A God-birthed Burden
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Nehemiah 1:3-4 (ESV)
3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province
who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The
wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed
by fire.”
4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and
mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
“A God-birthed Burden”
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Prayer:
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- Lord, let my tongue be the pen of a ready writer. Write your Word in the hearts of
your church through the preaching of your Word. We know that faith comes by
hearing your Word, so as you speak through me, encourage your people to mix
the word with faith so that they believe your word and are edified to perform
your perfect will. In the name of Jesus Christ—AMEN!
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A God-birthed Burden
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Prelude:
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you can still be used by God for certain things… BUT beyond any shadow of a
doubt, without a burden from God, you will not be able to accomplish ON
YOUR OWN what God hopes and desires for His church!
- Why? Because without a burden FROM GOD you will never feel as God feels…
without a burden you will never see as God sees… This is why you must have a
God-birthed burden!
- When we operate in our calling—the Spirit will come upon us with an anointing
to accomplish through the Spirit what can only be dreamed of in the flesh! Jesus
Himself is proof of this!
Luke 4:18-19 (ESV)
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the
captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are
oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
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- The purpose of God’s anointing is to enable us to accomplish His perfect will.
This is why it is so imperative that EVERY ONE of you have an anointing. The
“anointing” is not reserved for the fivefold… BUT you will not receive the level
of anointing required to accomplish a GOD-SIZED purpose without a GOD-
BIRTHED burden!
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- You will never WORK as God would have you work until you can FEEL as God
feels — this is why you must have a GOD-BIRTHED burden! The book of
Nehemiah is all about how to DO the will of God. Does anyone remember
Pastor Jack’s “Will of God” series back in July?
- When God births a burden within you there will be obstacles and hindrances;
but remember, He wouldn’t birth a burden in you if He isn’t able to accomplish
what He wants you to do in you and through you!
- Nehemiah turned obstacles into opportunities for God to manifest His purpose.
He didn’t look at his hindrances like they were the Himalayas; instead,
Nehemiah harnessed the heart of God through prayer and overcame every
hindrance the enemy placed in his path. WHY? Because he had a God-birthed
burden—he felt and saw things the way God felt and saw them! Everything of
worth that is done in the kingdom of God begins with burden!
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The birth of burden:
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- The Jews were in captivity, but in the year 530 BC, Babylon was defeated by
Persia and Cyrus, the King of Persia encouraged the Jews to return to Jerusalem.
- 50,000 immediately returned and begin the process of rebuilding. Of course, the
temple was the most cherished structure, so naturally, they began rebuilding the
temple first. Yet, 16 years later, all that existed was just the foundation.
• Foundation is good; however, by definition a foundation is designed to
support a structure. Sadly, many people treat their walk with God like these
50,000 Jews—they are content to lay a foundation, and then proceed to settle
down without building anything ON their foundation.
• You are instructed to “add to your faith…” and to choose the “gold, silver, and
precious stones” with which to build upon the foundation of salvation! I’m
glad you’ve been born again—that’s wonderful. Now; what are you doing to
“add to your faith” and build on this foundation of “so great salvation”?
- We now return to our history lesson…
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- Now enter Zechariah and Haggai—two of God’s prophets who help them to
complete the temple 20 years after it was started.
- These two men of God were anointed, but different. Zechariah’s ministry focused
on the spiritual aspect while Haggai’s ministry focused on the practical aspect.
• If you are going to construct a holy life on the foundation of the apostles’
doctrine, you MUST have both the spiritual and practical to be successful!
- 60 more years of history pass and another group of remnant Jews return to
Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra. He was a priest whose lineage traced all
the way to Aaron. His desire was to restore the moral and spiritual condition of
God’s people living in the land of promise. But he was fought and faced
discouragement often. His ministry lasted 14 years.
- If you do the math, 94 years have passed since the decree of Cyrus. The walls
still lay in ruins, making Jerusalem and her rebuilt temple easy prey for enemies.
It is at this point in our history lesson, that a God-sized purpose is about to be
fulfilled because of a God-birthed burden within the heart of Nehemiah…
- Nehemiah takes a “Gods-eye-view” of the situation through prayer and fasting…
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- For over 90 years the Jews had struggled to restore worship of the One True God.
All that had been accomplished was the rebuilt temple. The walls were still
nothing more than rubble, and the gates had been burned with fire.
• Without walls that separate and protect, the worship of God will never be
what it should be. Without walls, godliness will never be manifested. You may
be a Bible scholar, able to understand and share the truth, but if there are no
walls of separation, true worship will not flourish and a life of godliness will
never be achieved!
- When Hanani reported the condition of Jerusalem to Nehemiah, he said, “The
remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and
shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire”
(Nehemiah 1:3 ESV).
- The physical paralleled the spiritual… the remnant (Jewish people) were in “great
trouble and shame” WHY? Because the “The wall of Jerusalem is broken down,
and its gates are destroyed by fire.“
- They had no strength to resist attacks from their enemies. They were shamed
because they had no protection for their temple, and no worship of God.
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The burden strengthened
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- Don’t miss the spiritual significance of walls and gates…
Isaiah 60:18 (ESV)
Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within
your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
- In order to better understand how God feels about and sees a situation, you have
to ask, “How does this make God feel?” and “How does God see this?”
- Having a temple is one thing but having walls and gates up is a holy other thing.
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- Does the world see a difference between your life and theirs? Does the
community see a difference between TCOO and other churches. When your
coworkers, classmates, friends, or family look at where you live, do they see no
wall of separation?
- A God-birthed burden is born by a realistic evaluation of our condition, and it is
strengthened by a spiritual understanding of how God feels about it.
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Taking personal responsibility:
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- Nehemiah didn’t blame others, nor did he question God’s judgment. He was so
disturbed by the report of Jerusalem that he was driven to fast and pray—
repenting and interceding…
Nehemiah 1:4-7 (ESV)
4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for
days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
5 And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who
keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his
commandments,
6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your
servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel
your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have
sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.
7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the
commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your
servant Moses.
- Burden-birthed prayer is both instant and continuous (vs4,6).
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- Cain should have learned this lesson, but didn’t… King Saul should have learned
this lesson, but didn’t… Don’t follow in the footsteps of Adam and Eve, pointing
fingers at others and blaming them. Take responsibility!
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- If God cannot birth the burden within us, how will we make an impact in
Omaha Metro? Nehemiah took personal responsibility for the condition of
Jerusalem. He didn’t point a finger, he genuinely repented! Unless you’re willing
to repent yourself, how can you lead others to repentance?
Accept the burden:
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- Nehemiah accepted the burden to repent and intercede for Jerusalem. He also
accepted the burden to DO something about it. The progression looked like this:
repentance leading to intercession leading to divine enablement to take action.
If not now; when?
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If not here; where?
If not you; why not and whom?
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- Did you hear the story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody
and Nobody?
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There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody
would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry
about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do
it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody
blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
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- Nehemiah accepted a God-birthed burden to pray, seeing things through God’s
point of view. He repented and took personal responsibility. He accepted a call
from God to take action and put his faith to work. Will you?
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Peak:
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- Has God birthed something within you? Is there something God has shown you
that He wants you to deal with? Is there a wall of separation that lies in ruins?
Are there gates that are burned with fire?
- Will you look through God’s perspective at your situation and allow a God-
birthed burden to lead you to repentance, intercession, and holy action?
- Turn and pray…
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