More Than Bread

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They did it. They did what seemed impossible. They worked at a work that would only work if God showed up and God showed up. They finished the wall in 52 days. In this episode I'm going to share one of my favorite stories. It's about a man named Dee Duke and the big boat that his father pushed. And it causes me to ask the question, "What's your big boat?"

Where are you doing a work that just won't work if God doesn't show up?

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 One thing that has impacted me in the last two chapters of Nehemiah is the reality that we do not know the whole story. In our arrogance or ignorance, sometimes we act like we know the whole story. But we don't, at best we see a chapter or two.  When you brush shoulders with people in the grocery story, jog past someone on the street, glance at the person stopped beside you at the light, just realize at best you are just seeing the cover of the book,  a page or two. You don't know the whole story.  

Even when it's your story. You don't even know the whole story of your story. Sure you know more about your book than anyone else's but you don't know the whole story of your life. Because you aren't the author, God is!

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Nothing is beyond God. No problem is greater than His power. No sin goes deeper than His grace. No heart is so damaged, neglected or hard that He cannot breathe into it, new life. But it requires His gracious hand. Nehemiah's description of the story of his success was simple. "The gracious hand of God was upon me." 

We need his hand upon us, but here's the deal. "His gracious hand is on gracious people." That's what I see in Nehemiah chapter 5. You know some of us think that the word "if" is missing from God's vocabulary. But God uses "if" all the time. They are called conditional promises. And here is one of those conditional promises, (Proverbs 21:13) "If you close your ears to the cry of the poor, I will not answer when you call out." God's gracious hand is on gracious people!  

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The next chapter of the story God is writing in you and through you is primarily about building people, rebuilding marriage and families, and neighborhoods . It's all about rebuilding hearts. When it comes to church, facilities are tools. Programs and ministries are tools and it's good to have tools. But ultimately we have to ask the question, "How are we doing at building people, building Jesus-apprentices who live and love and lead like Jesus?"

We are God's greatest building project. Make no mistake we're still under construction, but people are God's great treasure!

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There is work to be done and sometimes a battle (spiritual) to be fought. What should we do? Rush to the battle and God will fight for you. Listen if God is the
author of my story, then trouble is not the story of my life. And here is the truth that goes beyond my story. God is not only the author of your story, He's the hero!

I have heard it said that we should pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on us. But I find that when I'm working like it depends on me, I rarely pray like it depends on God. Perhaps we also need to figure out what it looks like to work, like it depends on God? 

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In Nehemiah 4,  the people are half-way home, the wall is half-way rebuilt. But how many of us know that half-way home is sometimes the hardest place to be. Because half-way home, means we still have just as far to go as we've already gone. And if we aren't careful, we can begin to lose heart.

Sometimes if we don't want to lose heart, we need to forget the rubble and remember God. I mean nobody wants to lose heart. We want to be renewed. We want to be strong, filled with hope. We know our stories have hard chapters, but we don't wan to lose heart. This episode will begin to talk about how we go through the hard times without losing heart!

Don't lose heart!

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So if you didn't listen to my message from this weekend at Calvary, even if you usually take Monday off because it's not part of the normal episode, let me encourage you to listen. If you did listen, maybe this is a good one to hear twice. Not just for you, I'm going to listen to this one again. And I'll be praying,

"Lord would you do it again!"

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There are two groups who didn't share in the story God was writing through the leadership of Nehemiah. The Nobles of Tekoa wouldn't put their shoulders to the work and the rulers of the region didn't want to give up control. The political leaders wanted power and the Nobles of Tekoa wanted comfort. Comfort and Control. I see this time and time again. Far too often, the church for which Jesus died, opts for comfort and control. The comfort of religious freedom has become more important to us than surrendering to spiritual faithfulness.  We don't need religious freedom to be spiritually faithful.

The complete surrender of our lives is not radical Christianity, it's the base-line minimum.  When I look at Nehemiah 2 & 3, when I read the unfinished story that God is writing, it becomes painfully clear, that while God loves to use the broken and those in the margins of life, if we will not abandon comfort and surrender control, we'll miss His story.

Which is a shame, because you are invited...into His story!

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Your story isn’t finished. You need a team. But if you’re not dead, God’s not done. He has a team for you and a team with you. And listen to me, make no mistake, there will be times when the life you want more than anything will be outside of your hands. Your story will not be written without some twists and turns and even a few seemingly dead-end moments. Our journey will not be finished without walking through the rubble of brokenness. In fact, you will face times so difficult, that you can't do it alone. But if you're not dead then He's not done and if he's not done, your story has a team. 

And God is writing a good, good, really good story! He's inviting you to be part of that story.

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When God gives us a mission, the call to sacrifice is not far behind. Feeling bad will not save the day. It requires action, sacrifice, even risk. A good idea isn't good enough, it requires good work. Has anyone ever asked you the question, "If you
knew you couldn't fail, what would you try to accomplish for God?" Perhaps a better question is, "What do you care about so deeply, that even if you are bound to fail, you would still have to try?"

Here's the deal. If you take on a mission like that...you can't do it alone!