WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.760 And that is a lot of work. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:05.519 And it is a lot of change. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:08.880 Every single sentence in a novel. 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:16.320 Um but I think it's I think it's better and stronger, and I think I'm better and stronger for it. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:24.480 So that's you know, one of the people I thought of in kind of preparing for helping him with this message was J.K. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:26.480 Rowling, is it Rowling or Rowling? 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:28.160 Who uh wrote Harry Potter. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:37.520 Uh the story is something like 70 rejections, and then she kept working and working 70 rejections before Harry Potter. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:45.439 So there's a lot of failure and rejection in the process of being a human being. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:50.640 Well, John Grisham would be another example of a family who had a lot of rejections. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:01:02.240 Um I mean I get the privilege of witnessing you receive those letters, and it sort of gloomy around our house for a couple of hours after those letters come or have come. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:11.120 But um I also get to witness you working hard every day, every day on rewriting that. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:18.719 Um as I said, we're gonna look at the two little books of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Old Testament. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:42.239 And uh just so you know, just I find these things interesting, um throughout the entire Old Testament period and the New Testament period, literally until the Middle Ages, there was no such books as Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:45.840 There was just one book, and it was called Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.760 And that was the that was the name of the book. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:58.640 So for 1500, it it was 1,500 years later that the book of Ezra and Nehemiah was turned into two books. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:26.159 Didn't do any damage to it, uh, you know, but it w what I the reason I think that's not only interesting but important is that Ezra and Nehemiah were written by one author, one human author, and they it was one story, and it is to be read and studied and pondered as one story. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:28.639 It was never designed to be two separate stories. 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.919 So I think that's important for us to keep in mind. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:49.680 Um it was uh it it accounts for or recounts, I guess I should say, a moment in the history of Israel where they have been in Babylonian captivity for almost 70 years. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:03:00.479 And at the end of the 70 years, now they are coming back from Babylon to the promised land, and we're gonna tell you a little bit of detail about that in a minute. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:04:05.199 But um, so it's near the end of the Babylonian uh captivity, and uh it's it is a moment in the history of Israel as they are told you can go back home, where there is incredible excitement, incredible optimism, incredible hope that all of the things that God had been promising Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and Joshua and David, and then the prophets that were right before the captivity occurred, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, all these promises of a new day that God is going to restore to Israel all that they once possessed and experienced, and then much more. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:09.680 So it's a it's a it's a very high time of excitement. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:10.159 Okay? 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:12.960 So let me let me give you a little background here. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:05:02.160 Basically, from the time of Moses until the time of the Babylonian captivity, which would have been Jeremiah, from Moses to Jeremiah, God had been constantly warning the people of Israel that if you don't focus on your relationship with me, you don't prioritize my priorities, and if you don't take seriously your calling that I've placed upon your lives to be a source of blessing to those who have not been blessed like you have. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:16.800 If you neglect those things, you ignore those things, you you minimize those things, terrible consequences are gonna result from that. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:55.040 And in 586 BC, the Babylonian army led by King Nebuchadnezzar, marched into southern Israel, ruined the nation of Israel for all practical, economic, social, cultural purposes, destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and most tragically for the Israelites, destroyed the temple that Solomon had built. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:03.360 And then just about everyone that they didn't kill, they toted off to captivity in Babylon. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.879 And that occurred in 586 BC. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:12.639 And God had been telling them since Moses that this was going to happen. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:20.000 And then through the prophet Jeremiah in particular, God had told them in advance how long they were going to be there. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.079 Around 70 years. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.480 And so it happened. 00:06:24.720 --> 00:07:09.439 Now, what's important is if you go back and look at all those warnings that God gave his people, that if they didn't focus on their relationship with him, the priorities that God had revealed to them, and most importantly, his priority for them to be a blessing to people that had not been blessed like they had, that this was going to happen, but every time he gave them that warning, he also gave them a promise of hope that my love, my power, and my grace are greater than your sin and your enemies. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:19.839 And that while if you ignore me and what I have told you a million times, the consequences will occur. 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:26.000 But I'm going, I'm bigger than the consequences. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.279 I'm bigger than your enemies, I'm bigger than your sin. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:40.639 And there will be a day of restoration, a day of healing, a day of redemption that will undo what you've messed up. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:51.759 And 70 years later, amazingly, God told him it was going to be 70 years, and dead gummit, God ran, you know, how in the world does this happen? 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:53.040 But God was right. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:08:17.279 And 70 years later, actually a few years earlier, another nation, the Persians, rose to power, conquered Babylon, and they did something that was, it was the first time in human history, at least recorded history, that a nation, a conquering nation did this. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:24.399 Cyrus was the dude's name that was leading the Persians at the time, and he made an edict. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:40.399 He said, if you are a people group that have been conquered by the Babylonians and departed, departed, deported to other parts of the Babylonian Empire, if you want to, you can go back home. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:44.320 It wasn't just to the Jewish people, it was to any conquered group. 00:08:44.639 --> 00:09:06.000 Cyrus had this idea that if I let people go back to their lands and they promise to be loyal and they promise to get their priest to pray their God's blessings on me, I'll have more unity, more success ruling all these cultures than the Babylonians had had. 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:08.000 And so that's exactly what he did. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:21.279 Part of that process was that Cyrus told the Jews, you can go back home. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:39.679 And so, a few years after 586, I mean 70 years later, there were three groups of Jews led by three different leaders over a period of time, and they went back home. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:43.039 They led a group, a large group of people, back to Israel. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:46.480 The first group was led by a dude named Zerubbabel. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:10:00.240 And his mandate was I'm gonna lead some Israelites, anybody that wants to go, I'm gonna lead them back home, and we're gonna rebuild the temple that had been destroyed. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:06.320 The temple that Solomon built and had been destroyed by the Babylonians, we're gonna rebuild that temple. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:21.039 Now that was a big, that was far more significant to them than it would be to us from the perspective that if you just understand how a Jewish person would have thought in that day, what took place at the temple? 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:29.759 Main thing that took place at the temple sacrifices for the sins of the nation. 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:34.799 If there was no temple, you could not offer sacrifices. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:39.919 And if there were no sacrifices, that means there was no forgiveness. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:46.320 And if there was no forgiveness, the wrath of God was still heavy upon our people. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:52.799 And so for them, this idea that we're gonna go back and we're gonna rebuild. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:11:08.879 The very first thing they did, even before they built the temple, the building, they rebuilt the altar so that the priest could start offering sacrifices and experience God's forgiveness and God's favor and remove the wrath of God. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:12.080 Now that's the way they saw it, that's the way they thought about it. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:24.320 And so uh uh Zerubbabel leads a group of people back to the promised land and they uh begin the process of rebuilding the temple. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:30.320 Fifty years later, give or take, all these are give or takes, okay? 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:40.480 But many years later, another group went back to the promised land, and that was a group that was led by Ezra. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:48.000 Ezra was a priest, and his main gifting was he was a teacher. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:49.840 He taught God's word. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:12:02.960 And the people of Israel, between Zerubbabel coming and when Ezra went, the moral condition of the people had really declined. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:14.000 They were discouraged, they were depressed, things were not going well, and so Ezra said, Well, I'll lead a group of people back, and we'll turn this thing around. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:16.720 And so Ezra led a group of people back. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:34.879 A few years later, another uh bad or discouraging word got back to uh Persia, and uh uh it was that the the the city of Jerusalem was basically still in utter destruction. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:42.879 The destruction that the Babylonians had wreaked upon the city of Jerusalem, nobody had done anything about it. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:49.200 And so a fellow named Nehemiah, uh who was a very unique individual in that he was a political dude. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:13:10.480 He was a part of the uh Persian government, and he was actually uh a very influential man, and so influential that literally one of his main jobs was that before the king of Persia would drink any drinks, he would taste it first to make sure it wasn't poisoned. 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:12.879 Because back then, well, nothing's changed. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:14.960 Political leaders have enemies, right? 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:24.480 And so um he was the man that tasted the king's wine, probably his food too, before the king would eat it. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:29.919 And so Nehemiah, he led another group of people back. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:49.120 So they went back, one group uh under Zerebal to rebuild the temple, another group under Ezra to build morale and focus and energy, another group led by Nehemiah to rebuild the walls. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:14:00.080 If you read those two books quickly, you don't ponder it. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:14.399 You're gonna walk away missing one of the key messages throughout those two books. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:22.159 What you're gonna walk away with if you read it too quickly is wow, there were problems for the people of God. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:31.600 God sent these three leaders, uh leading groups of Israelites, and they went back and they changed everything for good. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:39.840 In fact, Colton, I'll bet you've read numerous books on leadership based upon Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:48.080 If you just follow the leadership principles of Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah, you'll do great. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.159 You'll have great success. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:15:16.799 Truth is, if you read those two little books very carefully, what you discover is that there were a lot of problems that Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah encountered and tried to work through. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:21.440 There were a lot of enemies, a lot of obstacles. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:23.919 There was a lot of failure. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:33.360 Every one of those three men, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, if you read the books carefully, they made a lot of mistakes. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:35.360 They were the men of God. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.919 They were the leaders of God's people. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:49.039 And yet, each of those men made some really strategic mistakes that caused some real failure. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:51.039 I'm not saying they weren't great men. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:55.759 I'm not saying they didn't do great things, and I'm not saying that God didn't use them. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:58.480 I'm not saying that they didn't love the Lord. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:13.200 All I'm not suggesting, all I'm declaring is that really the books of Ezra and Nehemiah give us a picture of life as it is. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:34.799 Some of which we look back later and go, dead gummit. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:37.120 Look who I chose to marry. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:38.960 Look who I chose to marry. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:39.840 When? 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:42.960 Look at what my grandson's not sitting there anymore. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:43.679 He's in there. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:51.360 I've made choices that led up to having this wonderful grandson. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:56.320 I've made choices that led up to me being a part of a church like this. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:01.600 I've made good choices that created good results. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:12.000 And we all can identify choices and moments and experiences that we look at and go, dead gummit, I'm glad. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:15.839 I'm thankful, and if I could do it again, I'd do the same way. 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:22.960 But that's not true of everything that goes on in our lives. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:33.039 There are also moments and experiences and choices that we look back on and we go, oh my gosh. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:35.920 I was so rash. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:44.079 I invested such little prayer and I got such little, if any, counsel. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:53.200 I reacted and I responded in that situation in ways that, oh, I wished I could go back and do it differently. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:58.319 That's what Ezra and Nehemiah communicate. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:11.920 Good men trying to do good things, but they faced great obstacles and they created great problems because they were rash and fearful and prayerless. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:18.000 Yes, they experienced some successes, but also a lot of failures. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:34.000 And you read those two little books carefully, and you walk away asking what I think the author was asking, and that is, was it worth it? 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:47.680 Did I, when I look at my life, and maybe it's because of where I am right now in my life, maybe that's why I'm thinking about this so much, but I look back over the last 42 years. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:54.480 Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, they looked back over their lives, and I wonder if they did not, I know they did. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:59.200 They asked the question, was it worth it? 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:01.680 Did I make a difference? 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:15.519 I look at the amount of investment, and I'm wondering if was the return satisfactory. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:25.599 And I think everybody in this room, in some way or another, asks those kinds of questions and thinks about those kinds of things. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:29.519 So, just without you you see my point. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:42.319 Whether it's my marriage, whether it's my parenting, whether it's my business, whether it's my health, whether it's my friendships, whether it's my spiritual journey, I invested. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.440 I spent time and energy. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:49.759 I fought battles, I experienced obstacles and pain. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:53.599 I went through failures and I had some successes. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:56.319 Was it worth it? 00:19:57.039 --> 00:19:58.880 Did it make a difference? 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:05.759 Would I live the same life over again if I could. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:09.680 Please. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.400 It's such a universal thing, right? 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:23.599 I mean, we know our own failures and we're surprised at the failures of others sometimes, but we know, I think, um, if we if we are people who who think deep down, we understand this. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:32.400 Uh, and it's funny because at school, um, I'm chair of the English department, and all that really means is that I get all the complaints. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:39.119 And so I often will get come a concerned parent from a child moving from middle school to upper school. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:53.920 And the mother will look at the list of books, and she and this complaint comes or this question comes more often than you might think, and she'll say, Well, I don't understand why the girls have to read so many difficult negative books. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.519 Why can't we read positive, more positive books? 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:01.119 And I'll say, Well, do you have a suggestion for a positive book? 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:13.920 You know, and yeah, something that these books, there's so much hardship, there's so much failure, there's so much difficulty, people fighting to conquer stuff, and why can't it just be easy? 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:15.599 Why can't our girls just read easier books? 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.480 And this last time this happened, I said, Well, could you name one? 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:20.400 And I I'll take a recommendation. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:22.319 She said, Yes, Heidi. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:30.160 Well, I'm like, Heidi was an orphan on the side of a mountain with a goat, and her grandpa had to come and find her. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:35.279 I mean, you know, it is about our experience is about here. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:40.079 Um, failure of ourselves or others, and then what's next? 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:40.799 Yes. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:41.920 How did we respond? 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:42.720 What comes next to the next one? 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:43.759 Yes, what comes next? 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:44.559 Yes. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:46.559 Case in point. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:53.359 If it was easy to write a novel, every knothead in the world would do it. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:59.759 But writing one and ultimately getting it published, that separates the knotheads. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:01.920 From those that are great. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:05.920 I mean, that's just a that's a and you can see So you hear what's happening here, right? 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.000 I'm on the knothead side for now. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:08.960 For now. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:10.799 Temporarily. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:12.880 I haven't heard the fat lady sing. 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:13.920 So okay. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:14.559 All right. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:28.559 Let me give you, let us give you four challenges that the book of Ezra Nehemiah has given us. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:30.799 There are many more. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:40.319 But there's four that really stand out as I was studying this this week, and I think they're worthy of our consideration. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:41.680 First one is this. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.319 And just so you know, the first one and the last one are the most important. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:47.599 Okay? 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:49.839 First one is this. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.480 Our real, and some of y'all are not going to like this. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:57.519 Sorry. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:58.000 Okay? 00:22:58.240 --> 00:22:59.440 Hey, I got a good idea. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.319 If you don't like this, send an email to Colton. 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:04.240 That would be great. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:06.720 Let him know why you don't like it. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:08.400 Okay, that would be awesome. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:08.799 Okay? 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:09.759 All right. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:11.279 First one is this. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:34.240 My real problems and my real solutions do not have anything to do with my circumstances, my situation, or my location. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:36.880 Say one more time. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:50.319 My real problems and my real solutions do not have anything to do with where I am. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:55.599 Well, how do you get that from Mezra Nehemiah? 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.319 People of Israel. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:18.240 When they were in the desert, the wilderness wandering, when they were under the judges, when they were under the kings, when they were taken into captivity, and when they came back seventy years later. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:20.640 What was different about them? 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:48.240 I would suggest to you they were fundamentally the exact same, faithless, complaining, petty, selfish, hard-headed, rebellious not heads in every location and in every season of their journey. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:53.119 Moving from the wilderness to the promised land. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:55.759 Now we're going to flourish. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:57.279 But they didn't. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:04.640 But they didn't. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:12.640 Being toted off into Babylon, you think, oh, we're going to learn our lessons and change our ways and become these mighty people of faith. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:14.319 But they didn't. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:17.519 And when they came back, God's at work. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:19.759 He's let us go back home. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:21.519 Praise the Lord. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:23.920 Now we're going to be a people of faith. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:25.920 Now we're going to be a people of holiness. 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:27.759 But they weren't. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:31.839 They weren't. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:35.920 Read that verse in Jeremiah, please. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:37.119 What is it again? 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:38.880 36. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:39.759 I'm sorry. 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:41.440 3133. 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:44.640 313 says. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:47.279 Sorry about that. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:52.799 But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:57.519 I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:00.559 I will be their God and they will be my people. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:01.759 Thank you. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:05.279 And Ezekiel 36 adds to that. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:12.160 He almost quotes that word for word, but he adds, God will give you a new heart. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:24.400 The real problems that the people of God in the Old Testament experienced all were the result that they didn't have a new heart. 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:31.200 They had a broken, dark, sin-filled, selfish heart. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:37.680 And every problem that they encountered was a result of that broken heart. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:48.799 And what God said through Jeremiah and Ezekiel is, God's plan, God's solution to your problems, He wants to give you a new heart. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:52.160 And it's not just a new heart like you get a. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:57.920 Remember when you used to get a Netflix card and you kept it in your wallet or your purse so that you could go in and get a movie. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:26:59.680 Not Netflix, what was that place that called? 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:01.039 Blockbuster. 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:01.920 Yeah, blockbuster. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:06.720 And you'd get you a blockbuster card and you could go in and check out a movie when you wanted to. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:09.440 That's not the kind of heart God's talking about. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:23.519 God says, I want to give you a new heart, but it's a heart that then has to be cared for and nourished and exercised and protected and used. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:31.200 God says, I want to give you a real solution for your real problem. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:35.680 And I want to start with your heart. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:41.599 See, we think life's no good. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:44.000 My marriage sucks. 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:46.960 I want to change locations. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:50.400 My family stinks. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:52.640 I want to change locations. 00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:56.400 My residence, who wants to live in Memphis? 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:58.640 Let's change residence. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:00.880 My kids aren't happy. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:02.880 Let's change schools. 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:04.640 I don't like my life. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:06.880 I'm going to change my job. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:11.359 And I'm not saying that God doesn't lead us to do new things. 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:12.880 That's not my point. 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:21.839 But I am declaring to you this the people of God's situation changed all the time. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:28.480 But the people of God's lives did not change. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:36.480 Because they did not focus on the real solution to the real problem. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:37.759 Such a good point. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:57.839 I'm sitting here looking at two former students on the front row and thinking of, I teach high school seniors, and so often, much of the time, they are of the impression that if I can just get to the right college, if I choose the right one, if I get when I get there, then everything's going to be easier, everything's going to be different, everything's going to be better. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:08.400 And it is different, but a change of location does not necessitate or or bring necessarily a change of heart or attitude. 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:10.079 You take that with you. 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:11.759 The fears come with you. 00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.960 The fears, the anxiety, it comes with you. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:24.640 So it's not this this school is bad and this college is going to be great, as much as who am I and how am I willing, how much am I willing to change? 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:29.119 How much am I willing to own and how much am I willing to change? 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:30.640 Yes, thank you. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:42.079 Second point there is no message in the Bible that is more clear and consistent from the beginning to the end. 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:55.200 And that is that Yahweh is the Lord of all leaders, all governments, and all countries. 00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:59.200 We've forgotten that in America. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:10.000 We have forgotten that the problems of our nation are not the result of the wrong party being in charge. 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:26.640 We've forgotten that our nation is subject to the God of the Bible, equally with every other nation on this planet. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:41.920 Psalm 2 says, the nations and its leaders rise up to resist and overthrow God's authority and his plans, but Yahweh just laughs. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:55.279 My grandson comes over to our house every day, and very often he'll walk in the house and he'll have one of these little attitudes going on, and he'll look at me and say, Lad, I'm going to take you today. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:56.960 And you know what I say to that? 00:30:57.119 --> 00:30:57.680 I laugh. 00:30:57.839 --> 00:30:59.920 Dude, give it your best shot. 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:01.599 Come on. 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:03.359 Come on. 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:18.480 Egypt, all of the kings of Israel, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, the Greeks and the Romans, they all were servants, according to Scripture, of the Most High God. 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:31.119 The Bible even has the audacity to describe Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus as God's anointed servants. 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:40.000 The exact same wording that the Bible uses to describe the king and the high priest of Israel. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:59.440 Luke chapter 2 reminds us that God had made a promise 500 years earlier, 600 years earlier, that when the true Messiah was born, he would be born in a little suburb of Jerusalem called Bethlehem. 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:09.119 Problem was that his mama, right before she gave birth, she was living up in northern Israel in a town called Nazareth. 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:11.839 Well, that won't work. 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:19.440 And the Bible, Luke, very intentionally in Luke chapter 2, says that it was time for the Messiah to come. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:34.160 Caesar Augustus said, I'm gonna issue a tax on the whole world, and everybody's got to go to their hometown to pay it. 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:39.039 God was in charge of Caesar Augustus. 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:53.359 Romans 13, Paul says that there is no government, and there are no leaders that are not under the authority and according to the plan of the God of the Bible. 00:32:53.680 --> 00:33:05.599 Psalm 47 says the world's rulers gather together with God's people, and its kings belong to the Lord and serve him. 00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:20.400 Acts 17 says God sets times and boundaries for all nations to rise and fall, and their leaders do their bidding. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:24.400 My point's simple today. 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:30.079 I listen to the TV and the radio and read the news. 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:38.480 Seems like Christians often sort of see ourselves as victims. 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:53.279 There's this mean, ungodly government that's taking away our rights and running over us and taking advantage of us and being this mean bully. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:58.799 Like when your third grader comes home and says, Mom or dad, there's a bully at school picking on me. 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:09.519 Am I a victim or am I a child of the one that's in control of the whole deal? 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:19.920 And that there are no leaders, there are no governments, there are no nations that do not serve the God of the Bible. 00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:22.239 Quickly, we gotta go. 00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:23.760 Number three. 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:37.679 Ezra and Nehemiah, if they say anything, they teach us that God leads his people very uniquely. 00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:46.400 God does not deal with you like he does anybody else. 00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:57.280 God does not work in your life, Fred, in a way that looks like anybody else. 00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:02.320 He deals with us individually, uniquely. 00:35:02.719 --> 00:35:13.599 His directions, his plans, his priorities, God deals with us as He does not herd us like cattle. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:20.000 He deals with us as unique, treasured children. 00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:22.159 Case in point. 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:23.920 Remember the story of Daniel? 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:25.280 Daniel chapter one. 00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:31.119 Daniel would have all these dudes were contemporaries. 00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:36.320 Daniel, Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, they were all contemporaries. 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:51.760 Remember what Daniel said when he was told you're going to be one of the king's upper echelon servants, but we're going to have to change how you look, talk, and what you eat and drink. 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:55.039 And part of that is you're going to be an expert. 00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:56.880 What's one of those wine people you like? 00:35:57.199 --> 00:35:57.760 Somalia. 00:35:58.079 --> 00:35:59.039 Yeah, one of those dudes. 00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:00.639 You're going to be an expert on wine. 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:01.679 Somalia. 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:09.519 And Daniel's response was, I would rather die than drink wine. 00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:10.960 Amen. 00:36:11.360 --> 00:36:12.320 I love that. 00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:13.760 Do you say amen to that? 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:16.800 Okay. 00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:18.079 Wait. 00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:22.079 Daniel would rather die than drink wine? 00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:25.679 What was Nehemiah's job? 00:36:26.800 --> 00:36:28.880 He was the wine taster. 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:32.719 How does that work? 00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:39.199 Those are two men of God, two Jesus lovers, two Jesus followers. 00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:43.280 They must be on the same page on everything. 00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:45.679 But they weren't. 00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:58.559 Zerubbabel basically said, if you love Yahweh, follow me back to the promised land. 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:03.679 But Ezra and Nehemiah did not go. 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:10.400 It was years later, and Mordecai and Esther never went. 00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:12.639 Daniel never went. 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:18.159 But can't you just say, all right, if you love Jesus, follow me back to the promised land. 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:20.800 God's sending everybody back. 00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:24.480 But he didn't send everybody back. 00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:28.480 Some people were felt led of God to go. 00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:31.119 Some people said, I'm not supposed to go. 00:37:31.920 --> 00:37:33.440 I love this one. 00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:40.000 The king tells Ezra, you can go back and help the people of God. 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:42.719 Restore the city. 00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:44.159 Ezra said, okay. 00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:46.559 And the king says, Hey, it's a dangerous journey. 00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:51.119 Let me send an army with you, some of my best soldiers with you to protect you. 00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:53.199 And Ezra said, Oh no. 00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:00.480 I'm going to show everybody that if you belong to Yahweh, you don't need the protection of soldiers. 00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:02.800 He'll get us there himself. 00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:04.880 That sounds very spiritual and good. 00:38:05.039 --> 00:38:06.239 Amen, Ezra. 00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:13.199 A few years later, the king says, Nehemiah, you go back and help him work on the wall. 00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:15.119 And Nehemiah says, Okay. 00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:21.199 Oh, and Nehemiah, I've got some army, some troops that I'll send with you to protect you. 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:24.880 And Nehemiah goes, Thanks! I'll take them. 00:38:25.119 --> 00:38:27.039 It's a dangerous journey. 00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:34.800 You would think you would see people being angry and judgmental and hurling insults. 00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:40.480 If you don't agree with me on everything, you're not my friend. 00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:43.920 You don't know and love the same God I do. 00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:47.599 But that's not what you see among these people. 00:38:48.639 --> 00:39:11.840 They had great acceptance and patience for allowing people to hear and understand and embrace God's plans for them, and they would have been very different than God's plans for others who equally knew and loved and served the Lord. 00:39:13.039 --> 00:39:14.880 Such a great word. 00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:18.079 Lastly, and we're through. 00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:28.480 I already told you that Zerubabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. 00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:39.679 Actually, when you read those three stories, all three stories end on a negative note. 00:39:41.039 --> 00:39:49.599 They all end, they start with problems, they experience some victories, and then they end with problems. 00:39:50.960 --> 00:40:15.920 Doing things that matter in life, building a great marriage that lasts decades, raising great kids who then raise great kids, who then raise great kids, building businesses, impacting communities and cities, changing people's lives for good. 00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:20.800 Do you know the common denominator in all those things? 00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:25.519 People that do those things don't quit. 00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:32.880 People that do great things don't quit. 00:40:33.119 --> 00:40:37.840 Paul said in Galatians 6, don't stop doing good. 00:40:38.639 --> 00:40:45.840 God promises that you will reap a harvest if you don't give up. 00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:51.920 God's job is to make sure we win. 00:40:52.880 --> 00:40:57.760 My only job is to not quit. 00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:08.559 Zechariah 4 says, God declares it's not by your might, it's not by your power, but it's by my spirit. 00:41:09.920 --> 00:41:13.119 Failures are not final. 00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:20.719 We're gonna fail, we're gonna mess up, we're gonna make bad calls, we're gonna be rash. 00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:24.079 We're gonna be prayerless. 00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:28.559 We're gonna look back in things and go, Dad, come and I do that differently. 00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:41.920 But the thing that decides whether or not we end in victory was my choice to either quit or not quit. 00:41:42.639 --> 00:41:46.800 And the people in the Bible that ended their lives badly. 00:41:47.440 --> 00:41:51.440 Samson, Saul, Judas. 00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:57.280 Do you know what defined their lives that caused them to end badly? 00:41:57.519 --> 00:41:59.440 Was not their mistakes. 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:04.000 Because the dudes that ended great, they had just as many mistakes. 00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:06.719 Peter had just as many mistakes as Judas. 00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:08.320 What was the difference? 00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:11.280 One didn't quit and one did. 00:42:11.840 --> 00:42:14.159 David had as many mistakes as Saul. 00:42:14.400 --> 00:42:15.760 What was the difference? 00:42:16.079 --> 00:42:20.559 One dude quit and one dude didn't quit. 00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:26.079 We lose not from failure, but from quitting. 00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:37.519 When we experience failure, when we experience opposition, we have one choice that God wants us to make. 00:42:37.920 --> 00:42:42.719 Get up and start over again and try again. 00:42:43.840 --> 00:42:57.599 The lasting success and impact, lasting success, lasting impact, lasting relationships come from not quitting, not letting our problems beat us. 00:42:58.559 --> 00:43:15.119 The other night, uh Tuesday night, Shirley and I had the privilege of being a part of a deal that I'm not going to get into, I don't have time, but uh uh Jerry invited a man that many of you would know who's to speak, and his name is Michael Orr. 00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:27.119 He was the dude in the blind side, and he's from Memphis, and um uh he was an incredible uh deal listening to him. 00:43:27.199 --> 00:43:44.320 He came from one of the poorest areas of Memphis, and uh literal, according to him, he literally lived on the street from three years old to the time that he went to live with those Taco Bell folks. 00:43:45.599 --> 00:43:47.840 Um he lived on what were their names? 00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:59.599 Whoever it is, doesn't matter who they are, but until he moved in with those people, he lived on the street, and these boys that were, these young men that were. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:08.159 A part of this gathering, several of them asked the same question different ways, but they said, Michael, or they called him Big Mike. 00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:20.400 Said, Big Mike, you were surrounded by people in your neighborhood from the time you were three years old to the time you moved in with that family. 00:44:21.199 --> 00:44:22.880 They were just like you. 00:44:23.840 --> 00:44:24.960 Just like you. 00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:30.159 Same situation, same problems, same obstacles. 00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:34.880 What and their lives are still terrible. 00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:40.960 What was different about you? 00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:44.480 And you know what his answer was? 00:44:45.920 --> 00:44:47.840 I would not quit. 00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:52.559 I would not quit. 00:44:53.360 --> 00:45:03.440 When my life is crummy, I'm going to either quit or I'm going to get up and try again. 00:45:04.480 --> 00:45:15.360 A wave's real power is not from its size, but from the fact that it's relentless. 00:45:15.760 --> 00:45:17.119 Waves never quit. 00:45:17.360 --> 00:45:18.800