Faith Or Fantasy Part II
We have been looking at Nehemiah for the last two messages. We have seen a man that was willing to leave the luxury of living in the palace, to go do what God had laid on his heart to do. The city of Jerusalem, which was the home of Nehemiah’s grandparents and great grandparents had been destroyed the fire. The walls had been torn down. The gates were burned up. The temple had been destroyed. A group of God’s people had returned 70 years later thinking that they would be able to go back and rebuild the city.
You see God had told them they would be captives for 70 years in a foreign land, but that the Lord would gather them back into the city and rebuild it once again
The former captives had left the land of their captivity with dreams and fantasies of what life was going to be like for them in Jerusalem once they got there. They’d be dancing in the streets and living the good life. . Instead of finding an easy life and going of the process, the captives who returned found themselves being oppressed and misused the people who had moved into the area after they had been taken captive. What they needed was a vision and faith to understand what God wanted them to do.
Nehemiah had seized upon a vision to change the situation, and he had faith to believe God was going to involve him in the process. One of the big differences between fantasy and faith are the words, “God I believe you will do it” as contrasted with “God, Here I am, use me.” Which words come out of your mouth, most often. Last night we saw that we need to quit trying to send God’s Spirit to do something that God wants us to do.
Let’s pick up where we left off last night with the reading, Neh. 2:4-9
The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5and 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."
6Then 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.
7I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. 9So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.
That morning when Nehemiah went before the King, he was just a cupbearer. But the time he left, he was s royal official over all the governors over all the area around Jerusalem. Not only that the king had given him a blank check to buy whatever he need to rebuild the city. Now this was a real Hallelujah shouting time for Nehemiah. Nothing like this had ever happened before. We never when a day starts, what God might do before its all over.
When God gives us favor in a situation, He really knows how to give us favor. But God’s favor can cause us to start moving toward the realm of fantasy. It’s easy to forget the steps that led up to the favor. Remember there was a period in which Nehemiah was scared to death to speak to the king. He had to risk everything in order to get this kind of breakthrough from God. I want us to know, our walk with God involves more than just one hurdle.
Fantasy says, "The Lord has laid this on my heart, the king has given me his blessings, and now everything is going to be smooth sailing." It is fantasy to believe that because we are choosing to do what’s right and what’s of God, that people are going to be happy for us. Faith says, "Jesus when you did what was right it got you crucified. You said a servant is not greater than his master. If they were opposed to you doing the will of God, then what about me."
It took Nehemiah two months of traveling time in order to reach Jerusalem. When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he had not done anything wrong to anybody, but the good He wanted to do started some problems. Verse 10 has a warning in it that some hard days are ahead for Nehemiah.
Neh. 2:10 “ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.” Now Sanballat and Tobiah were the big shots in charge down in and around Jerusalem. When they heard that Nehemiah was coming to try to help out God’s people, they were very much disturbed. They were disturbed because they wanted to keep things just like they were. They had the positions of power and influence, and they were not open to change. They wanted Nehemiah out of town before he even settled in good.
Nehemiah had come with faith to lift God’s people out of the shame, misery, and embarrassment they were living under. It’s not possible to lift up others or to lift up yourself at times without forcing somebody else to make a change.
Every move of faith you make, will be countered by some form of attack either from outside or from within your circle of people. But keep on making your move of faith.
Nehemiah did not give up on his vision, simple because Sanballat and Tobiah, the big shots did not like him. It is a fantasy to think everybody is going to like you because you’re trying to be like Jesus Christ at home, at school or at work. That’s the very reason some people will dislike you. But keep on being like Jesus anyway.
Remember, I said that when God gives us a word of how the Lord wants to use us, we may need to keep our mouths closed about it for a while. Joseph got himself in trouble the bragging to his brothers about two dreams that he had. God knows how to bring something to past in his own timing. Fantasy says, "If I tell everybody what I plan to do it will be enough for them to get excited and get behind me." Faith says, "I will wait until I know enough before I open my mouth."
You see God’s people in Jersualem did not know Nehemiah from any other Johnny Come lately prophet who may have held a revival, got what money he could and skipped off to the next town. Nehemiah was not a priest or a prophet so there was no reason to expect he was coming with a word from the Lord. He was not from some well known Israelite of Jewish family. He was just a nobody as far as his people were concerned. When they saw him ride into town with the king’s calvary at his side, they probably thought here comes somebody trying to get more taxes out of us, with additional rules from the king.
The Scriptures tell us that Nehemiah was in Jerusalem for three days after arriving and did not tell anybody anything about what God was calling him to do. He did his inspection of the walls and the gates at night so as to not cause attention to himself. There is a time to share your vision, but there is also a time to keep quiet about what the Lord is calling you to do until you get further information on the situation.
It’s fantasy to think the Lord is going to tell you or to show you everything in prayer. Prayer is critical, but there comes a time when you pray by doing some investigative work. We can use prayer as an excuse for not doing some work. You don’t just pray for a job, you look for one. If you’re not working, you get out and go looking. You think about getting some additional education to get a better job. It’s never too late to improve on you.
Nehemiah went out in the dark of night to inspect the condition of the walls himself. He wanted to know what He was truly up against. You see when we are praying about a change God wants us to do, God wants us to see what options are out there. How much is thing really going to cost us? God is calling each of you here to be a leader.
A good leader does not rush into the task at hand, but patiently examines the facts firsthand and then plans a strategy. Too many people confuse spirituality with foolishness. They think the less plan you have, the more God gets the glory. The Bible says in Proverbs 15:22” Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Someone has said, to fail to plan is the same as planning to fail.
One of the first things we need to do is to make an honest assessment of a situation. Jesus said, “there is none so blind as he or she he refuses to see. Have you ever met somebody who refuses to see the truth. . Have you ever seen somebody that has refused to see? You tell them, if you drop out of school in the 11th grade, your chances of getting a good job are practically out the window, but they insist they know they’re going to make it and have all the things in life they want. You tell your co-worker, “if you don’t get it together they’re going to fire you”, only to here, “I’m cool, I’m cool”. Next thing you know they’re cold with their things on the corner because they can’t pay the rent because they don’t have a job.
Have you ever refused to see what others might see when they look at you? There are some parents and grandparents who think they are simply doing an outstanding job as parents, but their kids despise them. Why, because they are overly critical, mean, cruel, and just all around messed up. All they ever do is fuss and complain. Parents remember, one day the roles are going to reverse and those kids will determine your future.
There are some kids who think they are wonderful to have around the house and any parent would be glad to have them. But their parents see them as lazy, ungrateful, unappreciative, and disobedient. Their attitudes smell and their mouths are full of back talk. We all think we look better than we really do. It’s natural because we love ourselves which is also natural.
But fantasy has a tendency to make us blind. How many of you have said, “child what on earth do you see in him or in her.” “I know you think he’s all that, but have you noticed how he still be looking at other women. Or have you noticed how she only comes around when she needs something. Or don’t you think you should take your time with him, since he’s already had five divorces?”
It is a fantasy to simply keep telling your self it really is not that bad when it really is bad. Nehemiah found those walls just like his brother Hanani had told them. Hanani, had said, “ Man it is bad ,and I mean bad. The walls are broken down. The gates are burned with fire. When I saw just how bad it was, I had to get out of there.”
Nehemiah knew rebuilding those walls was going to be an awful lot of work. This thing looked worse than what Hanani had seen, because Hanani did not spend three days surveying the job. To become the leader God is calling you to be, you cannot live in a dream world. Be willing to face the facts whether good or bad, but know the facts do not have to stay the facts. That’s what having faith in God is all about. Seeing something before you see it, in order to see what it is God, God wants you to show to everybody else.
Nehemiah was able to see more in the dark of night, than most of the people had seen in the light of the day. They looked at the walls and saw the same problem, but by looking with the eyes of faith in the power of God, Nehemiah saw a tremendous potential that others did not see. He saw walls going up. He saw gates swinging open. He saw God being praised. He saw people being happy. He saw worship taking place. He saw people being blessed physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. He saw God being glorified.
Fantasy says “just tell people what needs to be done and it will be enough.” Do you know some people do not see anything wrong in things that are obvious to you? They see nothing wrong with having babies at 14 or 15. They see nothing wrong with adultery. They see nothing wrong selling and using drugs. They see nothing wrong with racism. They see nothing wrong with beating their spouse or abusing their children. People can accept things as being natural for so long, that simply telling them there is a problem will not get their attention.
The Jews had been living with those walls broken down for years now, and they did not have a problem with them staying in that condition. Faith says not only do I have to tell the people, I have to show them that God is involved in this project. Nehemiah called the people together and said, "Look fellows at the trouble we are in. The walls are in ruins, the gates are burned, people are laughing at our city. Come let us rebuild the walls and we will no longer be in disgrace."
Somebody said, "Oh we heard that before. How do we know we can do the job? Somebody else tried and quit. You’ve only been here a few days, so how can you know the extent of the problem." Somebody else said, “these walls are not bothering anybody. I don’t see why we should spend our money trying to rebuild them. We ought to have some other priorities ahead of this. Somebody else said, “who are you anyways, and what’s in it for you. All these other big shots have come down here and gotten rich and gone back to who knows where. How do we know you’re going to be any different.”
Nehemiah was ready to respond to their questions, because he had a testimony behind him. Too often we want to give a testimony we do not have. Half the people who give testimonies about trusting in God, do not trust him. When we will not trust God with our money, how can we trust in him for the real problems in lives when they come up. Remember how Nehemiah had trusted God to give him favor with the king by risk having his head cut off by the king. He stood there sad in the king’s presence which was against the law. But he did it to have the opportunity to speak to the king.
When Nehemiah gave his testimony of how he had risked his life and how the Lord had been faithful in touching the king’s heart, then the people got excited. They saw this was not just a dream or a fantasy of Nehemiah, but this vision was planted in him from the very heart of God. You see when God plants a vision in your heart or church, God has the capacity to bring it into reality. The people immediately got excited and they replied, “let us start rebuilding. So they began this good work.”
We like to think life is going to be fair, especially in the church. However, it is fantasy to think everybody will do their part. Have you ever said in your group, in your home, on your team, or anytime you’ve been with a group, "now let’s just have everybody do their part" only to discover some people will not do their part no matter what. Even people who benefit from the final project will not do their part and will be among the first to say, “look what we did for God.” You can’t take everybody along on your vision, so don’t try to wait until everybody gets on board because some are not going to get on.
Faith says, "God has called me to be faithful. I will do my part and then some because as a believer I am called to try to make up for those who are weak. My goal is not simply to do my part, but to hear Jesus say, well do you good and faithful servant." The people rallied together from all backgrounds to build the walls of Jerusalem. There were carpenters, brick layers, perfume makers, and jewelry workers .But in the middle of chapter three which tells us who built which section of the wall, who set up which gates, how long a section of the wall the person or group built, and more is a little verse telling us who did nothing.
In verse 5, we find that the nobles of Tekoa would not do any of the work. They gave zero. Now as nobles they and their property would benefit from the walls being up more than a lot of people because they had more to lose. But they chose to sit on the sidelines and watch others. I’m so glad we have a choice to get off the sidelines and get involved with the work. I pray that none of us will go down in history as a Tekoaite.
Nehemiah listed the names not for one group to brag about how much they had done, but to acknowledge, these are the ones who were willing to take steps of faith when others were laughing at them and saying it could not be done. These are the ones who when our enemies told us we were living in fantasy land, proved that we were living in the land of faith.
It is a fantasy to believe that simply because you do not have available to you what others have, you cannot make a difference in the work of God. There are too many I wish saints in the church. All they do is wish they could do something somebody else is doing. You can say I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish as much as you want. Or you can look around you and see what God has made available for you to use. The very thing you dislike or despise, can be the very thing God wants to use to turn your life in the right direction.
Faith says, "God you have supplied me with what I need to get the job done, show me where to find it."One man that wanted to assist in the building of the wall was named Shallum. Unlike the other men who had sons to assist them in building the wall, Shallum had none. He could have said, "Well you know if I had some sons, I’d get in there and help build with the rest of you guys, but the Lord only gave me daughters. I’m out of here."
No Shallum went home and had a meeting with his daughters and said, "Girls, there’s a building project going on for God and I want to be a part of it. Can I count on you to help me out. The girls did not say, that’s men’s work, or what will the people think, or anything like that. We know what their response was because it says in verse 12, Shallum son of Halohesh, ruler of a half district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters. Women have been important in church building ever since.
It is fantasy to think, you will be able to reach your goal for what the Lord had laid upon your heart with criticism. Sanballat went from being disturbed to downright angry. He called the workers names--You feebled Jews. He laughed and said it was impossible to think they could bring the walls of the city back to life. Tobiah made fun of the quality of the worked. He said if a fox jumped upon the wall the whole thing would fall down.
Faith in God says, the criticism of others does not make the vision I have any less of a vision or any less of a reality for my life. God is able to accomplish the good He wants to do through and in me and for me, despite what those who wish to hurt me may try to do or to say. All of the trials which come my way can be turned by God into victories for God’s honor and glory and for my own spiritual growth.
Nehemiah and the people by the grace of God, have turned a pile of rubble into a rising wall , and they were not allowing the set backs of others to set them off course. As individuals and as a church, we will bring new life out of the broken circumstance of our lives, not because of a fantasy in our own power, but because of faith in our God who has promised to never leave nor forsake us.
1. Everybody Is Not Going To Do Their Part
2. Don’t Wait For Everybody To Get On Board
3. The Call Is To Be Faithful
4. People From All Walks Of Life Came
5. Resist The Nobles Of Tekoa
6. Just Sitting Back On The Side Lines
7. Nehemiah Provides Us A List Of Names
K. Be Ready To Use What God Has Given To you
1. The I Wish Saints
2. What Do you Have
3. Shallum—Not A Son In Sight, But Daughters
4. What’s Your Real Desire
L. The Closer You Get To The Goal—The More Heat
1. Sanballat Starts The Name Calling
2. Tobiah Makes Fun Of The Work Being Done
3. Faith Allows The Vision To Keep Going Forth
4. From Rubble To Rising Wall
5. God Will Not Leave Us
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick
Faith Or Fantasy Part II
Nehemiah 2-5
A. The Background On Nehemiah
1. Nehemiah Leaving Good Life Of Palace
2. The Destruction Of The City Of Jerusalem
3. The Return Of The Captives After 70 Years
4. Leaving With Dreams And Fantasies
5. Hit With Life’s Realities
B. Nehemiah Seized With A Vision To Make A Change
1. God I Believe You Will Do It
2. God Here I Am, Use Me
3. No Need To Send The Spirit If We Will Go
4. Nehemiah Had Taken A Risk
Neh. 2:4-9 The king said to me, "What is it you want?"
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5and 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."
6Then 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.
7I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. 9So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.
5. Nehemiah Not The Same Man As When He Went In
6. When God Gives You His Favor—Remember
7. Fantasy Expects Smooth Sailing
8. Faith Expects A Crucifixion Somewhere
9. Jesus—A Servant Is Not Greater Than His Master
C. Nehemiah Prepares For The Journey
1. Two Months To Arrive
2. A Warning Is Given
Neh. 2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.
3. The Local Big Shots—No Change Needed
4. Nehemiah Should Go Back Home
5. Nehemiah On A Mission To Lift Up Others
6. Nehemiah Held On To His Vision
D. God Will Use You, But Don’t Brag Too Soon
1. Remember The Life Of Joseph
2. Fantasy—All I Need To Do Is To Tell Them
3. Faith--Need To Keep My Mouth Shut Until
4. Who Is This Fellow Nehemiah Anyways
5. Could He Be More Bad News
E. Nehemiah Goes For An Honest Assessment
1. Three Days Of Inspection At Night
2. Prayer Is Critical But Not An Excuse To Do
Nothing
3. Looking Realistically At The Situation
4. A Good Leader Has A Plan
5. Don’t Confuse Spirituality With Foolishness
Proverbs 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
6. Fail To Plan Is To Plan To Fail
F. Be Willing To See Reality
1. Jesus None So Blind As
2. The Drop Out – The Co-Worker
3. Parents/ Grandparents Not In Reality
4. Youth Who Are Simply Wonderful
5. Fantasy Makes Us Blind
6. Fantasy—It’s Not That Bad
7. Hanani’s Description.
8. Nehemiah Knew It Would Be Work
9. Three Days Of Survey
H. Seeing With The Eyes Of Faith
1. Nehemiah Could See More In The Dark
2. He Saw Dancing, Praising, Worship, Prosperity
3. Many People Can’t See What The Problem Is
4. You Simply Get Use To The Condition
I. The Time Comes To Share The Vision
1. Look At Our Troubles
2. At Least Three People Had To Challenge Him
3. Who Are You, Can We Trust You
4. Nehemiah Had A Testimony With Him
5. Do We Truly Trust God
6. They See God In Nehemiah
7. The Work Is Started
J. Be Prepared For Some To Opt Out
