Following Through With The Vision

INTRODUCTION

Over the past few weeks we have looked at the fact that we must, as a church, build a vision and set goals for the future

“if you aim for nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

As it relates to developing a vision:

You must have the Word of God as your standard and seek to put it to work in your own life

Only the faithful individual can be expected to contribute to a faithful church body

You must observe and evaluate the current situation

Reflect on what has been done, and pray about what needs to still be done

You must realize that God will provide the opportunity for you to boldly pursue the vision

But as you do, you can expect bumps in the road

As we pick up on Nehemiah 2, we observe Nehemiah Following Through With The Vision

Let’s see what we can learn!

Read Nehemiah 2:11-20

Nehemiah Surveyed The Need

verses 11-16

There must be time put into the process – v. 11

Nehemiah came, and for 3 days he did a tour around Jerusalem, inspecting the gates and devising a plan of action.

Undoubtedly, he would have spent time in prayer, seeking God’s wisdom and direction of what to do (cf. v. 12 – what God had put into my heart)

It is of great importance that we spend time seeking the Lord and evaluating the work that lies ahead

Jesus spent time on the mountain before choosing the twelve Luke 6:12–13 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles…

There must be people with a genuine interest – v. 12

Nehemiah didn’t go it alone. He had some acquaintances that he confided in and who went along on the journey of observing what work needed to be done.

A group effort is needed when it comes to doing a great work for the Lord!

Paul had Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Luke, etc. as teammates in the ministry (Acts)

Daniel had Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Daniel 1:6; 2:49)

About 120 followers were devoted to prayer after Christ ascended (Acts 1:14) Afterwards, the Holy Spirit came down and empowered these followers to boldly proclaim the Gospel, and thousands were saved!

Nehemiah Encouraged The People To Work

verses 17-18

After taking a few days to pray and evaluate the matter firsthand, Nehemiah reported to the people his observations and suggestion of rebuilding the wall

In order to encourage them, he told them of how God had blessed him up to that point

The people’s negative feelings (cf. 1:3) became positive and they began the process of rebuilding the walls.

When it comes to ministry, the evaluation process can be the easy part, it is the doing that is difficult.

According to data provided by City-Data from 2010 on York County:

Mainline Protestants – 5.7% of the population

Tend to be more liberal in their approach to social issues and ecumenical in their practice

American Baptist Churches in the USA; Episcopal Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church; Presbyterian Church (USA); United Church of Christ; United Methodist Church

Evangelical Protestants – 3.5% of the population

Tend to be more conservative in their practice and theology (aka: they believe the Bible), and emphasize the importance of being born again

None – 72.2% of the population

Acton, Newfield, Shapleigh, Springvale, Waterboro have about 18,125 people

According to the above statistics, about 13,000 people in our area of influence are not Christian

Matthew 9:37–38 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

We need to be on our knees begging the Lord to help us be the laborers we need to be to bring in the harvest

Nehemiah’s Confidence In The Lord Despite The Critics

verses 19-20

Sanballet, Tobiah, and Geshem were quick to disparage and ridicule the work that was underway

God’s people must expect such opposition when they are attempting to do God’s work

Matthew 5:11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

1 Peter 4:14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

The difficult matter to accept is that not all opposition comes from those outside the Body

3 John 9–10 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to putting together a vision for a local assembly of believers, we must approach it like Nehemiah:

Survey the Need

Encourage the People to Work

Have Confidence in the Lord, Despite the Critics

We have an awesome opportunity to impact our area for the gospel. We just need to get out there and do it.

William Carey

Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.