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Built to Last: God-Given Vision
February 25, 2024 · 52 min
Dr. Jeff Schwarzentraub discusses the significance of receiving a clear vision from God, emphasizing the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ for guidance. Using Nehemiah's story, he illustrates how a God-given vision leads to purposeful living. He outlines five truths about such visions, including the importance of sharing burdens, seeking help, being prepared for obstacles, and trusting in God's provisions and protection. Dr. Schwarzentraub urges the congregation to embrace their burdens, trust in God's faithfulness, and step out in faith towards fulfilling their visions. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church February 25, 2024 · 52 min · BRAVE Church
Dr. Jeff Schwarzentraub discusses the significance of receiving a clear vision from God, emphasizing the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ for guidance. Using Nehemiah's story, he illustrates how a God-given vision leads to purposeful living. He outlines five truths about such visions, including the importance of sharing burdens, seeking help, being prepared for obstacles, and trusting in God's provisions and protection. Dr. Schwarzentraub urges the congregation to embrace their burdens, trust in God's faithfulness, and step out in faith towards fulfilling their visions. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less Dr. Jeff Schwarzentraub discusses the significance of receiving a clear vision from God, emphasizing the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ for guidance. Using Nehemiah's story, he illustrates how a God-given vision leads to purposeful living. He outlines five truths about such visions, including the importance of sharing burdens, seeking help, being prepared for obstacles, and trusting in God's provisions and protection. Dr. Schwarzentraub urges the congregation to embrace their burdens, trust in God's faithfulness, and step out in faith towards fulfilling their visions. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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0:00 Father in heaven, I just thank you so much for your church, for a group of people who have gathered here today to give your son Jesus Christ, the Lord, all the glory that is rightly due his name, and for your Holy Spirit0:10 who indwells all of us who believe and who convicts us of sin, righteous, and judgment of the coming kingdom. Father, we give you praise, glory, and honor for who you are, and we ask, Lord, for you right now to speak0:21 because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are indeed speaking. So our prayer this morning, Lord, is speak for we are ready to hear what you have to0:33 say. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you0:44 agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. This morning, I wanna talk to you about seeing clearly. About seeing clearly. It's important0:56 that we see clearly. I I grew up in the Midwest and very often when I would drive to school in the mornings in the wintertime when it was snowy or iced over and I was parked outside, I learned to have to start my1:08 car about 5 minutes early. And it was good if you waited until the windshield was warm, it could scrape it all off, but not me. I would wait till I got a couple half moons, and I could just barely see out. And that would1:18 give me all I needed to be able to make it to school on time. And I feel like for many of us, that's how we see when it comes to the things of the Lord that we wait and we wait, but we're we're1:30 not seeing clearly. We're we're not letting the Lord unfog the window, so to speak, so that we can see clearly out the windshield of where the Lord is taking us and what he wants us to do. And it's so important that we
1:41 get that message because Jesus Christ is the creator of your life. He's the creator of your soul. He's the 1 who sustains you and gives you life. He wants to be in relationship with you through his death on the
1:53 cross, through his resurrection of the dead. As you repent and believe in Christ, you become a new creation, but he doesn't leave you there. His desire is that you would live for him, And his desire is to
2:05 speak clearly to your heart about the ways in which he's designed you and formed you and fashioned you so that you would be put on mission for his service. And yet, a majority of the Christians that
2:17 I meet would tell me, I have no idea exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. I I hope I'm doing it right. I hope I'm doing the right thing. I I I hope that Jesus is pleased with me. And yet for all of
2:29 us, we know that we're gonna stand before the Lord Jesus Christ to give an account for our lives. So wouldn't it be good to know that you're living on mission? Wouldn't it be good to know that you're seeing clearly?
2:38 Wouldn't it be good to know that you're taking the steps of faith that he wants you to take so that when you do see him, you hear these words, well done, good, and faithful servant. So today as we
2:50 talk about God given vision, I wanna talk to you about 5 truths about God given vision, how he gives it and what you can expect when God gives you vision or clarity for what he wants
3:02 you to do. And to look at that topic this morning, we're gonna be in Nehemiah, the book of Nehemiah chapter 2. And if you're joining us, we're in this series called built to last and how God
3:13 creates what he creates not only for this life, but for the life to come. And God is building things in and through you that will stand the test of time where through your life, you will give him
3:24 glory for the way in which you live. For those who lived righteous, your righteous will shine like the stars. For those who lived unrighteous, God will still get his glory in your life by showing that he indeed
3:36 is the lord of the universe. And as we looked in chapter 1, we learned that Nehemiah got a message. He got it in the month of Chislev, which is really November, December time
3:47 frame, that the walls of Jerusalem had been burned down, that the people of God were a disgrace to all the other nations. And it burdened him so much that he sat down, that he
3:59 wept, that he mourned, that he prayed, and he fasted. And as he began to ask the Lord to remember his word, he said, Lord, your word tells us that if we were disobedient, you would drive us away. That's what you did.
4:11 But your word also said that if we'll return to you in repentance that you will bring us back into the land. Lord, would you please be gracious to us? And then we learned that Nehemiah was the cup bearer to the king,
4:22 which means he served a very important position in that kingdom. He's the chief of staff. He's the head administrator of everything that the king would want, and that's where our story picks up here today in chapter
4:34 2. Notice what it says. And it came about in the month Nissan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes that the wine was before him and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I
4:46 had not been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, why is your faith sad though you are not sick? There is nothing but sadness in your heart.
4:58 Then I was very much afraid. I wanna give you the first truth about God given vision. God given vision starts with an all consuming prayerful burden that can't stay hidden.
5:09 God given vision always starts with an all consuming prayerful burden that can't stay hidden. Now in chapter 2, we're in the month of Nissan. That's 4 months later. That's springtime. That's March,
5:21 April. So for 4 months, what's Nehemiah been doing? For 4 months, he's been doing his duties with diligence. We talked about living a life of excellence. He's still been chief of staff. He's still been
5:33 running the whole house for Artaxerxes. He's been doing everything that the king wants. But in the morning when he wakes up and when he has time away from the king and when he's departing to go to bed in the evening,
5:44 what's he been doing? He's been weeping and mourning and lamenting the fact that what God wants to see from his people is not getting done, and it's
5:55 burdened his heart. God sized vision and God given vision always starts in prayer, and it always starts when you begin to see the world the way that God sees the world.
6:08 When you have a vision for what you wanna see done, that's different than when you link arms with what God sees and what God wants to get done. And it's a burden. It it it becomes this
6:19 weight in your life. It's interesting because in that month of Nissan, when he sets the wine before the king, which was his job to be the the wine taster, making sure all the the
6:31 food was properly tested so that the king couldn't get poisoned. Nehemiah says of himself, now I had not been sad in his presence. From from Nehemiah's perspective, I'm I'm doing my duties. I'm
6:43 happy. I'm joyful. And the reason this is important is his job was to keep the king happy. His job was to make sure the king was really pleased with everything he did and everybody that he
6:55 tasked to do. And so from his perspective, I haven't been sad in his presence, but notice from the king's perspective what he says. So the king said to me, why is your face
7:06 sad though you're not sick? This is nothing but sadness in your heart. Then I was very much afraid. Nehemiah says, I
7:18 was happy in his presence. I didn't let on at all that I was burdened. He never saw anything because I'm just doing my job. But the king, the the 1 who's not a follower of the Lord Jesus
7:30 Christ noticed in him sadness. Now here's what happens when you get a God given burden. When you begin to see the world the way God sees it, there are 2 emotions that you can
7:42 almost certainly sense that you're gonna feel when you begin to look at the world God's way. When you begin to look at the world God's way and say, God, what are you pleased with? Lord, is there anything in this world
7:53 that disappoints you? Is there anything that grieves your heart? Is there anything that saddens you? Is there anything that upsets you? And, Lord, let me have your heart for something that you created me
8:04 for. 2 things are gonna come to your heart as you pray over over a period of time. 1 is either sadness or number 2 could be anger. Because you have to realize that when God looks at the world, the
8:16 world is the Lord's and everything in it. This is God's world even though the enemy and all the media wanna tell you that it's not God's world. It's our world to do with whatever we want. We need to know there's not 1
8:26 square millimeter on this planet that doesn't belong to the Lord Jesus Christ that he doesn't care about. And when you begin to look at the world and you begin to look at it through a biblical theological lens and say,
8:37 alright, God, from your perspective right now, how do you feel about, and we begin to fill in the blank, you're going to get very saddened about some things or you may get very angry about some
8:49 things that you see. And it's everywhere in our culture. I mean, our culture was completely living for the Lord Jesus Christ, in which case you wouldn't feel any of that. Because even when we pray the Lord's prayer, what
9:00 do we pray? Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Lord, you are holy. I'm coming before you because you're the perfect God. You're the 1 that created all things. You're the 1 that sustains all life. Then
9:12 what do we pray? Let your kingdom come. Your your divine rule, the the way you want things to happen, let that come to the earth in the same way
9:24 it's being done in heaven. So, Lord, here's my prayer. Lord, we wanna see earth as a reflection of your perfect holiness and goodness, and we wanna live the way you want us to live until you
9:36 come and redeem this place and we see you face to face. And when you begin to pray that way, you'll realize there's some things in this world that are out of alignment with what God wants. Did you hear what I said?
9:48 There there's not a sector of our society where you could look, where you wouldn't see some things out of alignment with what God wants. And when you get into the presence of the Lord and say, God, give me a
10:00 burden for what you created me for, he will burden your heart with something so strong. You won't be able to hide it. You you won't be able to suppress it. It's that analogy of the the beach ball under the
10:12 water. You could try to hold it down for so long. It's coming up. Nehemiah in his mind was like, I'm happy before the king. I'm just serving the king. The king looks at him like, what's all of the sadness? All I see in
10:22 you is sadness. Why in the world are you so sad? Then he was afraid. Do you know why? Because his job was to keep the king happy at the very risk of his life. And now he's afraid because the 1
10:34 that has authority over his life realizes that he's sad. And there's a time in life where you got to realize who's your authority. Is it the authority of the king over you or is it the
10:46 authority of the king over you? Do you see what I'm saying? And this is where Nehemiah was coming to a place where he was beginning to pray about what he saw broken down. And what he saw broken down in his generation was
10:58 the the wall back in Jerusalem, that it physically was torn down, that the people were a reproach when God had chosen Israel to be a light to all the nations, and now they're a reproach among all the nations. And
11:10 it burdened his heart because it's not what God intended for Israel, and it's not what God wanted, and he's gotta do something about it. It always is going to start with an all consuming prayerful burden that can't stay
11:22 hidden. And if you pray this way, there's going to come a time in your life where you're like, I know this is needed, but who am I? Like, why me? Sometimes when people begin
11:33 to get that burden from the Lord, they get upset with other Christians because they try to bring it to the attention of others that somebody needs to do something about this. Pastor, the church needs to do something
11:45 about this. Friend, you need to do something about this. And they get frustrated because not everybody's as passionate as they are. Do you know why? Because God gave you the burden. Because God wants you to take a step
11:56 of faith to fix it. And you can't put what God's put in your heart on somebody else. You know, for me, when I was 18 years old, I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ in a
12:08 personal real way because somebody shared the gospel with me. And I tell you that they share the gospel with me because when they shared the gospel with me, I told them I already know this. And then they said, I don't
12:19 think you do. And then they began to share with me what the gospel really was, which totally offended me because I said, if what you're saying is true, that means not only am I going to hell, but everybody I hang out
12:29 with is going to hell. They said, then you heard it right. And I was mad because I was a good person and I went to church and I did the right things and but through the
12:41 truth that I was told, it was that week that I repented of my sin and placed my faith and trust in Jesus, and I've been eternally grateful. I'm totally thankful for that because I know it changed my entire eternity.
12:53 And then I begin to pray like when I was in college and God was moving in my life and I wanted to do different things. These burdens begin to burden in my heart for the lost. How many other people don't know that
13:05 truth? How how many other people that go to church are on their way to hell just like you were? How many other people think that when they meet Jesus Christ, they're gonna hear, hey, welcome in. I love you so much. You
13:17 came to church. You got baptized. You gave money. You joined a small group. You served in kids. You did all this. So therefore, I'm gonna let you in. That's what I thought. I didn't realize
13:28 that until I repented of my sin and wanted to turn from it and made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life, that I wasn't a Christian regardless of what I called myself. And I began to get burdened because as I looked around
13:39 and would talk to friends and talk to people that went to church, there are a lot of people that even go to church, let alone those outside the church that don't know the Lord. And then the Lord would take me to
13:48 scriptures like broad is the way and wide is the road that leads to destruction, and many are on it. But narrow is the road and small is the gate that leads to life, and few people find it. And everywhere I begin to read
14:00 the bible, I begin to see that not many people know Jesus. Even though in church we say everybody goes to church knows Jesus, and even those that don't go to church, he's a loving God who'll probably take them too. When
14:10 I would read my bible, I was burdened by the fact that so comparably few knew Jesus, and all eternity started weighing on my shoulders like somebody's gotta do something about this. And all along, the Lord's pointing
14:22 to me, and I was thinking, not me. I mean, I'm gonna live my life. Because here's what we like to do when it comes to vision. We like to build our fortune. We like to build our fortress. We like to build our
14:33 relationships. We like to build our job security, our relationship security, our family security, our marriages, our homes, our political affiliations. Let's build all that. And then if there's still room for Jesus in
14:44 the center, we love him. You know, you can if you could squeeze in, it's great. Just don't mess up my fortress. And that's why we don't see clearly. Because until we hold our lives with open hands and
14:56 say, everything I have is yours and all that I am is for you and you created me. And so, Lord, I wanna love what you love and I wanna hate what you hate and I wanna burden for what you put me on this world to do. And
15:05 since you're my designer and you're the author and you're creator of my life, I wanna be able to stand before you and be able to say with all authenticity, to the best of my ability, knowing I failed multiple times, but
15:15 to the best of my ability, I know that I tried to live my life in a way that was pleasing for you. Right? And that's where most of us get it wrong. Most of us think that vision is something that's out
15:27 there. Vision is something that's in here, and it's been part of you really from when you were conceived. It's how God made you. And if I've I've spent time with you, I could probably figure out what it
15:39 is because you're gonna start speaking about it because that's what happens next. I mean, notice what Nehemiah does. It starts with this all consuming prayerful burden that can't stay hidden. He's not gonna tell the
15:48 king. He's not gonna tell anybody. But notice the second part of God given vision. It grows by publicly sharing what you believe God wants to do through you. God given vision grows by publicly
16:00 sharing what you believe God wants you to do, What I believe God wants me to do. So when he was terrified, he said, I said to the king, he was
16:12 respectful. He said, let the king live forever. I I I honor your kingship, but there's another king in my life I'm gonna honor more because what I'm about ready to say may go against what you want to
16:23 hear. Let the king live forever. He said, why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tomb lies desolate and its gates have been
16:35 consumed by fire. Why wouldn't I be sad? Where I come from, all my ancestry, all my heritage, the the gates are broken down. It's horrible there. I'm completely saddened by it.
16:48 Then the king said to me, what would you request? Like, what do you want? And notice what it says. So I prayed to the God of heaven. Now keep in mind when he says, so I prayed to the God of heaven. This is not the first
16:58 time he prayed. Most people miss this. Like, if God's got a vision for my life, then when it's time, I'll I'll pray. No. No. He he he's praying because he realizes by saying what he's about to say,
17:10 he might lose his very life by saying it. So he's breathing a breath prayer to God. Like, we've been praying for 4 months. You're the 1 that put this burden on my heart. Lord, here it's about to come out. Just protect
17:20 me, God. I mean, that's basically what he's praying. It's not his first prayer. He's been ongoing praying for a period of time. And now he's gonna pray to the God of heaven saying, alright, here it comes. Let these words
17:30 be truthful. Let me say it the way you want them said. And he says this again respectfully. So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king, if it pleased the king and if your servant, that's Nehemiah, that's me,
17:42 has found favor before you, what's he say? Send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it. What's he saying? I'll do
17:54 it. What do you want me to do? He doesn't say, send a a group of dispatched soldiers to build the army for my friends because I love them. He doesn't say, use your resources to go help somebody else. He
18:06 says here, if you would be so kind and if you would really be willing, just let me go and do this because the burden is so strong on my heart. I just can't take it
18:18 anymore. And here's the truth. Once you start speaking about what God's doing on the inside, it just gets bigger and bigger. It just begins to mushroom. It just begins to balloon. Like, it's 1 thing to keep it
18:30 down. I remember when college when I was I would go hear people speak and I would be sitting there. I tried to get up front so I could hear clear because back there is tougher to hear than it is right here. And so I I
18:40 would get close and I wanna hear, but I didn't understand how the word of the Lord worked because I didn't grow up in a church that taught the word of the Lord, and I wasn't told that the word of the Lord speaks to you
18:49 because the word of the Lord is living and active. All I remember thinking is when I was sitting there, like, how did who told them about me? That's what I remember thinking. Like, did did did my campus
19:01 crusade crusade for Christ director go tell them, go talk to Jeff. He's gonna be sitting right down there. Because I felt like they were looking at me talking it. I didn't know how the word of God worked. All I knew is
19:10 every time I was hearing it proclaimed, was, Jeff, go share the gospel. Jeff, give your life to me. Jeff, go share the gospel. Jeff, this is your calling. I didn't know what that even meant. It was just
19:22 consuming and building, and then I started to talk about it. And when I began to talk about it, friends of mine and people in ministry of mine would say, well, that's the Lord. He's calling you to preach. He's calling
19:32 you to I'm like, I didn't even know what a calling to preach was. I didn't I never even heard anything like that. I'm like, what do you mean by that? Like like on Sunday school or something? Like, I'm going to go do my
19:42 job and then I come to church on the weekends and like, no, he's telling you your whole life needs to be that. Now, I don't know how you think, but I know how I used to think. Cause I grew up going
19:54 to a Lutheran grade school and I went to a Methodist church, I was kind of doubly protected. And at the Lutheran grade school I was at, they used have people come from the time I was in kindergarten at the age of 5 and
20:05 they were missionaries. They would talk about what they did. Well, these missionaries were from New Guinea, and they would come, and it was long before the days of PowerPoint. Remember those overhead projectors with
20:14 slides and stuff like that? And then they had slides that they put up on the screen, and they would show these slides and these different things. And it was all of these people that I thought were very poorly dressed,
20:25 like the missionaries themselves, very poor. I mean, even as a 5 year old, I'm like, I don't wanna be like them. And then they were outside around a campfire, and I don't like outdoors, and they were cooking iguana, and
20:37 they were talking about how great it was. And isn't it interesting that even as a 5 year old, knew this. Jesus good. Just don't get too close or you may end up wearing weird clothes in New
20:49 Guinea eating iguana around a fire. Right? And isn't that the heart of many of us as Christians? Like, I love God, and I want what he wants. I just don't wanna go all in with God because if I go all in with God, then
21:00 I'm gonna have to become like this false idea of what I see in somebody else. And here's the truth. God just wants you to be you and go all in with him, and he'll design your whole life the way he's designed you to be.
21:12 That's the joy. So as Nehemiah starts speaking about this, that's why God put Nehemiah on the planet was to go back and rebuild the wall. That's what he was there for. That's what he was doing. That was
21:24 his God given appointment because he was so burdened by it, he couldn't stop. Now I know my wife well enough because I've spent more time talking to her than anybody else. Her burden is for children.
21:36 They can't speak up for themselves. So whether it's the unborn or a young kid that gets abused or what drives my wife up a wall. It's it's her burden. She can't help but just spend all day praying for kids. It's what she
21:46 does. It's her burden. For me, it was the gospel. But I'll tell you this, the more it became the gospel, then it got broader than the gospel. It wasn't just the gospel, then it was church.
21:59 Because the more I started speaking about the gospel, the more I began to think about, well, why didn't I learn this in church? And I'm not saying that it wasn't taught. I'm saying I never heard it. I'm saying I never
22:08 heard an invitation for the gospel. I was never challenged in my sin to repent and trust Jesus. I was just told I was great, which is nice to hear except when it's not true.
22:20 Because my Sunday school teachers told me I was great, and the pastor said that I was great, and my parents thought I was great. And had I died at that time, the only person that wouldn't have thought I was great was
22:30 Jesus because I never repented and trusted him and it burdened me. And then I started thinking about the church, and God began to show me over the course of 15 years as I was having this love hate relationship with the
22:41 church and served on different church staffs and could articulate and point out all the things that are wrong with church. And can I just tell you this? It's easy to point out from a distance what's wrong with anything.
22:54 You can point out what's wrong with church. You can point out what's wrong with your favorite sports teams. You can point out what's wrong with politics. You can point out what's wrong with education. Anybody can point
23:03 out anything. It's more difficult to say, okay, therefore, I'm gonna get in and fix it. I'm gonna be part of the solution rather than just run my mouth. And over 15 years, what I realized as it came to the
23:15 end of myself was was not like I hate church. It was this burden God was putting on my heart. I don't hate church. I love church, and I'm burdened by the fact that so many people that go to church don't get to see the
23:27 Lord Jesus Christ celebrate, don't get to worship his name, don't get to hear the word of God preach, don't get the true gospel. And how many people go to church for their whole life and falsely believe that they're
23:38 converted when they're not converted only to meet Jesus and hear these horrible sickening words, depart from me, you worker of iniquity for I never knew you. That pains me. Well, pastor Jeff, you talk about hell all the
23:49 time. I don't talk about hell all the time. I talk about hell because it's a real
24:03 create you for hell. He created hell for the devil and his angels and for any wicked human being that refused to repent and trust him. And yet so often in churches, so often,
24:03 don't place where real people go every single day. And if you haven't repented of your sin and come to Christ, that's where you're gonna spend your eternity. And I love you so much to tell you that Jesus Christ did not
24:15 nobody tells people about their sin. Nobody tells people to repent. People say, well, you just need to trust Jesus. Keep your sin. Do all your same sinful lifestyle. Just trust Jesus. Friends, the devil
24:27 believes in Jesus. The demons believe in Jesus, and they shutter. It's not about you giving cognitive mental assent to the fact that you believe Jesus died on the cross. It's turning from your sin and giving
24:38 your very life to him in every way that's salvation. Man, I read this to you last week and I felt like I needed to read it again. In case you weren't here last week, this bible verse is an equal
24:50 opportunity offender. But I don't hear people teach this way. And it bothers me in my soul, not because I wanna make you feel bad because I don't wanna make you feel bad.
25:02 But if I were a doctor and you had cancer, I wouldn't be a good doctor if you had cancer and I didn't tell you had cancer. If you had a deadly disease and I didn't tell you because I didn't wanna hurt your feelings, I
25:11 wouldn't be good at what I did. And I wouldn't be a good pastor if I didn't tell you that if you have sin, you're gonna die in your sin and go to hell. I mean, hear this from first Corinthians chapter 6 starting in verse
25:23 9. Or do you not know? Like, friends, are you not aware of this? I mean, you need to make note of this, that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Unrighteous people don't
25:35 inherit it. I've been to so many funerals. I've officiated many from pagan unrighteous people, and everybody thinks their pagan unrighteous friend is going to heaven. Oh, he's up in heaven right now, probably having a
25:46 cocktail. Oh, he's probably playing golf. No. He's in hell all by himself wishing he had repented and trusted Christ. That's reality. Don't be deceived. Unrighteous people don't enter
25:58 the kingdom of heaven. And then he goes and gives a list. It's not exhaustive. He just highlights a few sins. Or do you not know? Neither fornicators. If you're living
26:09 together and you're not marrying, you're not Christian. You're you're not going to heaven. According to the Bible, not me. I take into my kingdom. Nor idolaters, people that put somebody ahead of the
26:21 Lord Jesus Christ, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, practicing lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, gay, queer,
26:33 name the alphabet soup that you wanna name. Anybody that's practicing sex in a way that God didn't design, they're not entering the kingdom of heaven. Neither thieves, people that rob each
26:45 other or the covetous people that are hedonist, pleasure seekers always involved in materialism, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers
26:57 will inherit the kingdom of God. Now why doesn't this get preached? Because people might not come back to your church. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Because what is a good thing is
27:09 the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And even if you leave church, say I'm never coming back here again, the Holy Spirit will continue to pound on your heart saying, that's you. That's you.
27:17 That's you. That's you. You can lie to yourself and say I'm going to heaven because here's the deal. I saw this little tweet this week. I shouldn't have seen it, but I did. About some woman in politics that was, you
27:27 know, talking about Christians and saying, well, there's difference between Christians and Christian nationalists, which there's not. But she was saying, Christian nationalists believe, and it's really dangerous to
27:37 believe that all authority Christian nationalists believe all their authority and moral authority and everything comes from an Almighty God through his word and nothing else. And I said, amen. Then I guess I'm a
27:47 Christian nationalist. There's only 1 kind of Christian that's born again that has repented of their sin and trusted Jesus Christ. They've left their sin, and they've come to him, and they believe in the authority and
27:59 the energy of the word of God. And if that's not you, you can play at plaster whatever name you wanna call yourself, but you're not Christian. Don't be deceived. Nobody like this enters the kingdom of heaven.
28:11 Well, Jeff, I'm mad at you that you wouldn't let people in. I'm not standing at the gate, y'all. I'm not setting the rules of salvation. I'm just proclaiming and telling you the truth that nobody like that gets in. But
28:22 notice this, if you're a believer, you'll see your name in those texts because he says, such were some of you. I see me in those texts. I mean, Jesus said, do not murder,
28:34 but you've heard it said, do not murder. I tell you, if you speak ill of your brother, you've committed murder in your heart. Jesus said, don't commit adultery. If I tell you, look lustfully upon a woman, you've
28:42 committed adultery in your heart. I mean, Jesus points out the commandments in such a way that all of us are sinful and fallen short. So such were some of you, but what happened? But you were washed, you were sanctified,
28:53 but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. That's salvation. Salvation doesn't get mad. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. It's a stumbling
29:04 block. It angers them. But to those of us who are being saved, it's the power of God. Praise God that he showed me my sin. Praise God that he showed me I was dead.
29:16 Praise God that he showed me it wasn't my good works. Praise God. He showed me it's not about my morality. Praise God. He showed me I needed Jesus Christ as my Lord. Praise God. I'm not offended by
29:28 the gospel. I'm proud of the gospel. Amen? And this is what was being birthed in Nehemiah's heart. He had spent 4 months in the presence of God. He had had
29:40 a burden for the wall being burned down, for God's people being a mockery. And it's 1 thing when something in the world bothers you. It's another thing when it bothers you because it bothers God. And you say, who's my
29:50 king? And the more you speak about it, the more real it becomes. And once you speak about it, then you get to number 3 when it becomes that real. And that's this. God given
30:02 vision invites help. It invites help by clearly articulating your needs to accomplish his purposes. It invites help by clearly articulating your needs to accomplish his purposes. Once you've spent
30:14 time with the Lord, if it's really a God given vision or dream or he's birthing something in your heart, then you know this is what I must do and this is what I'm gonna need. And anytime it's a God given vision, you
30:23 can't do it by yourself. You just can't. There's no way. And by the way, I I I don't wanna paint the wrong picture here that there's 1 person that gets a vision and you get a vision and you get a vision. You
30:36 sometimes there's certain people God uses to birth a vision, and then there's hundreds or hundreds of thousands that come along and say, that's my heart too, and I'm in. Right? So you don't have to sit there and be like,
30:45 what's the vision? I don't it's okay. What's burdening you and where do you get involved with where you see God at work doing that thing? Like, this is what happens. Nehemiah is now gonna tell the king what he's actually
30:56 gonna need to get help because he's not just praying. He's ready. He's like, if this happens, if the opportunity presents, I'll give my life to this. Right? I'll go do this.
31:08 Notice what he says in verse 6. Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, so it was king and the queen together. How long will your journey be and when you will you return? So it pleased the king to send me
31:19 and I gave him a definite time. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me for the governors of all the provinces beyond the river that they may allow me to pass through until I come to
31:31 Judah. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress, which is by the temple for the wall of the city and for the house which
31:43 I will go. So what's he tell the king? He's like, hey, if you let me go, I'll I'll go. He's like, okay. Well, what do you need? Like, how long are you gonna be gone? And Nehemiah is like, this is how long I'm gonna be
31:54 gone. I'm gonna need this much time. So what's he asked the king for? Time. This is how much time I'm gonna need. How long is this gonna take? It's gonna take this long. He's thought about how long it's going to take,
32:05 but he doesn't stop there. He's like, and if it please you, okay, I mean, this would be great. If you could write letters so that when I travel through all these foreign areas and countries, I would have your authority
32:17 to go through without being stopped? That'd be great. And, oh, by the way, because we're gonna be building a wall and rebuilding the whole city, if it'd be okay for you to tap Asaph on the shoulder and tell him, we need
32:29 timber, we need all the wood so that we can go do that, that'd be cool too. So what's he not afraid to do? He's not afraid to ask. Many times when God burdens us, we're afraid to ask because we don't wanna
32:41 bother anybody else. I remember when I was in college and God was burning my heart with with ministry. And even after college, I started working for an insurance company. And as I was working for that insurance
32:52 company, there came a day where it was it was overwhelming to me. I can't do this anymore. I can't be in the life insurance business because God's calling me to the life assurance business, and I care more about who's
33:04 gonna meet Jesus alive than I do about how to give money to those who are surviving. And great career, but it wasn't for me because my 3 best appointments I ever had was when we put the life insurance aside. We started
33:15 talking about Jesus. I'm like, I could do this every day. And I remember the day that I quit because I sat down with my supervisor. And we were in his office, and I remember praying before I went in because I've been
33:27 praying for months. And I was to a place where I'd run out of money because I've been kinda waiting to have this conversation. And I was telling him, okay. Lord, don't let him turn the tables on me. I was only 24, I
33:36 think, at the time. And, you know, I just didn't know if I was gonna have the right words and just let me say what I need to say. And I remember going in and he got this stack of books. He's like, you ready? Ready to
33:47 make a run for number 1? And I said, what do you mean? He's like, well, right now, you're number 2 in our company for salesman. And if you up your game just a little bit, you could be the number 1 salesman in our company
33:59 by the end of the sales year. And I said, oh, that's cool. I said, but before we talk about that, I'm quitting today. And so we sat down and began this conversation. And I remember just telling him
34:11 very clearly, I can't be a Christian anymore and not do what Christ is telling me to do. And Christ is telling me that I need to go tell people about him. And he asked a question. He's like, how are you gonna fund that?
34:22 And I said, don't know. Was 19 93. And he said, do you realize that in 5 years you'll be making like 250 to 5 500000 dollars a year? And I said, yeah. But I'll be just as miserable as I am right now if I don't go do what
34:34 Jesus is calling me to do. He's like, how are you gonna get funded? I don't know. He's like, where are you gonna go? I don't know that either, but it feels really, really good for me to tell you that today. And that was
34:45 it. And I was done. I still know that guy. We're still friends. Right? But here's what I knew. There was a burden in my heart that was so big that I couldn't keep doing what I was doing and get to where God wanted me to
34:56 go. And so we had to have that conversation. And for some of us, we've been burdened for a long time by the Lord, but we built our life with all these bricks and all these different things that now there's no way.
35:08 Now here's the truth. If you follow the Lord and go all in with Jesus, he will give you the most abundant life that you can possibly have. And then you begin to ask people for what you need. And so
35:19 now I had to ask people for what I needed because now money had run out in the bank. And now I'm going into ministry. And now the rubber's meeting the road. And I remember I had to raise to go to this training I
35:31 needed. I needed 3500 dollars. At the time, it may have well have been 1000000. I was about 3300 dollars shy of the 3500. I have 200 dollars in my bank account. And I began to talk to some people in ministry
35:43 and they encouraged me. They said, well, Jeff, just write a letter to the Christian people that you know. Tell them what you're doing. Tell them why you feel compelled to do it. Ask them to give to you. And I remember
35:54 thinking, I ain't doing that. There's no way I'm gonna ask them to fund me. I'll go work for them. I'll go earn it. I'm not gonna do that. And they said, well, that's your pride. I said, pride? I said, I wanna
36:06 work for it. That's pride. Why don't you humble yourself? If God's really calling, why don't you ask God's saints to invest in it? Because 2 things will happen. Number 1, it'll be a blessing for them to see what God's
36:17 calling you to do. And number 2, it'll be a blessing to you to see if God's really in it that they're gonna fund what you're doing. So begrudgingly, I wrote a letter, got addresses of my parents' friends and some of my
36:28 friends and sent this thing off. And even as I was dropping in the mailbox praying, I was kinda gulping deep like this is embarrassing and sent it off. Well, wouldn't you know, like the week before I was ready to go, I
36:38 was 200 dollars shy. All this money had come in, blew me away, right? And thank you notes and telling her, but I can't believe that you would do this. 25 dollars, 10 dollars, 50 dollars, hundred dollars. It all came in
36:48 and I was down to 200 dollars and I had 2 guys in my bible study that promised me they would give me 100 dollars each. So I'm like, I'm home. So I drove down to the bible study which was at the campus that I was at 90
36:58 miles away at the University of Illinois for my final 1 with them. And I got there that night and wouldn't you know it, 1 of the 2 guys had promised me 100 dollars didn't show up. And I'm like, do I call him and be like,
37:10 hey, are you coming? You know, and I was like, I I don't know. And so the the Bible study ended. Bible study leader wrote me wrote me a check for 100 dollars and then my friend called and he was like, hey, I forgot
37:21 to come. He goes, I gotta get you that money. I'm like, yeah, don't worry about it. He's no, no, no. I'm coming. So he comes over. He writes a check. And remember, took both checks, put it in my pocket, got in the car,Show more
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