Today we are continuing in our series about revival. Last week we started with a couple of definitions. First there was the definition of revival that the word revival is not always an outbreak of evangelism but a reawakening a restoration of what there was before. In our church, in this body of Christ this is a new beginning as we begin our time of ministry together. Today is when we start to look at what our vision together will be.
The second word that we worked to define correctly was worship. When we worship someone or something, it has all of our focus. Worship is reverent love and devotion. If we understand that not just when we come to church but as we live our lives everyday. The things we do everyday are worship, then we would spend our time focused on God rather than our own agenda, preferences and comforts. If we come to church on a Sunday morning, or anytime, and we say that we are here to worship God, if that is truly our intent, that will happen regardless of what happens at church that day. God is so big, He is so mighty and powerful, that just stopping to think about Him should lead us to worship. When we understand that we how big God is then every thing else, all of the problems and challenges of the day simply fades away. The reason this is important is because this level of love and devotion is what Israel was lacking. Their agenda’s became a false God, and God sent them into exile.
So as we begin to look at the scriptures today, where are we? Well the good news is that even when God sends us into exile He makes a plan on how to get us out. Remember we looked at it last week, before Israel went into exile the Lord had already called the name of Cyrus as the one who would begin the process of shepherding them out. They were sent into exile with a vision of freedom. For our church there is a vision, a vision of a place where we don’t expect people to be civil to us, but a place where love is the standard. A place people want to come back to and be a part of because God is here and so is His love, you can see it in the things that we say and the way that we treat each other.
No matter where we are, we have to keep vision in front of us. Vision is the engine that moves us beyond our challenges and into revival. We are going to have challenges in life, in fact one of the major themes of the book of Nehemiah is how the people overcame their challenges and saw God fulfill what He promised. It is the vision of what God has promised to do that gives us the power to get through the challenges that we face today.
Notice also the name of Nehemiah, you understand that often when you study the books of the Old Testament people, events and places are not just historical they also serve as a type, they often represent a concept that God is trying to teach us. Understand how important a vision from God is, it is the hope and comfort to get us through dark times. Realizing the Nehemiah is a book about the fulfillment of God’s vision, look at the meaning of Nehemiah’s name, it means the Lord’s comfort. In Nehemiah the people found not just a leader to follow, but the comfort of God’s vision and leadership.
They had a lot that they needed comforted from. They had been sent into exile, their nation, city, and temple had all been destroyed. But now they were back with a charge to rebuild the city. But this process, because of their fear and their lack of vision was taking longer then it should have. Do you realize that this return had three stages? When the kings of Persia decided to restore these people, they couldn’t get rid of them. They sent one group back, they basically did nothing, they sent a second group back, they moved into the city, a city with broken walls and no defense, they laid the foundation of a temple, but then in fear they abandoned the work. They started with a vision of a rebuilt city, with strong walls and the worship of God at its center, but then they took their eyes off of the vision and put it on the enemies around them and they couldn’t see their vision anymore.
The loss of vision is one of the greatest losses that the people of God can suffer because our God is a God of vision. Listen to what He says. “Declaring the end form the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.” Isaiah 46:10-11. Yes God moves in powerful and mighty ways, but He also works in subtle ways, in ways that take planning, that we would consider to be far in advance. Think about it, before Cyrus was even born God was laying plans that would shape him into a ruler who would look at the people of a broke nation and want to restore them. The Bible doesn’t tell us that Cyrus had a vision, it doesn’t record a single word that God said to Cyrus, he was just willing to restore a broken people in answer to a request. God had prepared him.
How is God going to move in First Baptist Church of Mesa, He is already doing it, calling us to be people who reflect His love rather than the anger caused by the worship of our own agenda. Putting in us hearts not only to reach people for Christ but to welcome them here as part of our family. God moves to fulfill His vision, in advance of our need. I have never been more encouraged to be a part of this church because I see God at work in our hearts.
But listen it is not enough to see a vision, we need to see God’s vision, and it is not enough to see God’s vision we must work to implement that vision. You see other people saw the vision of God but it was fulfilled under Nehemiah. So what are the principles that will see us through to this kind of revival here? Well the first thing is to see clearly. When we allow God to focus our eyes we see both the challenge and the opportunity. Nehemiah asks about the Jews who have already been sent out, he is wondering about their progress, but look at the response he receives, verse 3, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
Do you see it? The key word in what was wrong with these people? It was a matter of how they saw themselves, it was a matter of vision, they were, the survivor. I don’t know about you but to me a survivor is someone who is lucky to be alive, but that is not what the people of God are called to be, don’t you know that in all things we are more than conquerors? These people couldn’t fulfill the vision of God because they denigrated themselves, we are survivors, just luck to see another day, but any day now they’ll most likely wipe us out. But that is not how Nehemiah saw them, he saw them as the people that God had sent to restore His chosen nation, He was checking to see how much progress had been made and I think that part of him expected to hear good news. The reason I think he had the expectation of good news and great progress is because he took the bad news that he received so hard. He begins to fast and to pray because he knows something is wrong. You see Nehemiah saw the opportunity they had to watch God do great things from the front row, and he knew they were missing it.
But more than seeing a great opportunity, when we look through God’s eyes we see the problems of the body as our problems. So many times we see a problem and it is somebody else’s problem. If you are part of the body of Christ, and there is a problem in the body it is your problem too. Look at this part of Nehemiah’s prayer, “Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation, as it is this day.” Do you see it, from the days of our Father’s we have sinned? So many times I think we pray like this, God from the days of our fathers, this person over here has sinned. I don’t mean to gossip but they’re sitting three rows from the back, on the left. It is an easy prayer, it takes the focus off of us and puts it on somebody else. But the problems of the body are all of our problems.
Nehemiah prays this prayer as a member of these people, he prays the prayer of someone living life in captivity and surrounded by opposition, but he doesn’t pray the prayer of a captive. He takes ownership of this situation but that’s not his immediate situation, Nehemiah’s life was not one of captivity, but a life of power and influence. Nehemiah was the cupbearer, it doesn’t sound glamorous I mean he had to taste everything before the king to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. If he died, the king decided to order pizza instead. But he had to be in the court of the king all day. This means he was attractive, kings generally don’t like to look at ugly people, he had to be smart and pay attention to details, hey the king is dead, oops I didn’t see there was a side a mashed potatoes my bad. But most importantly he had the ear of the king all day long, so he would serve as an advisor to the king, this position has been compared to being a prime minister. He had a life of wealth and influence, but he owned the problems of people living in the captivity of their lack of vision. What about us, do we get so caught up in our position that we can’t identify with those who need help? I’m not even talking about people in the third world I’m talking about right here in Phoenix? We see somebody who either needs help or is going through a problem, or heaven forbid is different then us and rather then trying to help them we can’t wait to attack them? When someone is hurting we are to love them.
It’s hard sometimes to think about loving someone else through problems when we face so many problems in life. Everyday there are challenges we need to face and sometimes we think we can never over come them. But we need to understand this one little secret, when we trust in the power of the Lord we can see beyond the immediate challenge to God’s solution. This doesn’t mean that God is going to fix everything the way that we want it. Sometimes the thing that God is trying to fix is us and sometimes the person that God is trying to change is us.
So where do we begin, with God, and anytime we start with God we are supposed to start with prayer. Not just a Lord get me out of it, or Lord this person is a jerk so make them change prayer, we are to pray openly and be ready for any answer He gives us. If God is going to speak and we are going to hear Him this process is going to take time, therefore step one is pray for an extended period of time. Now I’m not talking about praying for a few minutes or even a few hours, I am talking about praying over days, weeks, months, it may even take years. Look what Nehemiah says, “For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said…” There is another version that translates it as, then I began to pray. He mourned and fasted for days, then he got serious about prayer, sometimes we pray for a week and wonder why God didn’t part the heavens and speak to us in person. We need to pray for extended periods. You know I think sometimes God puts trials in our lives so that we’ll have to talk to Him. Try this pray more and see if your problems seem less, I bet they will.
Next, own the problem. See it again, “For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven. Then I said…” This just blows me away, one Christian will say to another, someone who isn’t even really their friend, “I was praying today about you, what they really mean is, there are things that really bug me about you so I was complaining to God about you, and God told me what it is that you need to change. Really, if God has something to say to someone don’t you think that He will say it to them? God doesn’t gossip. What we need to be doing is talking to God not just about what bothers us, but what our problems are. Israel had a sin problem, we all do. Nehemiah was willing to tell God Lord I know that we are all guilty. We need to be willing to be accountable before our God for our faults. You know what when we do that we won’t really care to focus on everyone else.
So we pray for an extended period, we own the problem, then we are to pray according to the scriptures. “Yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name…” Nehemiah starts quoting scripture. You want to know one way that you can be tell if God is really talking to you? God tends to quote and pull examples from His word. It is amazing how many people will talk about what God has told them but He didn’t say anything from His word. When God has spoken to me and most people I’ve read, there is always a Biblical parallel and He mentions it. I don’t have to do a concordance search, it is right in the thought for me to remember. That is why it is important to ready His word, it gives God a bigger vocabulary to speak from. Study His word so He can tell you more than just John 3:16.
So after you’ve prayed and God has given you a vision of what to do, what comes next? Well first, move confidently. Nehemiah prayed, he got his vision, he was still a little worried, but he went to see the king anyways, and then he set out on a long dangerous journey from Iraq to Israel, by foot across the desert and that was the easy part. It took confidence to leave the comforts of the palace and the power of being next to the king and go about as far away as Nehemiah could, but he did it, and God used him to restore His nation.
Next remember to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Literally this is being so afraid of God, that no matter the obstacle you are too afraid to disobey God not to overcome it. But more than that, it is when you realize that whatever your obstacle is that God is so powerful, that whatever you are afraid, should really be afraid of Him. It is when you realize that no matter the size and power of the opposition, they are nothing compared to God. When we really fear God, we don’t have any fear left for any thing else.
Finally look for the opportunities that he has already given you. If Nehemiah was a mason, his opportunity would have been to go start laying bricks, if he had been a priest like Ezra it would have been to go preach the true meaning of worship to the people, if he had been a warrior it would have been to stand guard over the walls and the people as they built. Because Nehemiah already had the ear of the king, his opportunity was to ask the king for permission and authority to rebuild those walls. God used Nehemiah right where he was.
God wants to use us with the opportunities He has given us. If we really have a vision to start showing the love of Christ in this place then do it where we are. If you want to help with the kids, great, there are opportunities to serve, to fulfill that vision of God in Sunday school, AWANA, adventure time, the youth ministry, the college ministry. If it’s with adults we need deacons and deaconess, we need help with hospital visits and greeters. You know what we can all just start being nicer to each other and when you see someone starting to tear their brother or sister apart you tell them to stop, when you catch yourself doing it, stop. But let us not live a life that is captive to our lack of vision. This can be a place where people come to know God, not just salvation but a growing relationship with God, because they are drawn here because they feel the love of God in this place.
It is a big commitment but I want you to think of this quote by “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who strives valiantly… who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” When your life ends will you have always thought that God was going to work through you or not?
We need to dare to dream dreams of God in our lives and in our church. As a church we need to make a slight shift in our purpose. We have been a church that supports missions and missionaries. It is a great mission and a wonderful history. If Jesus had come up with a mission statement I believe that it would have been Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Do you know that today the third largest mission field in the world is the United States? One of the largest mission fields in the world is right outside of our door. Yes, we will continue to support missionaries but we must become missionaries ourselves, because whether we’ve thought about it or not, that is what we are.
Everyday, we go to work, to school, wherever it is we are surrounded by people who don’t know God but they know us. They trust us. Those relationships, that trust that we have earned, it is an opportunity to help them to know God. That is the vision that God has for this place and for us as a people. There are people around us everyday, they are survivors they have this physical life, but they don’t know God, they don’t have the promise of eternal life, they don’t have peace when they wonder what comes next. We need to reach them and that starts with the power of God through prayer.
As you came in this morning you were handed a card. On the front you had the mission statement, “To seek and to save.” That’s why were here. On the back there’s space for you to write some names. I want to spend some time praying, out of the people that you know, friends, family, co-workers, the waiter or waitress who always get you at a restaurant, who ever. But who is someone that you know that you feel like God is calling you to talk to. I’m not looking for a big list, everyone you know is a lot to think about, the goal here is focus. Who do you want to reach, who do you feel led to reach. Pray about it and then write either that name or names on these cards. When you’re done, I want you to come up and either give them to me or place them on the stage. We’re going to take that card that you turn in, divide them between the staff and pray for each name that is turned in. The other card you’re going to keep. We had them made the size of business cards so that you could put it in your wallet, purse, car, mirror, wherever, and pray for that person, or persons everyday. That God will draw them to Him and that He will use you to do so.
If we are faithful in prayer God will move. I was talking to a friend last week and I told her we were going to do this. She said that’s great I did something similar years ago. The pastor asked us to turn in cards, and I put down my nephew. I prayed for him for years and then one day he went to a Christian concert and out of the blue he accepted Christ. He’s been living as a Christian ever since.
If we pray for God to use us as evangelist, God may use us within the lives of the people we write down. Or He will use us to reach other people. But I promise you, He will use us. If we will pray, we will see a harvest, right here, in this church in the heart of this mission field.
