“Share the Vision!”
Nehemiah 1
So, every pastor has numerous responsibilities, usually more than one person can tend to. At times, just too many hats you must wear. You have likely felt the same way at times about the responsibilities you carry as well. For me it comes down to figuring out which ones matter the most – what are the priorities?
• Pastors are called to be leaders . To lead the people.
• Pastors are called to be teachers. To feed the people.
• Pastors are called to equip. To train God’s people to do the work of the church.
• Pastors are called to serve/minister to the people.
One more. Pastors cast vision for the local church. Some of you know the vision of the church we wrote 24 years ago ……
Our vision is to enlarge the size of Heaven by taking as many people as possible with us.
June 2000
So, the question comes to us – how do we do that? This series in Nehemiah will be about two things. Casting the vision and carrying the vision. Now to get started we must go back about 3000 years to 587 BC. Jerusalem has been nearly destroyed. The temple is now in ruins. The king’s house was burned down along with ALL the houses in Jerusalem. The temple had been built by King Solomon--- at least he was the one who challenged the people to build it. And the Bible tells us there were 70,000 unskilled people who helped: 80,000 stonecutters and 3300 foremen overseeing all of this. Massive project. There must be those who CAST the vision and those who CARRY the vision. All because God gave Solomon a vision and he took it to the people, and they carried it out.
So, there must be those who will cast the vision and there must be those who carry the vision. And as we carry it out, we continue to cast it. So a new king arrives on the scene -- his name is Cyrus -- he is the new sheriff in town and this is what he says to the Jews. The Jews had been taken captive and Cyrus says – I’m going to allow you to go home to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple so now under the leadership of a man named Zerubbabel the future starts to look much brighter. But this is what he was facing.
• The temple was destroyed. It was in ruins.
• The people had left the faith. They were living in sin. They were allowing the evil/negative influence of others to control everything they did. Every action. Every decision.
Now Jerusalem was the hometown for Nehemiah. It is where he grew up. And everybody has a heart for their hometown. So, try to picture this – wherever you grew up ------
• everything in that city / County has been destroyed
• homes burned down
• the building where you worshiped ---- completely gone. I mean, how would you react? PAUSE
The Bible says in verse 4, “when I heard this I sat down and wept In fact for days I mourned, fasted and prayed to the God of Heaven. Here is a principle to remember:
When everything is taken away, God is not finished. He is just getting started.
Just look what he did ….
• in the life of Job. He lost his family, lost his home; his farm, all his cattle, everything. But He never left God. Even his wife and friends told him to turn from God. God restored all of this; and even gave him twice as much as all he had before.
• In the life of Joseph. He was loved by his father but hated by his 11 brothers. His brothers sold him into slavery and told their father he was dead. In the end Jospeh got an amazing job, a family and more than anything he was completely reconciled with his father and all his brothers.
• In the life of Moses. Moses faced the ten plagues, Pharaoh’s army and a lot of stubborn people. Moses had all sorts of struggles that would have made any leader just give up.
When everything is taken away, God is not finished. He is just getting started.
Vision is the art of making the invisible, visible.
Vision can get covered up by destruction, division, death ----- when your life has been seemingly destroyed – God says keep looking – I’ve got something for you. What is it you want to accomplish more than anything else. What really gives you a burden? A burden is like a weight. Ask yourself, what are the obstacles standing in your way? Many times, the future can seem blurry. Things are not clear. This is the time to pray.
Building block #1. Prayer. Now the Bible says this … “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 1st Peter 5:8. The last thing the enemy wants for you is for you to succeed. So, say you are looking for a job. But everybody says you don’t have any experience. You’re like, well if you don’t hire me, how am I supposed to get any experience, right?
• Let’s say want to go back to school. Go to college. Learn a trade. But yu don’t have the cash. Not sure you have the time. You have too much debt. Just feel that life has given you a bad deal. And suddenly the vision that has been given to you dies. This is when you must remember building block number one. Prayer.
That’s exactly what Nehemiah did. You see prayer keeps the vision fresh. Prayer has a way of tearing down the distractions in your life because prayer brings focus. So, what do we pray for?
What do we pray for? Pray for opportunities. If God gives you a vision, He will certainly give you the opportunity to carry it out. God will not ask you to do something without giving you the opportunity and the resources to carry it out. Once you pray, start looking. Look for opportunities. Here’s the deal. If God gives you the vision, he will also give you the opportunity… just start looking.
2. Building Block #2. Start looking. Keep the vision in front of you and everything you do. Start looking. Success in the eyes of the world and success in the eyes of God are not the same.
• Money
• prestige
• power
• position
He says, “please grant me success.” Success in your eyes.
God arrange my life, arrange my circumstances in such a way I can carry out this vision.
Now we learn in verse 7 that he was in a position already to ask. In those days he was the king’s cup bearer. He knew the king personally. He was cup bearer to the king. Now on the surface that job may not sound so important. It sounds a bit like a waiter. I don’t know what your opinion is of a waiter in the restaurant you go to, but that person actually matters.
They handle your food before you ever even see it. Let that sink in. The job of the cup bearer was to protect the king by tasting the food and drink before it was brought to the table. Why? Because it might be poisoned. So, this cup bearer must be ….
• loyal
• trustworthy
• willing to take a risk, right?
Maybe you have a vision for your children or grandchildren. Maybe you have a vision for your friends who are unbelievers. Maybe you have a vision for getting married. Look around. Not now. 😊 You want them . So, you pray. Then you sit back and watch God work. Sounds spiritual. Don’t just pray for success, pray for pray for opportunity. Opportunities to speak to them about Christ. Listen, Nehemiah never prayed even once for God to rebuild the wall. That was already the vision. Nehemiah prayed for an opportunity to go rebuild it himself. That is the difference in a dreamer and a true visionary. Dreamers dream about things being different. Visionaries see themselves as the one who can make a difference.
Now I’m sure it would be fine / okay with Nehemiah if he just woke up one morning and looked around and said, “Oh my gosh, God built a wall around Jerusalem last night.” It would be amazing if I woke up one morning and said “Oh my gosh look what God did last night…. He put a new building out on our property. That’s not a vision. That’s a pipe dream. Nehemiah prayed for
• success and for an opportunity
Building block #3. God’s favor. Nehemiah 1: 10 – 11 says, “O Lord please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.” God’s favor must be on the task you are considering., it will fail. Nehemiah was looking for God’s favor God’s favor fell upon the vision, God’s people got involved. Forty three distinct groups helped. Three teams of people. I don’t know how many that would be. God / Nehemiah are now looking for workers to carry the vision. Helpers. Unless the people get involved, the vision will fail. Why? Vision for us always involves us. You might say, well can’t he do it without us? Yes, but he chooses not to.
So, what is vision? When God gives us a vision, something inside us begins to change. It consumes our thoughts; every move we make we dwell on the burden.
• Vision gives you direction
• Vision gives us an opportunity to become more than you already are.
• Vision means that you are no longer living life merely for yourself.
• Vision has a self-fulfilling destiny when it is connected with God.
• Visual wakes you up in the middle of the night calling out to you.
• You will not be able to get away from a vision because it will pursue you.
Nehemiah was not looking for new vision. The vision of rebuilding the wall had already been cast. Now he is looking for leaders to carry the vision. Walt Disney never lived to see the opening of Disney World. The opening ceremonies, someone said to Walt’s wife, it’s a shame Walt is not here to see this. To which she responded, he did see it, or it wouldn’t have been here.
Maybe you are one of those who keeps saying, “one day I will, one day I will but one day never comes, because one day is none day. It has been said that “If your vision is for a year, then plant wheat. If your vision is for 10 years, then plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, then plant people. I believe God is about to move us into a new level of opportunity. I pray we will all respond. Get ready for it.
"Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen"
If you pray that prayer today and you mean it, then God will save you. It is a commitment not only for today but for the rest of your life.
If you prayed for it today, come forward and let me know. If you need prayer, come forward.
PRAY.
