Pursue a God-Sized Vision for Your Life (Joe Penner)

Have you ever had a big vision for a project or a big change in

your life that you were hoping to implement?

Maybe you were starting a business, maybe you're

renovating your house or, or starting a, a new fitness goal.

And we, we just began the new year back in January, the

beginning of this month, and many people had fitness goals.

Or maybe you had a spiritual goal, a big vision for how you

were going to grow in your faith this year.

Well, early on in the book of Genesis, we see a people who had

a vision for a massive project to build a city as high as the

heavens. Now, as people begin to

multiply, they begin to be less room.

And so they needed to spread out and and they wanted to prevent

that from happening. They wanted to keep everybody

together in one place. And so they cast a vision.

Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in

the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be

dispersed over the face of the whole earth.

Now, if we look at out on the outside, it doesn't really sound

like that bad of a thing. I mean, isn't it good for us all

to stay together? But the problem was it was in

direct disobedience to God. God had a different vision after

creating man in Genesis 1. God bless them and said to them,

be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.

Then after the flood, he confirmed this again.

God bless Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and

multiply and fill the earth. God had created man in his

image, and he had commanded them to fill the earth, to subdue it,

to bring order, to yield its riches, and to accomplish God's

purposes so that God would be glorified and His glory would

fill the earth. But rather than seeking to

glorify God, the people were seeking to make a name for

themselves. And so God came down and

confused their languages and they were forced to disperse

over the face of the earth. Did you know that you can have

an incredible vision for your life and for your future and be

working against God? When God came down to look at

the city, when he came down to look at the tower, look at what

he says. He says, behold, they are one

people and they all have one language.

And this is only the beginning of what they will do.

Nothing they propose will be impossible for them.

As humans, we can do amazing things when we work together and

yet find ourselves working against God.

And Scripture tells us, unless the Lord builds a house, those

who build it labor in vain. It doesn't matter what you're

seeking to accomplish in your life unless the Lord is working

with you. You are working against Him and

therefore working in vain. What vision do you have for your

future? What are you trying to

accomplish in your life? Are you trying to make a name

for yourself? Are you working with God or

against Him? This morning we are continuing

our sermon series through the book of Nehemiah and we're going

to be encouraged to pursue a God sized vision for your life.

Nehemiah was willing to give up his his little happy version of

his life and what it could be for a God sized vision of what

God was doing in the world. He wasn't concerned about his

own name, his own welfare, making his name great.

He wanted God to be great. And this morning, we're going to

be encouraged to follow his example.

And in order to pursue a God sized vision for your life, you

must seek a God sized opportunity, share a God sized

vision, and submit to a God sized God.

Let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank you for your

word to us. You have given it to us in your

love and Your grace, and we praise you for it.

And we pray, Lord, that it would lead and guide us this morning,

that Your Spirit would be at work in our hearts, in our

lives, drawing us to yourself, that we may know You, that we

may know what you have in store for us.

Lord, would you open our eyes by the power of Your Spirit to

behold wondrous things, to see how a man of God was faithful to

the vision that you laid on his life?

And Lord, would we all be faithful to live for the vision

that you have given to us, that we may seek to bring glory to

You and make Your name great? Would You strengthen us together

to fulfill the calling that you are giving us?

We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. We're going to be picking up in

Nehemiah chapter 2, verses 11 through 20, Nehemiah chapter 2.

Nehemiah 2:11–20 Nehemiah 2 · chapter mention

And at the beginning of this book, what we were introduced to

Nehemiah. Now Nehemiah is an Israelite.

He's he's a cup bearer to the king, King Artaxerxes, who was

the king of Persia. And this is where the Israelites

had been sent into exile because of their disobedience to God.

But at this time, God has allowed a few remnants to go

back. And they are trying to rebuild

what was broken. They're trying to build what was

torn down. And as we begin that story,

Nehemiah's brother comes back and the report isn't good.

Jerusalem lies in ruins. And so Nehemiah spends the next

four months in desperate prayer to God.

And during that time, God gives him a vision, gives him a vision

of what he wants him to do, to return to Jerusalem and rebuild

the wall around Jerusalem. And God confirmed that this was

his vision. As we learned last week from

Pastor Jake's sermon, God confirmed that vision through

King Artaxerxes. He, he shaped his heart to allow

Nehemiah to go back, not only to allow him to go back, but to

write letters so that he could have safe passage through all

the provinces. Not only that, to put to provide

the timber that he was going to use to rebuild the walls.

Not only that, but He also sent him with an army escort.

And in all of these ways God confirmed that He was the one

working behind the scenes. And so we pick up a Nehemiah

Nehemiah 2:11–20

chapter 2, verses 11 through 20. I'll read that portion now.

So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.

Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me, and I told no

one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem.

There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode.

I went out by night to the Valley gate, to the Dragon

Spring, and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of

Jerusalem that were broken down, and its gates that had been

destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the fountain

gate into the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal

that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by

the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and

entered by the Valley gate, and so returned.

And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was

doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the

nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem

lies and ruins with its gates burned.

Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer

suffer derision. And I told them of the hand of

my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that

the king had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up

and build. So they strengthen their hands

for the good work. But when Sandbullat the

Horonite, and Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Gesham the

Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us, and said,

What is this thing you are doing?

Are you rebelling against the king?

Then I replied to them, The God of heaven will make us prosper

and we his servants will arise and build.

But you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.

The first thing that you must do to pursue a God sized vision for

your life is seek a God sized opportunity.

Now remember, Nehemiah was in a pretty good situation.

As cup bearer to the king, he had access to the king, he

probably had wealth and comfort, and as the King's most trusted

servant, he may even have had some influence.

But God interrupts his life, his life, his vision of what life

could be with a God sized opportunity.

And as Nehemiah mourns the situation in Jerusalem, God

begins to put that vision on his heart of what he is calling him

to do. And now he's in Jerusalem and he

seeks out this God size opportunity and we learn from

him as he seeks this opportunity that we should seek God in

secret. Look at verse 12.

Nehemiah says, then I arose in the night.

I have few men with me, and I told no one what my God had put

into my heart to do for Jerusalem.

Later in verse 16, he says the officials did not know where I

had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews,

the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were

to do the work. And so Nehemiah at this point in

time keeps to himself what God is calling him to do.

He is seeking God secretly now. He's been there for a few days

and even as he goes out and takes these few men with him, he

doesn't even tell them what he's doing or what he's planning.

He's still seeking God in secret.

He's still praying and asking God to show him exactly what he

wants to do and how he can begin to strategize to to accomplish

this vision that God is giving him.

The next thing you must do when seeking a God sized opportunity

is seek God in the rubble. Look at verses 13 through 15.

As Nehemiah goes out, he says, I went out by night by the valley

gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected

the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that

had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the fountain

gate into the King's pool, but there was no room for the animal

that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by

the valley and inspected the wall, and turned back and

entered by the valley gate, and so returned.

Nehemiah had heard about the destruction of Jerusalem, but

now he was seeing it first hand. He'd heard about the walls that

were broken down, but now he was walking among the rubble.

In some places they couldn't even walk because it was so

broken down. He heard about the gates that

had been burned with fire, but now he was looking at the

charcoal stained wood and stone with his own eyes.

And after seeing how bad things were first hand, Nehemiah now

understood personally how bad the situation was and how they

could rebuild what had been broken.

Now Nehemiah was seeking this opportunity that God had given

him, this vision that he laid on his heart.

But he was doing it in secret. He was looking in the rubble, in

the brokenness to see how bad things were.

But this is where the God sized opportunity was in 1926, just

just northwest of Los Angeles, CA, the Saint Francis Dam was

completed after two years of construction.

William Mulholland was the manager and the engineer and he

was overseeing the project. And, and as the project was

nearing completion, they began to fill the dam with water and

they noticed some cracks and some leaks and the water was was

getting through in some areas. But.

But Mulholland said, you know what, this is just normal,

normal cracks, normal wear. He wasn't concerned about it.

And so they continued to fill the dam.

On March 7th, 1928, the dam was filled completely for the very

first time. And and Mulholland went around

and inspected everything and he said, I said it's safe, the dam

is good. Five days later, the massive

concrete wall collapsed, sending billions of gallons of water

rushing down the Canyon. 5 towns were completely flooded,

thousands of homes destroyed. More than 450 people were

estimated to have died. After an investigation, they

found that the cracks weren't normal.

They weren't normal wear and tear.

It had actually been determined that the rock underneath the dam

wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of all the concrete.

William Mulholland was cleared of criminal charges, but he

accepted full responsibility of the disaster.

Now his his failure was a failure to take the warning

signs seriously. He wanted to take the easy way

out. He wanted to to do the easy

thing and not have to go back and fix the problem.

And isn't it so tempting for us to do this in our lives?

We see cracks, we see the leaks, we see the damage, we see the

brokenness coming through in our life, and we don't take it

seriously. We don't take the necessary

steps to make change in our life.

Maybe you're convicted that your relationship with the Lord isn't

as good as it should be. You're not spending time in the

Word. You're not spending time praying

a crack. Maybe you've been giving into

sin more frequently and you're and you're beginning to justify

it a little bit more, a leak. Maybe you've allowed bitterness

to creep in to your marriage or a relationship or or with a

fellow believer or a family member.

You, you find yourself getting more angry, less willing to

forgive another crack. These are cracks.

They're leaks in the wall of your life.

And if you ignore them, they will lead to disaster.

But the reason it's so easy to ignore them is because it's hard

to sit in the rubble of your life, isn't it?

It's hard to sit in the brokenness.

It's hard to actually go there and go.

This is the pain that I'm experiencing.

I'm having to confront myself with the damage in my life and

that's not easy. And so we avoided.

It's easier to to pretend it's not there.

It's easier to pretend like, oh, it's not that big of a deal, but

it will lead to disaster. What we need to understand is

that all of these cracks, even though we don't want to go

there, they're God sized opportunities for God to do

something in and through us. But we must be willing to seek

God in secret. We must be willing to sit in the

rubble and to seek Him as He shows us our heart and shows us

our life and shows us what changes we need to make so that

we can bring glory and honor to Him so that He can do what He

wants to do in and through our lives.

It's hard, it's painful. Nehemiah didn't want to see the

disaster. He didn't want to go and and

inspect all the rubble and feel all of the pain, but he knew

that that's what God was going to use to help him rebuild the

wall and cast a vision for the people.

And in the same way, we need to be willing to go to the

brokenness to seek God and what he's trying to do in and through

us. The next thing that you must do

to pursue a God sized vision for your life is share a God sized

vision. Now Nehemiah recognize that this

problem was much bigger than himself.

He was going to need help, help from others and also help from

God. And now is the time for him to

share his vision and to call the people to join him in the effort

and the vision that God has laid on his heart.

And the first reason that Nehemiah shares his God sized

vision is that a God sized vision requires teamwork.

Look at verse 17. Then I said to them, you see the

trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates

burned. Come, let us build the wall of

Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.

Notice first that he says, you see the trouble, you see it.

I don't have to tell you guys how bad it is.

You've been living in this mess. You've been living in it.

You know how bad it is. And then he relates himself to

them. He says you see how bad the

trouble is that we are in. Remember that he came from

Persia and now he came in, but he associates himself with his

people. This is our problem.

Together we are in this mess. Come, let us build the wall

together. This is going to take all of us

working together to rebuild this wall.

It's going to take teamwork. We need to join hands and work

together for what God is doing. It's bigger than any one of us.

And as we rebuild the wall, we'll remove that shame that is

on us right now and instead it will restore our glory.

And he's not concerned about their glory as a people.

What Nehemiah recognizes is that when God's people are receiving

glory and are well thought of, God gets the glory.

Nehemiah is concerned about God's glory.

The second thing that we see is Nehemiah shares his vision is

that a God sized vision requires God.

Look at verse 18. He says I told them of the hand

of my God that was upon me for good and also of the words that

the king had spoken to me and they said let us rise up and

build. So they strengthen their hands

for the good work. And so we see Nehemiah says,

man, you see the problem we're in.

And everybody's like, yeah, no kidding.

Nehemiah, thanks for the update. Hey, let's rebuild the wall.

Oh, that's a good one, Nehemiah. We've never thought of that

before. No, they had tried to rebuild

the wall, but the the stumbling blocks got in the way and they

were hindered by their enemies. And so now Nehemiah shares the

motivation. Hey guys, I want you to hear of

how God has been leading me here.

And what Nehemiah recognizes as as TJ Betts says, is that it was

the Lord who led Nehemiah to his important position as cupbearer.

It was the Lord who orchestrated that Nehemiah would receive the

report he did from his brother concerning Jerusalem.

It was the Lord who heard Nehemiah's prayer.

It was the Lord who gave Nehemiah the opportunity and

courage to reveal his concerns and needs to the king.

It was the Lord who moved in the heart, the King's heart, and

directed his course of action. It was the Lord who provided for

all of Nehemiah's protection and provision to carry out the

mission. And it was the Lord who led

Nehemiah hundreds of miles from Susa back to his home and people

in Jerusalem. Nehemiah gives credit where

credit is due. Moreover, just in case there is

any question, Nehemiah clearly states that all he requests

comes to pass. Nehemiah's grand entrance into

the king, with the King's escort into Jerusalem, makes a strong

statement both to his enemies and to his people.

He comes in strength, not in weakness, all by the hand of

God. This is the vision that the

people catch on to. This is the motivation that

leads them to saying let's do it, Let's rebuild the wall.

Nehemiah calls them not to trust in him, but to trust in God.

He had a vision that was bigger than himself and it was going to

require teamwork and God. Now, if you're into war and

battles and warriors, the Bible does not disappoint.

And one of the greatest warriors in all of the Bible is without a

doubt Samson. Samson single handedly tore a

lion apart with his bare hands. He tied 300 Fox's tails together

with torches to run out into the Philistine fields and burn them

all down. He killed 1000 Philistines with

the jawbone of a donkey. Samson was an incredible

warrior, and the Lord used him in his life to bring relief to

his people in a time when they were oppressed.

But his greatest weakness was that he relied in his own

strength. We know that it was a weakness

because it led him to disobeying God.

He ignored his Nazarite vow, touching the dead body of an

animal. He made impulsive decisions on

many occasions based on pride and revenge.

He used his strength for his own personal glory.

Nowhere is his pride more evident than in his relationship

with Delilah. She begins.

She's bribed by the Philistines to find out the secret of his

strength. And as she begins to try to coax

it out of him, to try to get him to share what his secret of his

strength it is, he continually plays with Flyer.

And he plays this game with her, all the while trusting each and

every time that I'm going to be able to get myself out of this

mess. Until finally he says my

strength comes from my uncut hair.

And so she cuts the hair, and the Philistines capture him in

his pride. Samson thought his strength came

from his hair. His strength came from the Lord.

And because of his pride and his self-reliance, the Lord left

Samson in that moment, allowing him to be captured.

So many times in our life, rather than seeking the help of

others, we're just like Samson. We rely on our own strength, our

own ability. If you don't need others and you

don't need God, that's a pretty good indication that you're

seeking to make a name for yourself.

But on the other hand, if you don't need God or teamwork for

your vision, then your vision is too small.

You may be able to do some things in your own strength and

in your own wisdom, but you will never be able to do what God is

calling you to do on your own. You need to learn to seek a God

sized vision, a God sized vision that requires teamwork.

A God sized vision that requires God.

You need to recognize that God hasn't saved you for yourself.

He's not looking for you just to be an island and do the exactly

just yourself and keep to yourself and do your little

thing. That's not what He saved you

for. He has saved you to be a part of

His people. He has saved you to be a part of

what He is doing in the world. He has saved you to trust in His

plan and be a part of His people.

And So what is God's plan for us today?

Are we called to build a wall, to build a city and and to build

a wall around it to protect ourselves?

No, that's not what God has called us to do.

Has he called us to be a nice little church that that stays

together and keeps to itself? No, that's not what God has

called us to. He has called us to make

disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them

to observe all that I have commanded you.

This is our mandate as a church to bring people in to a loving

relationship with God, because God knows that everything in

this life we seeketh the fulfillment of everything in

this life. But God knows that only

fulfillment can be found in Him. And so he calls us to share that

God is the fulfillment of all that we're seeking to be

satisfied by. And here at LEMC, we believe

that this vision is for God, for us to make disciples.

And that's why one of the things that you'll hear us talk about

if you come here for any length of time is D group, A

discipleship group. D groups.

Discipleship groups are groups of three to five men and women

who meet together for the purpose of growing together in

the Lord. They hold each other accountable

to read God's Word. They share what they're

learning. They memorize Scripture

together. They confess sin to one another.

They pray for one another. This is exactly what Jesus

modelled for us with his disciples, and we believe it's

the most effective way to grow into maturity as a follower of

Christ. And maybe you've been feeling

that prompting in your life that you feel like God is calling you

to grow in your spiritual life. I'm no longer satisfied with you

are the Holy Spirit is nudging you.

You need to grow. You need to be in my word.

You need to grow as a disciple, Brothers and sisters, you can't

do that on your own. You need teamwork.

You need God working through other people to grow you into

maturity as a disciple, and that's a great opportunity for

you to get plugged into a group. Maybe that's joining a group, or

maybe God is calling you to start a group, but we believe

that all of Christ's disciples are to be a part of growing His

church. It isn't just the pastors or the

leaders or a specific group of people that we all have a role

to play in growing one another up into the fullness of Christ.

And if you join one of these groups, I promise you that you

will be amazed at what God will do in you in a year's time.

God is calling us to a vision that is bigger than us and

requires all of us working together, trusting in God.

The next thing that you must do to pursue a God sized vision for

your life is submit to a God sized God.

Nehemiah had found his big opportunity.

He'd found his big vision that came from God.

He knew that it would take teamwork.

He knew that it was going to take God working in and through

them. But what happens when enemies

come? What happens when people begin

attacking the work that you're doing?

You submit to a God sized God. And what we see from Nehemiah's

example is that when your plans are God's plans, they will

succeed. Nehemiah names his enemies that

began to slander them. Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah

the Ammonite servant, Geshem the Arab.

All of these guys, you know, some of them may have partly had

somewhat of an Israelite heritage, but they weren't fully

in. And they've been working against

the Israelites for a while now. And these men come and, and

they've discouraged them from the work.

They slander them as rebelling against the king, but it doesn't

matter what the enemies say, Nehemiah responds in verse 20.

The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants

will arise and build. Remember the Nehemiah?

Nehemiah had waited patiently. He's been praying the last four

months for what the Lord is doing in his heart and in his

life. He is confident.

This is the Lord's vision. This is the Lord's plan.

The Lord is doing this, and so he submits himself to God and he

trusts that God is going to make us prosper because these are His

plans, not mine. The next thing we see from

Nehemiah's example is that when your enemies are God's enemies,

they will fail. These enemies have been trying

to belittle them, trying to discourage them.

What? What do you think you're doing?

Do you actually think you guys are going to be successful?

TJ Betts says more often than not, the Lord calls his people

to do great deeds that are impossible apart from him.

Whenever believers think that they are inadequate to do the

Lord's work, they're correct. The key is to remember that God

is more than adequate and able to carry out His work through

His people when they put their hands to the good work.

Nehemiah understands this, that this is what the Lord has called

them to do, therefore He will make them successful.

But As for their enemies, he says you have no portion or

right or claim in Jerusalem. Nehemiah recognizes that that

they are their enemies, but he says they're God's enemies.

At the end of the day, they're opposed to God and therefore God

is going to cause them to fail. The Lord's people can face

whatever opposition comes because they submit to a God

sized God, a God who is the God of heaven.

He is over all, He is the great and awesome God and he will make

them prosper. Shortly after the Lord had

anointed young David as the next king of Israel by Samuel.

The Philistines gather their army to fight the armies of

Judah of Israel and as these two armies are camped on mountains

opposing one another with a valley in between, the

Philistines send out their secret weapon Goliath.

Goliath standing in at 9 feet 9 inches tall.

He had a a coat of mail, a protective coat that he wore

that weighed 125 lbs. He had a bronze helmet.

He had bronze armor all over his legs.

He had a a bronze javelin strapped to his back.

He had a spear the size of a small telephone pole with a 15

LB spearhead, an Arrowhead on the end of it.

He had a personal shield bearer who went in front of him, who

had a shield that was big enough to to completely protect him.

And you can tell by Goliath trash talk that he's not used to

losing. He dominates everybody that he

comes into battle with. This is the man that the

Philistines were trusting in, which is why they're comfortable

with the threat that he now makes, right?

He throws out this challenge and he says, choose a man to fight

me. Whoever can come down.

If he beats me, then we'll be your servants.

And if he, if I beat him, that you'll be our servants.

They're totally fine with that challenge because who can who

can be Goliath? This is the greatest warrior in

all the world. And this goes on for 40 days.

And all the men of Israel hearing this taunt are terrified

and they run away. That is until one man steps

forward, David, God's anointed king.

This man believes in a God sized God.

Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with

a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to

you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of

Israel, whom you have defied this day.

The Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you

down and cut off your head, And I will give the dead bodies of

the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and

to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know

there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know

that the Lord saves not with sword and spear, for the battle

is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hand.

When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet

David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the

Philistine, and David put his hand in his bag and took out a

stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead.

The stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the

ground. David knew that Goliath was a

great and powerful man, but he knew that his God was greater.

This man was an enemy, defying the one true God of Israel, and

therefore David knew that God was going to give him victory.

Do we have that same mentality as Nehemiah and David?

To trust in our God, to trust in his strength to carry us

through, to give us success? The truth is that when

opposition comes, when enemies come, we usually are scared into

giving up. But if we are sure that we have

a God sized vision, if we sure are sure that God is building

with us, then we must submit to His strength, submit to His

greatness and trust in His power that He is the great and awesome

God who will make our plans, His plans succeed.

TJ Betts says there is such a thing as a holy stubbornness.

It is a resolve to obey God and seek his glory regardless of the

cost and regardless of the difficulties that may come.

Being a faithful follower of Christ is a call to have a stiff

backbone in the face of opposition.

The church needs to be full of believers with the same kind of

dogged determination Nehemiah has.

Whenever the enemy puts up a stiff resistance, it's time for

the people of God to overcome it with a strong willed resistance.

And this is the same holy stubbornness that our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ had. You see, we can learn from

Nehemiah. But ultimately, Nehemiah rebuilt

a wall that just would eventually be destroyed again

anyway, and we're left wanting for a better leader.

Nehemiah was not the promised Messiah.

He was not the promised Savior. Christ came and fulfilled that

role. He fulfilled all of the promises

of God in the Old Testament. And so Nehemiah points us

forward to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Just as Nehemiah came to Jerusalem to mourn the

brokenness of the walls of the shame of the people, so Jesus

came to Jerusalem and mourned the spiritual brokenness of a

people who rejected God. Just as Nehemiah walked around

evaluating the broken walls of the city, so Jesus walked around

the city in the temple evaluating their corrupt

worship. Just as Nehemiah sought to cast

a vision and restore the city and its worship, so Jesus

preached the good news of how people could repent and be

reconciled to God. Just as Nehemiah faced

opposition from the enemies of God, so Jesus faced opposition

from the religious leaders who were enemies of God.

Just as Nehemiah was committed to the vision that God had given

him and trusted God, so Jesus was committed to God's will and

entrusted his life into his hands.

Jesus was willing to give his life to restore what was broken

in us. We didn't need new rules, we

needed new hearts. Because of our sinful nature.

We all desire to pursue a self-centered vision for our

lives. We're all trying to make a name

for ourselves because of our sinful hearts.

But through Christ, through His substitutionary death, trusting

in Him as our Lord and Savior, we receive new hearts.

New hearts, the desire to fulfill a God-given purpose for

our life, to seek to make His name great.

What God size vision does God want to give you?

If you're here this morning and you have not placed your faith

and your hope and your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and

Savior, what are you waiting for?

He is the great and awesome God who has made a way for you to

come into relationship with His Father, to be forgiven, to have

meaning and purpose in your life, to live for the glory of

your of God and not just yourself, to be a part of

something bigger than yourself. But if you're a follower of

Christ this morning, what God sized vision are you called to

fulfill? I would encourage you to seek

God in prayer. Ask Him to open your eyes to the

opportunities around you. That means that you're going to

need to look for the brokenness, look for the cracks, look for

the leaks in your life, in the lives of others.

Share that vision with others. You're going to need the help of

fellow believers, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ

to help you to accomplish what God is trying to do.

These people, these fellow believers, brothers and sisters

in Christ will come alongside you.

They will help you. They will keep you accountable

as you look to God to build His Kingdom.

And lastly, submit to God, submit to His power, submit to

His authority. And no matter what opposition

comes, no matter what obstacles or hurdles the enemy is going to

try to put in your way, trust God.

Trust in His plan and what He is trying to do.

Trust in the God of heaven as you seek to fulfill His vision

for your life, as you seek to bring Him glory and honor.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you once again

for your greatness, that you are a God who is worthy of worship.

You are a God who is above all. You are a God who is just and

holy and righteous. And yet, in Your love, in Your

grace, in your mercy and Your goodness, You have made a way

for us to come alongside what you are doing and to be a part

of building Your Kingdom. Not walls in this life that will

be torn down, not buildings, not making a name for our self, but

making Your name great by making disciples who love you and find

their satisfaction and joy in you.

Oh Lord, would You give us a desire for something so much

greater than this world can offer?

A deep abiding relationship with You, being satisfied in Your

presence. Oh Lord, that we would taste and

see that You are good and long to share that goodness with

others. Would you strengthen us by Your

spirit to build your Kingdom, to make disciples, to find our true

joy and satisfaction as you and you as we look to make your name

great that you may receive glory and honor.

We thank you in Jesus name, Amen.