"....Remember that Nehemiah was a cupbearer, not a stonemason. So imagine how insurmountable the task of rebuilding the walls would have seemed to him if he were not looking at that task with faith and confidence that this was God’s plan and that God had a way.

The same goes for us. As we move from recognizing God’s calling on our lives into active pursuit and engagement with Kingdom work, we will inevitably find ourselves pushed outside of our own natural abilities and limits. We will be stretched and we will feel uncomfortable and we will have to learn how to lean into God and persevere....."

We are going to take a look at three young Jews who walked closely with God. We are going to see their victory. What we won’t see is the struggle it took to get them to the place where they would be willing do what they did.

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They did the right thing, came out of the fire unscathed, got promoted, and the king even started to worship God.

It would be easy to conclude from this that if we will just do the right thing, everything will turn out great for us. It doesn’t always happen like that, does it? We know that from experience. Sometimes we do the right thing and we get burned badly.

So, even though, you are going through a very difficult time right now, God has not forgotten you. He says, “In your pain, in your desert experience, in your time of captivity seek me with all your heart and you will find me, and you will find rest for your soul.” That is what he is saying to every single one of us here this morning, no matter what we are going through. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

What Elisha’s assistant saw when he looked out his door was the huge army of the enemy Arameans, “with troops, horses, and chariots everywhere.” Elisha asked God to open his assistant’s eyes so he could see that there is more happening than meets the eye. “... there are more on our side than on theirs!”

You may look at your situation, whatever it is, and think you are facing an impossible opponent. You might feel like giving up. What God wants to do is get us to the place where we will open our eyes and see that he is up to something. Things are not always as they seem.

Our real enemy, Satan, wants us to give up. He will tell us lies and half truths. He will tell us that the reason the person is oppositional towards us is because they are an idiot and beyond hope, so you shouldn’t even bother trying.

"What we’ve seen so far throughout the Biblical history and what’s happening presently is that the Feast of Tabernacles is about remembering God’s faithfulness in our past. Forgetting God is what got Israel in trouble in the wilderness. Forgetting God and moving away from God is what we naturally want to do. We think that we can celebrate and have a feast without God, but we only move ourselves farther away from his peace, his tabernacle. That’s why it’s so important to look at what happens next in his story. What is God’s plan in the future for his children?" 

There is a problem most human beings have when it comes to our brokenness. We like to try and keep it secret that we all are in need of God’s power. It might vary, but each one of us carries with us pieces that are too broken for us to heal, to fix or move on with. But often, something gets in the way from us ever expressing it - until it gets too late. Until the lights go out, until our health leaves us bed ridden, until we can’t even recognize ourselves from the person once were.

I am here today to say that I am a person in need of a Powerful God.

Key Point: To Seek God’s Heart We Must Humble Ourselves First. We must be Selfless...Not Selfish

Solomon could have asked for anything, and yet he recognizes God made him King.

Listen to his humility as he describes himself as a ‘little child’. Solomon was young and inexperienced in governmental affairs. Solomon declares Israel as God’s chosen people (humility). He asks for wisdom so that he can govern God’s people because the task is too large for him alone. He is sharing his need of God to accomplish this massive mission that God has given him. Solomon asked for wisdom not for himself but to govern God’s people.....

When our heart lines up with God’s, that is when our prayers get answered. When our heart yearns for the same things that God’s heart yearns for, that is the sweet spot. God also reminds him that he needs to continue to follow God and obey God’s ways.

.....In the Old Testament, while the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they packed up the tabernacle and moved it around with them, with the Ark of the Covenant leading the way, which represented the presence and power of God. God, in some strange way, localized his presence. He dwelt temporarily in the tabernacle. With the advent of Jesus things changed.....

January 21 we are looking at the coronation of King David. God called him to be the shepherd of his people. As a young boy he worked as a shepherd for his father. David knew how to shepherd sheep. He had cared for them since he was a young boy. He had to fight off lions and bears to keep the sheep safe. He knew well how to shepherd sheep. Now God was asking him to shepherd his people. And people are much more complicated than sheep. Sheep are much more loyal than people. They are easy to care for. You just need to feed them and bring them to some water and keep them safe. They are docile. They don’t vie for power. They know their place. They are sheep.

The one thing sheep have in common with people, however, is their tendency to wander away. They keep their head down and eat and they can wander off away from the shepherd and into disastrous situations. As with sheep, we are prone to wander and we need a shepherd. And we need to know in the deep, dark valleys of our lives how to allow Jesus, the good shepherd to lead beside quiet waters.

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The question is, “How much are you feeling overwhelmed by life?” There are five responses for you to choose from: Not at all; A wee bit; I’m often anxious; I’m always anxious; and I’m  desperate."

Saul followed his dark heart of jealousy and resentment and it took him to a darker place of destruction. He was tormented. He entertained every thought of jealousy, envy, bitterness and resentment. Each time he had those thoughts he had a choice to indulge them or to take them captive and slay them.

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We have a wrong idea that if someone else gets praise or accolades it means there is less for us. We wrongly believe that life is like a pie that’s brought to a party and there are far more people at the party than pieces of pie. Everyone wants a piece, but there is not enough to go around, so we push our way to the front of the line to make sure we don’t get left out.....

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There is no greater truth than this: Jesus loves me, this I know. When we truly know that from our hearts it really does change everything.