let us rise up and
build. So they strengthen their hands
for the good work. And so we see Nehemiah says,
man, you see the problem we're in.
And everybody's like, yeah, no kidding.
Nehemiah, thanks for the update. Hey, let's rebuild the wall.
Oh, that's a good one, Nehemiah. We've never thought of that
before. No, they had tried to rebuild
the wall, but the the stumbling blocks got in the way and they
were hindered by their enemies. And so now Nehemiah shares the
motivation. Hey guys, I want you to hear of
how God has been leading me here.
And what Nehemiah recognizes as as TJ Betts says, is that it was
the Lord who led Nehemiah to his important position as cupbearer.
It was the Lord who orchestrated that Nehemiah would receive the
report he did from his brother concerning Jerusalem.
It was the Lord who heard Nehemiah's prayer.
It was the Lord who gave Nehemiah the opportunity and
courage to reveal his concerns and needs to the king.
It was the Lord who moved in the heart, the King's heart, and
directed his course of action. It was the Lord who provided for
all of Nehemiah's protection and provision to carry out the
mission. And it was the Lord who led
Nehemiah hundreds of miles from Susa back to his home and people
in Jerusalem. Nehemiah gives credit where
credit is due. Moreover, just in case there is
any question, Nehemiah clearly states that all he requests
comes to pass. Nehemiah's grand entrance into
the king, with the King's escort into Jerusalem, makes a strong
statement both to his enemies and to his people.
He comes in strength, not in weakness, all by the hand of
God. This is the vision that the
people catch on to. This is the motivation that
leads them to saying let's do it, Let's rebuild the wall.
Nehemiah calls them not to trust in him, but to trust in God.
He had a vision that was bigger than himself and it was going to
require teamwork and God. Now, if you're into war and
battles and warriors, the Bible does not disappoint.
And one of the greatest warriors in all of the Bible is without a
doubt Samson. Samson single handedly tore a
lion apart with his bare hands. He tied 300 Fox's tails together
with torches to run out into the Philistine fields and burn them
all down. He killed 1000 Philistines with
the jawbone of a donkey. Samson was an incredible
warrior, and the Lord used him in his life to bring relief to
his people in a time when they were oppressed.
But his greatest weakness was that he relied in his own
strength. We know that it was a weakness
because it led him to disobeying God.
He ignored his Nazarite vow, touching the dead body of an
animal. He made impulsive decisions on
many occasions based on pride and revenge.
He used his strength for his own personal glory.
Nowhere is his pride more evident than in his relationship
with Delilah. She begins.
She's bribed by the Philistines to find out the secret of his
strength. And as she begins to try to coax
it out of him, to try to get him to share what his secret of his
strength it is, he continually plays with Flyer.
And he plays this game with her, all the while trusting each and
every time that I'm going to be able to get myself out of this
mess. Until finally he says my
strength comes from my uncut hair.
And so she cuts the hair, and the Philistines capture him in
his pride. Samson thought his strength came
from his hair. His strength came from the Lord.
And because of his pride and his self-reliance, the Lord left
Samson in that moment, allowing him to be captured.
So many times in our life, rather than seeking the help of
others, we're just like Samson. We rely on our own strength, our
own ability. If you don't need others and you
don't need God, that's a pretty good indication that you're
seeking to make a name for yourself.
But on the other hand, if you don't need God or teamwork for
your vision, then your vision is too small.
You may be able to do some things in your own strength and
in your own wisdom, but you will never be able to do what God is
calling you to do on your own. You need to learn to seek a God
sized vision, a God sized vision that requires teamwork.
A God sized vision that requires God.
You need to recognize that God hasn't saved you for yourself.
He's not looking for you just to be an island and do the exactly
just yourself and keep to yourself and do your little
thing. That's not what He saved you
for. He has saved you to be a part of
His people. He has saved you to be a part of
what He is doing in the world. He has saved you to trust in His
plan and be a part of His people.
And So what is God's plan for us today?
Are we called to build a wall, to build a city and and to build
a wall around it to protect ourselves?
No, that's not what God has called us to do.
Has he called us to be a nice little church that that stays
together and keeps to itself? No, that's not what God has
called us to. He has called us to make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded you.
This is our mandate as a church to bring people in to a loving
relationship with God, because God knows that everything in
this life we seeketh the fulfillment of everything in
this life. But God knows that only
fulfillment can be found in Him. And so he calls us to share that
God is the fulfillment of all that we're seeking to be
satisfied by. And here at LEMC, we believe
that this vision is for God, for us to make disciples.
And that's why one of the things that you'll hear us talk about
if you come here for any length of time is D group, A
discipleship group. D groups.
Discipleship groups are groups of three to five men and women
who meet together for the purpose of growing together in
the Lord. They hold each other accountable
to read God's Word. They share what they're
learning. They memorize Scripture
together. They confess sin to one another.
They pray for one another. This is exactly what Jesus
modelled for us with his disciples, and we believe it's
the most effective way to grow into maturity as a follower of
Christ. And maybe you've been feeling
that prompting in your life that you feel like God is calling you
to grow in your spiritual life. I'm no longer satisfied with you
are the Holy Spirit is nudging you.
You need to grow. You need to be in my word.
You need to grow as a disciple, Brothers and sisters, you can't
do that on your own. You need teamwork.
You need God working through other people to grow you into
maturity as a disciple, and that's a great opportunity for
you to get plugged into a group. Maybe that's joining a group, or
maybe God is calling you to start a group, but we believe
that all of Christ's disciples are to be a part of growing His
church. It isn't just the pastors or the
leaders or a specific group of people that we all have a role
to play in growing one another up into the fullness of Christ.
And if you join one of these groups, I promise you that you
will be amazed at what God will do in you in a year's time.
God is calling us to a vision that is bigger than us and
requires all of us working together, trusting in God.
The next thing that you must do to pursue a God sized vision for
your life is submit to a God sized God.
Nehemiah had found his big opportunity.
He'd found his big vision that came from God.
He knew that it would take teamwork.
He knew that it was going to take God working in and through
them. But what happens when enemies
come? What happens when people begin
attacking the work that you're doing?
You submit to a God sized God. And what we see from Nehemiah's
example is that when your plans are God's plans, they will
succeed. Nehemiah names his enemies that
began to slander them. Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah
the Ammonite servant, Geshem the Arab.
All of these guys, you know, some of them may have partly had
somewhat of an Israelite heritage, but they weren't fully
in. And they've been working against
the Israelites for a while now. And these men come and, and
they've discouraged them from the work.
They slander them as rebelling against the king, but it doesn't
matter what the enemies say, Nehemiah responds in verse 20.
The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants
will arise and build. Remember the Nehemiah?
Nehemiah had waited patiently. He's been praying the last four
months for what the Lord is doing in his heart and in his
life. He is confident.
This is the Lord's vision. This is the Lord's plan.
The Lord is doing this, and so he submits himself to God and he
trusts that God is going to make us prosper because these are His
plans, not mine. The next thing we see from
Nehemiah's example is that when your enemies are God's enemies,
they will fail. These enemies have been trying
to belittle them, trying to discourage them.
What? What do you think you're doing?
Do you actually think you guys are going to be successful?
TJ Betts says more often than not, the Lord calls his people
to do great deeds that are impossible apart from him.
Whenever believers think that they are inadequate to do the
Lord's work, they're correct. The key is to remember that God
is more than adequate and able to carry out His work through
His people when they put their hands to the good work.
Nehemiah understands this, that this is what the Lord has called
them to do, therefore He will make them successful.
But As for their enemies, he says you have no portion or
right or claim in Jerusalem. Nehemiah recognizes that that
they are their enemies, but he says they're God's enemies.
At the end of the day, they're opposed to God and therefore God
is going to cause them to fail. The Lord's people can face
whatever opposition comes because they submit to a God
sized God, a God who is the God of heaven.
He is over all, He is the great and awesome God and he will make
them prosper. Shortly after the Lord had
anointed young David as the next king of Israel by Samuel.
The Philistines gather their army to fight the armies of
Judah of Israel and as these two armies are camped on mountains
opposing one another with a valley in between, the
Philistines send out their secret weapon Goliath.
Goliath standing in at 9 feet 9 inches tall.
He had a a coat of mail, a protective coat that he wore
that weighed 125 lbs. He had a bronze helmet.
He had bronze armor all over his legs.
He had a a bronze javelin strapped to his back.
He had a spear the size of a small telephone pole with a 15
LB spearhead, an Arrowhead on the end of it.
He had a personal shield bearer who went in front of him, who
had a shield that was big enough to to completely protect him.
And you can tell by Goliath trash talk that he's not used to
losing. He dominates everybody that he
comes into battle with. This is the man that the
Philistines were trusting in, which is why they're comfortable
with the threat that he now makes, right?
He throws out this challenge and he says, choose a man to fight
me. Whoever can come down.
If he beats me, then we'll be your servants.
And if he, if I beat him, that you'll be our servants.
They're totally fine with that challenge because who can who
can be Goliath? This is the greatest warrior in
all the world. And this goes on for 40 days.
And all the men of Israel hearing this taunt are terrified
and they run away. That is until one man steps
forward, David, God's anointed king.
This man believes in a God sized God.
Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with
a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to
you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of
Israel, whom you have defied this day.
The Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you
down and cut off your head, And I will give the dead bodies of
the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and
to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know
there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know
that the Lord saves not with sword and spear, for the battle
is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hand.
When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet
David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the
Philistine, and David put his hand in his bag and took out a
stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead.
The stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the
ground. David knew that Goliath was a
great and powerful man, but he knew that his God was greater.
This man was an enemy, defying the one true God of Israel, and
therefore David knew that God was going to give him victory.
Do we have that same mentality as Nehemiah and David?
To trust in our God, to trust in his strength to carry us
through, to give us success? The truth is that when
opposition comes, when enemies come, we usually are scared into
giving up. But if we are sure that we have
a God sized vision, if we sure are sure that God is building
with us, then we must submit to His strength, submit to His
greatness and trust in His power that He is the great and awesome
God who will make our plans, His plans succeed.
TJ Betts says there is such a thing as a holy stubbornness.
It is a resolve to obey God and seek his glory regardless of the
cost and regardless of the difficulties that may come.
Being a faithful follower of Christ is a call to have a stiff
backbone in the face of opposition.
The church needs to be full of believers with the same kind of
dogged determination Nehemiah has.
Whenever the enemy puts up a stiff resistance, it's time for
the people of God to overcome it with a strong willed resistance.
And this is the same holy stubbornness that our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ had. You see, we can learn from
Nehemiah. But ultimately, Nehemiah rebuilt
a wall that just would eventually be destroyed again
anyway, and we're left wanting for a better leader.
Nehemiah was not the promised Messiah.
He was not the promised Savior. Christ came and fulfilled that
role. He fulfilled all of the promises
of God in the Old Testament. And so Nehemiah points us
forward to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Just as Nehemiah came to Jerusalem to mourn the
brokenness of the walls of the shame of the people, so Jesus
came to Jerusalem and mourned the spiritual brokenness of a
people who rejected God. Just as Nehemiah walked around
evaluating the broken walls of the city, so Jesus walked around
the city in the temple evaluating their corrupt
worship. Just as Nehemiah sought to cast
a vision and restore the city and its worship, so Jesus
preached the good news of how people could repent and be
reconciled to God. Just as Nehemiah faced
opposition from the enemies of God, so Jesus faced opposition
from the religious leaders who were enemies of God.
Just as Nehemiah was committed to the vision that God had given
him and trusted God, so Jesus was committed to God's will and
entrusted his life into his hands.
Jesus was willing to give his life to restore what was broken
in us. We didn't need new rules, we
needed new hearts. Because of our sinful nature.
We all desire to pursue a self-centered vision for our
lives. We're all trying to make a name
for ourselves because of our sinful hearts.
But through Christ, through His substitutionary death, trusting
in Him as our Lord and Savior, we receive new hearts.
New hearts, the desire to fulfill a God-given purpose for
our life, to seek to make His name great.
What God size vision does God want to give you?
If you're here this morning and you have not placed your faith
and your hope and your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior, what are you waiting for?
He is the great and awesome God who has made a way for you to
come into relationship with His Father, to be forgiven, to have
meaning and purpose in your life, to live for the glory of
your of God and not just yourself, to be a part of
something bigger than yourself. But if you're a follower of
Christ this morning, what God sized vision are you called to
fulfill? I would encourage you to seek
God in prayer. Ask Him to open your eyes to the
opportunities around you. That means that you're going to
need to look for the brokenness, look for the cracks, look for
the leaks in your life, in the lives of others.
Share that vision with others. You're going to need the help of
fellow believers, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ
to help you to accomplish what God is trying to do.
These people, these fellow believers, brothers and sisters
in Christ will come alongside you.
They will help you. They will keep you accountable
as you look to God to build His Kingdom.
And lastly, submit to God, submit to His power, submit to
His authority. And no matter what opposition
comes, no matter what obstacles or hurdles the enemy is going to
try to put in your way, trust God.
Trust in His plan and what He is trying to do.
Trust in the God of heaven as you seek to fulfill His vision
for your life, as you seek to bring Him glory and honor.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you once again
for your greatness, that you are a God who is worthy of worship.
You are a God who is above all. You are a God who is just and
holy and righteous. And yet, in Your love, in Your
grace, in your mercy and Your goodness, You have made a way
for us to come alongside what you are doing and to be a part
of building Your Kingdom. Not walls in this life that will
be torn down, not buildings, not making a name for our self, but
making Your name great by making disciples who love you and find
their satisfaction and joy in you.
Oh Lord, would You give us a desire for something so much
greater than this world can offer?
A deep abiding relationship with You, being satisfied in Your
presence. Oh Lord, that we would taste and
see that You are good and long to share that goodness with
others. Would you strengthen us by Your
spirit to build your Kingdom, to make disciples, to find our true
joy and satisfaction as you and you as we look to make your name
great that you may receive glory and honor.
We thank you in Jesus name, Amen.