Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] And let me pray, and we'll get into it today. Father, we love you. We thank you for this season, for today, for what you're doing in each of our lives, Lord, and what you're doing in our church. And, Father, I pray you would just bless it. And I pray you would bless us with faith to just walk with you and to draw near to you and to see more of your greatness and your wisdom and goodness on our lives. And I ask this in the great name of Jesus. Amen.
[00:00:35] Amen. Well, I wanna just talk to you about, like, one of the biggest sports upsets in all of history. And many of you will know this, but it was a 1990 boxing match.
[00:00:50] Mike Tyson at the time was, like, you know, considered absolutely invincible.
[00:00:58] No one stood a chance. Every fight was like a highlight reel, and he was in Tokyo, and he was gonna fight, who knows? Buster Douglas, right? Yeah. And Buster Douglas was kind of like, he was just supposed to be another highlight reel. Like, Tyson's gonna whoop him and a round or two, and that's gonna be that. And Tyson didn't take the fight very seriously, and Buster Douglas did. And in 10 rounds, he shocked the world, and he knocked him out. And it was just absolutely unexpected. Many say one of the biggest upsets in sports history. And what's really interesting about that story is what happened to Buster Douglas after.
[00:01:44] And so after he won this incredible, unexpected victory, he. He then eight months later, went to defend his belt against Evander Holyfield, and he showed up out of shape, sluggish. Like, everybody was like, did this guy even try? And he got knocked out in the third round. And then a little more time after that, he ended up gaining so much weight, he got up to £400, and he went into a coma that almost killed him. And it's a pretty wild story, but I think there's something that people have said about it that I think is really helpful to think about it. And they said that he didn't have a plan to succeed.
[00:02:34] It was like this victory happened, but then he had no way of thinking about his life. Like, okay, what happens if I get the belt and I live in this opportunity and this pressure and all the things that go with kind of. That kind of achievement. And he kind of never had a plan to say, all right, what if this works out?
[00:02:59] What if I succeed? Then what? Okay, I win the belt, but then what? And because of that, you know, everything kind of became unraveled. And I thought, that's an interesting thought, because how many times in Life. Is it so easy to just think about everything that could go wrong? And anybody kind of worst case scenario thinkers like you always got, yeah, you got some plans. You're like, all right, well, you have your. Like, at the very least, I could do this right. And you sort of have some of that mapped out. If things go bad.
[00:03:37] Any. I don't wanna make you raise your hand, but any, like, doomsday preppers, you're like, I got a bunker in back. That's how serious I got dried food for six years.
[00:03:50] If that's you, we'll pray for you. You know, it's planning there.
[00:03:55] And I think many times in life, we're very accustomed to looking at life and into trying to plan and to gauge what if things go wrong? And there is some value in that, right? I mean, we have to do some level of that. But how many times in life do we ask ourselves, what if things go right?
[00:04:17] Then? What if things go right? Or think about it this way. What if God answers your prayers?
[00:04:26] Then what?
[00:04:28] Then what do you. What if God gives you what you're asking for and you're like, all right, Lord, please, please, Father, I want to get married. Bring the perfect person.
[00:04:39] And then he does. And then you're like, okay, now what I do well, brother, sister, you got a journey ahead. All right? And you better be thinking about that now. That'll help you out. Amen.
[00:04:53] Lord, give me a. I want a family more than anything. Okay, then what? Cause you better be thinking about that now. That will help you. Amen.
[00:05:05] Lord, give me this great job that. Okay, the Lord does, then what?
[00:05:10] And I think that so often in life we're afraid to think about what could go right because we're afraid to get expectation up. And then we don't want those expectations to be let down. But here's the problem is I think it ends up making us unprepared for some of the blessings that God wants to give us. And today I wanna ask you to take this question home with you and to think about, what if things do go right?
[00:05:41] What if God does move in my life in this season? What would that look like? And kind of where we're at as a church is we've been asking those types of questions. What if God wants to continue to use us?
[00:05:58] What if God has all kinds of families and students and kids that he wants to know Jesus Christ and to love him and to serve him, and he wants to use us to do it? What if God's plans are more. And how can we get ready for that. And when we look at the Book of Nehemiah, I think Nehemiah shows us how to prepare for that and that way of thinking. So last week we looked at Nehemiah, chapter one, and today we're gonna look at Nehemiah, chapter two. So I'm gonna read to you the first eight verses. Here we go. It says this in the month of Nisan. See, the Bible will tell you what car you should buy, too. You know, that's such a bad pastor joke, but I can't resist those.
[00:06:52] In the Book of Acts, it says they were all in one Accord, So Nissan, Honda. Anyway, in the. Yeah, Honda Accord, yeah.
[00:07:03] But the month actually does matter here. So when in chapter one, it was a different month, it was actually four months earlier. So four months has transpired between chapter one and chapter two. And in fact, this month would have most likely been kind of the new year. And what we're gonna see is kind of like a new year celebration is probably what this scene is that we're looking at. So in the month of. It's actually Nisan, but it's funnier to say Nisan. Anyway, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and I gave it to the king. And remember, this book is named Nehemiah. Cause he's the main character, and he is a cupbearer to the king. So part of what he does is literally bring the king wine. It's a bigger role than that. But at this point, he brought the king wine, gave it to the king, and it says this now. I had not been sad in his presence.
[00:08:03] Because when the king wants to have a good time, you better not be Debbie Downer in the room. Right? It's not gonna go well for you. King's gonna, like, off with his head. Bring me someone that has a smile on their face, you know? So Nehemiah said I hadn't been sad in his presence. That just doesn't work in this role. And the king said to me, why is your face sad?
[00:08:26] Seeing you are not sick, Nehemiah. I know you're healthy, you're fine.
[00:08:35] Why are you sad? What's wrong with you? Do you have any people in your life that, you know, their face really speaks, even when they don't intend it to? You know, like, hey, are you happy right now? Yeah, I'm super happy. Well, tell your face. You got, you know, that kind of. This is sort of what's happening with Nehemiah. Nehemiah what's wrong? Cause your face is obvious. You're sad. You're not sick. And the king says, and this is nothing but sadness of the heart. In other words, he knows enough about Nehemiah to say, something is really going on with you. And you know once you get to know someone, you sense that, right? You're like, look, no, something's happening here under the surface. What's really going on? Obviously, the king knew Nehemiah enough to realize, like, dude, this is just a bad day. Like, there's something deeper happening in you. And then look at this. And then I was very much afraid.
[00:09:42] I love this line. I love how vulnerable and real Nehemiah is. Here's this moment, I'm getting called out before the king.
[00:09:52] Like, obviously, I'm so upset, I can't really control it. And then I was afraid because how's the king going to respond? And what do I say?
[00:10:02] Do I just say, sorry, boss, I'm fine?
[00:10:11] Isn't that a pretty smile right there?
[00:10:17] It's good.
[00:10:19] And keep moving and going about his day. Like, does he do that? Cause that would make a lot of sense. Like, all right, shake out of it. I got a role to do. The king's recognize it. But look what happens. Verse 3. I said to the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire church. Nehemiah goes for it in this moment.
[00:10:50] This is a risky thing to do. He says, look, you really want to know why I'm sad? I'm sad because of what has happened to the place of my ancestors.
[00:11:02] And, you know, here's the deal, too. It's happened under this king's watch and a little bit by his decree. What we read in the Book of Ezra is that the king actually said, that place cannot be rebuilt because these people are troublemakers. And I got enough problems. I don't need this whole place being rebuilt and then them starting a rebellion against me. So Nehemiah was. He's playing a little dangerous game here, but he put it out there. But then look at this. Then the king said to me, what are you requesting now? It takes a really cool turn. The king actually isn't angry. He isn't demeaning to him. He says, what do you want me to do for you? Essentially, this is best case scenario. So I prayed to the God of heaven, Good move.
[00:11:57] Amen. All right, Lord. Okay, the stakes are high right now, Father. What do I do. What do I need? What do I say? Help me. Be with me. And I think that's part of what I love about Nehemiah. Man is just. Prayer is just such a part of his life. I prayed to the God of heaven and I said, look at this. If it pleases a king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, then send me to Judah. That is the place of his ancestors, to the city of my father's graves that I may rebuild it.
[00:12:30] Now, I just want you to see, he is asking the king to reverse his policy here. Okay? This is a big ask. He's saying, I know your policy has been, this can't be rebuilt. And in this moment, he's seizing this moment, and he's saying, would you change your policy?
[00:12:54] Hey, boss, I know we only get four weeks vacation at this place.
[00:13:00] I read it in the employee handbook. Could you give me 12? You know, these are.
[00:13:06] It's that type of conversation, but on steroids.
[00:13:11] And so he says, so the king said to me, how long will you be gone and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. And I just want you to see here, he was able to give him a time because he had thought about what happens if I ask the king. And he says, yes, you with me on this? He had a plan for success.
[00:13:37] He had a plan of what he would do if God answered his prayer. You see this? And then the king's like, okay, you've thought about this a little bit. And then look at this. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given to me to the governors of the province beyond the river that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah. A letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's force that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I asked for. The good hand of my God was upon me. All right, I just wanna break down this ass for one second. Number one, reverse your policy.
[00:14:26] Number two, give me protection on this journey. Number three, would you fund the whole thing?
[00:14:37] Church, that's bold. Amen. Like, dude, holy cow. And I like how, like Nehemiah, like, he kind of keeps upping the ante. He's like, well, I'm in this far. Might as well, you know what I'm saying? Kind of almost like, all right, he hasn't Killed me yet I might as well. And sure enough, the king says yes. But Nehemiah says, but you know what? You know who really said yes? Was God. That God's hand was upon me. And that's why this went down. Now, today, I just wanna talk about two really important things from this because this story is so insightful for our lives and it's so insightful for this time in our church. Number one, I wanna talk about recognizing defining moments.
[00:15:24] There are defining moments in our lives and I wanna talk about recognizing them and then I wanna talk about acting on them. And I think Nehemiah does both of these really, really well. Recognize the moments and act on them. So let's talk about the first one, Recognizing the defining moments. Here's one of the problems in life is sometimes the really important moments that move things in our life sometimes we recognize them too late.
[00:15:59] You with me on this? Sometimes you recognize them in hindsight and you're like, oh, that was a key moment. And that stinks, doesn't it?
[00:16:13] But, you know, we've all done it. And we'll all look back at parts of our life and be like, man, I didn't realize what I should have done. Or I did this and said, and that's part of life, friends. And the one thing I will say about that is the blessing of those moments when you miss them. And I've swung and missed as much as anyone here in this room, but probably more. All right. When you miss them, you also realize how precious they really are. You with me? And so the blessing of that is that you begin to realize that ultimately these moments matter and should be taken serious. And the thing I would say today as you think about defining moments in your life and my life is that God's purpose for your life is not fragile.
[00:17:11] What it means if you miss them it doesn't mean everything's gone. It doesn't mean that God still can't move things forward and bring his blessing and accomplish his purpose through you. You with me? His purpose for your life isn't that fragile.
[00:17:32] And so I just hope that encourages you. So it's better to recognize these moments in the moment than after the moment. You with me? And this is exactly what Nehemiah does.
[00:17:47] He prays in chapter one, and we saw that. And he said, God, bless this conversation that I'm gonna have with the king. And in chapter one, he says, bless this conversation today.
[00:18:04] And we get to chapter two and four months have gone by, say, God, I'm asking for you to do this Today and then four months.
[00:18:16] Have you ever had to wait on God's timing in your life?
[00:18:23] Have you ever had to go through those times where you asked God, you trusted God for something, but then just time elapsed? That's actually a very normal and healthy experience, because behind the waiting, God is always preparing things in us and things around us. I want to show you a picture from. This is from 2018.
[00:18:53] There it is.
[00:18:54] Do you recognize any of those people? I don't. I don't want to hear hair jokes right now. All right.
[00:19:02] But that's me and Allie Ser Burger from Columbia Station. That other guy, he was a homeless guy we found, and we gave him a shirt and Taco Bell Bell and, you know, and we prayed for him. But real nice guy. I think he was a Buddhist or something. I'm not sure.
[00:19:26] Just kidding. That's Minister Anderson from our old Brooklyn campus. But this was in 2018. And behind us is the land that we're going to be building on that we purchased in 2020.
[00:19:42] Now, this was in 2018. And I wanna show you this picture because at that time, we just had this sense to, like, really dream and think about the future that God has for our church. And we were just, like. Just felt very strongly that we needed to, like, explore and look. And we did. And we kind of looked around. We just felt like God had something different for us. Even though, you know, it didn't all make sense in our minds, but we just felt like this is something God has for us. And so we went. And eventually we came to that land and we felt like, man, this seems like the place God has for us. And in 2018, there's, like, you know, sewer issues and things like that. So, like, we work through those things. We're like, yeah, I think this is like a home that God wants to give us down the road. And we went through that. And then this little thing happened in 2020. Probably haven't heard of it. It was called COVID 19.
[00:20:45] And it was like everything.
[00:20:49] Like, it was the brakes. You slammed on the brakes and you threw the car in reverse. You know what I'm saying? That's kind of what it felt like. And. And it was interesting because it was like, man, we were just kind of beginning to take those steps, and all of a sudden when Covid happened, we were just in crisis and survival mode as a church. And it was just like, how do we do this? What does this look like? How do we keep going?
[00:21:17] And then from 2020 till today, God has just blessed and strengthened and built our church.
[00:21:26] And all that time, I believe God has just prepared us and given us a stronger and better foundation for the future that he has for us. Nehemiah waited four months. We waited, like five years. Who's counting?
[00:21:47] But in these times, God has done some special stuff. But what we have to realize is that when God brings these opportunities, these opportunities are always a mix of uncertainty and challenge.
[00:22:05] And they're rarely packaged the way you think and expect them to be. See, I bet when Nehemiah prayed that prayer, he did not think his opportunity to talk to the king would look like this. Nehemiah, what's wrong with your face?
[00:22:23] Nothing, boss. I mean, I know I'm not the best looking guy, but that's kind of offensive, you know? Nehemiah, what's your like? I cannot imagine in all the ways he envisioned this conversation. I doubt this conversation looked this way in his mind. You with me? And when God moves in your life, it's probably not gonna look the way you think it will look. It's probably even gonna look in ways that seem challenging and risky. And guess what? Here's the most important thing. And in ways that make you afraid.
[00:22:56] Church. Here's what you need to know.
[00:22:59] I don't think you can serve God without fear.
[00:23:04] You with me on this? I think if you really want to serve God, then. Then you have to establish a new relationship with fear. And you have to realize that the fear's not gonna go away. But do you know what Nehemiah said? I was greatly afraid. This is what's so incredible about this chapter. I was greatly afraid. And then. Do you know what it says? And then he said. And I said I was afraid, but I did it anyway. You with me? That. That's what happens in Nehemiah 2. If you're waiting to serve God and you're like, I'll serve God, like, once there's no fear, there's no risk. Well, guess what? That day's never gonna come.
[00:23:49] And it shouldn't come. It shouldn't. Because you're meant to rely on him and trust in him as you go through it. If it is small enough that you can do it on your own, in your own strength, it may not actually be God's calling in your life. You with me? Nehemiah was afraid. He did it and he's praying through it. Right? And what is he praying? We don't get his prayer, but I guarantee it involved God help me.
[00:24:24] I bet those words were present in there, like, God, I'm Trusting this to you. Guide me, be with me. I bet there was a real sense of dependence in that moment and in our lives. If we wanna serve God, fear is always gonna be there. But do you know what the antidote to it is? Is action.
[00:24:46] That's it. It's as simple as that. You just take the next right step.
[00:24:53] This moment comes and Nehemiah sees it.
[00:24:58] This is the prayer that he's been praying, and God answers it. And church. When I look at this moment in our church, this is what we've been praying for.
[00:25:10] And many of you, you've been there. Many of you, you've been out on that land. And we've prayed. We said, God, would you bless? Since 2018, we started praying around this. Lord, could you use us? We know that there are so many people who need the goodness of Jesus. And we believe in the decades to come, you can use us, Lord. And we can have a generational impact. And, Father, we can have a place that can serve them.
[00:25:39] And we've prayed and we've asked God and we've had moments where, you know, another church was interested in buying our building and it fell through. And we prayed about that. And then this opportunity where new community came to and, you know, confirmed to buy it. We prayed through that. Just everything we've prayed for, God has brought us to this defining moment. Many of you know, we were praying and looking for rental. Where can we go in the interim? Just trying to figure out, you know, it's kind of like we're in the season where we're building the bridge as we walk on it as a church. And I'll tell you what, that's not always the easiest journey. You with me? And guess what? There's fear all through it. There is, but that's the way I think God intends it. And we can't serve him without it. There's a great quote by Michelle Poehler. She has a whole book about fear, which is kind of cool. But she says this to me. Fear also used to be a sign of something bad approaching.
[00:26:45] Now I understand that the feeling of fear can also be a sign of growth, progress and opportunity. Do you believe that church? I discovered that the more we say yes to new experiences, the more we allow other emotions to jump in.
[00:27:05] Surprise, freedom, curiosity, vulnerability, excitement. That should say trust and connection.
[00:27:13] I made a little typo there, and it's from her book, hello, Fears. But I thought that quote is so dead on.
[00:27:20] That's often where the growth is, is by working through those. So Nehemiah prays he asks God, he takes the step, he makes the big ask and he prays his way through it. And I just wanna talk about this for one moment. He looks to the king and he says, will you reverse your policy?
[00:27:45] Will you give me safety and will you fund this project? It's huge.
[00:27:51] But what I also learned from that is that there is no meaningful work of God that's done alone.
[00:28:01] It always requires support, it always requires generosity. It always requires those things. And I wanna just speak to you church for a moment about this because as we are in this season, and you saw that Adventure of Faith video, we are in a season where at every campus, we're asking the church to consider partnering with us and making a two year pledge. When you leave, you'll get a brochure that will have information about it. So just to give a little bit of context, two years ago at West Campus here, we started a pledge campaign to raise money for this new building. And there has been an amazing core of people who have given generously and given well over a million dollars to this project.
[00:28:55] Yeah. Unbelievable. Give them a round of applause.
[00:29:01] Super awesome. And our church, we're able to take these steps because of that generous core of people. And you know who you are, and I love you and I'm thankful for you and God has worked through you. But now where we're at as a church is, you know, as we kind of are taking all these steps, we're saying, man, now's a good time to invite other people. As God moves your heart, as you pray about it and think about it, to join in on this for these last two years. Because here's the deal. Construction's expensive.
[00:29:39] It only moves one direction. It only goes up, right? And as we go through this project, we know there's gonna be unexpected things that come our way. We know. I also don't wanna skimp on anything, you know, honestly, like taking this step. I want to get that initial build as functional as we can.
[00:30:02] I don't want to have to reduce it at all.
[00:30:05] And so I want you to pray and consider again, if it moves your heart. I'm not here to guilt you or manipulate you. I can't even say the word.
[00:30:17] But. But if it resonates in you, if you see the vision and you believe in it, you believe what God is doing in this place, I wanna encourage you to give to it. And we're gonna have a card, you can sign up. It'll be a pledge card. No one's gonna. It's between you And God, but we'll be receiving those in the first Sunday in June. But I want you to think about it and pray about it. Now, here's the other thing. What I've learned and what I think is important to make known is that generosity, it not only blesses the future of our church, it also blesses our lives.
[00:31:00] And just hear me out on this for a second. Number one, generosity is something God teaches and God values. If you're a follower of Jesus, that's a quality that he calls us to have. And I will say this church is filled with generous people. And I see it firsthand. And again, many of you, you live this, you know this, and I'm just. I am confirming and affirming your approach to life, that it's something God calls it. It honors us. Here's the second thing that people don't always think about. Generosity also forces you to be more disciplined in a really good way. See, if the statistics are right, most people don't make a budget.
[00:31:47] Most people, we're just kind of like, hey, we're flying the airplane. Like, where are you going? Don't know. What's your altitude? No idea what's it, you know? And we kind of can run our finances like that. And it doesn't usually yield the best results. But when you start to be generous, you start to think about all of that, and it creates a good effect in our lives. It makes us. Even if you just sit down and think about it, that will be a healthy thing. Now, here's the third thing about generosity, is that it also teaches our heart, reminds our heart that God is our treasure, not the stuff of this world.
[00:32:34] We need reminded of that stuff will not make you happy. Church, you keep getting bigger, better, nicer. That stuff's great, but it's not gonna make you happy.
[00:32:45] How many purchases have we had in life? We're like, oh, this is great. And then two weeks later, you're like, meh.
[00:32:53] You know, just. It wore off.
[00:32:56] That's life. But, like, there is a part of us that's like, no, this stuff. No, the next iPhone's gonna do it. You know, iPhone 374 is gonna. No, but. And we need reminded that, man, our treasure is not in the stuff in this world church. It's with God.
[00:33:17] That's part of life. And then lastly, here's what I believe with all my heart is that God rewards generosity.
[00:33:27] And I'm not. I'm not saying you give the Lord this dollar amount and then it cut like it's like some kind of stock thing. Like, no, God will. Maybe he'll bless you like that, but he might bless you in far deeper and better ways, too. And one of the blessings that I've had is that as a teenager, I grew up in this church, and I heard teachings about this. And so from every job that I had, I started at Strongsville Cinema. That was my first job. And for all my life, I've tithed. For all my life, I've given every building project of our church, I've given to. And I've never regretted any of it. And I've experienced God's blessing in it.
[00:34:13] I don't do it. I do it for God.
[00:34:16] One person said to me one time, he's like, so wait, you're a pastor and you tithe. So when you come on, the church automatically gets a 10% discount on you. And I was like. I said, no one has ever said it to me that way.
[00:34:31] I thought that was kind of clever. But then I said, but listen. No, like, I give this to God, whatever my role is. Like, it's through the church, but it's to the Lord, because I'm trusting that to him.
[00:34:46] And just Allie and I talk about this, but, like, God rewards that in his way. I can't tell you how he will or what, but, like, it will be worth it. And there's also something powerful of, as you see what God is doing in our church, you have that sense of ownership in it, and you're like that. I'm part of that.
[00:35:12] This is bigger than me. And it will. It will live beyond me. I'll tell you what church, that's a blessing and I want. So, yes, I want our church to be great and have everything it needs, but I also want some of this blessing for you and me, because I'm telling you it's real and there's something to it.
[00:35:32] So as you leave, you think about that, pray about that for the next weeks. But here's the last thing in Nehemiah is, Nehemiah says, this all happened because the good hand of God upon me. The good hand of God.
[00:35:47] And what hand of God do you think is upon you today?
[00:35:51] Is it the good hand of God or is it the heavy hand of God?
[00:35:57] What do you think today? Here's what I want you to know. The good hand of God is upon you today. Like Nehemiah, you might think, well, now it's not upon me, Chet, because, like, I'm no Nehemiah. This guy prays, he walks faithfully with God you know, I'm not doing that stuff. Maybe I'm doing the opposite. The good hand of God can't be upon me. No, I want you to know the good hand of God is upon you. Here's how I know. Because the heavy hand of God was upon Jesus Christ.
[00:36:27] See, when you look at the cross and what we just celebrated Easter weekend, Jesus dying and coming back, and we see the brutality, and we see the manipulation, and we see the mock trials, and we see the evilness of humanity, and we see all of that. You know what that is? That was Christ taking the heavy hand of justice, of wrath, so you would have the good hand of blessing and favor. I want you to know through Christ, it's on you today. His hand to bless, his hand to help, his hand to strengthen. And what Nehemiah shows us is that when the good hand of God is upon you, what should you do? When the good hand of God is upon you, what should you do? Well, here's what you should do when the good hand of God is upon you is that we should work to create a better future for generations to know and experience God. I believe the good hand of God is upon us as a church. Not because we're good now we're messed up. Sorry, we're broken. Yeah, it's not. But Christ is good, and because of him, his hand is upon us. He's given us opportunity. He's given us blessing, and I want to honor him with that. Let's pray. Father, we love you. We thank you for. For your good hand, for your grace, for your mercy, for your blessing, for just the opportunities, Lord, that we have as a church. I pray we would feel a sense of calling to it, but also pray we would recognize the opportunities in each of our lives, Lord, as you present them. And I pray we would walk to them and through them with faith. And I ask this in Jesus great name, Lord, and for your honor and glory.
[00:38:22] Amen.
