"Recipe for Success"
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
The title of today’s message is “recipe for success.” Specifically with regards to our individual ministries and goals.
We looked at how important prayer was in our study of Nehemiah, today we are going to look at 2 other elements that are needed in order to accomplish our mission for this year.
How many of us have faced bad stresses in our lives? Of course we all have. Today we are going to talk about dealing with that, and even some steps Nehemiah took to avoid unnecessary stress.
Lets take a look at an interesting quote.
One stressed-out secretary told her boss: “When this rush is over, I’m going to have a nervous breakdown. I earned it, I deserve it, and nobody’s going to take it from me.”
—Billy Graham, The Secret of Happiness
Billy Graham
Rebuilding Series
Rebuilding Series
Hebrews 10:24–25 (KJV 1900)
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Our theme for this year is “The Church and me in 2023”. We will be focusing on Church outreach and our involvement in God’s Church.
We are in a series simply titled “Rebuilding”
Through this series we study Nehemiah and his mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
With this we will see how to apply the techniques and lessons learned in Nehemiah to our lives today.
How to rebuild, restore, and renew our lives, our ministry, our church, and our relationship with Christ.
Lets begin in Nehemiah chapter 2.
10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
*Opening Prayer*
We begin today were left off last week. With the introduction of these two locals that clearly were no fans of the Jewish people.
Did you know there are people that don’t want you to succeed?
Especially as it relates to any kind of ministry of God.
People hate God, and because of that they will hate you.
But this is not just limited to what we would consider our enemies.
Even well intentioned family members and friends, will discourage you from carrying out a ministry.
Why? Because it is usually something they do not understand. Or something they simply do not believe.
Right away, even after countless hours praying and planning....
After getting written permission from the king....
After taking a small army with him...
Nehemiah begins to face some of that kind of opposition.
There are people in the area that simply do not want God’s people to succeed.
Its interesting how many times we think “well because God is in it, it should go easy”
We know better, but yet it seems like many times we develop the mindset of God will provide an easy path for us.
The truth is we are never promised an easy path.
Often times along our way we get beat down, we get worn out, we get discouraged, we get frustrated, we begin to damage our relationship with Christ.
The world tells us we should worry and even be scared all the time.
Worry and discouragement should not be primary attributes of a Christian.
But when we worry and get ourselves discouraged, and it is a the result of being stressed.
Lets define that word.
Define Stress: feeling physical or mental pressure
Stress is feeling physical or mental pressure;
Obviously there are good stresses and bad stresses, but when it leads us to worry to the point of fear, we should examine the strength of our faith.
That can be challenging for all of us, because we all have moments of weak faith.
I seen this t-shirt the other day that says “be a warrior, not a worrier”
I think there is some truth there.
Not in the sense of “I’m just going to tough it out” but in the sense of being a prayer warrior.
Look at what Psalms 31 says about this.
9 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: Mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, But especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: They that did see me without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many: Fear was on every side: While they took counsel together against me, They devised to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand: Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: Save me for thy mercies’ sake.
17 Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee: Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; Which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee Before the sons of men!
“Have mercy upon me, O Lord...”
Again we see the importance of prayer.
When we deal with “bad stress” in our lives, take it to God in prayer.
Its a world mindset to get caught up in fear of failure, to the point were the fear consumes us, and we abandon any plans to move forward.
If we want to move forward in our Christian walk, we need to give up the worldly mindset.
When God gives us marching orders, that's when fear usually sets in.
Who am I to fulfil this?
Am I even qualified for this task?
What will my friends/family think?
What if I mess up?
What if I fail?
What about money?
Will I be in financial ruin if I attempt to step out on faith for God?
Jesus spoke about Christians that become unfruitful when we get caught up in worldly thinking...
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Even Christians can develop a worldly mindset of worry.
Jesus talks about that choking the word and making us unfruitful.
Does anyone think Nehemiah is living on easy street now?
There is no doubt he is living a stressful life at this point. Yet, as we will see, Nehemiah does not display a fear of the world’s response to his mission.
Living in fear is for the world, not for Children of God… (2 Timothy 1)
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
I think these verses clearly speak for themselves.
Nehemiah clearly has a long road ahead of him, but lets look at how he handles this situation.
11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.
15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
What did Nehemiah do when he finally got into the city?
After all the time, energy, countless prayers spent on this mission.
He did waited… for 3 days.
There is some wisdom here that applies to us today.
Nehemiah takes time to assess the situation first hand.
This is part of the “planning” stage.
What applies to us...
Be patient, even after we do all the proper “prep-work”.
First, we discover God’s will for us. Then we see Him open doors of opportunity.
Even after getting approval from all necessary parties, being patient is a wise move.
Nehemiah’s enemies who would have been waiting for him to do something so they could jump all over him…
They waited.... and waited.... and waited.
Any people they may have rallied for their cause would likely have lost interest. Soon they go back to their daily lives.
Don’t always come in to a situation and expect to “fix” all the problems around here right now.
Patience is the word we are looking for here.
God tells us to be patient, long-suffering. Notice He never tells us to rush into the work.
But He does tell us there is an urgency to do the work.
Some commentators believe Nehemiah was simply getting rested. After all the stress and the physical toll of the journey itself, it would make sense that Nehemiah would want to be well rested when he starts the work.
Of course he could still rest while conducting a physical assessment himself. Then begin planning the details of what to do next.
Sometimes the best way to prepare yourself for the task at hand is to simply get some rest.
Jesus even recommended it to the disciples in Mark 6.
31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
Regardless, Nehemiah is on step 2 of a 3 step process.
There is wisdom in looking at how Nehemiah carried out the business of God.
So lets look at this 3 step recipe for success.
1. Pray
2. Plan
3. Trust
That is the simple 3 step formula that Nehemiah uses.
Even though we can only image the stress that Nehemiah faced in this moment of his life. The importance of rebuilding the walls of the city can not be under-stated.
It meant the return of the capital city of the Children God. It lays out and marks the time frame, for the coming messiah.
Nehemiah was literally preparing the way for the Lord!
Look what Isaiah says.
Isaiah 40:3 (KJV 1900)
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord!
That would make a great sermon title, wouldn't it?
Except in this case, Nehemiah was literally doing exactly that.
Question. Do you think Nehemiah faced a lot of stress?
3 simple steps
What are the 3 steps that Nehemiah uses to accomplish his mission?
Pray
Plan
Trust
When it comes to dealing with fear, stress, and anxiety,
utilizing this simple 3 step process will guide us through.
Weather the task at hand is witnessing to a loved one, facing a difficult life decision, moving forward through trial and tribulation, or even building a city wall.... This formula works.
Nehemiah prayed for this great mission
He planned the details of it.
Then he trusted God to work it out.
So let’s apply this to us today.
We have a mission. Example: We want to start a Youth Group.
1. Pray diligently for the task
2. Plan the proper steps to moving forward.
Note we never push to just “get through”, we strive to move forward!
3. Then trust God to make it so.
Notice, God is First and Last.... there might be a verse somewhere on that.
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Yes God is telling us who He is in this verse, but He also gives us a plan!
Always put Him first and Last!
You will also see that living in fear is glaringly absent from this formula.
Lets look at verse 16 in Nehemiah again.
16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
We see how Nehemiah was almost secretive in his actions. He was very careful who he showed his cards to, so to speak.
Potential enemies were left with little to go on. This goes along with the planning stage.
One thing we can see here is Nehemiah did not give his enemies time to properly prepare to push back against his mission.
Nehemiah did not live in fear of the dangers around him. There were a lot of powerful people in the area that did not want Jerusalem to be rebuilt. They did not want to see good things come to these so called “children of Israel”.
Fear, is not always a bad thing. When used properly it can be a tool to push us harder.
As Christians, we should have a healthy fear of the Lord, not in the manner of “He is out to get me, but in a manner of respect to His Glory!
But there is a difference when we say we should fear the Lord verse living in a state of fear.
When we skip the first and last step, then we have cause to fear… Because we are conscientiously deciding to move forward without God.
Has that plan ever worked out? Like in the History of ever?
Lucifer thought he could put a plan in place without God, it didn’t work out for him.
Adam and Eve tried to put a plan in place without God, it didn’t work out for them.
Goliath tried to put fourth
Judas Iscariot tried to put forth a plan without God, it didn’t work out for him.
4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: Behold, your God will come with vengeance, Even God with a recompence; He will come and save you.
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
Up until now, what we talked about primarily applies to Children of God.
Not all image bearers of God, are Children of God. If you choose to reject God, you have another father, whether you admit it or not.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Those are some pretty strong words from Jesus. But if that is you, the good news is you don’t have to stay in that position.
You can choose to have a relationship with Jesus today!
If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, then you do have much to fear.
And if we are honest with ourselves, we know we should fear God’s wrath. That is if we choose to remain in our sin.
But you don’t need a Bible or even a pastor to tell you that. Our conscience is a testament to this.
Look at this passage Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians.
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
The truth is, if you are choosing to live a life separate of God’s simple plan of salvation, you are living with fear.
Fear of the unknown. Fear of justice. Fear of being unworthy.
The truth is we are all unworthy
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
We know we all have sin in our lives, so instead we lie to ourselves and tell ourselves there is no God, or pretend we are worthy bribe or convince him to let us enter His kingdom.
The truth is there is no other way to eternal life, except through Jesus.
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If you don’t know Jesus today, look at this verse.
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
It truly is that simple.
Pray, Plan, Trust.
Pray-whether for Salvation or Guidance
Plan- What direction does God want me to go.
Trust- God will provide a way!
*Close prayer*