Dr. Charles Stanley: Four
decades ago, we started In Touch Ministries to lead people
worldwide into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Not only is God sending people,
he’s given us the media, the radio, television, shortwave
so that we can get the gospel into every single country in the
world every single day. female announcer:
In Touch Ministries, Celebrating 45 years
of God’s faithfulness. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male announcer: "In Touch"
with Dr. Charles Stanley, celebrating 45 years
of God's faithfulness. Next on "In Touch," "Standing
Tall and Strong Through Prayer." Dr. Charles Stanley: Well, life
presents all kind of problems and sometimes we don't know
how to respond. Sometimes we think, Lord where
are You in the midst of all this? Why don't You do something? And sometimes we think, Well,
Lord if You really and truly love me, You wouldn't
let this happen. Or if You really and truly loved
me You'd show me what to do at this point in my life. So, sometimes we are perplexed. We don't know exactly
what to do. But there is always one thing
that is the right thing to do every single, solitary time. And that's what I want to talk
about in this message. Because here's a passage of
Scripture, then in fact, the whole book is all about
the right thing to do every single time. So, I want you to turn if you
will to the book of Nehemiah. And you think, Well,
that's the prophet. How could that be the right
thing to do every single time? Well, you'll see in a moment. And let me give you a little
background. Well, Nehemiah is a
cupbearer under Artaxerxes who is the king. And he's the cupbearer for him
which means that he has a very responsible position. And one that requires
a great deal of him. In fact, he had to be
rather handsome. He had to know exactly what kind
of wine the king desired. He had to know all the etiquette
of that kind of affair. And he could also be the one
that could tell you whether you could see the king or not. So, why on the one hand they may
have been friends, on the other hand the king was the king. Well, here he'd been there for
some time and his brother and some others come to him from
Jerusalem and say to him, Nehemiah, I want to tell you
what's going on in Jerusalem. The gates are burned and the
walls are broken down and there's chaos and everything
is in just derision. Every direction. There's nothing going on that
we could say is good. Now, a hundred and forty years
before this the Babylonians came in and destroyed the walls
and burned the gates. Killed a lot of people. Took a lot of people captive. Hundred and forty years had gone
by and they still had not rebuilt the walls. So, therefore they were subject
to all kind of enemies who continually harassed them. So, in the process of them
telling him that this is the way he responded beginning in verse
four, this first chapter. "When I heard these words, I sat
down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting
and praying before the God of heaven. I said, 'I beseech You, O Lord
God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the
covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His
commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open
to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying
before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel,
Your servants, confessing the sins of the sins of Israel
which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house
have sinned. We've acted very corruptly
against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the
statutes, nor the ordinances which You have commanded
Your servant Moses. Remember the word which You
commanded Your servant Moses, saying, "If you are unfaithful
I will scatter you among the people; but if you return to Me
and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who
have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens,
I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place
where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell." They are Your servants and Your
people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by
Your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech You, may Your
ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer
of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your
servant successful today and grant him compassion
before this man.' Now, I was the cupbearer
of the king." Well, say, What's that got to do
with knowing exactly what to do every single time? It has a great deal
to do with it. Because here's what you're going
to find in this book, that throughout the book of Nehemiah
every time he comes to a situation or circumstance
that is a problem or a threat, without fail. Or if he's seeking guidance
and direction. Without fail, he is a man
who lived on his knees. That is, he learned the awesome
power of prayer. He learned the most miraculous
things that God would be willing to do in him, through him,
for him, and to him as a result of it. And so, when we think about
that, I think about the principle that is
so evident here. And that is, we stand tallest
and strongest on our knees. And I simply mean by that this,
we make the greatest impact and we experience the greatest power
and energy and strength to face whatever we have to face
in life successfully. Because prayer is that choice
tool that God has given us to reach Him, to speak to Him, to
plead before Him and to receive from Him. And I think one of these
greatest blessings that God has given to us, we take
for granted. Or shall I say we don't go about
it in the right way. But somehow when you look
at what happened in the life of Nehemiah, he knew
how to talk to God. He knew how to approach God. He knew what was
required of that. And we see in this book the
most awesome miracles that took place. So, what I'd like for us to do
is to look at what he had to face and then to look to see
how God worked in his life and brought it all to pass. Now, as we said for a hundred
and forty years these people had been separated from
their loved ones. And not only that, they were
in a terrible position when it came to surviving among
their enemies. And year after year, and time
after time, the marauders would come in, kill people, take what
they wanted and somehow they could do very little about it. It was about fifty thousand
of them at one time. And so they were in chaos. So, when Nehemiah heard what had
happened, he went to prayer. And for four months he fasted
and prayed and sought the Lord's will and direction for
what he should do. The first thing he did as
soon as he heard it, he went to prayer. Now, in those four months
God was doing an awesome work in him. And he felt helpless, of
course, because that was a long ways away. And he was a cupbearer; in fact,
he was a slave to some degree and a prisoner to some
degree because he couldn't just walk away. Besides that, he could not
have had it so good. He had to have wealth to be
in that position. And he had an awesome position
of authority and power being that related to the king. And so--and of course
he was very safe. So, what could he do? And the interesting thing is
that as he began to pray and God began to work in his heart,
something began to happen in his thinking. He began to ask the question,
God what do You want me to do? Is there something that
I can do in all this? And after those four months of
praying and fasting here's what happened. The Scripture says he went
before the king one morning and he was sad. The king said to him,
Why are you so sad? You're not sick. And so, the Bible says at that
moment when the king asked him that, he offered a prayer
to God. He prayed before he responded
to the king. So, now when he hears
a situation that's so bad, he prays. When he's standing before
the king with this awesome opportunity and responsibility
to answer the question, why are you so sad if you're not sick? He said he prayed and he told
the king what the situation was. Not only did he tell him, but
the king said to him, Well, what can I help you do? So, he told him, I've got to
have so much lumber and so many materials and so many supplies. And then of course, we have
to have protection to get all the way to Jerusalem
without being attacked. And so, the king granted him
everything he desired. Now, what a miraculous thing to
happen because he was just a cupbearer. And when he prayed in response
to his brothers' comments about what was going on, prayed before
the king, here's what you'll find all the way through. When he left, and he got to
Jerusalem, he prayed as he sought the Lord's mind and heart
about how to go about this awesome task. And then when he began to talk
to some of the people. And think about this, he just
walked into a situation and he didn't know anybody, I don't
think, at this particular point. And he walked into a situation
where he was going to take charge of things. Well, that wouldn't be
a very popular idea. You mean you're coming over here
to tell us how to operate. So, he had to ask God's
direction and guidance. And then, when he began to talk
to a few people. And so, he surveyed the place
very secretly. And then when he began to talk
to them they began to agree. And then he said,
Let's rise and build this. Spirit of God was upon him. And then it wasn't very long
before the enemies heard and so they began to assault. In fact, they said, Those
weak Jews, what are they going to build? And one of them said, Well, you
know if a fox jumped on the wall they built, the whole wall
would fall down. So, if you've got all this
derision and all this criticism; every time he faced that
what did he do? The Scripture says he
went to prayer. When he, for example, became
very weak and lost some of his strength because he'd been
working so hard, the Bible says that he prayed for God to give
him strength to keep going. When he, for example, was
seeking discernment from God; each time, for example, they
tried to trap him because they hated him. Because he was going to build
the city, he's going to be strong that no more marauding. So, he asked God to give him
direction when they offered to meet with him. God said, No. Every single time they came
after him, he prayed, God protected him every time. When the time came for him to
sort of assemble the people and get some kind of organization
there, he prayed about that. So, everywhere you see
Nehemiah he's on his knees before God and
what's happening? What's happening is this,
he's becoming taller and taller in his influence
among the people. Stronger and stronger as
he faces one obstacle after the other. The same God who was Nehemiah's
God is the same God we have. And so, when you look back now,
here's what happened as a result of this man coming that far and
having to decide what to do and how to do it, in fifty-two days,
that's less than two months. In fifty-two days the Bible says
they completed the wall. Well, how did they do that? Well, first of all, listen, he
didn't grow up in some school that teaches engineering and
construction and all the rest. You know what? He was a cupbearer
before the king. Now, he's explaining to them how
to rebuild the wall and how to rebuild the gates. And not only that, at the same
time he's having to act like a general because he's got
to have a little army. He's got to have some protection
because they keep coming after him. They keep trying to get him
to come down and have a conversation
with them about it. And more than likely he said,
I don't have anything to talk about. You remember what he said? He said, I'm too busy
to come down and talk. And so, he's training these
people how to carry out this construction. He's training the army; how to
have an instrument in this hand to build, instruments in
this hand to fight. And so, in fifty-two days they
build the wall and they build the gates. And not only that, he gets
the--he organizes the people. And then they find the book
of the genealogy of all these people. And how many of them are
true Jews and how many of them are not. And then he finds out that
they're mistreating each other financially. So, he puts a stop
to all of that. Then he discovers for example
that they stopped tithing a long time ago. So, he says, We must tithe. Then he finds out, for example,
that not only have they found the book of the genealogy, but
Ezra who is the high priest at that point there, they
decide to have worship. And they call the
people together. Now, they'd not heard the
reading of the Word in years and years and years
and years. And so, when you read the book
and you realize when they announced that they were going
to have a reading of the Law of Moses, these people stood up
for hours while he read the Law of God. And really what happened in
these fifty-two days and the days that follow, they came from
total chaos, disorganization, to being organized, ready to
fight, ready to defend, rebuild the walls and the gates. And not only that correcting
situations financially, their relationships to each other,
starting to tithe once again and having worship. They had a revival fifty-two
days and a few days and months after that. Now, how did all that happen? One man who decided to live
on his knees became so tall spiritually and so strong not
only in his ability and skill to bring people together. To challenge them, to correct
those things that were not corrected that needed
to be corrected. They were not right. He knew they were not right. He challenged them
at every point. At every point they
could have said, No. They could have said,
What do you mean? We look rebuild all this? We've been trying for years
and it hadn't happened. There was something
about Nehemiah. Listen carefully, there could be
something about you if you have the right relationship to God. That God could use you in the
most awesome fashion if you would allow Him to do it, if you
would believe that He could do it and you'd make yourself
available to let Him do it. We underestimate now, watch
this, not underestimate ourselves, we underestimate
the power of God in us and through us. And Nehemiah's such a perfect
example of what happened. Now, when I think about how he
began, he began as a cupbearer on his knees before God. And God began to work
in his life. So, what I want to do this
morning is simply this, I want to give you a list of things
that are true when you and I begin to pray
seriously before God. And how God can
work in your life. I want you to forget the past. You say, Well, you know at this
point in my life I've done this and I've done--forget
all about the past. What matters is, what do you
want to do and what can you do from this point on? So, think about what we said. That is, we stand the tallest
and we're the strongest in the outreach and the effect and the
impact we have on those around us, facing anything and
everything with strength and confidence when we live
on our knees before God. Now, you say, Well, do you mean
to tell me that I've got to kneel every time I pray? No, but I want you to. Listen carefully, there is
something about kneeling that makes a difference. I know sometimes
people can't kneel. But the truth is, it isn't so
much the kneeling as it is it's praying. It's talking to God. So, I want you to think about
this for a moment because so many people talk to God like,
Well, you know I prayed last night. Or I pray, pray, pray, pray. But how much serious
praying do we do? Do we expect God to do things or
do we just hope He does? There's a lot of difference in
expectation, trust and hope. And God talks about trusting
Him, believing Him, expecting Him to do it. So, think about this for a
moment, when you kneel or when you pray you are to recognize,
this is what we should be doing, we should be recognizing God is
the Sovereign of this universe. That is, that He absolutely
controls all things as He says in that hundred and third
chapter of the Psalms. That He "has established His
throne in the heavens, and His Sovereignty rules over all." Over all things, all times,
all places, everything. Now, listen, if God is not the
Sovereign of the universe why pray to Him? There are a lot of things that
you and I know that appear to be impossible. Why pray to a God if you don't
believe He's Sovereign, in absolute control, and rules all
things, then why talk to Him? So, we have to remember
who we're talking to. He's not "the man upstairs" as
people oftentimes call Him. And oh, art my father, He'll do
this, that, and the other. He's the Sovereign God
of the universe. While He is God and while He is
Sovereign, yes, He is my friend. But, listen, He can be your
friend and my friend but He never ceases to be the Creator
and He never ceases to be the Ruler and He never ceases to be
the Lord and Master. And sometimes we go to
God in prayer, it's like He's just my buddy. God's not my buddy. He's not your buddy. He's the Sovereign God of this
universe; the Creator. And if you'll notice also how He
was addressed by Nehemiah. And it's interesting the way He
was addressed is the same-- he uses the same words, for
example, that Deuteronomy-- when Moses was praying. And the same word that Daniel
used in the ninth chapter of Daniel. And notice what he says. He says, "I beseech You, O Lord
God of heaven, God of heaven," Master, Ruler, reigning. "The great and awesome God." What is he speaking out when he
when he speaks about the great and awesome God? He's talking about His holiness. That God is holy. And I wonder how often we think
about when we pray, I'm a sinful human being; I'm talking
to a Holy God? There's nothing frivolous about
talking to Almighty God. It isn't a joking matter. He's not "the man upstairs." In fact, we're talking to a God
who is so awesome and so holy. That when Isaiah talked about
a glimpse of God he could not stand in the presence
of Holy God. When you read the Book of the
Revelation and you see God upon His throne, we're not talking
about just our buddy, just our Father. While He is our Heavenly Father,
He is the Sovereign of the Universe. We recognize who is
this we're talking to. He's not somebody to be joked
about or to talk to frivolously. He is the Sovereign God
of the universe. And so, he says, "Great
and awesome God." It was this spirit that drove
him to his knees fasting and praying for four solid months. Crying out to God for Jerusalem
but crying out to God what it--did you want me involved
in this in any fashion? And when I see how God began to
use him and how he must have had to deal with this and struggle
with this, well, why have they told me this? What do You want me
to do about this? God put a burden on him. Now, listen, a burden from God
is a heaviness that God places upon someone, first of all, to
get their attention, then to bring something to mind He
wants us to deal with. It could be a burden
because of our sin. It could be a burden because of
something He wants you to do, some place He wants you to go,
someone He wants you to talk to. He was heavily burdened. And so, now he comes before
a Holy God and what happens? The next thing that happens
here, if you'll notice, he begins to confess sin. Not only the sins of
the nation of Israel. And Daniel's prayer sounds
just like this, talking about the sins of the
nation of Israel. But if you'll notice that
Nehemiah, he says, My father, me, my father, we have sinned
against You. We have corrupted ourselves
because of sin. Now, you know the Scripture
there in Psalms rather when he talks about sin in our life. And he says, If I regard it in
my life then He will not hear my prayers. And the other word for that
regard means if I cherish it; if I hold onto it. And usually if you'll think
about it, if you--if there's some sin in your life and you
know it's there and you don't want to give it up,
you do cherish it. You say, Well,
not really cherish. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, those things have
to be big things? No. Anything I cherish, I hold onto
that God has said, Let it go, I'm telling, listen carefully,
you can't get prayers answered holding onto things that are
sinful in the eyes of God. Now, you say, Well, does
that mean that I've got to be perfect? No. But it means this, when God
brings something to our mind it's because He wants
to deal with it. And if He wants to deal with it
He's not going to answer prayer till you allow Him
to deal with it. Nehemiah began right in the
confession of sin; of his own sin, the sins of his father. Here is awesome, holy God, full
of grace, full of mercy, full of love, willing to answer the
needs of your heart. But He, listen, He
wants you to clean up. In other words, He wants
you to clean up. And until you clean up, the
prayers are not going to get answered. You say, Well, you know what?
Here's what I believe. And once in awhile I'll tell
somebody the Word of God says and they'll say, Well,
yeah but that's because you're a preacher. But here's what I believe
and la da da da da. And I want to say to them, Let
me tell you something, it isn't what I believe, it's
what He says. And what you're rejecting
is not what I say. You're rejecting what He says. And you may be one of those
persons who says, Well, I pray all the time and God
answers my prayer. Does He? Is He answering prayer? Not if you're sinning
against Him. He's not answering prayer. Does God do good things even in
the life of an unbeliever? Yes. Paul said, he said, Do you not
know that the goodness of God is for the purpose of leading
you to repentance, to get your attention? But He's not answering prayer. He said He will, If I regard
iniquity in my heart, sin, if I cherish it he says,
God will not hear me. And what I want you to see here
is simply this, that after he recognizes the Sovereignty of
God and after he recognizes the holiness of God, he deals
with this whole issue of sin. Now, watch this carefully,
you listening? Say amen. Purity of heart and the power
of God are linked. They're linked. If you want the power of God
in your life, your life's got to be pure. It doesn't mean that you never
make a mistake and never sin. But, listen, it means this, that
you are sensitive to sin, you're sensitive to what hinders the
power of God in your life and you deal with it right then. If God convicts me for something
and I deal with it right, then I'm not cherishing it. I'm not holding onto it. Willing to deal with it. And so, you come
right down the line. Then what happens is simply
this, when you and I are talking to God and we really mean
business we're going to recognize our inadequacy. What do you think Nehemiah must
have thought when God said, Nehemiah I'm sending you? Up, up, up, wait a minute. Well, wait a minute.
I'm sending you. The first thing he must have
thought was, Well, first of all, who am I? How many times have
we all asked that? Who who am I?
It's what Moses asked. What all of God's servants
have asked. Who am I? And God had to deal with him. And I'm sure he told the Lord
all the reasons he couldn't go. The walls need to be built. Who's going to do that?
I don't know how to do that. The gates are going
to be rebuilt. And in other words, what about
the massive confusion among these people? What about all their enemies? Listen, when God tells you to do
something, remember this, He's not looking
for information. He's not waiting to
find out what to do. God already knows exactly what
to do in every single situation you and I face
with no exception. He knows everything about us. He would never call you to do
something you can't do through His power and His strength. He's the one who created you. He's the one who gave you
abilities, talents, and skill. And so, think about how absurd
this is, you mean, God, you're calling me to do that? Lord, there's no way
I can do that? Is God in--is He in
the mistake business? Does He make a mistake? Oh, would God have to say, Oh,
I thought you were so and so? No.
He wouldn't say that. He knows exactly who we are. And, listen, watch this
carefully, you say, Well, is it a sin to feel inadequate? No, it's not a sin
to feel inadequate. Feeling inadequate is
a part of doing what? Recognizing His awesome power,
His holiness, our sinfulness, and being human beings; how
inadequate we are to do some things that God
may require of us. And so, therefore, He
knows you perfectly. You can't back off from God and
start giving Him information of why you can't do something. Listen to this, if God calls you
to do something, you say, No, no I can't do that. What you're implying is
that God made a mistake. And you're implying that God
doesn't know the situation. And you're implying that God
just doesn't know you like you know yourself. You see, wouldn't you agree
that that's totally absurd? He would never require of you
something He would not enable you to do. That's why He sent
the Holy Spirit. He told the disciples, He said,
You sit down in Jerusalem and you wait here until you be
endued with power from on high. That is, every single believer
from Pentecost to this day, every single person who's
trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior has been invaded
by, indwelt by, empowered by, equipped by the
Holy Spirit of God. So, there's no such thing as a
believer who cannot do what God calls them to do if they're
willing to be obedient to Him. So, this sense of inadequacy was
a part of his feelings and of what he had to go through. But, listen, and I love this,
why does God allow us to be inadequate? To drive us to Himself. The more inadequate
we feel, what? The more we pray. And there's a blessing
in being inadequate. Then I can come to Him and say,
God you know that I cannot do this without you. I must have access to Your
awesome power in my life if I'm going to do this. Why did he stand so tall? Why was he so strong? Why did they follow him? Why did the miraculous
things happen? Because here was one man who'd
been a cupbearer, a slave so to speak, but in
a good position. And now he's being sent to do
something you'd think he couldn't do. But now, watch this, somebody
says, Well, I do feel inadequate. I do believe this is
what God wants. Now, here's the question, do you
think God would call you to do something and then just
just separate you from it? If you want your prayers
answered here's what happens, not only must you acknowledge
your inadequacy after your heart's cleaned up but you must
be willing to be available for God to use you to do it. You say, Oh no, no, no, no, no. Why not? You can't say that God
won't help you do it. I'm not sure how many prayers
God answers if I'm not willing to be an available part of
getting the answer there. And so, he had to deal
with this. He had to deal with the whole
idea of being available. Well, he heard all about it and,
you know, somebody says, Well, I can just pray. I'm not sure those prayers even
reach anywhere close to the ceiling if I have withdrawn
myself to say, I will pray, and let them do it. I may not be able to do very
many things in life. But the issue is this, am I
willing to do whatever He requires of me? I may fail. I may make mistakes. I make mistakes even now. And you know what? If you ever get to the place
that you think you can't make any or you won't do anything
because you're afraid, you will make some, you'll
never do anything. It's a matter of making
ourselves available. God here I am, whatever there is
of me that You can use I'm offering myself. And let me ask you a question,
since He died on the cross and paid sin's debt, your sin debt
for you, do you have a right to tell Him what you will
or will not do? Listen, He crucified
His own Son. He gave you the faith to believe
in Him and to trust Him. He's forgiven you of your sins. He's written your name in
the Lamb's Book of Life. He's equipped you with
the Holy Spirit. He enables you to live. He enables you to see, enables
you to hear, enables you to speak, enables you to walk,
make the limbs work, and everything else. That is, you owe Him everything. How could you ever say to Him,
No, I will not do it? If you'll think about it,
it's totally absurd. You've got to be out in left
field not even thinking that you can tell Holy, Righteous,
Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Awesome God of
what you will, and what you will not do. And yet people say, Yeah,
but you don't know me. I don't have to know you. God knows you. And I would ask you this
question again, would God call you to do something that you
cannot do in His strength and in His power? No, He would not. That would be out of
keeping with who God is. And so, Nehemiah had to come
to the place, If that's what You want to do, God
I'm willing to do it. Now, it's interesting that
every time Nehemiah got in the position to figure out something
he went to prayer to ask God to show him what to do and
to show him how to do it. And every single time he did,
what did God do? He did exactly what he required. And that is, whatever he needed
to understand God was there to show him. Now, think about this, God loves
every single one of us. Watch this, He loves every
single one of us the same when it comes to being willing
to show us what His will is for our life. And, you know, I think about
all of you college students out there who are going to college,
spending your parent's hard-earned money. I wanted to put that in there. Hard-earned money and you
don't have the slightest idea of what you're going
to do with your life. Your life belongs to God
by the way. Listen, it is a sin against God
that you have not sought His mind and His will and His way
and His purpose and His plan for your life. Before you get to the fourth
year and you're coming up to graduation and what happens? You can't even get a job. Do you mean that you believe God
would supply all of that and not have anything in mind? That now you just go out there
and find yourself a job. You say, Well, I'm not talking
about people who've lost their jobs. I'm talking about people who are
in school and going to school and spending money and investing
money and fighting for your faith oftentimes and coming down
and never thinking. Listen, you have the Counselor. You have access to the Counselor
who created you; who knows how He's equipped you. He has gifted you to do
certain things. He is more than willing to show
you how to invest your life. The question is, are you
willing to ask Him? He's a God who cares; who is
willing to show you exactly what to do. When you kneel in prayer,
remember this also, when you kneel in prayer you and I have
the privilege of experiencing, watch this, experiencing divine
power, Holy Spirit power, enabling power. He doesn't give power like you
and I would dish out pennies. Whatever you need God will
overflow in your life to enable you to do it. There's no such thing
as a nobody. There's no such thing
as a useless person. And I would say whoever you are,
God has a place for you. If you will cry out to God, your
God will hear, and answer your prayer. Because He does not want you
wasting time and influence and the impact that you can have. And so, when I look to see what
happened in Nehemiah's life. He felt all of these things,
but also, he experienced the power of God. Listen, He wants you to look at
yourself in the light of who God sees you, the potential you
have, what you can do. Not in your own strength but as
we said over and over and over again, this same message. In the power of the Spirit of
God we, listen, we stand the tallest and our influence is the
greatest and we experience the most power in our life and
energy and strength to face any and every situation
on our knees. That is the key, that is the
source, that's the direction, that's God plan, and there'll
never be any plan better than that. Now, the question is, well,
so--well, you say, Well, what am I supposed to do about it? You're supposed to start by
getting on your knees and asking God to forgive you, first of
all, for forgetting that He is the Lord and Master
and the Sovereign. And acknowledge that He's
absolutely holy. Listen, willing to give us a new
beginning, a new start and to enable us to become the persons
He wants us to be. And when I think about all
the things that Nehemiah accomplished, was it
because of his education? No.
What was it? It was because he had developed
this relationship with the Father that he would trust Him. But see, he had to keep his
heart clean, recognize his inadequacy, make
himself available. And then to know that he could
get God's vision and God's direction. And that God would enable him
by His Spirit to accomplish whatever He called him to do. If God said to you today, I will
enable you to do whatever you want to do in life. What would that be? If He just gave you a choice,
what would it be? To some degree we have a choice,
not totally. But we have a choice
to some degree. But if you could do anything in
the world from this point on in your life, if you could do
anything in the world you wanted to do, what would you do? If you could be anything in
the world you wanted to be, what would you be? If you answer those two
questions you'd tell a whole lot about yourself. Well, you know you don't have to
answer that question because God knows all about it. The issue is this, think about
it, you have this awesome privilege as a child of God to
get on your knees before Him and talk to the Sovereign Ruler and
Creator of this entire universe. Who will never make a mistake,
who will never mislead you, never misinform you,
and never fail you. You have that privilege. Now, the question is this,
what are you willing to do? Are you willing to say to Him,
Lord, I don't feel very adequate but I'll do whatever You
tell me to do? Lord I realize I don't have the
education some people have and I don't have the experience. And some people are so gifted,
God, they can take their hands and build this, do that. I don't have any of that, Lord,
but I'm willing to do whatever You want me to do. Don't think I'd be very good at
teaching someone else but Lord I'm willing to do whatever
You want me to do. Let me ask you a question, do
you have the right to withhold yourself from Sovereign God of
this universe, who created you and has committed Himself to
live in you for all eternity and enable you to face every single
circumstance confidently? Do you have a right to withhold
yourself from Him? Well, let me just put it this
way, having listened to this message and heard the truth,
just been telling you what God says you're going to have
to deal with it. Some of you are very gifted and
talented and skilled but you never thought about serving God. You just think about, Well, I'll
do whatever I can do in life. You need to ask Him to show you. He has an investment in you. You know what the biggest
investment He has in you? Look at the cross. That's His greatest investment. He sent His Son Jesus to the
cross to die for your sins and mine; to make it possible for us
to have our sins forgiven and to have a personal, intimate
relationship with this awesome God. And not only that but to be
indwelt by His Spirit. And then to be used by God. Do you have a right to
withhold yourself from Him? No. Then my question is, what are
you going to do about it? Oh, I'll think about it. No, no, no, no, no. You've got to do more than think
about it because you know what happens? You and I are responsible
for what we hear. We're responsible for what we
hear and how we respond to it. Whoever you are you can never
tell God, But God I didn't know. You know it's beginning
right now. You know that Christ died
for you. You know that you can be saved
from all of your sins. You know that when you
are, He'll live inside of you and enable you to face every
circumstance in life. He will use you to bring Him
glory and honor. You can never say, I never
heard, and I didn't know that. And today here's what you've
heard, simple truth. God is Sovereign. He's the Creator of all things. You are here in existence by
His grace and good kindness toward you. And not only that, He is this
awesome God who loves you unconditionally and who
wants and desires to use you. And who knows what you're
able to do and what you're equipped to do. He knows everything
there is about you. And He loves you and He's
willing to take you right where you are; forgive you, cleanse
you, indwell you with the Holy Spirit and then use you
in the most awesome fashion if you'll let Him do it. That's the truth of the Word of
God from Genesis to Revelation. And now that you've heard it,
you're responsible. If you came this morning and you
wanted to leave without any conviction, I'm sorry. You can't do that. Because you have
to face the truth. And you remember
what Jesus said? Listen, He said, "And you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Set you free. You want to be free? Ask the Lord Jesus Christ
into your life. Surrender your life to Him and
then, listen, it's this awesome, exciting journey. Now that God and I are working
hand-in-hand, God, what can You--what will You do in my life
now that we're partners in this life? Then I want to say
one last thing. I think about this, I think
about people who come to the end of their life. And let's say you had one week
to live and you knew that was it. And in this last week
you have time to think. And you think about the fact
that you've never really done anything for God. Now, we forget the preacher,
it's not--we're not talking about that. Last week of your life and you
think all of a sudden you're getting ready to meet God and
you're going to heaven. Let's say that
you're a believer. You can't name one single person
that you're going to meet in heaven because you told them
about Jesus, not a one. Think about that. In all your years that you've
lived, you're going to come to the end of the way and
you will not be able to point out anybody. You won't meet anybody in heaven
that got there because you led them to Christ. Then think about this, you
come to the end of life and you think, What's
my life been like? What's it been about? Oh, it's been about money
and about this and that and so forth. And you can't name one thing
that you have done as an act of obedience to the Living God
who has equipped you to do anything and everything
that He wants you to do. But you filled your life with
things and people and events and circumstances and actions. But God was absent
from the whole thing. And now you're getting
ready to meet Him. What are you going to say to
Holy God who is not only a God of love but a God of judgment? What are you going to say to Him
about a life that you lived apart from Him? When I think about that,
I quiver on the inside. And yet that's exactly the way
many people are going to die. Father, how grateful we are
for grace, love, mercy, and kindness. And I pray that every single
person who hears this message will at least be wise enough to
stop and consider that they've heard the truth. That it's inescapable and one
day they'll have to face it. Grant them the wisdom dear God
to fall upon their face before You confessing and repenting
of sin and receiving Jesus as their Savior. And offering themselves
as a vessel. And Lord, they may feel like
that they're just a nobody, but remind them You
don't make nobodies. And that they're valuable
in Your sight. Oh God, may every viewer, every
hearer take this seriously; is my prayer in
Jesus's name, amen. ♪♪♪
