Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Getting off Dead Center Msg 416 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Getting off Dead Center Msg 416 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: When Nehemiah journeyed to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall, he
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: faced the immense task of inspiring those around him to
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: pick up the stones and bricks and begin a grueling project.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Some remember were young novices, with soft and callous free hands.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Others were much older and accustomed to living without a wall,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: perhaps lethargic, passive, and disinterested. The sands of time had
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: smothered much of the patriotic zeal that had once burned
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: in the hearts of zealous Jews. It's easy to see
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: that motivating them would be one of Nehemiah's first challenges
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: as a leader. In our message today, we'll learn the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: technique Nehemiah employed to motivate those people to rise up
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and begin a massive project. Let's turn together in our
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Bibles to Namiah chapter two, where we'll be reading verses
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: eleven through twenty. Once again, that's Nemiah two, verse eleven.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and I arose in the night. I and a few
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: men with me. I did not tell anyone what my
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And there was no animal with me except the animal
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: on which I was riding. So I went out at
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: night by the valley gate in the direction of the
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Dragon's Well, and onto the refuse gate, inspecting the walls
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem which were broken down, and its gates which
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: were consumed by fire. Then I passed onto the fountain
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: gate and the King's Pool, but there was no place
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: for my mount to pass. So I went up at
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: night by the ravine and inspect did the wall. Then
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I entered the valley gate again and returned. The officials
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: did not know where I had gone or what I
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: had done, nor had I as yet told the Jews,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: did the work. Then I said to them, you see
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and its gates burned by fire. Come let us rebuild
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: be a reproach. I told him how the hand of
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: my God had been favorable to me, and also about
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the King's words which he had spoken to me. Then
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: they said, let us arise and build. So they put
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: their hands to the good work. But when Sanballat the
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Horonite and Tobia, the Ammonite official and Gesham the Arab
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: heard it. They mocked up us and despised us, and said,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: what is this thing you're doing? Are you rebelling against
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the king. So I answered them and said to them,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the God of Heaven will give us success. Therefore we
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: his servants will arise and build. But you have no
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: portion right or memorial in Jerusalem.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Making a study of the Book of Nhemiah is a
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: little like listening to a concerto, and listening very carefully.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: In fact, I see three things that are analogous to
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: the Book of Nhemiah. First of all, in a concerto,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: there is a soloist, and throughout the work of the
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: master you hear over and over again the work of
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: the soloist. In this case, in this literary concerto, we
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: have Nehemiah plays the major role, and he plays the
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: major instrument. You see him emerge all the way through
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: the book. He's not the director. God is the director.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: But he plays his instrument in various tones and in
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: various ways, with beautiful technique, as he emerges in various
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: roles throughout the book. The second thing I noticed, by
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: way of analogy, is that there is a major theme
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: or melody that is played in a concerto. I was
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: listening to a violin concerto not long ago, and though
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: it was in various movements and had various tonations and intonations,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: that same melody would come back to haunt you, to
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: remind you to visit with you as you listen to
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: the music. Now. The main theme in the Book of
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Nehemiah is leadership. There are counterparts, such as prayer and
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: opposition and government, But in spite of the counter melodies,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: that same melody of leadership bleeds through in each page.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: It leads its mark on the reader. Third, and perhaps
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: the most significant analogy is that in every concerto, there
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: are at least three major movements, and they are often
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: in contrast to one another. One may be quiet and soft,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: and the next may be passionate in stirring. The last
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: may be both or a touch of several others. The
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: same is true in Nhemiah. In chapter one through chapter two,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: verse ten, there is the first movement. Neemiah, as the soloist,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: plays his part as the cup bearer to the king.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: He is the king's closest con fidant. He is his
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: personal counsel. He is called a cupbearer. Beginning at verse
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: eleven of chapter two to the end of chapter six,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: there is the soul stirring movement of Nehemiah as the builder,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: and he is seen in the role of a construction engineer,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: quite a change from those days in the palace where
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: he had lived his earlier years. And then when you
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: get to chapter seven and go all the way to
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: the end of the book, in one fell swoop, he
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: is seen as the governor the final movement of the book. Now,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: if I could press the analogy just a little bit further,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I'd like to say this, and no other movement is
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: the soloist showing greater technique or brilliance than in the
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: second movement when he comes into the sea as a builder,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: I feel personally he ranks among the top in the
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: echelon of great leaders down through time. And I want
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: to show you why this morning, and next Sunday morning,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: and several following Sunday mornings. As Neomiah is in the
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: role of a builder building that project the wall around
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: the city of Jerusalem, it doesn't begin very eloquently. I
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: like that verse eleven has built to a climax. In fact,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: there seems to have been a roll of the percussion
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: and the blare of the horns and the harmony and
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: the movement of the strings, as it says, I came
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: to Jerusalem, and there ought to be a period there,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: because that ends the movement. All through the first chapter
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: and the first part of the second chapter, his heart
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: hasn't been at Susa and the capital at Persia. It's
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: been over there, eight hundred miles away in Jerusalem. That's
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: where he's wanted to be all the time. But faithfully
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: he's plugged away, waiting for the director to move him
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: at his time and in his choosing. And so when
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: he comes to the eleventh verse, he says, I got there.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I arrived. Now, the hurried reader would think, all of
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: a sudden he would begin to pull out the trowel
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: and appoint certain men for the task, and lay the
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: plumb line and get started on the wall. But he
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: doesn't do that. As a matter of fact, he doesn't
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: do anything. There is silence for three days. The second
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: movement begins in the latter parts of part of verse
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: eleven with and I was there three days, this great crescendo,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: this magnificent ending to the first part, and he says,
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: I was there three days, and I ache in my
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: soul if I were to miss the real meaning of
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: some of this, and thinking, oh, what a waste of time?
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Are you an activist like I am? You know, activists,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: they're the people that run ahead and look back and
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: wish they hadn't run ahead. You know, people that think
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: after the fact, Oh, I would be like that if
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: it weren't for God's work in my life. Nehemiah knew better.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Why didn't he work for three days? Because he didn't
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: know what God had for him. As a matter of fact,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: he was silent verse twelve. I arose in the night.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Now I don't know if it happened during the three
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: days or right after them, but he says in verse twelve,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I arose in the night a few men with me.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I did not tell anyone verse sixteen. The officials did
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: not know where I had gone or what I had done,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: the nobles, the officials, or the rest who did the work.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: You know, this is a side of leadership that never
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: comes to the attention of the public. People have the
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: false idea that a leader lives his light sun bathed
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: under the limelight. That it's one ecstatic experience of public
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: applause after another, that is, one promotion after another in
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: his business, that is one delightful ecstasy after another as
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: they look upon one called a successful leader. But I
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: want to say that God begins this way to show
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: us that successful leaders know how to handle themselves in solitude.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: It's in silence that a person earns the respect of
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: the public. Why because the public loans to respect their
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: leaders when no one is lucky. I want you to
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: stop and reflect upon the leaders God has chosen. First
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: of all, I want you to reflect upon Moses. It's
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: easy to be absorbed and emashed in the marvelous last
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: forty years of his life, where Moses led the people
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: of God out of Egypt and Indicnaan are almost forty
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: years of leadership. But you know, it is easy to
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: forget that the previous forty years were spent with nobody around,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: all alone, silent, leading a few sheep owned by his
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: father in law, Jethro, but unknown to anyone else, in
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: the midst of that Midian desert. That's where, as one
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: writer put it, God put iron in the bones of
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Moses Elijah was nurtured in solitude and nursed in silence.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: He did his greatest work on his knees, and that's
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: what he's remembered for by James in the New Testament,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: as a man who was a man of effectual, fervent prayer. Paul,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: in his unparalleled career as an apostle, begin it all
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: in silence, in a place we know only as Arabia,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: doing something we are never told, in contact with people
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: we are never informed of. Throughout the New Testament, silence,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: all alone. But I think of all of these, the
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Lord Jesus emerges as the most significant because throughout his
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: ministry with the public, he constantly looked for times to
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: get alone in the mountain. It was as though he
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: needed that perspective, and the disciples often would interrupt him
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: in prayer, not in sleep, but away from the press
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: of those people who wanted food and miracles and the
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: overthrow of Rome. They found him alone. Because a leader
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: learns to lead when he's all alone. That's where he
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: learns to king it. In the case of David, that's true.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Almost twenty years of David's life he was all alone
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: with the sheep of his father in the hills of Judea.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: If you're a student of the Old Testament and you
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: love Bible characters, you must come to David before long.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: I don't think anyone has done any better job. Though
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: there have been more scholarly works done, no one has
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: done a better job with David than F. B. Meyer.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: He says, this nature was David's nurse, his companion, and
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: his teacher. Bethlehem is situated six miles to the south
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: of Jerusalem by the main road leading to Hebron. Its
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: site is two thousand feet above the Mediterranean, on the
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: northeast slope of a long, gray ri ridge, with a
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: deep valley on either side. On the gentle slopes of
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: the hills, the fig and olive and vine grow luxuriantly,
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: and in the valleys are the rich cornfields where Ruth
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: once gleamed, and which gave the place its name be Lechham,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: the house of Bread. The moorlands around Bethlehem, now let
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: your mind picture this. The moorlands around Bethlehem, forming the
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: greater part of the Judee and Plateau, do not present
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: features of soft beauty. They're wild, gaunt, strong character breeding.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Their shepherds have always lied and watched their flocks, And
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: there David first imbibed that knowledge of natural scenery and
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: pastoral pursuits which colored all his life and poetry. As
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: the contents of the vat the dyer's hand in silence,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Nehemiah learned to motivate. I am at times haunted by
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: the words of Toaser in the midst of the busyness
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: of schedule. Day after day. His words nip at me
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: like little hounds, biting at my heels, He said, may
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: not the inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience be
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridor
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: of the kingdom like children in the marketplace, always chattering
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: about everything, but pausing to learn the true value of nothing. Now,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: if you are very, very busy, and if you think
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: that that means spirituality, learn a lesson from Nehemiah that
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: it is not in the rush and the hurry and
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the activity that a person gains the respect of those
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: around him. It's what he does when he's all alone.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: As someone has written, character is what you are when
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: nobody is looking all alone? What was happening? Well? Will
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: you notice in verse twelve we are given a secret
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: to what was happening. It says, I did not tell
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: anyone what God, my God was putting into my heart. Literally,
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: in that small, insignificant appearing phrase, there are volumes. In
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: the time of quietness, when there was no activity, God
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: was putting into his heart what Neemiah should be receiving.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: You teach God's word? Are you a student of the word?
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Are you one that faithfully ministers to other people? It
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: is not what you do in public that is the
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: most important. It is what you do when nobody is around.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Every once in a while, As you would imagine, there
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: are young men who are interested in the ministry that
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: want to know how do you get to the top.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: How do you make it? As if there's some clever
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: little secret, some string you pull behind the scenes so
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: that suddenly there you are. And I always wonder why
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: they ask me how you get to the top, because
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: to me, I'm not at the top. I am constantly
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: amazed at the grace of God. For one thing, he
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: underscores his grace every time he blesses my life, which
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: never ceases to amaze me. Frankly, I'm just a meat
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: and potatoes type of person. Mainly potatoes. As you notice,
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: and nothing very significant, nothing very fantastic, in fact, very
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: little significant. But I suppose if I were to give
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: one simple bit of advice, it is to your homework,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: be what you ought to be when nobody's looking, when
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: you're at home, when everybody else punches the clock, and
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: nobody expects you to do the job, and do it
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: to the very finest best of your ability, just for
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: the sheer delight of glorifying God in the doing. And
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Neomiah all alone got what God was giving to him.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Now let's look further. He also receives some objective appraisal.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Look at verse thirteen. I went out at night. Hence
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: you picture that I went out at night, he says.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: And he went with the valley gate, and then the
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: direction of the Dragon's well, and then on down to
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: the refuse gate, and he inspected the walls. Notice that
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: he inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: its gates consumed by fire. And then he says, I
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: passed on to the fountain gate. He went on down
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: the southern part of Jerusalem and back up the east
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: side to the fountain gate. He came to the King's Pool,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: and it was such a mess. He couldn't even get
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: by with his own on his horse, and so he
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: got off and he walked along ahead of this horse,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: and he says, I went up at night by the ravine,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: and notice again I inspected the walls twice. He talks
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: about inspecting verse thirteen and verse fifteen. The Hebrew word
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: inspect means to look into something very carefully. It's a
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: medical word for probing a wound to see the extent
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: of the laceration or if it has happened, the disease,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: the infection. He made a careful, conscious probing examination along
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the way. Why that's part of the job of the leader.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: He was thinking through his whole plan. Now, there's a
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: difference in being aware of the details and being lost
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: in the details. The perfectionist is aware of them and
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: gets lost in them. But the one who is able
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: to stand back, being fully aware of them yet not
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: get lost in them, that is the one God often
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: taps for leadership. Nehemiah made a careful investigation of the facts. Now,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: he was involved in planning in his mind the whole
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: process of building. And you that work with your hands
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: know that there are certain skills that some people do
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: better than others. Some people are able to work with
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: brick and mortar and stone and do a beautiful job,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: but they can't do a thing with wood. Some people
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: are able to do a craftsman's work with wood, and
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: yet they can't lay one brick straight with the other one.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: It's just amazing how these gifts differ. And as Nehemiah
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: was inspecting gates and walls and sections of the city,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: I am sure in his mind he was thinking through, now,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: let's see who will be able to do this job best.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe he made some notations. He planned out that section
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: will have to be done by a skilled craftsman. But this, well,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: that's just digging out the weeds and moving away the
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: old rubble and pushing it aside to make way. Anyone
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: can handle this, that's not that careful. In other words,
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: he was planning it all out objectively, looking at the
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: whole scene, because his job was to motivate, and he
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: knew in the building of that wall, motivation must fit
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the person. The job must fit this individual, or it's
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: like putting a round peg in a square hole. It
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: won't work. All of that was being planned in the
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: silence and solitude of this time. Now notice the need
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: verse seventeen. He's done all of his work, he's done
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: all of his inspection. Now he comes in touch with
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: an open discussion of this need. I said to them,
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: you see, he hasn't said anything for three days. Now
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: he stands in front of them, and he says to them,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: you see the bad situation we are in. That Jerusalem
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: is desolate, its gates burned with fire. Come let us
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: rebuild the wall that we may no longer be a reproach.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: I have circled in verse seventeen three words that are
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: probably the least important in the mind of the average reader.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: We us and we you see, in order for him
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: to motivate these in his charge, it was necessary for
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: him to identify with the need. What would it have
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: been like if he had said to them, you folks
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: have gotten yourself in a bad mess. Look at this mess,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Look at what you have done. Now you know what
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: you need to do. You need to rebuild that wall.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be involved in it at all.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: You'll find me in the office. You can contact me
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: if you want to. But I'm not in the least
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: interested in getting my hands involved, because I wasn't part
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: of the problem. After all, you're the reproach. You want
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: to do the work. You see, when you cast blame
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: and criticism, you squelch motivation. When you identify with the problem,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: you encourage motivation. And here he says, we are in
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: a mess. That's kind of a swindall paraphrase. He says,
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: a bad situation. Look at the mess we're in. Someone
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: has said that's the best description of the status quo,
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: the mess we's in. Look at the status quo. Look
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: at the condition of the wall and the gates. We
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: have a problem. We need to rebuild a wall. We
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: no longer ought to be a reproach to the enemy.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: He stays with the facts. Do you notice that you
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: see the bad situation. He doesn't weep, he doesn't plead,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: he doesn't give words of discouragement or negativism. He simply says,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: look at the facts. Now we've got to do something
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: about it. Let's rebuild the wall. That's his invitation. And
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: then will you notice the reason for the building that
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: we may no longer be a reproach. The hand of
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: the King is in this, the hand of God is
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: in this. Let me back off and give you some
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: information about motivation in case you haven't thought through it
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: for a while. There are two kinds of motivation. There
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: is extrinsic motivation, which is the most common and used
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: by the lesser of great leaders, and then there is
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: intrinsic motivation, which appeals to the internal a part of
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: a person. Let me give you an example of external motivation.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: You say to your child, come on, honey, it's time
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: to get your bath. It's Saturday night. You've been dirty
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: all week. It's time to get a bath. Come on,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: And the child says, I don't want you. You say,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: I'll give you a piece of candy. That's an external incentive.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: When we get a little older and we start to
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: go to school, we are told by our parents for
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: every a you make, I'll give you a dollar. And
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: then we get a little older into college and we
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: are told, if you make good grades, you'll get on
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: the dean's list. That's extrinsic motivation. When we get into business,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: then we say Christmas bonus, or we say special trips
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: to Hawaii. If you sell more, then that is the
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: incentive to get you to do more. It appeals to
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: the serialistic part of a person's mind and we're shot
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: through with it now. Don't misunderstand. Not all external motivation
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: or extrinsic motivation is wrong. God at times even uses
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: extrinsic motivation. He promises marvelous rewards in heaven for the
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: faithful upon this earth. If he had not in mind
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: any incentive, he would have never mentioned such. But he
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: mentions it. But it is the lesser of the two.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: It is interesting to me before I get to the second,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: that Neemiah never promises any extrinsic motivation, never any incentive,
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: such as the group that finishes first gets a week
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: camping out at the dead Sea. Second prize is two
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: weeks at the dead sea type of thing. I mean,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: he doesn't stoop to the that kind of motivation. Or
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: the first one to get finished your kids get to
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: ride a pony around this wall, that we finish it.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: You've heard it. It goes on in churches. First one
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: to pack the pew gets a pony ride around the church,
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: or the one that brings the most to class gets
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: his name up front. And as far along as we are,
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: little that does a job, and there's no question about it.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: But something happens when it has to continue Nehemiah simply says,
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: you see the ruins. We're in a terrible strait. Let's
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: rebuild this wall. And the remarkable thing is they said
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: let's build why. I want to tell you why, because
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: under God, Nehemiah, uniquely gifted as a leader, was able
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: to appeal to the intrinsic part of their zeal. He
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: was able to scratch them where they itched, if you please,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: he was able to push the button that said let's go.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: And there aren't many people like that, nor they have
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: they're ever bad. I want to give you an example.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: I just finished this week the reading of a biography
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: on a man of destiny, Winston Churchill, one of my
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: favorite characters in history, and I was impressed as I
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: read the story of that man. He won't be noted
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: as an artist, though he played with it. He won't
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: be noted as a soldier though he was a fineman.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: He will be remembered all his life as the Prime
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Minister of Britain in their darkest days in World War Two.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: But in the reading of all of his speeches, and
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: I have tried to read everyone, I cannot find a
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: time in which there was extrinsic motivation I've lifted some
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: from his speeches. Listen, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil,
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: tears and sweat. Victory at all costs, Victory in spite
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: of terror, Victory however long and hard the road may be.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Or without victory, there is no survival. We shall not
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: flag nor fail. We shall fight in France. We shall
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: growing confidence in the air. We shall defend our island,
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the streets
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: and in the fields. We shall fight in the hills,
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: because we shall never surrender. He also said, we would
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: rather see London laid in ruins and ashes than that
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: it should be tamely and abjectly enslaved. Death and sorrow
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: will be the companions of our journey. Hardship, our garment,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: constancy and valor our only shield. We must be united,
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: we must be undaunted, we must be inflexible. He said
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: to our president in that day, send us the tools.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: We will do the job. And I think none of
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: us will ever forget that amazing speech he gave to
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: a very fearful people in Britain. He said this. I
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: warned the French that Britain would fight on whatever they did.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: Their generals told their Prime minister and his divided cabinet.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: In three weeks, England will have her neck wrung like
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: a chicken. Some chicken, some neck. They never rang her
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: neck because somehow that stubby little creature could stand in
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: front of a microphone and sway them by the thousands
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: with intrinsic motivation. He appealed to the zeal of the
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: Britoner and he says, for the sake of the island,
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: never surrender. It's like David when he put off the
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: armor of Saul, and he looked into the face of
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: that ugly giant across the valley, and he said, is
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: there not a cause? Everybody else was figuring the statistics,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: and David says that get out of the way. He
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: picked up a few rocks. And you know the story why,
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: because down inside David he had that marvelous inner motivation
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: never to surrender. Now, somehow Nehemiah communicated that look at
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: the results. In verse eighteen. I told him how the
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: hand of my God had been on me, and they said,
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: let us arise and build. So what did they do?
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: They put their hands to the good work. Someone has said,
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: if you really want to check the leadership of an individual,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: just see if anybody's following them. It's as simple as that.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: And at this point, for the first time in their group,
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: he emerges as a new leader. They're following, They're saying,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: let's build, let's put our hands to the good work.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: It just oozes off the page, this motivation. Before we
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: get into the middle of this movement, this second gray movement,
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: in this concerto, will you notice right away opposition comes.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: It never fails Verse nineteen. There is direct criticism of
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: the plan instantly, as soon as they got off the ground,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: they were opposed. When Sanbalat the Horonite, Tobia the Ammonite official,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: and Geisham the Arab heard it, they mocked us and
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: despised us. Let your eyes study the word mocked and
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: the word despised. The word mocked means to stammer, to stutter,
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: to utter repeatedly, words of derision. You know, the old
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: mocking tone, the old sounds. They began to to shout
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: them out, and then it says that they despised us.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: It means to raise the head loftily and to look
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: down the nose at someone else. They held their heads high,
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: and they looked over there at that small little group
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: of Jews, and they said, huh, you're out of your minds.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: You'll never be able to do it. After all, you're
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: rebelling against the king, aren't you. And I can just
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: see Nehemiah once again with those letters. There are the
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: words of the king. He's come to his rescue again.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: I have exerxes, okay, but he does more than that.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: He has what I call a get tough policy that
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: comes out at just the right time. Verse twenty. I
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: answered and said to them, the God of Heaven will
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: give us success. We are his servants. We will arise
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: and build. But you you have no portion or write
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: or memorial in Jerusalem. Every time I read that, as
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: those people were trying to come into his city, I
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: think of the film The City of the Bees put
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: out by Moody Science. Maybe you saw it. It's an intriguing,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: curious work done with the help of a big, thick
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: lensed camera that puts you right inside the beehive. And
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: thanks to the genius of those that did the work,
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: you're able to see how a hive works. You're able
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: to see how they adore and cherish and take care
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: of them. Queen she just keeps producing, just keeps producing.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: They just worship her. And then you got these drones
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: that work. They don't know any different. They just work, work, work, work, work,
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: that's all they do. And you've got the guards that
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: are nearby. And in the middle of this thing, something
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: happened that the filmmakers didn't plan on. This hornet came
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: buzzing into the City of the Bees, came in there,
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: and then he landed right near the queen. Well, that's
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: a no no in the City of the Bees, because
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: everybody stopped, even the drones, and they they placed themselves
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: on the body of that hornet so that you couldn't
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: even see the hornet. And he was gone in a
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: matter of seconds. Why because a hornet has no business
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: in a beehive. And they taught him a final for
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: getting into the beehive. And that's what he does. Here.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: He says, wait a minute, Holy from now on, this
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: is God's property, and he drew a line. They spent
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: the rest of their time with their toes on the line,
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: shouting all kinds of things. It reminds me of the
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: true story of a pastor friend of mine whose parsonage
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: was right next to the alley where there was a
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: lot of traffic. To show how people are just like this,
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: he said, he walked out, saw that his kids were
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: playing in the alley and there was all kind of traffic,
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: and he said, kids, you can't play in the alley.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: So he got on a piece of chalk and he said,
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: here's the line. You cannot go across that line. We've
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: all done that his parents, and we no further, don't
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: go any further. And he said he went back into
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: his study and he looked out in a few minutes
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: and all six of his kids were right on the line,
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: standing right there. You know, it's as though I'll go
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: this far and no further, because that's the end. That's
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: exactly what Neemiah does. That's the line. Bug all get out,
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: you have no part in the work of God. And
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: I wonder how many people in Neamias shoes would have said,
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: you know, people don't want this man, We can't go
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: on with this. They haven't had a wall here in
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: over one hundred and fifty years, you know, oh, you know,
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: they've gotten used to living like this. It's just no change.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: Neamiah says, you know why we don't listen to them,
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: because they're not listening to the same voice we're listening to.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: You've got to be very careful as a leader when
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: you listen to criticism. And part of the job description
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: unwritten for every leader, is criticism. That's part of it.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: You never get criticized, you never do a job. But
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: the wise leader will evaluate the opposition in light of
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: the spirit and the attitude and the voice that the
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: opposition is listening to. And if it mashes his, he
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: better listen. But if they're listening to a different drum
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: beat than he is, he better use the namya technique. Look,
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: they're not even in the same camp. Let's go. And
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: you know something, they still didn't leave. They stayed around
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: until the entire wall was when it got halfway high.
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: They said, a little old fox can knock down that wall.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: But you remember they're outside the line shouting it inside.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: I hate to stop right here because it's a perfect
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: place to go into the building itself. But we've got to.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: But wait, or you close your Bible, maybe you missed
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: something in this experience of the soloist in this part
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: of the concerto. I want you to notice how he
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: never took his eyes off the director. Will you We've
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: seen him in three different phases. We've seen him alone
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: eleven to sixteen, We've seen him in front of his
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: people seventeen and eighteen, and then we've seen him in
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: front of the enemy nineteen and twenty. Will you notice
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: at each juncture along the way he refers to the Lord.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: Look at verse twelve. He's all alone, he said. I
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: went out at night, a few men with me. I
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: did not tell anyone what God was putting into my mind.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: Eyes on the Lord, all alone, eyes on the Lord.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: Then he went before his own men and said, we've
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: got to build this wall verse eighteen. I told him
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: how the hand of God had been favorable to me.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: Eyes on the Lord, Eyes on the Lord. Look at
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: verse twenty. Under attack, They said, you have no right
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: to build a wall. I answered, and said, the God
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: of Heaven will give us success. What's he doing, He's
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: watching the baton of the director. You want to know
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: how to make a royal mess of a musical performance,
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: Get your eyes off the director. Part of my time
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: in the Marine Corps was spent in the band, the
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: third Division band overseas, and I will never forget an
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: ex experience that we went through thanks to a very
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: wise captain. We had been in the band, most of
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: us for some time, and we had therefore begun to
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: feel rather salty. That goes with time and grade. You know,
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: you begin to think you can handle anything. And so
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: there were a couple of performances where we were rather
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: sloppy because, as the captain said, we took our eyes
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: off him. So our first rehearsal, after we had made
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: a botched up job of the last performance, we did
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: something unusual. He said, I would like to have the
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: trumpet section turn around and face the rear. So yeah,
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: they got up and moved their chairs around, put their
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: stands round, and they faced through. They were laughing because
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: they're blowing in the face of the tube of players
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: in the back. And that'd be great. He says, I
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: want all of you in the red section to close
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: your eyes. First of all, we all put the right
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: music on the stand. He says, I want all of
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: you over here in the percussion section. Two, we would
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: say today do your own thing. You might feel an
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: urge to really hit it here or to have a symbol.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: Let's do that. Let's try it now. Let's do this
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: piece we know so well, and start whenever you're ready.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: It was incredible, and we started to stop. He said,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: don't stop, go all the way through. So all the
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: way through this piece of music, we all did our
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: own thing, nobody looking at the director. Why the reads
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: were through a minute or two before the trumpets were through,
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: they were still playing. The percussion never did stop. They
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: just kept on going because they felt like playing that way.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: And he said, everybody turn around to look at me
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: and put your instruments down, and we did. He says,
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: never forget plan A, and every musical performance is never
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: take your eyes off the director. That's a lesson we
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: need to learn in the Christian life. We've got a
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: few people in the percussion section, you know, the Lord
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: led me, they say, and they're routing, you know, out
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: in the stands somewhere another group. We're gonna go this
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: way because we've never gone that way before, and it's
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: kind of neat to play in that direction. Others say, well,
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: we'll just close our eyes and sing those nice hens
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: and God will lead us. And nobody's got their eyes
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: in the director. That is a royal mess. All the
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: way through themi's building. He had his eyes on the
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: baton of the director. You know, you can have your
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: eyes in various places in the Christian life. You can
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: have your eyes on some other person, and you will
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: before very long be disillusioned because he will fail. Please
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: never get your eyes on a church staff or any
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: member of such, or some church officer or some Christian friends.
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: That's the first way I know of being ruined soon
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: in the Christian life, because some of the greatest spiritual
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: leaders I knew ten years ago are down the tube today.
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: Number two, You could have your eyes on your situation
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: and you will be absorbed in self pity. Nobody has
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: it as bad as me, so bad. Or you can
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: get your eyes on yourself and be puffed up with
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: pride or lost in insecurity because you, with your eyes
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: on yourself, are constantly comparing with somebody else, and you
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: never seem to match your equal. It's always somebody here
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: or somebody there. Or you can simply put your eyes
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: on the director. Though you have what you might call
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: an insignificant part, you'll play in tu you'll never miss
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: your part may be bow together this morning. Please, may
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: I say to you on this Mother's Day, that you
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: have in your memory a living example of one who
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: loved you without extrinsic incentive, Motivated only by love. She
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: passed through the ultimate that you might come to pass
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: with the promise only of long hours and sleepless nights,
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: hundreds of meals, faithful labors. She bore you, but a
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: marvelous example of intrinsic motivation. While our heads are bowed
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: this morning, I wanted to tell you there's one greater
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: example than that, and that's the love of God. When
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: you and I took up stones of sin to stone him,
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: he kept on proving his love to us. Loved you
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: with an everlasting love, and he hasn't stopped loving you,
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: though some of you keep waiting for some reason to
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: give him your life, though you're still living your own
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: selfish way. The heart of the Lord Jesus, intrinsically motivated
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: by love, said to the Father, is there not a cause?
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: And he died for you. The joyful announcement I have
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: this morning is that that love is available, you can
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: be entering in to it, so that for the first
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: time in your life you have a director. Beauty purpose
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: can come out of chaos and wrong. You'll receive Christ.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: You'll let him take over the controls of your life.
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: Just take the gift that God offers, asking him Christ
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: to become your personal savior. You'll experience a motivation that
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: you've never known before. Christians here today. Maybe there's something
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: God has for you in some of this. You've got
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: your choice this morning. Maybe it has to do with
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: living your life in silence and solitude, where you really
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: build character. Perhaps it has to do with the way
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: that you deal with others, proper motivation, being honest and fair, factual,
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: not led by rumor or gossip our emotion. Maybe some
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: of you are under terrible opposition at this time. God says, look,
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: unto me, my son, the Lord, Jesus, the founder and
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: finisher of the faith. Whatever decision needs to be made,
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: we'll leave that between you and the Lord. And we
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: do not mean to be passive in saying that you
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: wish to share it. We'd love to hear from you.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: Please don't keep it to yourself, Lord, God Father, and
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: Son and Holy Spirit, whom we have felt all through
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: this service. We lived our hearts in adoration and praise
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: to you. Thank you Father for talking to us today
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: in language we understand, for dealing with us as only
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: you can, Father, bring out of this worship needed change
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: or needed memories in our lives, to encourage us in
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: Jesus's wonderful name. Amen.
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: The preceding message Getting Off Dead Center was copyrighted in
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: nineteen seventy four, nineteen eighty three, nineteen ninety two, thousand
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: and six, and twenty fifteen, and the sound recording was
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: copy readed in twenty sixteen by Charles Rswindahl, Inc. All
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrdit material for commercial
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: use is strictly prohibited