Faith Or Fantasy
1/14/2001 Nehemiah 2:10-20 1 Peter 5:6-11 Text Chapters 2-4
When was the last time you heard some one say "I’ve got faith this is going to work?" Faith is not determined by how much of a feeling you have about something, but rather by what it is you are putting your faith in. If you have to cross a bridge over a raging river, would you rather have great faith to cross a weak rickety bridge or would you prefer to have a little faith in a strong concrete bridge.
Biblical faith is not rooted in our feelings, but in our confidence in God and what God Has revealed to us in the Scriptures. Far too often people confuse fantasy with faith and end up sorely disappointed. Fantasy says, I want a comfortable life. I’m counting on winning the lottery. Faith says, "if I obey your word, go back to school, study hard, and commit my ways to you Lord" I will get a good job." Fantasy says, "we’re in love and that’s all we will need to stay together." Faith says, "If we submit ourselves to each other and constantly repent and forgive each other, we will have a lasting relationship."
Fantasy says, "my kids are going to be good kids and behave themselves because they’re my kids." Faith says, "Lord, I don’t know how to be the parent you want me to be, but I know you can provide me with the strength and wisdom to train up my child." Fantasy says, " I’m trusting in the Lord to take of my needs, but I will not trust God with my money. Faith says, "Lord, I’m trusting in you and demonstrating it by giving you a full tithe of 10%." Fantasy says, "I can handle temptation and what I see or hear does not bother me." Faith says, "Lord my heart can very easily choose to disobey your word, keep me from all that will hurt my relationship to You."
When it comes to growing in the Lord, we will always have the opportunity of choosing to walk in the realm of fantasy or of faith. Last week, Pastor Toby introduced us to Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a person of God who was heart broken over the city of Jerusalem, which bore God’s name was in ruins and disgrace. The walls around the city were destroyed which meant enemies could come and attack it as they pleased. He knew that something needed to be done.
To give a brief history. God’s people had turned away from serving God. God begged and pleaded with them for years to turn away from the wrong they were doing so that He could be their protector. The people refused to change. God told them a fierce nation would come to destroy them and the city, and the new gods they had chosen for themselves could not help them, because they were not Gods at all. The people would not buy it. They laughed in God’s face. God told them they will come and they will destroy this city and take you away as captives. But because I still love you, in 70 years I’m going to bring you back to this land and restore the nation again. God has a heart for His people. Even when God see us living in fantasy land of disobedience, God does not give upon us.
After the 70 years were over God touched the heart of Nehemiah to go and rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king. He got to taste the king’s drink to make sure no poison was in it. God gave Nehemiah favor with the king and the king offered to give to Nehemiah whatever financial resources and security he might need to go to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild its walls.
Fantasy says, "The Lord has laid this on my heart, the king has given me his blessings, and now everything is going to be smooth sailing." It is fantasy to believe that because we are choosing to do what’s right and what’s of God, that people are going to be happy for us. Faith says, "Jesus when you did what was right it got you crucified. You said a servant is not greater than his master. If they were opposed to you doing the will of God, then what about me."
When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, he had not done anything wrong to anybody, but the good He wanted to do started some problems. When Sanballat and Tobiah heard that Nehemiah was coming to try to help out God’s people, they were very much disturbed. They were disturbed because they wanted to keep things just like they were. They had the positions of power and influence and they were not open to change. It’s not possible to lift up others or to lift up yourself at times without forcing somebody else to make a change.
Every move of faith you make, will be countered by some form of attack either from outside or from within your circle of people. But keep on making your move of faith. Nehemiah did not give up on his vision, simple because Sanballat and Tobiah, the big shots did not like him. It is a fantasy to think everybody is going to like you because you’re trying to be like Jesus Christ at home, at school or at work. That’s the very reason some people will dislike you. But keep on being like Jesus anyway.
Fantasy says, "If I tell everybody what I plan to do it will be enough for them to get excited and get behind me." Faith says, "I will wait until I know enough before I open my mouth." The Scriptures tell us that Nehemiah was in Jerusalem for three days after arriving and did not tell anybody anything about what God was calling him to do. There is a time to share your vision, but there is also a time to keep quiet about what the Lord is calling you to do until you get further information on the situation. It’s fantasy to think the Lord is going to tell you or to show you everything in prayer. Prayer is critical, but there comes a time when you pray by doing some investigative work.
Nehemiah went out in the dark of night to inspect the condition of the walls himself. He wanted to know what He was truly up against. You see when we are praying about a change God wants us to do, God wants us to see what options are out there. How much is thing really going to cost us? God is calling each of you here to be a leader. A good leader does not rush into the task at hand, but patiently examines the facts firsthand and then plans a strategy.
Look for a moment at us as a church. Our Nehemiah Project, the New Life Center has a strategy behind it. People have said, "why not borrow the money and build it now?" Our goal is to build a building debt free. Why should we give a million dollar in interest to a bank so that it can profit off God’s vision for us? Many of you have said, we need some kind of a model so that we will know what we’re building.
Two things with this: The first is we do not know how the Lord is going to touch many of our hearts to go back and make a real sacrifice. For many of us our real sacrifice has been $10 a week or less for the Nehemiah project. That’s okay, but that should just be a start. The building we would be building at our current pledge amount would be too small to meet our needs. It will cost us $12,000 for architectural plans and about $2500 just for a model. It would be fantasy not faith, too waste money on plans and a model that’s not going to be built.
The real model we need is not a building, other wise we will think once the building is done the work is over. We already have a model of the New Life Center. Our model is ourselves when we testify of how God has changed our lives, saved our children, touched our homes, provided us with a job, healed our bodies, and drawn us closer to him. Nehemiah wanted to do more than simply build the walls of Jerusalem. His ultimate goal was to bring the people back into a right relationship with God. That’s at the core of why the Lord is going to give us the New Life Center. It’s not a fantasy of a million dollars falling out of the sky, but faith in a God who can touch people’s hearts to willing and sacrificially give their dollars to touch people’s lives who would otherwise not get saved.
Our vision to give birth to a daughter church has the same intent. It is going to mean change. It will mean adjustments. But more importantly it will mean we are doing what the Scripture commands to go and make disciples of people in other areas. When New Life Fellowship is a full grown church, we will speak as proudly of it as a parent does a child. There’s not a parent hear who cannot testify that giving birth to a child forever changes the way you live. It’s fantasy to think God is always going to keep things the way they were. Faith says, "the God who helped me to fight the bear and the lion, will help me to deal with the big Goliaths of life’s changes when they come on the scene.
It is a fantasy to simply keep telling your self it really is not that bad when it really is bad. Nehemiah found those walls just like his brother had said. The walls were broken down. The gates were burned with fire. It was going to be an awful lot of work. To become the leader God is calling you to be, you cannot live in a dream world. Be willing to face the facts whether good or bad, but know the facts do not have to stay the facts.
Nehemiah was able to see more in the dark of night, than most of the people had seen in the light of the day. They looked at the walls and saw the same problem, but by looking with the eyes of faith in the power of God, Nehemiah saw a tremendous potential that others did not see.
Fantasy says just tell people what needs to be done and it will be enough. Faith says not only do I have to tell the people, I have to show them that God is involved in this project. Nehemiah called the people together and said, "Look fellows at the trouble we are in. The walls are in ruins, the gates are burned, people are laughing at our city. Come let us rebuild the walls and we will no longer be in disgrace." Somebody said, "Oh we heard that before. How do we know we can do the job. Somebody else tried and quit. You’ve only been here a few days, so how can you know the extent of the problem."
Nehemiah was ready to respond to their questions because he had a testimony behind him. Too often we want to give a testimony we do not have. Half the people who give testimonies about trusting in God, do not trust him. When we will not trust God with our money, how can we trust in him for the real problems in lives when they come up. Remember how Nehemiah had trusted God to give him favor with the king by risk having his head cut off by the king. He stood there sad in the king’s presence which was against the law. But he did it to have the opportunity to speak to the king.
When Nehemiah gave his testimony of how the Lord had used him to touch the king’s heart, then the people got excited. They saw this was not just a dream of Nehemiah, but this vision was planted from the very heart of God. You see when God plants a vision in your heart or church, God has the capacity to bring it into reality. The people immediately got excited and they began to build the wall.
It is fantasy to think everybody will do their part. Have you ever said in your group, in your home, on your team, or anytime you’ve been with a group, "now let’s just have everybody do their part" only to discover some people would not do their part no matter what. Even people who benefit from the final project will not do their part
Faith says, "God has called me to be faithful. I will do my part and then some because as a believer I am called to try to make up for those who are weak. My goal is not simply to do my part, but to hear Jesus say, well do you good and faithful servant." The people rallied together from all backgrounds to build the walls of Jerusalem. There were carpenters, brick layers, perfume makers, and jewelry workers
But in the middle of chapter three which tells us who built which section of the wall, who set up which gates, how long a section of the wall the person or group built, and more is a little verse telling us who did nothing. In verse 5, we find that the nobles of Tekoa would not do any of the work. They gave zero. Now as nobles they and their property would benefit from the walls being up more than a lot of people because they had more to lose. But they chose to sit on the sidelines and watch others. I’m so glad we have a choice to get off the sidelines and get involved with the work. I pray none of go down in history as a Tekoaite.
Nehemiah listed the names not for one group to brag about how much they had done, but to acknowledge, these are the ones who were willing to take steps of faith when others were laughing at them and saying it could not be done. These are the ones who when our enemies told us we were living in fantasy land, proved that we were living in the land of faith.
It is a fantasy to believe that simply because you do not have available to you what others have, you cannot make a difference in the work of God. As Pastor Toby said last week, you can say I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish as much as you want. Or you can look around you and see what God has made available for you to use. The very thing you dislike or despise, can be the very thing God wants to use to turn your life in the right direction. Faith says, "God you have supplied me with what I need to get the job done, show me where to find it."
One man that wanted to assist in the building of the wall was named Shallum. Unlike the other men who had sons to assist them in building the wall, Shallum had none. He could have said, "Well you know if I had some sons, I’d get in there and help build with the rest of you guys, but the Lord only gave me daughters. I’m out of here." No Shallum went home and had a meeting with his daughters and said, "Girls, there’s a building project going on for God and I want to be a part of it. Can I count on you to help me out. The girls did not say, that’s men’s work, or what will the people think, or anything like that. We know what their response was because it says in verse 12, Shallum son of Halohesh, ruler of a half district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters. Women have been important in church building ever since.
It is fantasy to think, you will be able to reach your goal for what the Lord had laid upon your heart with criticism. Sanballat went from being disturbed to downright angry. He called the workers names--You feebled Jews. He laughed and said it was impossible to think they could bring the walls of the city back to life. Tobiah made fun of the quality of the worked. He said if a fox jumped upon the wall the whole thing would fall down.
Faith in God says, the criticism of others does not make the vision I have any less of a vision or any less of a reality for my life. God is able to accomplish the good He wants to do through and in me and for me, despite what those who wish to hurt me may try to do or to say. All of the trials which come my way can be turned by God into victories for God’s honor and glory and for my own spiritual growth.
Nehemiah and the people by the grace of God, have turned a pile of rubble into a wall that’s have of its original height, and they are not allowing the set backs of others to set them off course. As individuals and as a church, we will bring new life out of the broken circumstance of our lives, not because of a fantasy in our own power, but because of faith in our God who has promised to never leave nor forsake us.
G. 3:5 The Nobles Of Tekoa---Zero
1. Had A Lot To Gain But No
2. Chose To Sit On The Sidelines
H. We Have A Choice To Sit Or Build
I. Names Not To Brag But To Honor Steps
Of Faith In The Middle Of Ridicule And
Danger
11. Fantasy I Need What You Have To Do It
A. Pastor Toby I Wish, I Wish, I Wish
B. Take A Look Around And See
C. Faith--God Has Supplied Me With What
D. Shallum Did Not Have Any Sons
E. I Would But I Don’t, So I Can’t
F. Girls I Want To Be A Part Of It
G. Vs 12. Shallum Repaired The Next Section
With The Help Of His Daughters
12. Fantasy To Think You Can Do If For God Without
Criticism
A. Sanballat Angry To Name Calling
B. Never Bring These Things Back To Life
C. Tobiah--Laughed At The Quality
D. If Even A Fox Jump Up And Down
E. Faith In God-- I Don’t Have To Listen
G. God Is Able To Accomplish
F. All Trials--God-s Glory--My Growth
13. The Job Was Half Done-Because Of Faith
A. Setbacks But Not Set Off Course
B. New Life From Our Broken Circumstances
C. Not Fantasy In Our Power
D. Faith In A God Who Has Promised
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick
1/14/2001 Faith Or Fantasy
Nehemiah 2:10-20 1 Peter 5:6-11 Nehemiah 2-4
1. Fantasy & Faith
A. I’ve Got Faith This Is Going To Work
B. Faith--Not The Feeling--But the object
C. Faith & The Bridge
D. Biblical Faith---Feelings vs God
2. Confusion Of Fantasy & Faith
A. Comfortable Life Fantasy--Faith
B. Great Relationship Fantasy---Faith
C. Good Kids Fantasy--Faith
D. Trusting God Fantasy--Faith
E. Temptation Fantasy-- Faith
3. Growing In The Lord---Choice
A. Pastor Toby---Nehemiah
B. Broken Heart Over Jersuslem
C. Wall destroyed, Gates Burned, Disgrace
D. Something Needed To Be Done
4. God In His Infinite Love
A. People Turned Away From God
B. God’s Begging, Pleading, Warning
C. Unwillingness To Change & Results
D. The 70 Year Exile & Promise Of Love
E. Love In The Fantasy Land Of Disobedience
F. Touched Nehemiah To Go Rebuild
G. Nehemiah-Cupbearer--King’s Resources
5. Fantasy---If I Follow The Lord, It Will All Go Well
A. Choosing To Do What Is Right
B. Faith Jesus Choice And The Crucifixion
C. Relationship Between Servant & Master
D. Nehemiah Had Not Done Anything
E. Sanballat And Tobiah Was Disturbed
F. Keep Things the Same
G. Something Gives When Someone is Lifted Up
H. Each Move Of Faith Will Be Countered
I. No Reason To Give Up
J. Jesus Can Make You Unpopular
6. Fantasy--If I Just Tell Them The Truth
A. Faith--No When To Speak
B. Three Days Of Nothing But Getting Information
C. Fantasy--The Lord Will Show Me All In Prayer
D. Get Out And Inspect--Nehemiah
E. Options? Costs?
F. Call To Be A Leader
G. Wait, Examine, Plan A Strategy
7. Our Nehemiah Project--New Life Center
A. Why Not Borrow The Money Now
B. Building Debt Free---Bank Million$ Vision
C. We Need A Model
1. Lord Touch Our Hearts For Greater Sacrifice
$10 Or $520 A Year
2. Current Pledge--Building Too Small
3. Architectural Plans $15,000 Model $2500
4. Fantasy To Throw Away Money
D. We Have A Model
1. Not Building But People & Testimonies
E. Nehemiah’s Goal---To Bring People Back To
God
F. Core Of New Life Center
G. Core Of New Life Fellowship Daughter Church
H. Fulfilling The Scriptures
I. Every Child Brings About Changes
J. Fantasy--Things The Same Forever
K. Faith---The God How Helped With The Bear…
8. Fantasy To Deny The Reality Of A Situation
A. Admit What’s Real Is Real--
B. Nehemiah Confirmed His Brother’s Report
C. Lot Of Work
D. Leaders & The Dream World--Face But Get
Ready To Change
E. Nehemiah Saw More In The Dark Of Night
F. Faith In God, Produced Potential
9. Fantasy--All I have To Do Is Tell Them
A. Faith Must Show Them God
B. Called Together The People--Look At The
Trouble
C. Come Let Us Rebuild--Get Rid Of Disgrace
D. It’s Been Tried Before, You Don’t Know, Etc
E. Nehemiah Had A Testimony Behind Him
F. Trusting Testimony With No Backbone
H. No Trust With Money--Real Problems Come
I. Nehemiah Testified About The King & Risk
J. Saw The Dream Was Bigger Than Nehemiah
K. When God Plants, God Makes It Happen
L. People Excited--Work Started
10. Fantasy--Everybody will Do Their Part
A. Group, Family, Church, Team--Everybody Did
Not
B. Even People Who Benefit Will Not
C. Faith---God Called Me To Be Faithful
D. Goal Not To Get By But Hear Well Done
E. Carpenters, Bricklayers, Perfumers, Jewelry
Workers
F. Chapter 3 Who Built What And How Much
