Dreams and Hopes

Nehemiah 1:11 

     I want to tell you today about a great example of living in the Old Testament... think back to the dreams and hopes and aspirations that you had… what kept you from them, what kept you from reaching them? Sure life is difficult, sure life has its twists and turns but life can be lived with an upward calling…

Let’s look again at the beginnings of what was driving Nehemiah – 1:1-11(read)

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, ² that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. ³ They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”

 ⁴ When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. ⁵ I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁶ let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷ We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. ⁸ Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘ If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; ⁹ but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ ¹⁰ They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. ¹¹ O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”   Now I was the cupbearer to the king.

I love the life of Nehemiah; what he did, what drove him, how he went about his calling… in his life you can see several aspects of a person living upwards…

Had heart (1:4) – when he heard the suffering and demise of the people his heart was broken; he felt for them and that feeling lead him to do something.

Held on to prayer (1:4-11, 2:4, 4:9, 11:17) – he knew it was the one thing that would get him through anything. All through out his story you can see an attitude of prayer and it was something that he relied on.

Had a servant’s attitude (2:5) – many people today have this attitude that the world owes them a living, I don’t want to surprise you but the world is not here to serve you… and some of the best leaders the world has ever seen have been those with a servant’s attitude… that others’ needs were greater than their own.

Had determination (4:22-23) – no matter the opposition, no matter the threats he was not going to stop with what he knew was more than good – it was God’s greater.

     Nehemiah was a determined leader and a determined follower – He led the people and followed God, and nothing was going to deter him from that.

Had a hard work ethic (5:16) – “And I also applied myself to the work on this wall…”

     Nehemiah wasn’t afraid of hard work; the evidence was that not only did he call the people to work he stayed shoulder to shoulder with them. Work wasn’t his life – God was his life, serving God and the people and work was just a part of that.

 Held onto his dream (5:19, 6:15) – His dream of being used by God to rebuild for the good, the thing that moved his heart he did not let fade. Because he held onto that dream God accomplished through him a remarkable feat – the walls were finished in an unheard of time – a short 52 days. God can do more in two months through a person focused on their calling than most people can do in a life time…

Held on to God’s Word (8:1, 18) – when the “work” was accomplished the first thing they did was stand together and hear from God’s word…

     Yes – I pray that you keep your dreams and hopes – those passions to do great things, I pray that you who may have let yours slip away will search your heart, seek God’s purpose and desire for your life and that you can begin –

Living and Leading the Upward Life –

      A few years ago, I was visiting with my extended family about the time a cousin of mine was graduating from high school and I made the comment that “now you can go out and change the world” to which my aunt replied – “that is an impossible dream and sort of an unfair challenge.”   Honestly – it wasn’t an unfair challenge– the people in the bible who stepped out for God changed their world… and so too can Christian men and women today change their own world.  HOW?
 

CARE More (Nehemiah 1:4) – Getting ahead in life you cannot step on others, in fact helping others will be one of the most satisfying things you can do in your life and you can’t truly help others without truly caring for them.

PRAY Big (Nehemiah 1:11)– Norman Vincent Peale said – “When people pray big – big things happen.” Nehemiah prayed constantly, Nehemiah prayed for big things, he asked for big things and big things happened, he prayed about everything that he was about to, while he was doing it and offered a prayer of thanks after he did it.

DREAM Large (Nehemiah 2:17) – know where you want to go, know where you want to be 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. In Nehemiah 2:17 he said – “Then I said to them, "You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach."

     This was a HUGE undertaking but he saw something bigger, greater and was willing to see it come to being…  If you’re going to lead in life make sure you know where you’re going. If you’re going to follow, make sure that you are following someone who knows where they are going!”
 

WORK Hard (1 Timothy 6:18) “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” – Don’t be afraid of work, don’t be afraid to work with good motives. Listen to some instruction from Proverbs that hard work has good returns -

     Proverbs 16:3  - “Commit your works to the Lord, And your plans will be established.”
     Proverbs 16:26 -  “A worker's appetite works for him, For his hunger urges him on.”
     Proverbs 22:29  “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings…”

LIVE Higher (Philippians 3:14) – Paul understood this and lived it when he said – “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

     Nehemiah lived to a higher standard and a higher dream than did the people of his day, Paul lived to a higher standard and a higher drive with a desire to live for Christ and be an example to Christ’s followers. You do that by staying true to God’s Word…

     Don’t take your eye off the goal, don’t take your eyes off Christ – He is where you will find the strength to overcome, to achieve and make life worth living… where you start living and leading for the higher goal.