Neh. 1:10-2:6
Living With My Eyes Wide Open Part 2
Pastor Glenn Newton 3-21-04
Last week I started a conversation with you about what it means to live with you eyes wide open... We talked about how God has given each of us a great gift, a vision for our life... a reason for living..... and this vision that God has given you is unique to you... you can’t be replaced.... His plan was specifically designed to fit you. How many of you know that God has a specific purpose for your life? He does.. and you can find out what it is as you draw close to God in your relationship with Him.
This week I want to talk to you about how to bring this vision to reality in your life.
The first principle that I want to share with you that will help you bring this vision to reality in your life is this: To fulfill your vision, you must have a clear guiding purpose for your life... In other words... your vision needs to be clear.
When you know and understand what you were born to accomplish, that is purpose. When you can see it in your mind by faith and begin to imagine it, that is vision.
We all need focus, if you don’t have a focus in your life you will just drift along. Remember what Jesus said in Luke 2:49, “I must be about my Father’s business”. There were alot of things Jesus could have been involved in, but He identified a specific life work that was His own and that motivated everything he did.
It’s kind of like if you came up and asked me.... “Hey, let’s go out for lunch...., where do you want to go....” and I answered.... “That sounds great, lets go anywhere...” You say, “What time do you want to meet?” And I answer, “It doesn’t matter, anytime..” And we walk away.... do you think we will ever meet at the same destination? We need a clear vision, or we end up living our life with just a vague idea of what’s going on.
This morning we are going to look at Nehemiah, and through his life we can see the difference between a job verses a Vision.
Read Neh.1:11-2:6
NE 1:8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, `If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
NE 1:10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."
I was cupbearer to the king.
NE 2:1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; 2 so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart."
I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"
NE 2:4 The king said to me, "What is it you want?"
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it."
NE 2:6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
Nehemiah had a job as the cupbearer to Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. This seems to have been an important position that may have included both serving wine to the king and his royal guests and tasting the king’s wine to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. Yet being a cupbearer meant much more than this. Nehemiah was in a top position in the king’s court and was a highly regarded, trusted, and influential advisor to the king.
As prestigious as Nehemiah’s occupation was, it was simply a job for him because his mind was occupied with something else. Nehemiah was a descendant of one of the large number of Jews who had been carried into captivity by the Babylonians. The Babylonians were subsequently defeated by the Persians, and that is why Nehemiah was serving a Persian king.
At the time of the Babylonian captivity, the city of Jerusalem had undergone terrible destruction. Yet, when the Babylonians were defeated 70 years later, 50,000 Jews had returned to Judea and had rebuilt the temple. Then, an effort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem was thwarted by opposition from neighboring people who had convinced King Artaxerxes to issue a decree to stop the work. In the first chapter of the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah heard that “the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and it’s gates have been burned with fire.”
This filled Nehemiah’s with great grief. When he heard that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and that everything was in disarray, he “sat down and wept. For some days he mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” Neh. 1:4
What I want you to notice is this, Nehemiah had lived a large part of his life, lived in captivity, lived doing what others had forced him to do, because he was in bondage... But God had not forgotten him, in fact.... it was all part of God’s grand plan for his life.... We was about to get a clear vision for his life, and what he was born to do.
I believe that probably could describe alot of us today... we are living life, and maybe just now you are starting to wonder..... God, what is it that you want me to do and to be, why did you put me here?
Maybe you are in a position that you don’t like, maybe like Nehimiah your in a job you really don’t like, you realize that its not what you want to do with the rest of your life.... I want you to take a close look at this story... Nehemiah was right there with you. What did he do?
What is it that you need to do?
NE 1:4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven
Take time to pray.... Take time to cry out to God... be honest with Him.... Take time to fast, let God know that you are serious and that you are seeking Him with everything that you have.... Don’t let go... don’t give up........ God will answer you, but you need to prepare yourself to accept what His answer is......
To many times God answers our prayers, but it’s not what we want so we act like He hasn’t answered it yet... In other words, God hasn’t answered with the answer you want, so you ignore what He has already told you... Amen?
Sometimes the answer is NO. Sometimes the answer is Wait... Sometimes the answer is not yet.....and sometimes the answer is Yes... or Go.
I like to think of Nehemiahs’ cupbearer job as his preliminary occupation, or his “pre-occupation”, because he was born to fulfill another, much more important role. Your true work is what you were born to do. Your job is what you do only until you are ready to fulfull you vision. God had placed in Nehemiah’s heart a vision of rebuilding the wall, listen,
“I had not yet told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.” 2:12
The truth is you vision will bother you until you take action on it.
Look at Neh. 2:1, NE 2:1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before;”
The implication here is that Nehemiah was doing fine on his job until he heard about the wall. Then he had an idea to rebuild it. He went to God in prayer about it, God told him to go back and reconstruct it. This was the compelling vision of Nehemiah’s life. His desire to accomplish his life’s work began to interfere with his job. He was employed by the king, but his yearning to rebuild the wall began to wear on him, and he became depressed. Look at verse 2. 2 so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart."
When God gives you a vision and confirms it, nothing can stop it. If He tells you to build, start, invest, create, or make something, then it will bother you deep inside; you will become depressed until you do it. This is a sanctified depression, the kind that says, “I won’t be satisfied until I am doing what God wants, completing my vision.”
What do you want? That’s what the king asked Nehemiah.... and guess what, the king granted his request, and God the author of this vision, helped Nehemiah carry out his life calling.
I ask you.... Really God asks you.... What do you want? What do your really want out of life?
It’s got to be more than self-serving activities..... Doesn’t it?
It’s got to be more than accumulating possessions and trophies doesn’t it?
Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15
Your vision should be something that lives on after your gone, something that has greater lasting power than possessions.
First, if you want to answer this question, You need to ask Him to confirm in you what He has put in your heart to do.
Second, You need to be able to see what isn’t’ yet there, this is Faith. Know that God can do what He has called you to do... regardless of what you see with your physical eyes... look with your spiritual eyes, eyes of faith.
Will you pray this morning about what God has placed with in you to do.... What do you want to accomplish?
