Vision: the capacity to create a compelling picture of the desired state of affairs that inspires people to respond; that which is desirable, which could be, should be; that which is attainable. A godly vision is right for the times, right for the church, and right for the people. A godly vision promotes faith rather than fear. A godly vision motivates people to action. A godly vision requires risk-taking. A godly vision glorifies God, not people. Bob Logan.

Visions are easy to criticize. In fact, visions even attract criticism. This sermon deals with how to continue building the vision despite the adversity and opposition of the enemy.

In week two of our series "It's Time To Build" we see how it took faith for Nehemiah to accept the call to tackle the tough job of building the walls of Jerusalem and it will take faith for us the build in our own lives, families, community and church.

Nehemiah tells his story in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes (who is the husband of Easter) king of Persia. (Detail the story)As we start the book of Nehemiah, God is about to instigate another movement back to the Promised Land.

Prayer is one of the overriding themes of the book and the secret to Nehemiah’s success. Friends, if we are going to build in 2016 we have to develop a lifestyle of prayer.

I want to suggest this morning that Nehemiah went through a process of prayer that has great application and relevance to us today. I like to call them the four “Cs”.

Christmas is a miraculous time of year. The spectacular display by the angels in the sky over the fields where the shepherds were was truly a miracle.The fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem fulfilling one of many prophecies about the birth of the Messiah was a miracle. And, in this sermon we’re going to look at the real miracles of Christmas, the Miracle of the Manger.

Our Christmas sermon series is Experience the Miracle of Christmas. It is not enough to just know about the miracle of Christmas. We need to experience the miracle of Christmas in our own hearts and lives. So today we want to focus on the Miracle of the Message.

Our theme this year for Advent is Experience the Miracle of Christmas. It is so easy to get all wrapped up (no pun intended) in the activity of the season that we miss the miracle of Christmas. This Christmas season, let's spend some moments reflecting on what the miracle of Christmas is all about and that’s of Christ's birth. For the next 3 weeks we will deal with specific miracles today being “The Miracle of The Moment”.

There are many prayers recorded in Scripture. From Moses, to David, to Jehoshaphat, to Daniel - we’re exposed to powerful, earth shaking prayers, but the prayer of the church at Antioch show us that God DOES pay attention.

It is common for many of us to feel we don’t know how to pray or what to say – and

James understood that so he gave us an example of how we can pray.

He wrote: "Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain,

and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the

heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." (James 5:17-18)



In other words... if you want to have a good model of how to pray, look at how Elijah

prayed. SO that’s what we’re going to do in this message.

In this sermon we discuss that getting rid of our baggage is absolutely essential. However, it can only happen when we allow the Lord to DEAL WITH IT for us. Who’s ready to deal with their baggage and put it down?