LEADING IN LIFE - A Leader Motivates

We're going to look at another important leadership skill. We've said that at first a leader prays. Then he plans. Then the next thing you do is you have to make a presentation to get people to cooperate with you. Success is never a one-man show. Nehemiah knew that he could not rebuild the wall without the help of other people. When he goes to Jerusalem, the people are defeated, apathetic, living among ruins. Twice before in the last ninety years somebody has tried to rebuild the wall. They've failed twice. They have no confidence. They're negative. For ninety years they've been saying it can't be done. Nehemiah arrives on the scene and within a matter of days he has rallied the support of the entire city. He puts them together, mobilizes them, rebuilds the wall in 52 days. This was something that had not been done in 90 years. The question is how did Nehemiah pull it off when other people had failed? Was he a miracle worker? He was just a great leader. And he understood the principles of motivation.
I want this session to be very practical. There are many times these principles can be very helpful to you: When you are promoted to a new job; when you need to get the cooperation of other people; when you need to sell an idea; when you need to introduce change into an organization, a family, your school, your work; when you want to get a project off the ground. When you have any of these situations in your life what we're going to talk about will help out. Take these steps.

How does a leader motivate other people? Let's look at the things Nehemiah did.
1. EXPECT OPPOSITION
The fact is that the moment you say, "Let's do something," someone will jump up and say, "Let's don't." When God's people rise and say, "Let's build," Satan says, "Let's arise and oppose." People are naturally resistant to change. They don't like it. They want the status quo. People resist change for a variety of reasons. Leaders figure our what those reasons are and deal with them. Nehemiah 2:10 "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this they were very much disturbed that some would come to promote the welfare of Israel." He names two leaders of the opposition. You'll find these people all through the book of Nehemiah. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, Tobiah was the leader of the Ammonites. Nehemiah has not even arrived in Jerusalem yet and there's already opposition.

I Cor. 16:8-9 "I will stay here at Ephesus. There is a real opportunity here for a great while and a worthwhile work, even though there are many opponents." Circle "opportunity" and "opponents". First leadership law today: There is no opportunity without opposition. If you're going to help change people or change the situation, expect opposition.

2. WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIMING
In motivating others and suggesting change, timing is everything! Have you ever had a good idea killed because of bad timing? Timing makes a huge difference. V. 11 says "I went to Jerusalem and after staying there three days I set out..." He stops for three days. Nehemiah does not make some grand entrance, flash the flags, bands playing, arrives in on a white horse. He doesn't proclaim, “Here I am to save the day. Now get to work!" When he arrives in Jerusalem, the first thing he doesn't do is get brick and mortar together. He didn't even announce why he was there. He did nothing for three days.
What was he doing for those three days? We don't know. Four probabilities:

1. He was probably resting, recovering from a long journey. He had been on a camel, crossing the desert. Another Leadership Law -- You never make a major decision when you're tired; it will probably be wrong. Fatigue clouds your perspective.
2. He may have been praying. We know he was a man of prayer.
3. He most likely was planning. He probably was reviewing his strategy.
4. He was building curiosity. He arrives with a king's escort, into a town that is defeated and discouraged. He goes to his home and says nothing for three days. Don't you think that caused a little curiosity? Maybe using the delay to his advantage. He's using it for psychological build up so that when he presents the proposal, they'll be ready to listen.

Eccl. 3:7 says "There is a time to be silent and a time to speak." Eccl. 8:6 says, "There is a right time and a right way to do everything." Circle "right time". If you're going to share in changing a life or a situation, you've got to wait for the right timing. Jesus had a profound sense of timing in the ministry. Many times in His life He would say, "It's not time yet. My time has not yet come."

3. GET THE FACTS FIRST
In v. 12-16 we have Nehemiah's research party of actually going out and inspecting the walls of Jerusalem. You've heard of Paul Revere's midnight ride. This is Nehemiah's midnight ride. In v. 12 he says, "I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding. By night I went out through the Valley Gate to the Jackel Well and the Dung Gate examining the walls of Jerusalem which had been broken down and its gates had been destroyed by fire." He goes on and explains how at midnight he's out traveling around the walls of the city, actually inspecting. He is personally inspecting the damage in the middle of the night. He only takes a small group with him. He obviously didn't want to attract attention.

Every good leader knows exactly what Nehemiah is doing here. He is doing his homework. His background checks. This is the lonely part of leadership, the un-glamorous part of leadership. It's the part nobody ever hears about. It's the guy doing his preparation, checking out the situation, getting the facts. v. 14 says there was so much rubble he even had to get off his horse and walk through it. At this point the size of the project probably starts to sink in and he thinks, "This is worse than I thought. Why did I volunteer for this?
V. 16 says "The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews, or the priests, or the nobles, or the officials or any other who would be doing the work." Why is he being so secretive about this survey? Because he didn't want the plan to be stalled before it got out of the starting gate. There had been 90 years of negativism and he didn't have all the facts yet. Is it easier to promote a good idea or kill a good idea? Have you noticed that negative people tend to be more vocal than positive people? Nehemiah doesn't have all the facts yet so he says before I even announce what I'm going to be doing, I'm going to get the facts.

Proverbs 23:23 "Get the facts at any price and hold on tightly to all the good sense you can get!" Proverbs 18:13 "What a shame -- yes, how stupid -- to decide before knowing the facts." Proverbs 14:15 (Living Bible) "Only a simpleton believes what he is told. A prudent man checks to see where he is going."
Leadership Law: Good leaders do their own research.
Before we started FOCUS* we had a demographic study done on this area started the church in. Before we began meeting here we were studying the area, the census statistics, talking to people, gathering information. We drove around the different neighborhoods.
We discovered through talking to other Church leaders that Bellaire/West. U/Medical Center/Montrose is the most unchurched part of Houston - made sense to Cathleen and I that this was the place God was sending us.

Nehemiah understood his opposition, he has created a curiosity, he has gathered all the facts, Now finally Nehemiah is ready to lay all the cards on the table. V. 17 "Then I said to them." Circle "then". Now he's ready for the fourth step in how to motivate people.

IV. IDENTIFY WITH those around you
All good leaders do this. They associate with their people. "I'm one of you." He says (v. 17) "Then I said to them, `You see the trouble we are in. Come let us rebuild [Circle "us"] and we will no longer be in disgrace." He didn't walk in as an outsider, having never been to Jerusalem and say, "You guys are a bunch of failures. You can't get this thing rebuilt. It's been 90 years and nothing's been done on it." When you blame other people you decrease the motivation. When you accept the blame you increase the motivation. He doesn't play the role of an outside expert here. He doesn't say, "I'm going to rebuild the wall... I'm going to be your savior." He says, "I'm one of you and it's our problem."

Good leaders identify with those around them. That's good for motivation. It's good for parenting too. You get a little bit better response from your kids when they feel like you
understand them, that you identify with their problem.
Law: The best ideas are not mine or yours they're ours.
You identify with those around you

5. DRAMATIZE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE PROBLEM
He comes to the people: "I've got some stuff to tell you but first the bad news." Rather than minimizing the problem, he dramatizes it, he emphasizes it. V. 17 "Then I said to them, `You see the trouble we're in? Jerusalem lies in ruins and it's gates have been burned with fire. Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and we will no longer be in disgrace." These are emotional word pictures he uses here. "The place lies in ruin ... burned with fire ... we're in disgrace." He's dramatizing the seriousness of this. Why? Because these guys had been living with this for years. Isn't it a fact of life that when you live with a bad situation long enough, you start ignoring it? Paint marks on the walls - This fifth step he refocuses their attention to the problem "We have got a mess." He's getting them to face the facts.
Step three is the leader faces the facts; step five is the leader gets the people to face the facts. Leadership Law:
Change never occurs until we become discontent.
If you want to create change in your school, work, home, office -- one of the marks of a leader is he creates discontent. If you're content you don't want to change anything. That means you're going to have to put up with some criticism, because anyone who stirs the pot, rocks the boat, is in trouble. They're shaking up the status quo. That's the mark of the leader.
How did he do it? He used two motivators. He appealed to their self esteem. He said, "We've got to go out and build this; we're in disgrace. We could do better than this. We're God's people and we're living in rubble. The city is torn down. The walls are torn down. The place is in shambles and a mess. We're in disgrace." I think that was a breath of fresh air to these people. This leader is different because he's concerned about us. He doesn't just have his own agenda. He's concerned about us...

But even deeper than that, he appealed to an even higher motive which was concern for God's glory. Not only were the Jews being disgraced but God was being disgraced. Who were the Jews? God's people. The whole world was laughing: "Those poor Jews! They say they worship the true God. They can't even rebuild their own city. They say their God's the greatest God of the whole world, but they can't even get their walls rebuilt; they're living in rubble." It was an embarrassment to God and a poor testimony. When Nehemiah said, We're in disgrace! he was not only appealing to personal self esteem but he was appealing to the fact that God's name was being defamed. It was a bad testimony.

6. ASK FOR A RESPONSE
You don't just pump them up, you give them something to do. You don't just have a big rally -- then say, isn't that great! Let's all go home. In v. 17 he says, "Everything is in a mess; let us rebuild the wall." He calls for action. He
appeals for help. He asks for a specific response.

Notice that Nehemiah was both realistic and optimistic. That's a balance that a good leader has. Nehemiah was
realistic because the third thing he did was get the facts on his midnight ride. He saw really how bad the place was. He tells them: the walls have been destroyed, the gates have been burned. But he's also optimistic. After honestly laying out the problem, he doesn't say, "Everything is destroyed. This is impossible! Let's go home." He doesn't give up. What he does say is the opposite. "Let's rebuild."
Leadership law: Leaders see both the real and the ideal. They see what is but they also see what can be. A leader who just sees what can be and doesn't see what is, is not a leader; he's a visionary. There's a big difference. You've got to look at both -- what's actual and what's possible. Those two brought in harmony together produce leadership.

When you see these kinds of things, you ask for a specific response. Leaders see what's real and they see what's ideal and they know that to get from the real to the ideal they have to have help. Leaders are not afraid to ask for assistance. Not too many of us like to ask for help. Most of the time we're real insecure and say, "I'll just do it myself!"
The wall around Jerusalem was not going to be built until someone stood up and said, "It's going to take sacrifice. We're going to have to put time, money, effort, energy to do this." Leaders ask people for a specific response.

7. YOU ENCOURAGE WITH YOUR LIFE STORY
In v. 18 we have Nehemiah's story and there are two parts to it. "I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me." He tells them about how God had called him to lead the project. The second part he tells them how circumstances confirmed his calling. "I also told them what the king had said to me." He was saying, "I didn't want this job, but I was praying over there in Susa. As I prayed for four months, I got a burden. The more I prayed about it God said, Why don't you be the answer to it. The burden turned into a vision. I said, `OK, God, I'll do it.' It was really God's idea. He called me to come do this project. Not only did God call me but He confirmed the call when I went to the king and the
king said Yes.
He gave me a calvary guard and he's going to pay for it."

That is a legitimate thing to ask for if somebody comes to you and says, "God told me to do this." A legitimate response is "Is anybody confirming this in your life? Or is this just something you thought up? Are there any confirmation signs?"
Nehemiah shares his testimony of how God had called him and the circumstances confirmed his calling. V. 18b is the people's response, "I told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said then they replied, `Let's start rebuilding.'" They were excited! For ninety years nothing is going on, then Nehemiah comes saying, "God's put me here to do this. And we've got the king's
permission -- the guy who wouldn't allow it to be done before is paying for it."
The vision has been transferred. First he said this is my
vision. He guarded it very carefully at first -- he didn't tell anybody. He went out, did the survey. He was waiting for the right timing. Once he had all the facts, he dramatized the problem, he asked for a response and then encouraged them with his own story about how God called him to do this and how the circumstances confirmed God's call. Now the vision has been transferred. It's not Nehemiah's vision any more; it's the people's vision. What was a secret for a long time is now shared.

Why did Nehemiah use his personal testimony in motivation? Because he knew one of the classic laws of leadership. People follow people not programs. And the people that people follow are called leaders.

I Cor. 11:1 "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." Why should anybody follow you as a leader? When are you ready to be a leader? The answer to that is "When people can see God's hand on my life." When people can sense God's Spirit in your life, can sense God's hand on your life, then you're ready to be a leader.
Can I see God's Spirit on that person's life? That's what really matters. Not education. Not talent. There are a lot of talented people you shouldn't follow. There are a lot of people with credentials that you shouldn't follow. But does God have His hand on their life?

8. ANSWER THE OPPOSITION QUICKLY AND CONFIDENTLY
v. 19 "But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and ridiculed us." Another guy is now mentioned. In v. 10, before Nehemiah arrived there was just Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. Now we notice the opposition has expanded to include a third party. Opposition usually grows as the project continues. First there are only two opponents, then a third party.

As we get further into Nehemiah we find six different sources of opposition. He got it from every side! The opposition's first strategy: "They mocked and ridiculed us." They laughed! Those Jews are never going to get it built. We’ll look at the others later, But none of it worked. The reason it didn't work now is because Nehemiah is on the scene. And Nehemiah is no pushover.
V. 20 "And I answered them saying, `The God of heaven will give us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding. But as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem, any claim or historic right to it." Nehemiah refused to argue. If you're wise you will not argue with the opposition.(Eric webpage)
Instead he points out that it's God's project and God's idea. V. 12 he said "I had not told anyone what God had put in my heart to do." God put the burden on him. It wasn't his idea to rebuild the wall, it was God's idea. Since it was God's idea they would trust Him for it's success. That's confidence. He answers the opposition quickly and confidently.

The other thing he does is expose the selfish motives of the opposition. "Who are you anyway?" They had a stake in not seeing Jerusalem rebuilt because that would reduce the size of their kingdom. He exposes the motives of the opposition. Then the opposition comes and says, "You're trying to rebel against the king of Persia." Nehemiah pulls out his letters. "I'm not rebelling against the king. I'm obeying the king of kings. Be quiet!" He deals with them confidently and quickly.

This stunned the opposition. But only temporarily. They will see him several more times in the rest of the book. It boosted the morale of the Jews in Jerusalem. They had been defeated for years and finally here's a guy who is not afraid to stand up against these folks and say, "You don't have any historic right to this city."

People will oppose you. Answer your opposition quickly and confidently!
If you get moved at work or promoted... new direction in life
and there are people there already
There's a right way to move into responsibility and a wrong way, if you handle that right it will work out good. If you handle it wrong, all of a sudden you've got everybody fighting against you -- "Who does he think he is?"

But Nehemiah shows us what to do when you move into a new job and there's a bunch of people there before you. Nehemiah moves into a situation where everybody has been saying, "It can't be done!" for ninety years. Now he's going to come in and do it! The eight things he did turned an apathetic, hostile community into, within three days, saying "Let's go for it!"

Review:

Number one. Expect opposition because it's going to happen. There's never opportunity without opposition. If you have a good idea, great. But realize somebody is going to try to shoot it down. Realize it up front.

Number two. Wait for the right timing. Don't just, the first time you get the idea, go in and blab it to the boss, wife, husband. Wait for the right timing. Make sure you're rested, prayed, planned. There is a time to do everything.

Number three. Face the facts. Don't go in to make a proposal to somebody and have them say, "What about this?" and you have to say, "I hadn't thought about that." You must have the facts and figures to back up what you want to talk about. "Only a simpleton believes what he's told. A prudent man checks to see where he's going." Good leaders do their own research.

Number four. Identify with the people. It's not "I'm here to tell you what to do." Nehemiah didn't check in and say, "I'm here to rebuild the wall. If you want to consult me I'll be in my office." He said, "We've got a problem. We're here. It's our problem. Let us rebuild."

Number five. He dramatized the problem. He used word pictures: "It lies in ruins and its gates burned with fire." He's very realistic. It would be a tough job. Leaders don't lie and say it's going to be a breeze! He's honest. But he appeals to their self esteem and to the motive of glorifying God, the greatest motive of all.

Number six. He asks for a specific response. He was realistic and optimistic. He said, "I need your help. I can't do it by myself. We've got to work together."

Number seven. He encourages with a personal testimony. As he tells the story how God has blessed him and circumstances confirmed it, you can see the faith welling up in the people. They rally around. Nehemiah realized that people loved to be led. When there is a leader who puts our interest first and cares about us, as the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, as Jesus said, then we follow. The vision is transferred. It's no longer just Nehemiah's idea; it's the whole city's idea. he was ready to be a leader because people could see that God's hand, God's Spirit, was on Nehemiah's life.

Number eight. He answered the opposition quickly and confidently. He wouldn't argue.


Those of you who are already in leadership positions one of the lessons we learn from this study is that there are going to be things God wants to do in your life and through your life that other people are not going to get excited about. Realize that. They are not always going to agree with the direction that God is leading you, but sometimes you have to take a stand.
We need to decide that we're going to live for Jesus Christ no matter what anybody else thinks. That's the beginning of leadership.

So I answered them and said to them,
"The God of heaven will give us success;
therefore we His servants will arise and build”
Nehemiah 2:20

LEADING IN LIFE - A Leader Plans

Nehemiah 2:1-9
Last week we looked at the first thing a leader does. He prays. He/She does other things besides pray but that's the first thing they do. The next step a leader does is plan. You pray and then you plan. This passage reveals Nehemiah as a master planner. We're going to look at the six things he did. But first, three reasons why you ought to plan.

I. WHY PLAN?
1. God does it.
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you' says the Lord, `plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" 1 Cor. 14:33 "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace." He plans. If God plans, it's OK for us to plan.

2. God commands it.
1 Cor. 14:40 "Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." Prov. 4:26 (GN) "Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right." Prov. 16:9 "We should make plans counting on God to direct us."

3. It's good stewardship.
Ephesians 5:15-17 (Phillips) "Live life, then with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time. Don't be vague but grasp firmly what you know to be the will of the Lord." Time management involves making the best use of opportunities. that requires planning. It's good stewardship to plan. It's not good stewardship to go through life without any planning at all.

II. HOW LEADERS PLAN

1. Think it through
v. 1, "In the month of Nisan" -- Nehemiah had gotten this burden four months earlier and for four months he's been waiting for something to happen. Now, something happens. What had been happening between when Nehemiah first got the idea of rebuilding the wall and when he actually got the opportunity to present his program to the king. What had he been doing? He'd been praying, but he also had been planning. We know that by the way he responded to the king when the king said, "What do you want." Nehemiah knew what to ask for because he had been planning.

Howard Hendricks said, "Nothing is more profitable than serious thinking, and nothing is more demanding."
Leaders need time to think, time to get away, to pray & to plan.

Leaders make time for think time. A law of leadership.

Proverbs 13:16 "A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn't and even brags about it!" Prov. 14:8 "The wise man looks ahead. The fool attempts to fool himself and won't face facts." It's wise to spend time thinking about your life. Ask yourself three questions: Where am I now? Where do I want to be? How will I get there? That's what Nehemiah did. He was thinking it through. He was praying for four months but he was also planning.

What happens when you pray and plan? God gives you a vision. That's the mark of all leadership. You've got to have vision to be a leader. A V. for home, family, marriage, bus., job

Leadership Law: Failing to plan is planning to fail!

You've got to think it through.

2. Prepare for opportunities
When opportunity knocks, you need to be ready to open the door. All of life is full of opportunities. There are overlooked opportunities all around us. A lot of times we're not ready for them. - check out 'Chasing Daylight' series

v. 1-3 "In the month of Nisan the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes the wine was brought to him. I took the wine and I gave it to the king and I had not been sad in his presence before. So the king asked me, `Why does your face look so sad and you're not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid." Ever felt this way?
(something to share, maybe difficult)
This is the moment Nehemiah has been waiting for. He's been praying for an opportunity to present his idea to the
king. He's got an opportunity now to state his case. Because he had planned he was ready with the answer.
Notice he had a sad face. He had a burden he couldn't hide. He was getting a little discouraged by now. "God, aren't you going to do anything about this wall. I've been praying for it." Finally the king says, "What's wrong, Nehemiah?" Notice it says "I was afraid." He was literally scared to death. In those days it was a capital crime to be sad before the king. The kings were very fickle in those days. They didn't want any downers. They didn't want anyone raining on their party. If you frowned in the presence of the king you'd get your head cut off. If you were depressed in the presence of the king, that was it! Notice it says, "This is the first time I ever appeared sad." That is a real gamble.

Not only that, but Nehemiah is going to ask permission for a leave of absence. In those days if a king did not like your request that meant he didn't like you. No wonder Nehemiah was frightened. On top of that he was going to ask permission to go rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the king himself had said the walls could not be rebuilt! He's standing before a king who has the power of life and death. He has reason to be afraid.

Principle: Leaders move ahead in spite of their fears.

There is a myth that leaders are never afraid. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear. Notice what Nehemiah did with his fear. The king said to him, "What do you want? You're upset obviously." It says Nehemiah prayed. He sends up a little quickie prayer. This isn't the four months of prayer; he's already done that. This is the quick one! A silent, quick, on the spot prayer. "God, give me wisdom. Help me know what to say."
Then he answered the king in v. 3 "Why should my face not look sad? The city where my fathers are buried, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire." He chooses his words very carefully; he assures the king of his loyalty, "May the king live forever!" Remember, this guy is also a bodyguard. If he's sad maybe he also knows of some assassination plot. The king's asking why his number one man is upset. The king's response was, What do you want?
The next three things Nehemiah asks for are evidence of planning.

3. Establish a goal
v. 5 "I answered the king, `If it pleases the king and your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so I can rebuild the wall.'"
Nehemiah gets specific here. He establishes a goal. He wants to rebuild the wall. He's very specific:
he wants to rebuild the wall.
Goal setting is the next step in planning. You have to have a target. If you aim at nothing, you're going to hit it
Ask yourself three questions: What do I want to be? What do I want to do? What do I want to have? Those are the questions you ask in establishing a goal.
There are two common errors we make in goal setting: We set them too low and we try to accomplish them too quickly. Inch by inch anything is a cinch. Set big goals, make big plans -- so big that God has to bail you out! God loves big planning. It honors God to be a big planner. This is what I'm expecting God to do. Not what I can do, this is what I want God to do!
Nehemiah said, I want to go rebuild a wall around a whole city. He'd never build a wall. He'd never built anything. He was a cupbearer. He had a big goal.

We set our goals too low and we try to accomplish them too quickly.

4. You set a deadline
First you pray. Then you think it trough. Then you prepare for the opportunities. People say, "That guy has all the luck. He gets all the breaks." I've found that the more I plan, the luckier I get. The opportunities are there you just have to be ready for them. Then you establish a goal. And then number four, you set a deadline.

Verse. 6 "Then the king with the queen setting beside him asked me, `How long will your journey take? and when will you get back' And I said, `It pleased the king to send me so I set a time.'"
He established a deadline.
A goal must have a deadline. If your goal doesn't have a deadline on it, it's not a goal. This is the scheduling part of planning. You know what you want to do and then you know when you want to do it. Ask the question: How long will it take?
Nehemiah established a deadline.
Considering points 3 & 4, Goals are dreams w/ a deadline.

5. You anticipate the problems.
He's already asked for permission to go, now he's asking for protection.
v. 7 "If it pleases the king may I have letters to the governors of Trans Euphrates so that they will provide me safe conduct until I arrive in Judah."
It's about 800-1000 mile journey between Iraq and Israel. He's got to go through a lot of provinces. You didn't travel freely in those days. You had to go through proper procedures. Nehemiah said, "I want you to give me letters of authority so I'll have clear sailing and when I get over there, there is no problem. I need traveling permits to travel unhindered."

This implies that Nehemiah had thought it out. Remember he's just asked here on the spot, "What do you want?" He had already thought it through. This is a clear example of planning. He was not just praying during those four months but he was also planning so that when the opportunity arose he could say what he needs.

Question to ask yourself in your own planning when you're anticipating problems: What could hold me back? In planning a project, ask yourself, Why don't I have it already? What could hold me back? What are the problems? What could go wrong? If anything could go wrong, it will.
Nehemiah is thinking ahead. He's already thought ahead where he wants to go. He's already thought ahead when he wants to go. Now he's anticipating the problems.

Leadership Principle: Managers focus on solving today's problems, leaders focus on solving tomorrow's problems.

Both of these are absolutely essential to any organization, family, business -- you need both managers and leaders. But they are not necessarily the same. Managers must focus on the day to day details -- today's problems. Leaders, the task of leadership, is to anticipate problems that nobody else is even thinking about. They figure out a way to overcome the problem before they even get there.

Management, on the other hand, which is just as essential a task, is dealing with the day to day problems.
Both are necessary.
Proverbs 22:3 (Living Bible) "A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."
Ever known anybody like that? I've been a simpleton many times in my life when I did not foresee the problems. One of the laws of life is that it's always easier to get in than it is to get out. It's easier to get into debt than it is to get out of debt. It's easier to get into a relationship than out of a relationship. It's easier to fill up your schedule than to eliminate things from your schedule. It's a principle of life in every area. A wise man foresees difficulties ahead.

Proverbs 27:12 (Living Bible) "A sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them."
Part of planning is to anticipate problems in advance and plan for them.

6. Calculate the cost
This is the budgeting part of planning. Principle number 4 is the scheduling part of planning, this is the budgeting part. In planning it takes both time and money. Have you learned that everything in life has a price tag? Here we have his third request.
v. 8 "And may I have a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?"

Nehemiah gives the king a shopping list. "First, I want you to let me go. Then, I want you to give me the protection to get there. And by the way, i want you to pay for it too." He asks for lumber to build three things: I want to build the beams for the city gates -- he had thought it out. Then he said, I'm going to need lumber for the city walls. Then, I want lumber for my own house. Remember, Nehemiah is not a contractor. He's never built anything in his life. He's a cupbearer. Yet, when the opportunity arose he rattled off exactly what he needed. Why? He had planned.

The first step of leadership is prayer. The second step of leadership is to plan.

How did Nehemiah know what to ask for? Evidently he calculated the cost. How in the world did he know there was a royal forest near Jerusalem? Advance planning. This whole chapter indicates that he already knew what he was doing when he got into the situation. He even knew the name of the foreman. He had already figured all of this out way in advance, so that when the opportunity arose he was prepared for the opportunities.

God has wonderful opportunities for you and I but we must be prepared to take advantage of them when they come. If Nehemiah had not had his planning done he wouldn't have been prepared. But because his planning had been so well thought out he knew exactly what to ask for.
He had calculated the cost.

Luke 14:28 "If one of you is planning to build a tower, he sits down first and figures out what it will cost to see if he has enough money to finish the job."
Who's speaking? Jesus. Jesus is advocating counting the cost.

Notice what we've just looked at is quite a risk. All Nehemiah's asking for he's asking a pagan king to do. He lays out all of his requests very clearly and he trusted the Lord. Notice: He asked for the king's permission. "Can I have permission to go build a wall." This is a life or death situation. If the king doesn't like your request, it's off with your head. He's scared to death. The king says, OK. If most of us had gotten that far, most of us would have breathed a sigh of relief and pack up and I’m Gone! We wouldn't have dared ask for anything else.

But Nehemiah hangs in there and tries further. He asks for the king's protection. "I want you to give me these letters of protection." The king doesn't flinch on that so Nehemiah continues.
Nehemiah asks for the king's provision. "Why don't you pay for it? Cut the timber from your forest?"
Nehemiah was taking tremendous risks asking this.
Laws of Leadership: Leaders are willing to ask others for assistance. You'll never be a leader until you learn how to ask people for help. No leader can do it on his own.
James 4:2 "You do not have because you do not ask."
How many people have you said, "No" for many times: "She really wouldn't want to do this".
You don't know what people will say no to. Let people say no for themselves.

It takes incredible boldness to do what Nehemiah does to ask a pagan king who has death and life in the power of his hands. It was very risky business. But because he had prayed for four months and because he had planned for four months his faith was strong enough that even though he was standing there with his knees shaking to death he kept pushing it.
The wisest risks are those taken after prayer and planning.
In Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and He directs it like a water course wherever He pleases."
If God wants to move it any direction, He can. Here is a clear example of that proverb where God took a pagan king's heart and moved it all around. The point is that God is a specialist in changing hearts. God is in the business of changing hearts. It's up to Him. He's sovereign.
Nehemiah did not try to manipulate the king. When he was asked "What's wrong?" he was honest: "My home town is in shambles." He didn't make up some phoney story. He didn't make up a story about going back to Jerusalem under false pretenses. He didn't manipulate the king. He didn't trick him. He didn't play games with him. He didn't use any deceit. He talked to God about him. When you have a boss who is unsympathetic to a project, a goal you want to do don't manipulate him, don't play games with him. (sometimes when we really want something and it’s not coming together that’s the angle we try to take - manipulate, deceive, try and use brut force - pic) Just talk to God about it. Because the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and He can turn it. Don't ever try to change anybody's heart. You can't. When you try, that's manipulation. Let God change the heart.

v. 8 After all of these things he's asked, Nehemiah's conclusion: "Because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my request." Underline "the gracious hand of my God was upon me." Notice Nehemiah gives all the credit to God. Remember this is an autobiography.
Nehemiah does not say "Look at what my planning did." He knew that God was behind it all. He knew it was not due to his cleverness. A mark of spiritual maturity is when you recognize God's hand behind those people who may be delaying you in a project that you know is going to change the world. Nehemiah says, "God was with me." But if Nehemiah hadn't prayed and planned and set this thing up, nothing would have happened.

Proverbs 16;1 (LB) "We can make our plans, but the final outcome is in God's hands."
The summary of this chapter is a beautiful example of the harmony that takes place between God's part and man's part in accomplishing things on earth. God's part is the sovereignty part. Our part is the prayer and planning part. We pray for God to set up circumstances that are out of our control. Then we plan for all the things that are under our control. It's not one or the other. It's not "Pray and let the spirit lead." The Bible says that's foolishness. It says the wise man plans. It's not just plan. It's not just up to you. It's both. God's part and my part. It's prayer, leaning on God, planning, doing the best I can. Prayer and planning go together. They're both important.
Because Nehemiah had done his homework, when the
opportunity arose he was ready.

Let's apply it to your life.
How many of you really want to grow spiritually?
The very fact that you came here today means that you want to grow spiritually.
What plans have you made for that? We plan everything else in our life, why don't we plan our spiritual growth? Do you have a plan to read through the Bible? or ... a plan to set aside a certain time everyday for prayer? ... a plan to talk to that person at work about the Lord? ...a plan to invite him over to dinner at your house, get to know him and then invite him to church? Have you planned it or are you letting it just spontaneously happen? Very few things happen spontaneously. We need a plan. A plan for witnessing. A plan for Bible reading. A plan for prayer. A plan for all of these different things in your life.

Are the plans you have ones that you just think up and then ask God to bless? Or are you getting your plans from the Lord? How do you know the difference? If you can pull it off yourself, you don’t need God, they’re probably manmade or at the very least too small.
Whatever your plans, make them big enough they show off God to the world -- that God is a great God!

Prayer:

We've seen the sensitivity of the leader -- he cared about the things God cared about; the prayer life of a leader; and the planning of the leader. Heavenly Father, may we take our lives seriously and realize as You've said in Ephesians 5 to live life with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning of life but as people who do. Lord, help us to make the best use of our time. And, as You said, to not be vague but to grasp firmly what we know to be the will of God. Lord, help us to think through where we're headed, to know the direction of our lives, to ponder the path of our going. Help us to be prepared for the opportunities You place before us. Help us to establish goals for our life and set deadlines and anticipate the problems and count the cost and apply these six principles of planning to our life this week. In Jesus' name. Amen.

LEADING IN LIFE - The Leader's Prayer Life

God said a long time ago in Ezekiel 22:30 (Living Bible) "I (God) looked in vain for anyone who would build again the wall of righteousness that guards the land, who could stand in the gap but I found not one." God is looking for people to use. He is looking for leaders. Nothing happens until somebody provides leadership. Everything rises or falls on leadership. We're looking for better methods, machinery, motivations. God says, I'm looking for better people, people that I can use.
We're in a series on leadership, looking at the life of Nehemiah. In a presidential campaign, a number of the candidates were questioned about their private life. The typical response was "It's none of your business." One guy said, "My private life in no way affects my ability to govern this nation." Nothing could be further from the truth. God says the exact opposite.

The Leadership Law we're going to look at today from Nehemiah is The effectiveness of my public leadership is determined by my private life.

Today we're going to get our first inside look at the heart of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a man of prayer, nine different times in this book he prays. In Nehemiah 1 we have one of the great prayers of the Bible. We learn a lot about people by listening to their prayers. We're going to get an inside look at this man, Nehemiah. We're going to see what his private life is like. We're also going to learn how to pray the kind of prayers that gets answered. God liked to answer Nehemiah 's prayers. If we can figure out what Nehemiah does then we can figure out what we can do to have our prayers answered.
Three questions:
1. When should I pray?
2. Why should I pray?
3. How should I pray?

Last week I said leadership can be learned. I believe the starting point is to learn how to pray.
Because that's what Nehemiah does first.

WHEN SHOULD I PRAY?
Before I do anything else.

The men had come back from Jerusalem and said Jerusalem is in ruins. The first thing Nehemiah did (v. 4) he wept, he mourned, he fasted, he prayed. Verse 4 also says he prayed for "some days". A leader does more than pray, but he doesn't do anything else until he prays. This is the starting point for what we want to look at. Leaders make prayer a first priority; others make prayer a last resort. That's the difference between leading in life and just living life. Leaders make prayer a first priority.
We are always on the go, want to get the job done, achievement oriented, goal oriented, busy people, prone to heart attacks. How many of us often find ourselves too busy to pray? Nehemiah says before we do anything else we must make time to pray. We'll see how Nehemiah used prayer.
Nehemiah was a man of action. Nehemiah is an organizer, motivator, manager. He likes to do things. He built the wall around the city in 52 days. Yet, instead of immediately going out and doing something, when he heard that something was wrong the first thing he did was get alone with God. He didn't form a committee. He got alone with God and prayed. This was the pattern of his life. (Cathleen and I moving?)There were nine different instances in his life.
He was a man of prayer.

WHY SHOULD I PRAY?
1. It shows I'm depending on God

The reason why we don't pray more is because we don't think we need to. We think we can handle it by ourselves. We think we can do it on our own. When you have a problem the human reaction, the natural reaction for us is to think, "Now what am I going to do about this?" instead of stopping and saying, "God, what do You want to do about
this?" Yet the Bible says in John 15 "Apart from Me you can do nothing." That's the only way we bear fruit.
We saw in Matthew 5:3 in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." There is nothing God won't do for the person who is depending on Him. My usefulness as a leader, and yours, begins when I recognize my total dependence upon God. The way I know I'm depending on God is that the first thing I do when a problem comes is I pray.

2. It lightens my load
The reason why Nehemiah prayed was because he was
distressed by the bad news. He was a very sensitive person, very compassionate. He felt things very deeply. It says he wept over the ruins. But rather than simply mourning or moaning, he prayed. He took the problem to the Lord. He didn't just complain and gripe and wallow in self pity. He took his broken heart to the Lord.

The name Nehemiah means "The Lord is my comfort". When Nehemiah's heart was broken over the things that were going wrong in Israel, he took his problem to the Lord. God honors prayer that comes from a genuinely concerned heart. He longs to hear us say, "Lord, I can't handle this. I don't know how to do it. Help me!" That's the prayer that He likes to answer.
The fact is that leaders take their burdens to the Lord. Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
If you're going to be a leader, it produces stress. Great
leaders find their strength on their knees.

3. It releases God's power
Nothing else releases God's power like the prayer of faith. Jeremiah 33:3 God says, "Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not." Prayer can do whatever God can do! Whatever God can do, prayer can do. Prayer taps in to the very resources of God.
Many of you came in here very fatigued. Prayer taps you in to the resources of God. When God is brought in on a
project, it turns the impossible into the possible.

The question I really want to look at today is:
HOW SHOULD I PRAY?

We have a sample of a leader's prayer in v. 5-11. You can learn a lot about a person by the kind of prayer that they pray.
A canned prayer indicates a dried up spirit. A selfish prayer indicates a selfish spirit.
Some prayers are like Christmas lists. Selfish prayers indicate a selfish heart.
Impressive prayers indicate an arrogant, prideful heart.

We learn a lot about Nehemiah by looking at the kind of prayer he prayed. Remember that Nehemiah, when he first heard about the downfall of Jerusalem, prayed for four months. This is not just a casual prayer. The prayer we're going to look at today is just a sample prayer he prayed. It gives us a pattern for successful praying. If you want to know how to pray, study the book of Nehemiah and
particularly this prayer.
Whenever people in the Bible ask God to do something they always presented a basis for it. They always said, "God I want you to do this because..." and they had a reason for Him to do it. There's many different reasons depending on the circumstance. Every time you find a prayer in the Bible, they gave a reason. A key question you want to ask yourself when you pray is this, "Why should God answer my prayer?" Why should I ask God to answer this prayer? The Bible teaches us that the right kind of praying is give God a reason to answer your prayer. Don't just say "I want this" or "This is my desire" -- Give Him a reason why you're praying this.

With that as a background let me give you the four secrets to answered prayer from the life of Nehemiah.

1. Base my request on God's character

This is the greatest reason to give to God. "I'm expecting You to answer this prayer because of Who You are. You are a faithful God. You are a great God. You are a loving God. You are a wonderful God. You can handle this problem, God!" Nehemiah comes to God and says, "God, I want you to do something back over in Jerusalem. Verse 5 "O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His command." Nehemiah said three things about God:

1. You're great -- that's God's position.
2. You're awesome -- that shows His power.
3. You keep your promises -- God's covenant.

The first thing Nehemiah did was he acknowledges who God is. That's what praise is. Acknowledge who God is and His greatness. Nehemiah is saying "God, I know our situation is in a mess, but I'm just reminding myself you're in control. I know that the problems over there in Jerusalem may be great but You are greater, You're bigger, You're bigger than this mess." He starts off by getting the right perspective. In starting to have answered prayer, say, "God, I want You to answer because of who You are. You've given us all of these things, these promises. You are a faithful God, a loving God, a merciful God" -- all these things the Bible tells us He is. You base your request on God's character.

2. Confess the sin in my life
This is step number two if you want to have answers to your prayers. The Jews had disobeyed God. As a result, God said, "All right, if you don't obey me you're going to loose the land of Israel." And they lost it. Because they had not obeyed God they lost their city, Jerusalem, the Temple and were taken into foreign captivity -- all because they had disobeyed Him. Many of the books of the prophets are about this very thing.

v. 6,7 "Let your ear be attentive and your eyes be opened to the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands and the decrees and the laws you gave your servant Moses."

Part one of Nehemiah's prayer is to base his request on who God is. "God, you're a great God. You're awesome! You keep your promises!" Part two, I admit who I am. He says, "We've sinned." Look at how many times he uses the word "I" and "we". He says "I confess... myself... my father's house ... we have acted wickedly ... we have not obeyed." It wasn't Nehemiah's fault they went into captivity. He wasn't even born when this happened seventy years earlier. He was born in captivity. Yet, he is including himself in the national sins. He says "I've been a part of the problem".

There is personal confession and there is national confession. This is something we don't know anything about. We don't have a corporate sense in America today. We are very individualistic. We're taught to confess my sins. When was the last time you confessed the sins of the nation? or the sins of your family? or your church? or your friends? We don't think that way. We're very individualistic. Our society has taught us the concept of you're only responsible for you. And that's just not true! You are your brother's keeper. We are all in this together. If there's one phrase I never want to hear it's "I've got to do what's best for me!" All kinds of things get justified with that phrase. “It doesn't matter whether I'm leaving my wife/husband and kids or whatever else, I've got to do what's best for me!” Nehemiah says "Not only do I have personal sin to confess but I have corporate sin. I'll accept the blame for other things.

Another Law of Leadership: Leaders accept the blame but losers pass the buck.
If you want to be a leader, you accept the blame and share the credit. Losers are always accusers and excusers. they're always making excuses why things didn't/couldn't happen, It's always somebody else's fault. Leaders accept the blame. "We have sinned against You." (Pres. - dropped ball - Katrina) The point is that all sin is ultimately against God. When you break a human law you are ultimately offending God. When you hurt somebody else, you're ultimately hurting God.

The older I get in the Lord, the more increasingly I'm aware of my own sinfulness and God's graciousness. What a gracious God that we have that He uses imperfect people in that way. I base my request on who God is and then I confess the sin.

3. Claim the promises of God
v. 8-9 Remember the instructions you gave to your servant Moses saying `If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen .. in my name." Notice it says "if ... I will" Circle "if". Then again He says "if ... I will". He has a warning and a promise.
Nehemiah is praying to the Lord and saying, "I want You to remember what You told your servant Moses." Can you imagine saying "remember" to God? He's reminding God what He had said in the past. God warned us through Moses that if we were unfaithful we would loose the land of Israel. But You also promised that if we repent You'd give it back to us. All through the Bible you find God's people reminding God about what He said He wants to do. David did it. Abraham did it. Moses did it. All the prophets did it. "God, I want to remind You of one of Your promises..." then they'd share it.

Question: Does God have to be reminded? No. Does He forget what He's promised? No. Then why do we do this? Because it helps us remember what God has promised. Nothing pleases God more that when you remind God of one of His promises. Do kids ever forget a promise? Never. (dad - 12y. - wanna 3-wheel now or new corvette @16?)
So you have to be very careful about making them. The Bible says we're imperfect fathers and if we imperfect fathers know that we need to fulfill our promises to our kids, how much more does a perfect Father, a Heavenly Father, intend to keep the promises He's made in His word.

Prayer transforms God's promises into performance. Prayer is taking God at His word. It's holding God to His promises. It's asking God to do what He's already promised He wants to do. Nehemiah says "God, first I'm basing my prayer on Who You are. Then I'm admitting who I am. Then I'm reminding You of what You've said."
There are over 7000 promises in the Bible waiting to be claimed.
Pray the scriptures - praying God’s Word is praying God’s will.
God never shuts His storehouse until you shut your mouth. God wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed. But you must claim the promises of God.

Nehemiah could claim these promises because he knew them. The promises he mentions in these verses are Leviticus 26:33 and Deuteronomy 30:4. When was the last time you memorized a promise or prayed out of Leviticus or
Deuteronomy?
The point is, the strength of my prayer life is determined by how well I know the promises of God. The secret of successful praying is pleading the promises of God. "God, you said it and because of what You said and who You are, I thank You that the answer is on its way. I'm expecting You to meet my needs." We need to learn the promises of God.

4. Be very specific in what I ask for
In order to get specific answers to prayer you've got to make specific requests.
If you make general prayers, how will you know if they are answered?
v. 10,11 "They are your servants, your people, whom you've
redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.
O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this, your
servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in
revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."
Nehemiah has the whole prayer just to have the little request at the end. "When I go before the king to ask to be released to go build the wall, give me success when I make that request to the king." Nehemiah is willing to go to Jerusalem. He was available. He was willing to rebuild the project. But he knew he'd have to get the king's permission first who was definitely not a believer. You don't just let your right hand guy walk away. The king has the power of death and life over anybody. Nehemiah was asking a leave of absence for three years, to go back to his home town and rebuild a wall the king had ordered not to be rebuilt. This was the reason he was asking for success when he went to talk with the king.

He's not hesitant to pray for success. He's very bold in his praying. Have you ever prayed, "Lord, make me successful!" If you haven't, why haven't you? What is the alternative? A failure? There is nothing wrong with praying for success if what you're doing is ultimately for the glory of God. Pray boldly. Pray that God will make you successful in life for the glory of God. That's what Nehemiah did. This is a valid prayer. Give me success!

Remember this is just a sample prayer of four months of praying. What did Nehemiah do during these four months? Did he have this one prayer and he prayed it over several times a day? No, I doubt it. If Nehemiah was praying over a four month period his prayer probably evolved into this. Like our prayers do a lot of time. You start praying for something and then it gets clarified. That's one of the purposes God delays answering prayers many times; He wants us to clarify.
“Lord, give me success in this!

William Carey who founded the modern missionary movement used to say, "Expect great things from God; do great things for God." That's a good motto for every believer.

Summary: The type of prayer that God answers. Four marks of Nehemiah's prayer that are the same four marks we need to have in our praying if we're going to be a leader who has his/her prayers answered on a regular basis:

1. It's a prayer of conviction. It's a prayer of conviction of who God is. It's conviction that God is a just God, a great God, in control. He wants to hear me. He wants to answer my prayers. It is conviction acknowledging who God is. This is what praise is all about. Praise is bragging on God.

2. It's a prayer of confession of what I am and who I am. "God, I've blown it. I've made mistakes and I'm imperfect." Be very specific.

3. It's a prayer of confidence in what God has promised. "I know who You are, I know what I am, I know what You've said." God said it, I believe it -- that settles it! If God said it, that settles it, whether I believe it or not. Claim God's promises. The promises are the keys that unlock the answers to prayer. You've got to learn those 7000 promises.

4. It's a prayer of commitment. "I'm willing to be part of the answer. God, You can use me. I commit myself. I'll be part of the solution."
We're talking about leadership. Every one of you are leaders because leadership is influence. You are leaders in different parts of life. The issue is not whether you're a leader or not, it's whether you're a good leader or not. The first step in leadership is to develop a private life, time alone with God -- a personal, daily, devotional walk. If you want to be a leader, develop your prayer life. Learn to pray like Nehemiah prayed. Watch the doors of heaven open up.
Practical things: devotions
Next week we're going to look at the next chapter and answer the question, "What do you do after you've prayed?" I've prayed, I've been praying about the situation. What do I do next? A leader does more than pray but he doesn't do anything until he prays.

Prayer:

I'd like to walk you through these four steps. Think of one thing you've really had your heart set on. It's a real prayer request you'd like to pray. First, in your heart, base your request on who God is. Before you give the request to God, say, "God, I know You can answer this request because You are..." and tell Him what He is. A great God, a loving God, a merciful God. You listen to our prayers. You are a faithful God, You keep Your promises. On the basis of that make your request.

Number two, "God, I confess the sin in my life." Ask God if there is any sin He needs to reveal to you. We commit them specifically, we need to confess them specifically. Don't make a blanket approach, "God, forgive all my sins." Is there an attitude or action you need to change? Ask God to cleanse your life.

Then would you claim the promises of God. If you can't think of one right now, I suggest Philippians 4:19 "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Thank God that He gives us these promises.

Then be very specific in what you ask for. Lay your request out to God. Some of you need to pray that God would make you successful in a certain venture or project. If you're not sure that God wants you to do it, get something you're sure God wants you to do.
Then a prayer of commitment. "God, I'm willing to be part of the answer. I'm willing to be used by You in any way for the answer."

Thank You, Father, for these lessons we've learned from this great leader Nehemiah. May all of us develop our prayer life and grow closer to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

LEADING IN LIFE - The Making of a Leader

THE MAKING OF A LEADER
We're going to start a series I'm calling "Leading in Life".
I want to begin with a verse out of Proverbs. Proverbs 28:2 "A nation will be strong and endure when it has intelligent, sensible leaders." Circle the words "strong" and "endure". Those are the two benefits of having good, strong leadership. I think you could apply this verse to your family. I think you could say, A family will be strong and endure when there's good leadership. And a business, and a church. In the Living Bible it says, "With honest, sensible leaders there is stability." There are few things that are needed more in life today than stability. We need it in our homes, our nation, our world. There are rapid changes and upheavals and we need stability. It comes from leadership.
(diff. in living and leading in life)
Today we're going to begin an exciting discovery what the principles of leadership are in the book of Nehemiah. That's going to be our textbook. For years all I knew about Nehemiah was the was rebuilding a wall. That's all I knew. But the fact is, this is the greatest leadership book ever written. By his examples we're going to learn principles of leadership.
Today I want to give you the background of the book. But before we do that I want to give you LAWS OF LEADER-- six principles of why we're going to even do this study.
1.NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEONE PROVIDES LEADERSHIP FOR IT.
That is a law of life. Look at history. The Civil Rights movement was nothing until a man came along named Martin Luther King and said, "I have a dream" and he provided leadership. The NASA space program was nothing until a guy named John Kennedy said, "We're going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade." A man by the name of Ray Crocks said, "I want fast food at a convenient price in a clean atmosphere" and he invented an entire industry called fast food. This church started because God said, "Joe and Cathleen, I want you to be leaders and get this thing off the ground." In your own family -- you have family problems... nothing happens until somebody in the family assumes leadership and says, "We're going to do something about it." Everything rises or falls on leadership. Most problems can be traced to a lack of competent leadership. The greatest problem today is a leadership shortage. The greatest need is trained leaders.

In the book of Judges there were seven cycles -- up and down, up and down. The last verse of the book Judges 21:25 "Every man did what was right in his own eyes. There was no king in Israel." Where there is no leadership, people do their own thing. There is instability.
2. LEADERSHIP IS INFLUENCE
If I had to summarize leadership in one word it's influence -- for good or for bad. There are positive leaders and negative leaders. Have you ever gone onto a playground at school and within five minutes you know who the leaders are? For good or for bad.(pic) Have you ever set with a group of teenagers and within five minutes you know who the leaders are? Have you sat in a committee meeting and figured out who the leader was, often not the chairman? It's the person everyone keeps looking to to find out what he thinks? Every time you influence somebody you're assuming leadership.
I Timothy 4:12 Paul told Timothy, "As a young man be an example in leadership." Age has nothing to do with leadership. You can be an influence at any age and you're a model whether you like it or not. Everybody here today is a leader, just in different areas. Anytime you influence somebody you're a leader. The issue is not Are you a leader? The issue is whether or not you're a good one. You are a leader -- in your family, at home, at work, at school. The issue is, Are you a good one or not?

Nehemiah is the outstanding example in the Bible. He
accomplished incredible odds in a brief time because
he was a leader.
3.THE TEST OF LEADERSHIP IS "IS ANYBODY FOLLOWING?"
If you want to know whether you're a leader or not, simple -- Look over your shoulder. Jesus said in John 10:27 "My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me." I Cor. 11:1 Paul said, "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." We all need human models. Sure we're to follow Christ but we need human models to follow.

John Maxwell's parable of leadership, "He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk."

Leadership has absolutely nothing to do with titles or position. It has to do with influence. This is a mistake a lot of people make. A guy thinks, because he has a title, people are going to automatically follow and that's not necessarily true at all. There is a big difference between having a boss and having a leader. It's not a position or a title. Many
people have authority but they don't have leadership.
Ever seen that?

If you have to tell people that you are the leader, if you have to remind people that you're the leader, you're not. Leadership is influence and if you're not influencing anybody it doesn't mater whether you think you're the leader or not -- you're not. It's all influence.

The same thing is true in your home. When you say to your wife, "We're going to do it this way, because I am the spiritual leader, " you ain't. You've just lost it. The truth is if you're really leading, you don't have to remind people.

How about if your kid comes to you and says, "Why should I do this?" and you say, "Because I say so". That is a very weak position to motivate from. It just doesn't work too good. The test of leadership is if you have somebody following. You cannot force people to follow you no matter what you do.
4. THE FOUNDATION OF LEADERSHIP IS CHARACTER, NOT CHARISMA
A lot of TV evangelists have had lots of charisma, but they've bombed out because they had no character. They had major character defects.
A while back on one of the children's quiz shows the question was "What do you call a person who speaks through a dummy without moving his lips?" The child said, "An evangelist?"
The foundation of leadership is character, not charisma. Charisma has nothing to do with it. You don't have to have charisma to be a leader. You do have to have character, credibility, because leadership is influence and if you don't have credibility nobody is going to follow you.

Reputation is what people say you are, character is what you really are. D. L. Moody said, "Character is what you are in the dark when nobody is looking." I Timothy 3:1-13, Paul lays out the leadership characteristics for church leadership. All those characteristics he laid out necessary to be in the ministry, not once does he mention you've got to have a seminary education. Leadership is not based on academies it's character, on who you are.

Leaders come in all types and shapes and sizes of temperaments. There is no one leadership personality. God wants to use your personality. Look at the four different temperaments: Paul was a choleric. Peter was a sanguine. Moses was a melancholic. Abraham was a phlegmatic. They are as different as night and day. God used them all. Leadership has nothing to do with personality. You don't have to be outgoing to be a leader. You don't have to be a sanguine to be a leader.
What you do have to have is character. All great leaders have character. Sometimes a person gets into leadership without character and then those character flaws cause their downfall.
As we look at Nehemiah, we're going to see a man of God who was a very ordinary type of person but did extraordinary things because he had character in his life.
The fact is you will burn out if you try to imitate somebody else's personality. If you want to be a leader, don't say, "I want to be like..." and pick a model. If you try to imitate their personality, you will most likely burn out. (didn’t figure out until came here) All leaders are very different, there is great diversity. What great leaders do have in common is credibility and character.
Hebrews 13:7-8 "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith." This passage gives us three characteristics of good leaders:
They have a message worth remembering. When they talk, people listen. "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you." Evidently, there is something worth remembering there.
They have a lifestyle worth considering. "Consider the outcome of their way of life." Does their walk match their talk? Does their life match what they say they are?
They have a faith worth imitating. "Imitate their faith."
If you want to be a good leader, you need to develop a message worth remembering (What is my life message? What does God want to say to the world through me?), have a lifestyle worth considering and have a faith worth imitating. That's all character.
5. LEADERSHIP CAN BE LEARNED
If I didn't believe this we wouldn't be wasting time on this
series. Every one of you can be a great leader. Philippians 4:9 "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -- put into practice." Leaders are made not born. There is no such thing as a born leader. They are made by the way they respond to circumstances. You can take two people in exact opposite situations, circumstances, one of them will end up being a leader, the other washes out because of the choices they make.
The priority of training leaders I think can be seen in the ministry of Jesus. Mark 3:14 "He appointed twelve that they should be with him and he should send them out." Jesus had a public ministry and a private ministry. His public ministry involved preaching, teaching and healing. His private ministry involved training the disciples. Even within the twelve He had an inner circle -- Peter, James, John -- who got to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Transfiguration -- they got extra attention. In Galatians, Paul said Peter, James and John were the pillars of the church. Jesus invested the maximum time with those who would bear the maximum responsibility. He fed the masses but He spent most of His time training leadership. Leadership can be learned.
6. THE MOMENT YOU STOP LEARNING, YOU STOP LEADING
All leaders are learners. Every leader is a learner. The moment I stop learning, I stop leading. You must always be developing and growing and becoming what God wants you to be. Learning to be a leader takes a lifetime. We'll see it in the life of Nehemiah -- how God prepared him and God used him and how God used the lives of other people that Nehemiah taught.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 "If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success." If you've got a dull ax and you're chopping wood, it takes more energy. But if you have a sharp ax it doesn't take as much energy. Work smarter, not harder. People say, Hard work brings success. I know lots of people who work hard, and aren't successful. They do hard work digging ditches every day, but they're not working smarter. You need to learn to be a leader.

I honor you for being here. The very fact that you're here says more about you than it does about this message. It says that you're interested in learning to be a leader. I honor you for that. The person who thinks, "I know it all" is going to be left behind. It's the person who says, "I need to learn. I need to grow." I want to challenge you to not miss any of this series. This will help you at work, at church, in your business, in your home. I believe God has a place for you to serve. I believe that the very fact that you're alive means God has a purpose for your life. That involves having an
influence on other people.

THE BACKGROUND OF NEHEMIAH'S STORY

In 586 BC the city of Jerusalem in Israel was destroyed. Jews were deported over to Babylon which is now Iraq. They were to be kept there for 70 years. But in 537 the first group of Jews were allowed to return. In 516 the Temple was rebuilt. In 458 Ezra led the second group of Jews back to Jerusalem. Then in 445 Nehemiah asked permission to return to Jerusalem with a third group to rebuild the city walls.
Where is it happening? Jerusalem.
The Problem is that the city walls needed to be rebuilt. Today we use other means to protect our cities -- like radar. We don't need walls. But in those days if a city was walled and an enemy came against it, it might take 2, 4, 6 months for the enemy to break in. The walls were very important. The Jews had been taken away in captivity into another country. They finally were allowed to trickle back in. Finally they were allowed to rebuild the Temple. But the city was still in ruins, rubble. All the walls were falling down. It was just junk and they were living in a heap.
The people were defenseless. They were vulnerable to attack and harassment because they had no protection. Because they were defenseless they were also discouraged and defeated.
Why were they in captivity in the first place? It was the sin of the nation. God said, If you guys don't get your act together I'm going to allow an enemy nation to come in, and He did. But now He's allowing the Jews to come back, the Temple has been rebuilt but the city is still in rubble, a big mess, and the walls are broken down. People are living in rubble, low morale, and they're defeated, discouraged, depressed. What do you do when you have that kind of situation?
You need a leader.

Nehemiah 1 "The word of Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year. While I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah and some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, `Those that survived the exile are back in the province and they are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and the gates have been burned with fire.' [It's very significant about the gates.] When I heard these things I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned, fasted and prayed before the Lord God. Then I said ..." the next verses gets into his prayer.

Notice: Nehemiah first says "I was in the city of Susa". First place, notice this was written in first person. Nehemiah wrote this book. This is his journal. We're going to get a personal account of a leader, not from third hand experience. This is his personal journal. We're going to get an inside look at the leader.

He was in the citadel of Susa. Susa was not the capital of the Persian Empire but was kind of like a summer palace. Nehemiah is there in the king's summer palace which is in modern day Iraq.
Last part of v. 11, he says "I was the cupbearer to the king." This tells us what Nehemiah did for a living, who he was, what his occupation was.
It says Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king. What was a cupbearer? If he was going to go back and try to rebuild the wall, obviously he's not a contractor, he's a cupbearer. A cupbearer was probably the second most important position in the kingdom. He was a combination Prime Minister, body guard, personal security agent and assistant to the king. He did all of these things. He was very well trusted. He was the person the most trusted by the king. He was the king's personal security agent, and prime minister. The reason he was called cupbearer was because part of his job was to taste the wine before the king drank it to make sure it wasn't poisoned. There were a lot of assassination attempts in those days. The king was paranoid and fearful so they would have a guy who would test all of the wine. If he keeled over they knew that was bad wine! It was a pretty dangerous job, considering in those days a lot of people didn't like the King.

The point I want to make here is that Nehemiah had to be absolutely loyal and trustworthy, a Jew brought over in captivity or actually he was probably born in Babylon because they'd been there 70 years, but he was not a Persian and he is second in command. Isn't it neat how God has a way of always getting His men in the right position at the right time? Nehemiah is really a major figure in the Persian government.

Verse 1 says in the month of Chislev his brother Hanani has been on a trip to Jerusalem and he comes back. Jerusalem is about 800 to 1000 miles from Susa. In those days that would take probably about two months travel on camel and it's all across the desert. It's major hard driving. His brother comes back and Nehemiah says, give me a report about all of our relatives, what's happening over there in Jerusalem? Hanani says, "It's all bad news, the people are in the pits, our relatives are discouraged, the walls have not been rebuilt. They've got the temple rebuilt but the whole city lies in ruin. All these guys are coming in invading the city and the people are discouraged, depressed, low morale. It's bad!"

Nehemiah's reaction in v. 4 "When I heard these things I sat down and I wept and for some days I mourned and I fasted and I prayed before the God of heaven." Nehemiah's reaction was four things: he wept, he mourned, he fasted, he prayed. He's really taking this thing seriously. He's saddened by this. He's embarrassed for the people of God. He says, I prayed and in the next few verses, 4-11, he gives us the prayer. Notice it says, "for some days". Circle that phrase. He didn't do it for just one day. How long did he do it? He tells us. In v. 1 he tells us this is the month of Chislev when he heard about it. In chapter 2, the very first verse, he says the month of Nisan of the twentieth year of the king he gets the chance to go. He's been praying all of this time. Nehemiah had been praying, weeping, fasting, mourning for four months. He took this seriously, very deeply in his heart. He prayed for four months straight. Nehemiah is a man of prayer. He has 11 prayers; there's more prayers in this book
than almost any book of the Bible. One of them we'll cover next week.

WHY DID GOD CHOOSE NEHEMIAH AS A LEADER? Of all the people why did God choose Nehemiah, the cupbearer to a pagan king? Three reasons:
1. NEHEMIAH WAS SENSITIVE TO THE NEEDS ABOUT HIM
Nehemiah's reaction is pretty incredible. Nehemiah has it made. He's at the peak of his career. Nehemiah is living on easy street, the second best position in the kingdom. He's got a great salary, he doesn't have to rock the boat. The problems in Jerusalem must seem like a million miles away. He's never even seen Jerusalem. He was born in Babylon because they'd been there 70 years. When he hears about God's people depressed, discouraged, defeated he takes it seriously.

In the following weeks I'm going to give you leadership insights from Nehemiah. Here's one of the first ones: Leaders are sensitive to the needs of people around them. That's the first principle of leadership I want to bring out of this book. Living in the Houston area, life is really so easy compared to the rest of the world. Most of the world would love to have your problems. Their problems are "Am I going to have food today?" and we're worried about "My shoes don't match my purse!" or "I've got on summer colors and it’s fall!" We live in the Houston area which is in so many ways insulated and isolated that all of the problems the rest of the world faces seem far away. You could turn on your TV any night and see all of these needs but become callused because we see them all of the time.

The point I want to make is this: The people that God uses are people who care about the things God cares about. And God cared about the fact that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down. Since God cared about it, Nehemiah cared about it and that made him a leader.

Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, used to say, "Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God." That's the first step in being a great leader. A sensitivity to the needs around you.
2. NEHEMIAH WAS DEPENDABLE
He had a proven track record. We see that the king considered him so trustworthy he gave him the most reliable position of the kingdom -- cupbearer. He intrusted his personal security to him. There was enormous trust there. The point I want to make here is that God uses people who are trustworthy, reliable, dependable.

Luke 16:10-13.   "Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people's money, why should you be trusted with money of your own? "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

We see a couple ways God tests our faithfulness to see if He's going to use us or not. One of the ways He tests us is how we serve in another person's ministry before He gives us our own. Another way is what do we do with our money? The Bible tells us that the way you manage your money determines how much God can bless your life. Your giving determines to a great degree how much God can bless your life. If you cannot be trusted with this small amount of worldly wealth who's going to trust you with true spiritual riches?
3. NEHEMIAH WAS AVAILABLE
When the situation needed a leader, Nehemiah said, "I volunteer! Here am I, send me!" He had the job, the position that everybody else wants and the problem is a thousand miles away, two months away across the desert on a camel and he says, "I'll go! I'm not even a contractor but I'll go rebuild the wall!" God still chose him even though he didn't have the skills for that particular job. But he was sensitive and he was dependable and he was available.

God is not looking for ability in leaders as much as he's looking for credibility, dependability, and availability. Those qualities are a matter of choice. You may say, "I don't have certain gifts or talents or intellect." That doesn't even matter to God. What matters are, Are you credible? Do you have character? Are you growing in character? Are you sensitive to people? Are you dependable? Can God rely on you? Dependability is much more important than ability. Are you available?

Nothing happens until someone provides leadership for it. Everything rises or falls on leadership. God wants to use you as a leader in your home, your business, your church. If you'll stick with me over the next several weeks, I will teach you the principles from God's word on how you can be a leader.


Prayer:

As we close, let's do a little personal evaluation. How about these three reasons God used Nehemiah? Am I sensitive to the needs around me? Ask yourself that. Or am I so caught up in what I'm doing, my plan that I can't hear God's voice? Am I sensitive? That's why God chose Nehemiah. Am I aware of what my wife's greatest needs are? my husband's needs are? Am I sensitive enough to be aware of what my kids' greatest needs are? Am I aware of the needs of the people that I work with? Am I aware of the greatest needs in my church? Could I name them right now? Do I even care? What breaks your heart? Does your team losing on TV upset you more than people around you are going to die and go to hell unless we reach them with the good news? What breaks your heart?

How about dependability? Can I be depended on? Am I reliable? How about availability? Am I available to God? to be used in any way that He wants to use me?

As we close, I invite you to pray a one sentence prayer: "God, I want to be willing to be used by You anywhere, anytime, any way." If you say that and mean it, hang on for a fun time. If you get usable, God will wear you out and there is no greater thrill than to be used by God in the kingdom of God.

Father, may be we challenged from the life of Nehemiah as we look at this man. The principles are thousands of years old but they apply today in the rat race we live in. Lord, we want to be sensitive, dependable and available to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

'Finding GOD in your iPod' - iLife - by Cathleen Parks

‘Unwritten” - Natasha Bedingfield

No one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live you life with arms wide open
Today is where you book begins
The rest is still unwritten

------------------------------------------------------

Today is where YOUR book begins.

Over the last 5 weeks in this series, ‘Finding GOD on your iPod’ was a creative way to share with you the structure of our church, FOCUS*. The same structure just so happens to also be the keys to living a successful life.

The structure is based on 2 scriptures:

The first one is called ‘The Great Commandment’ because Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the law was and this was his answer.

Matthew 22:37-39
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

The second is called the great commission because this was Jesus’ directive to use, his call to us...

Matthew 28:19-20
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Those 2 scriptures show us how to live a purpose-driven life as well as a be a part of a purpose-driven church.
A healthy church is one living out the 5 purposes in those 2 scriptures - a God-driven life consists of those 5 purposes. So let me make it clear that when I refer to this purpose driven life I am actually talking about 2 different things


1 your individual life
2 the church body, which is in itself life

Based in these 2 scriptures we can see that the 5 ingredients to being purpose driven are clear - let’s break them down:

-Love the Lord your God - Worship - iWorship
-Love your neighbor as yourself - Ministry/Service - iLove
-go and make disciples - Evangelism - iShare
-baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - Community/fellowship - iConnect
-teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you - Discipleship - iLearn

Our goal at FOCUS* is to learn together how live out these 5 purposes. In everything we do - we want to see these 5 purposes overlapping each other.
Our focus is not to grow a church - that isn’t what it’s about - our focus is to have a healthy church.
We can measure whether this life called the church body is healthy by looking at these 5 purposes, or systems, in the same way that seeing if or physical bodies are healthy by looking at the 9 body symptoms.

In our own body make-up - we have 9 central systems that govern the body, nervous system, circulatory system, muscular... respiratory... skeletal... and so forth...
(Joe and some of you may have seen that at the
‘Body Worlds’ exhibit)
When all are functioning we are in balance. What happens if just one begins to falter?
We get out of balance, become unhealthy
We stop either growing or functioning properly

To live out a purpose driven life we need to have all 5 purposes, or you could even say systems, functioning:

So we say:
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church!

or

A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great person!

How do you see yourself living out these 5 purposes?
Maybe 1 or 2 real well?
Maybe not any really?

No matter where you see your life today, no matter where you are on this scale today - you CAN move forward -
you CAN live a purpose-driven life. Just like the final line in todays song - the rest is still unwritten

Let me show you how this works. We already established that there are 5 purposes or systems that have to be in place to see a healthy, purposeful life. But let me take it a step further and say that these purposes need to overlap - intertwine - they are dependent on one another. To see even 1 system functioning at it best means that the other 4 systems would be functioning also. In some cases, systems will fail without the support of another system. For example, you absolutely cannot love others as yourself until you love God with all you’ve got first.

Neighbor = those you are in contact with throughout your day

Give example of v.b. tour. and drive home
Ask: What would you do in that situation? How would you feel about helping?
Is it fair to say that on your own you could not love them enough to desire to help them? I’m sure most of us would say that we would struggle a little here. Our struggle is evidence that we need a Godly love that accepts and forgives. It reaches out to those we may not normally want to reach out to. So you can see that loving God with all we have really is a prerequisite to loving others as ourselves.

I believe that when we apply the prerequisite and we truly fall in love with God, we seek to get to know Him and then we grow in love more and more - then loving others will come much more naturally to us. In the same way, when we begin to see others with a Godly perspective, which the closer we get to Him the easier that becomes, we can’t help but to have a desire to put into action The Great Commission.

The first thing the great commission calls us to action on is to ‘go and make disciples’. This is evangelism. It is simply telling others about Jesus. Sharing your experiences with Him. Sharing His love and what He’s all about.

Our desire to share Jesus with others is a direct reflection of our ability to see people through a Godly perspective. To know that each individual is created by, and deeply loved by, our God spurs in us a desire to love them to.

The great commission leads us on a journey then with people. It says first go and make disciples/to evangelize and then to baptize. I like this one because it emphasizes community and fellowship. It demonstrates the need for one another. Can you imagine someone attempting to baptize themselves? We really do need each other. Time and time again God’s Word reiterates our need for one another:
Heb 10:24& 25And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
25Let us not give up meeting together, ... but let us encourage one another.

James 5:16 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.

John 13:34 Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.
Job 42:11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him.
Job 16: 5 my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Provebs 12:25 Worry weighs us down; 
   a cheerful word picks us up.
This one sums up what we can be to one another. This is what Paul and Timothy wrote in a letter.....
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 
You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. ....With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.
Man that’s community! with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. ....With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God
Actually as mentioned before, this scripture shows the overlapping of the five purposes because you can see how it naturally flows into the last purpose that says ‘ teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you -’. Listen to how clear it is in vs. 12....showing you step-by-step how to live well before God.
These purposes are our roadmap to health. Individually and corporately. We are called to be a people that absolutely love God. And not because we have to - nobody, including God, wants to be loved like that. But instead we love God because of who He is. We take action to get to know Him. To learn more and more about Him, and to grow deeper and deeper in relationship with Him. And as we do, we develop a love for others that spurs us on to the other 4 purposes of service, evangelism, community, and discipleship.

You know as we looked through some of this scripture today some of you may have paused right in the beginning. Right when we hit ‘ 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' You might feel like you love the Lord but you realize maybe that you love Him because you are suppose to. Because you’ve been taught to - because you are obliged to. But with all your heart, soul and mind.....maybe not. Coming to this place and reconciling it is the first step to the rest of life. It is the prerequisite to everything. In our song it is the main verse:
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions -Let it go - come to a place of full acceptance. A place of love for God that is truly with all your heart, soul, mind.

And then I think the song really demonstrates what happens next, ‘ Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else’. No one can feel your emotions, dictate your life, you make your decisions and only you choose to let God in. And then what?
‘ no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Let your book begin today. If your here and you are thinking - yep - that’s me. I want to love God with all I’ve got - this is your beginning.

Pray

If your here today and you know you’ve got the number 1 step down but your feel like you could use a little help with steps 2-5, join the club. We all need a little reminder every now and then to remember what it’s all about. Are you allowing others to speak into your life and are you speaking into others? Now matter how successful you are with these 4 purposes, as the song says, the rest is still unwritten. Every day is a new day to learn something new as we grow in the Lord and to impart something new as we encourage those around us. Let’s pray together that God would illuminate areas of our lives that he desires to work in, in a greater way. And let’s commit together to be a people who are dedicated to and partnering together in living purposeful lives

'Finding GOD in your iPod' - iShare

I love that song. It is a very creative video.
I have a soft-spot for Nickelback b/c I’m a 80’s metalhead and I like NB’s stuff. They have some very thoughtful lyrics as well - this song, 'Savin’ Me' - Overall, he just wants out of a bad situation and needs help doing so, but he wants to be helped by someone who truly thinks he deserves saving.
A pretty inspirational song.

The chorus is impactful:
And teach me wrong from right 
And I'll show you what I can be 
Say it for me 
Say it to me 
And I'll leave this life behind me 
Say it if it's worth saving me

I wonder what we could say? I wonder what we could share
that would be worth it for someone to hear and listen?
What could we say, what could we share that it would be so meaningful to others that they’d leave (all that they know) their life behind them and go with what you have?

We are to be a voice of HOPE

This is a message God spoke in the O.T.

"But you are my witnesses, O Israel!" says the LORD. "And you are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God; there never has been and never will be. Is. 43:10

Israel’s task was to be a witness, to be a voice of hope, telling the world who God is and what He has done. Believers today share the same responsibility - do people know what God is like thru your words and example? Though they cannot see God directly, they see Him reflected in you. (mirror)
Another O.T. scripture -
”Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars forever.” Daniel 12:3

Many people strive to be stars in the unstable world of sports or entertainment, only to find the pursuit meaningless or temporary. God tells us how to be ‘eternal stars’ - by “turning many to righteousness” - by being a Voice of Hope!

Throughout the New Testament God is changing the lives of people through His Son Jesus Christ - story after story... Sual(Paul)... Cornelious... the Blind man... and on and on...

Look at this story in John 1:

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" 
They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" “Come," he replied, "and you will see." 
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. 
 Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). John 1:35-42

I want you to think about this for a moment, this is HUGE!
We’re talking Peter here! Peter... who... became disciple...
... was part of Christ’s inner circle
... was the 1st great VoH after pentecost
... became the recognized leader of the church

and it was his brother Andrew who lead him to Christ.
Peter was living this normal, regular routine life and then Andrew takes him to Christ. From that moment on Peter found purpose in life, his reason for living, life actually meant something - Andrew had something worth sharing. (changed Peter's life)
Andrew was a voice of hope - this is a great example of how God has called us to be His witnesses that we read in Is. 43 and how to shine like the stars that we read in Da. 12
to be a Voice of HOPE

Here’s another ex. closer to home (lynn video)
Lynn is a godly woman who continues to impact the lives of those around and beyond... and did you catch how she was lead to Jesus Christ? or how she ‘meet the Lord’ in her own words there?
2 people - Andy and her mother

Andy is living out Dan. 12:3, shinning star - He is this mirror reflecting the glory of God, the love of God out to others - and Lynn was one of those who saw Christ in Andy.
Her mother is living out Is. 43 as well as John 1 leading her now adult daughter to church to meet Christ.
Andy and her mother had something worth sharing - they were both a VoH

Let’s look at Rick (video) - how cool - their testimony - heard that b4? your testimony can be broken down to 3 simple steps - Life b4 JC - how met JC - life after JC - that’s testimony.

Your life story will change the life of others

How did Rick come to know Christ?
Wife and other believers (men’s group)

Let me ask you, who made a difference in your life?
Who was a shinning star in your life? Who reflected the love of God to you? Someone did, maybe a # of people did

Now let me ask you this - how can we make a difference?
How can we share this good news, this amazing story of love, forgiveness, and acceptance?

HOW?

Invest and Invite

All of us know people, people who are close to us who do not know Christ intimately. Who have not stepped over that line and accepted Him as Savior.
Invest in them - you’re not on your own, we will be praying with you and partnering together to share the love of Christ w/ them. I promise you our goal every week here is to share the love, acceptance, and forgiveness Christ offers.

Operation Andrew:

LOOK AROUND where you live, work, or go to school—
this is your mission field. List names of individuals you
know who need Jesus Christ.

LOOK UP because God changes people through prayer.
Pray each day for those on your list, that God will give
you opportunities to share His love with them.

LOOK OUT for ways to cultivate friendships with each
person on your list. Spend time with them. An invitation
to dinner or a sporting event will cultivate friendships, to build trust which can open the way to talk about Christ.

LOOK FORWARD by beginning to talk with each person
on your list about attending church or maybe a small group or down at Montrose with you.
Choose a specific date, pray, and invite them.

LOOK AFTER those who respond to Christ or even begin
to show interest in the Gospel, for they need your
encouragement. Continue to love and pray for those
who do not respond.