In the first sermon of this series on Nehemiah, we learned that we don't have a vision from God until we are concerned about something. But, when we are concerned about something, inspiration begins to grow. We begin thinking about making something better or building something. Whether it be our relationships or our church, we learned that there must be a concern that things are not the way they should be or the way that they could be. We learned that during this process, three things are necessary: concern, patience, and prayer. You can follow the link to the explanation here.
Somewhere along the line of inspiration, there will come a period that we are convicted that our vision is not only something that should or could be, but that it is actually something that can be. And it is during this time that we realize that God has called us to be the one who makes His vision a reality; turning what is into something much greater; something that looks a little more like heaven. During this time of conviction, it is important to know two things. One, God is always working whether we see it or not. Two, God is the one at work, not us. God works through the one who is dependent on Him. Let's look at both of these a little more in depth.
#1 God is at work.
It is no surprise that God is at work. This is not something that should take us off guard. After all, God has been at work for thousands of years. For instance, God was at work in the life of Joseph, a man who was thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, accused of hitting on Pharaohs' wife, thrown into jail, and eventually brought back out of jail to interpret the dream of the Pharaoh. Though it doesn't look like it on the surface, God was at work throughout Josephs' entire life. Through everything that happened to Joseph, God strategically placed him in such a position that he was able to provide food for his family. The life of Nehemiah is similar in this way. We do not know how Nehemiah became the cup-bearer of the king, but we know that there was a story behind it. A story that God was at work in the entire time. After all, the only reason that Nehemiah had the opportunity to do much at all was because of his relationship to the king. And so it is with us. We can rest in the fact that God is at work behind the scenes, even though we feel like we may not be in the right position. God has a plan. The question is, are you convicted that God is at work in your life? Are you convicted that he will bring the vision he has placed in your heart to fruition? And that brings us to the second point.
#2 God is at work setting the stage.
As we have already seen, God has been at work and God remains at work. But one thing that we need to peer into a little deeper is the fact that God is the one who brings things to fruition and sometimes we may never know how. For instance, God gave Moses a vision to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and to enter the promised land. And this vision was steadily playing out until eventually the people of Israel were not allowed to enter into the promised land. Instead, they wandered in the desert for forty years. Moses never saw the fruit of his labor, yet Joshua did. The point is this: God orchestrated his plan to happen the way that he wanted to. He had the people of Israel enter the promised land at the opportune time. We are not promised that we will ever see the fruits of our labor, yet we are called to work. We may never see how we impacted another persons life, but yet we now that God is at work. This is the very reason that we are to do all things to the glory of God. If we are constantly doing all things to the glory of God, then we are allowing God to work through us, and if He is able to work through us, He has one more tool to use in order to orchestrate His will.
So there you have it. We now know how to start bringing Gods will to fruition in our lives. The question is, what is concerning you? What is it that God has laid on your heart? Do you desire to see your relationship(s) changed? What about the community? Or, maybe the biggest of all, do you desire to see the church reaching out to those in need, helping them, sharing the Gospel with them, and seeing the Kingdom of God brought to earth?
I desire to see this world flipped upside down, and I know that we have to do it #brickbybrick
Are you ready?
1.) Concern. Patience. Prayer.
2.) God is at work. God is at work setting the stage.
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