In his book, Gentle Thunder, Max Lucado tells the story of Sir John Franklin. It was 1845 in England. In 1845, America was at the beginning of what was called “Manifest Destiny.” That was the idea that we were destined to explore and inhabit and eventually annex the west. While we were concerned with exploring our own continent, Britain was busy exploring uncharted areas of the world. And one of those uncharted areas was called the Northwest Passage. The Northwest Passage is a sea lane that goes around the Canadian Arctic to the Pacific Ocean. And that was Sir John Franklin’s mission. His mission was supposed to be the turning point in Arctic exploration. And it was. But not because of its success—because of its failure. Sir John Franklin’s two ships never returned home. Every single one of his crew members died. Because of Franklin’s failure, all future Arctic explorers learned one lesson. They learned that you need to prepare for the journey. See, the reason that Franklin’s journey failed was because of his complete and total lack of preparation. The Arctic exploration journey was supposed to last 2-3 years. He only carried a 12 day supply of coal for his engines. He forgot to take fuel, but he did remember to take stuff to make the crew happy and comfortable. He took a library for relaxation, an organ for entertainment, fine china place settings, cut-glass wine goblets, and the finest sterling silver silverware. While all of the sailors had their dress uniforms, most of them didn’t even have winter clothes or coats. They were more prepared for tea with the queen than they were for sailing in the Arctic. Of course, as they sailed north, the sea froze solid around the ship. When it did, all the men either froze to death or starved to death. Why did their mission fail? Was it because they didn’t know where they were going? No, they knew the conditions they were heading into. Was it because they were stupid or completely inept? No, Sir John Franklin and the 138 men who boarded those ships were known as some of Britain’s finest sailors—and at the time, Britain had one of the finest navies in the world. So, why did their mission fail? Because they weren’t prepared. Even though they were fine sailors. Even though they knew the conditions they were heading into. They failed to prepare. The question is, why? I don’t know—history doesn’t tell us. But maybe that’s the question we need to ask ourselves. This church is filled with fine Christian people. Many of us have been Christians for a long time. We have experience. We have eyes. We have brains. And with that experience and those eyes and those brains that God has given us, we can see the conditions we’re heading into. Not only that, we can see from the prophesies in Scripture the conditions we’re heading into. According to Romans 1, we know that when a nation stops recognizing and being thankful to God, certain things happen. They begin to worship created things instead of the creator. Created things like the economy and the military and the schools and the government. And when that happens then complete social collapse is not far away. Social collapse that is marked by things like rampant sexual promiscuity. Things like widespread and publicly accepted disobedience of children to parents. Things like publicly accepted homosexuality. The Bible has told us about the Arctic wasteland we’re headed into. Are we prepared? Or are we polishing our silver and tuning up our organ? I want us to begin to prepare tonight. This is the time and place where, in His sovereignty, God has placed us. And He’s placed us here for a reason. And that reason is the journey that He’s called us to travel. I want us to start preparing for that journey tonight. And we’re going to use Ezra as an example. Ezra and this second remnant was getting ready to take a journey. They were heading on a four month journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. They knew much of what awaited them. They knew it wasn’t pretty. The temple had been built, but it was in the middle of a city of rubble. They knew the wasteland that was ahead of them. So they knew they must prepare. First, they knew they must prepare spiritually. Look at verses 21-23:
EZRA 8:21-23
To prepare for the journey that awaits us, we must first prepare spiritually. Think about it. In most things in life, this goes completely contrary to our natural instincts. Most of the time when we see a task in front of us, the first thing we want to do is take care of the task. By nature, I’m a fixer. Guys, let me give you a little insight. Being a fixer isn’t necessarily the best thing in your marriage. It took me a while to learn, and I still mess it up sometimes. But whenever Miranda comes to me with what I see as a problem, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she wants me to fix it. Sometimes she’s not looking for a solution. Sometimes she’s looking for understanding. She’s looking for a sympathetic ear. So, if she’s only looking for a sympathetic ear and I start rattling off a list of things to fix the problem, it doesn’t accomplish anything. She’s frustrated because I’m not understanding enough. And I’m frustrated because nothing’s getting fixed. Well, just like understanding and listening and being a sympathetic ear are the first thing needed in our marital journey, spiritual preparation is the first thing needed in this journey called life that God has for us. If I don’t show Miranda that I understand and sympathize with her, we’ll never be able to successfully get to the business of fixing the problem. By the same token, if we don’t prepare spiritually for our journey, we’re not going to get anything done. We’ll never get off the starting point. We’ll just comfortably cruise along while the world around us turns into an Arctic wasteland. So what are the spiritual disciplines we need to practice? If we’ve been in church for more than five minutes, we can answer that question. We need to go to church, read our Bibles, and pray. Of course we left out one—we need to fast. Periodic fasting with our praying goes hand in hand. And that’s what Ezra called these people to. He called them to prepare for the journey that was ahead of them by fasting. Scripture is clear that God honors the humble prayers of His people. That’s where Ezra was. As soon as he had gathered up all the people who were going with him to Jerusalem, what was the first thing he did with them? He proclaimed a fast. How much sense does that make? Here they were getting ready to take about a 1000 mile journey and he called them to go without food. You’d think he’d have them load up on food so they’d have plenty of energy for the journey. But those things weren’t on his mind. What was on his mind was humility. Notice in verse 21, he tells the reasons for proclaiming a fast. “That we might afflict ourselves.” “Afflict” carries the meaning of intentionally bringing affliction for the sole purpose of causing humility. Isn’t that what fasting does? It makes you realize how utterly not in control you really are. How totally dependent you are on the provisions of God. So they prayed and fasted. They prayed and fasted first for direction—to seek from God the right way for them. And they prayed for their substance. They fasted and prayed that God would tell them where He wanted them to go and that He would provide for them along the way. But their fasting wasn’t just ritual. Their prayers weren’t just out of habit or obligation. They actually believed that God would answer them. Have you ever seen the movie, “Facing the Giants”? It’s a really good Christian movie, but one part sticks out in my mind. The town has been in a drought for a long time. Of course, many people said that they were praying that God would bring the rains. But one character—when he prayed for rain, guess what he did? He began to carry an umbrella. He was so convinced that God would answer his prayers for rain, the he knew he needed an umbrella. That’s the kind of prayer life Ezra had. Verse 22 says that he was embarrassed to take the king up on his offer to provide military protection for their journey. He knew that they were on the journey God wanted them on. They had fasted and prayed for God’s direction and His provision. Now, he was going to carry his umbrella. And what happened? It rained. Well, not literally, but God provided their direction and their provision. Verse 23 says that He answered their prayers and fasting. They were spiritually prepared for the journey. Are we as a church? Are you as an individual? Have you been praying for God’s direction—both for you as an individual and for this church? Have you been praying for God’s provision? We know the Arctic wasteland that is awaiting us on our journey. All you have to do is look around and you can see that. Drugs, crime, poverty, abuse, ignorance, hopelessness, laziness, despair, complacency. In a word—sin. Romans 1 is being lived out all around us and Jesus has called us to be salt and light in the midst of it. Are we praying for His direction in how He wants us to do that? Are we praying for His provision to allow us to do that? And have you got your umbrella ready? We pray: “God fill these pews.” Have you thought about what we’ll need when He does? If you have, then we should be ashamed to not prepare. Why? Because the hand of our God is upon us. And if we believe that, then we’ll act like it. But there I go being a fixer—first thing’s first. First, we must prepare spiritually by praying and fasting and seeking the Lord’s direction and provision. Then, we can prepare materially. Look at verses 24-30:
EZRA 8:24-30
To prepare for the journey that awaits us, after we prepare spiritually, we must prepare materially. What does it mean to pray with faith? Does it mean that we get on our knees before God and ask Him to do it all for us? Can we ask God to fill these pews while we’re sitting at home not doing anything about it ourselves? Well, what did Ezra do? They spent three days fasting and praying on the banks of the Ahava. Then they got to work. He set to planning and preparing the people for the journey. He set aside some trusted priests and Levites to carry all the silver and gold and temple goods and offerings. We tend to skip over the amounts because we don’t have any idea how much a talent or dram or vessel amounts to. We don’t know exactly how much it was, but it was at least worth several million dollars in today’s money. They had money. They just had to get it there safely and securely. So this is what he did. He spread all the stuff out on the ground and said, “OK God, I have faith that you’re going to give us direction. I have faith that you’re going to provide for us. Here’s your stuff God—get it there.” Of course not. Well, maybe since he prayed for God’s direction, he decided to camp out in Ahava till God “spoke” to him and told him specifically what to do? If he had done that, you might be able to go there and dig up his bones next to the Euphrates River outside of Babylon today. No, he got up off his knees and got busy. To carry on our rain analogy—he prayed for rain. He got his umbrella. And he started digging a cistern to hold the water when it rained. He prayed for direction. He prayed for provision. Then he got to work, preparing for the journey that he knew was ahead. He used good management skills in delegating the right jobs to the right people. He used good accounting skills to keep track of everything. And he used good leadership skills in providing clear vision and instructions. And none of those things impinged on his faith one bit. So, how did he know if he was doing the right things? How did he know if he was in God’s will or not? Shouldn’t he have waited for a voice from heaven or a vision? Maybe even a “still small voice” or a “sense of peace”? Actually, he didn’t really need any of those things. And most of the time we think we need those kinds of things is when we’re not in tune with the will of God. And we’re not in tune with the will of God because we’re not in the Word of God. We haven’t caught on to our mission and purpose in this world because of one of two things. Either we don’t know it because we haven’t been in the Word. Or we know it but just don’t really want to put up with the sacrifice that’s required to do it. The will of God is not a secret. It’s not a mystery. It wasn’t for Ezra and it isn’t for us. For Ezra, God’s will was for him to get to Jerusalem and fulfill his mission. Remember what his mission was back in 7:10? His mission was to know God’s Word, to do God’s will and to teach the people. That was his mission and he was going to do it. He prayed for God’s direction and provision along the way. But he didn’t have to pray for God’s will. He knew where he was going and what he was going to do when he got there. So he got to work. That is almost double faith. He had so much faith in the mission God gave him that he was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish it. And as he was going about accomplishing it, he fasted and prayed that God would give him direction and provision along the way. I say it’s almost double faith. But in reality it’s real faith. The kind of faith that we’re called to have. What is our mission? Matthew 28:19-20: As we are going everywhere we go, we are to make disciples. We are to baptize those disciples and we are to teach those disciples. We are to grow them so they will be equipped to make more disciples everywhere that they go. That’s not something we have to pray about. We don’t have to afflict ourselves in prayer begging God to tell us what we’re supposed to be doing. He’s already told us. Clearly, plainly, in His Word. That is our mission. Now, two questions. The first is: Are we spiritually preparing for our mission? Are we praying and fasting that God will give us direction along the way? Not that He will light up the whole field and future. But that He will be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Give us direction as we faithfully go and do what you’ve called us to do, Lord. Are we praying and fasting that God will give us provision along the way? Not that He will give us great storehouses where we will be able to see it all on paper. But that He will give us manna. The kind of manna that is sufficient for all we ever need to accomplish all He would have us to do. And the kind of manna that will spoil and rot if we try to hoard it. Are we spiritually prepared for our mission? Now the second question: Are we materially preparing for our mission? If we’re praying for rain, are we carrying our umbrella? Are we digging our cisterns? I want you to think about what that question implies. What have we been praying for? We’ve been praying for this place to be full of people that are hungry for God’s Word. We have been praying for God to give us Mercer County. What are we doing to prepare for that? What are we doing to get ready for the rain? If you’ll notice, there are two more verses that we haven’t gotten to yet. Look at verses 31-32.
EZRA 8:31-32
Where do we go from here, church? We know our mission. We know what we’ve got to do to prepare. That means there’s only one more thing for us to do. We’ve got to do it. No more excuses. No more waiting on somebody else. No more looking around for somebody else to do it. It’s time for you to do it like Ezra and the remnant did. And notice what happened. They departed, God delivered and then they arrived in the spot where God wanted them. Notice the order. First they had to get up and go. And after they got up and went—God delivered. He answered their prayers. He gave them direction. He gave them provision. He honored their material preparation and, by His good hand upon them, He allowed them to accomplish their mission. So, what am I asking you to do as we go into this time of invitation? I’m asking you to pray. Pray for God’s direction and provision. I’m asking you to commit. Commit to fulfilling the mission God has called you to. And finally, I’m asking you to get up and go. Quit hanging out here on the banks of the Ahava. It’s time to get up and go about our mission.
